Faith Legacy Series

Faith Legacy Series is a training curriculum to help families grow spiritually in their homes. Parents meet for three 60-90 minute sessions with other parents of same-age children. When the course is completed, parents speak a personalized blessing over their child while giving the child a blessing object. This blessing event can take place in a worship service so the whole church can better support parents helping their children know, love and follow Jesus.

8 year olds Next Session – Feb. 8-22, 2009 & Aug. 2-16, 2009

In these sessions, parents learn to:

· Have family devotions with their 8-year-old;

· Use the Bible in personal devotions;

· Better understand how to use the Bible;

· Speak a blessing while presenting a Bible.

6 year olds Next Session – Jan 11-25, 2009 & June 28 & July 12-19, 2009

In these sessions, parents learn to:

· Have effective devotions with their 6-year-old.

· Teach their child to serve as Jesus served.

· Teach money management and giving.

· Speak a blessing while presenting a Towel and Basin.

4 year olds Next Session – Nov. 2- 16, 2008 & May 31 – June 14, 2009

In these sessions, parents learn to:

· Better understand worship;

· Use tools that enhance their child’s worship;

· Have effective devotions with their 4-year-old;

· Speak a blessing while presenting a Worship Kit.

2 year olds Next Session – April 19-May 3, 2009

In these sessions, parents learn to:

· Share their faith with their 2-year-old;

· Spiritually parent their child;

· Have effective devotions with their 2-year-old;

· Speak a blessing while presenting a Picture Bible.

Birth – For the newly baptized child. Next Session – March 8-22, 2009

In these sessions, parents learn to: In these sessions, parents learn to:

· Pray and plan now for their child’s spiritual future.

· Bless their child.

· Understand how their child becomes part of the family of faith.

· Speak a blessing while presenting a Faith Chest.

To register go to: http://www.soth.org/family.htm or contact Dave Rueter, DCE – Family Ministry drueter@soth.org or 909-989-6500 x. 14.

Money, Money, Money

It seems to be hard not to think about your money these days.  Business are thinking about money, the church is thinking about money, individuals are thinking about money, and families are thinking about money.  The challenging thing is not only to avoid doom and gloom, but also to avoid fighting over what is usually a sensitive issue at a time when our sensitivity is at its peak.

Husbands and wives spend more time in disagreement about finances than any other marital issue.  Yet, the Bible does offer some great advice that could shape our understanding when it comes to the bucks we have in the bank.  Both Ecclesiastes 5:10 and Matthew 6:24 talk about the effect that the love of money has on us.  It is not money itself that is the root of all evil, but the love of that money as is pointed out in Matthew.  Further the love of money fails to satisfy as Ecclesiastes asserts.

So how then can this perenial fight be avoided, survived, or minimized?  Communication of course.  Sounds too simple right?  To say it is simple.  To do it is another story.  Husbands and wives, and whole families for that matter, need to talk about their own understanding of what money is to be used for.  The frugal husband must not only be able to express his concerns with spending, but needs to hear his wife explain how she sees value in the use of rather than the saving of money.  Priorities for spending need to be out in the open.  The spouse who spends money on small items all the time, needs to understand how that can hinder the spouse focused on longer term spending plans.  Have a family budget.  That is not really an option.  A number of times in my marriage we have done and redone out own budget, now is another time that we need to do so.  A budget puts in writing an accepted plan for mutual use of funds.

When times are good and money flows more easily, it is all too easy to forget the necessity if good an open communication.  When there is enough money for all of us to do what we want, there is less chance for a fight.  Now however that this is hardly the case any more, it is critical that we all as individual, families, and churches evaluate where our dollars go.  Do our priorities as they are revealed in how we spend our money honor God or leave thoughts of Him last in our minds and pocketbooks.

So your assignment is to sit down and begin that difficult conversation with your husband or wife (include the kids after you two are on the same page) about money, budgets, and how to honor God with His blessings.

The Praying Family

It has become a nightly ritual at in the Rueter house that just before our son’s final feeding (he’s 5 month old now) that I read him a story and then while my wife feeds him, she or I pray for him and the rest of the family.  I have also begun to pray for James to sleep well, to grow and be healthy, and to grow and a Christian young man as I place him in his crib.  We do this because we believe that just as our son needs to be feed physically that he needs to be feed spiritually.  At his age, he is not really aware of the words that I am saying, and yet I am convinced that just as God laid claim to him in baptism in June, God is able to touch his heart each night as I am praying for him.

When Jesus’ disciples asked about how they were to pray, Jesus taught them what we now call the Lord’s Prayer.  In that prayer we find a pattern for our own on-going relational connection and dialog with our Lord.  When praying for our children we ask for their protection, for the provision of daily needs, for forgiveness (yes even at 5 months old), to be delivered from evil, and for the kingdom of God to be present here and now just as it is and will be in heaven.  Some nights we focus on different aspects of this list, but they do form the core of what we call upon the name of the Lord for.

So why pray for you children?  Here are some basic reasons:

1. Keeping our relationship with God in mind when considering the needs of our children.
2. Modeling to our children with an eye for the development of their own habits.
3. Trusting in God that His is indeed not only all powerful, but also all loving and that we, our children included, have need of that love both for our salvation and for our continued relationship as one saved.

A resource the is coming soon that can help you in your own prayer life is a book called “Treasury of Daily Prayer” from Concordia Publishing House.