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Reaching our Children Michael Natale
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ne of the major questions we face as the church today is how we convey Biblical relevancy to our youth. I believe this concern is very valid, and it is becoming more important to start when our children are young. As a first time pastor, I had a lot of questions and concerns about what material to use for Christian education in my congregation. I was looking for ways to help the children (and adults) in the church to interact with the Bible so that they could relate to it better in today’s culture. As I did some research I was pleasantly surprised to find that there were a bunch of resources offered by Faith & Fellowship Publishing to assist me in my ministry. In the year and a half I’ve served as pastor at Messiah Lutheran Church (Underwood, MN), I have used three resources available only through Faith & Fellowship Publishing. They are: Footsteps in the Promise for young families and for Sunday morning children’s sermons, ConfirmIT! for confirmation, and Biblical Foundations by David Rinden for adult bible study. Using these resources allows me to teach with confidence knowing that they are
doctrinally accurate, while staying relevant, and allowing me to teach within our own cultural context. I had a great time using Footsteps in the Promise for my children’s sermons! When I first received the books, I gave a copy to every child in the church and encouraged them to pester their parents to read it to them daily. The kids love running up during our worship service with their books to follow along as I read them the next section. It is always encouraging to hear children say that their parents have already read that section of the book and that it’s one of their favorites. We also give these books out to parents as their children are baptized and encourage them to read it often. If you haven’t used Faith & Fellowship before, I want to encourage you to take some time and look into the material they offer and see if they can be a resource for your ministry. Pastor Michael Natale serves as pastor of Messiah Lutheran Church in Underwood, MN.
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SEPTEMBER NEWSLETTER 2013
Our Changing Culture As God’s Church in North America, we are facing some difficult realities as we watch more and more young adults leave their faith communities. We can’t simply invest in their high school years and expect things to turn around. We need to start when they’re young. Creating a strong faith environment at home is extremely important because parents have the biggest influence on the faith of a young adult. How are we doing? • Number of minutes per week that parents spend in meaningful conversation with their children: 3.5 * • Culture’s definition of “family” is rapidly changing as 42% of live births are to unmarried women (Kinnaman, p. 46). ** Culture is influencing teenagers of all backgrounds and faiths, so it’s important that the Church come alongside parents in raising their children. Fuller Youth Institute listed three important findings for the Church’s discipleship of students growing up in the Church, and I’ll summarize them here. *** 1. Teenagers need to build relationships with adults of all ages. 2. We overestimate youth group graduates’ readiness for the struggles ahead. 3. An overemphasis on behaviors can sabotage faith long-term. As adults, let’s show our youth the power of the Gospel through our brokenness, showing them God’s grace in action. Don’t rely on Sunday School and assume they can make it on their own. Think about it, can we make it on our own? No! God is working in us, and God also gave us his Church. So love them, dischiple them and remind them that God, in his holiness, expects perfection, and Jesus is our perfect savior! Tim Mathiesen serves as Director of Communications & Prayer for the CLB.
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