At the Orange Conference I attended a breakout session talking about 5 basic Faith Skills to build into kids to help them take ownership of their faith and make it theirs.  If you are a parent and/or serve in kids ministry, you don’t want to miss the next 5 posts.

Skill #1:  Navigate the Bible

• Children should know how the smaller stories within the Bible work together to tell God’s Big Story.  Many ministries are guilty of teaching the bible as a series of one-liners that support the main teaching point.  Yet kids fail to see the bigger picture in scripture.
  
• The Bible is a place they can go to find verses that will help them with specific questions.
  

God’s word is a source of Life to a believer.  Read in context, it reminds us that we are part of something bigger than ourselves.  Kids that learn a biblical worldview have a more solid foundation to build their life upon.  We can’t expect our kids to have a biblical worldview unless the Bible plays a prominent role in our lives.

Parents, how can we better equip you to teach your kids how to navigate the Bible?

Ministry leaders, how well does your curriculum teach kids to view the Bible as a continuous story of His Glory?

Parenting Skill #2 is:

Keep it Personal

Deuteronomy 6:6 says, “Write these commandments… on your hearts.  Get them inside of you…” The old phrase, “things are better caught than taught” applies here.

What happens in my home is far more important than what happens at church.  My kids will do what I demonstrate.

• How much my son cherishes Bible Study and learning.
• How much my daughter values loving relationships.
• The extent to which my kids serve others.

All of these are influenced by my daily activities more than the activities of the kids ministry they attend a few hours a week.

My child will learn how to love God with his whole heart from my demonstration of loving God with my whole heart.

As a parent, it’s imperative that I Keep It Personal.

Kenny Conley is the Next Generation Pastor of Gateway Community Church in Austin, Tx.  True to Texas, Kenny thinks BIG.  I’ve yet to hear anything out of Kenny’s mouth that isn’t bigger than all of us put together.  He’s joining Jabberfrog today to share glimpse of what God has done inside of him lately.  Enjoy, comment, then skip over to his blog, Children’s Ministry Online, for more.

Hello. My name is Kenny and I’m a Sabbath Skipper.

I’ve known better for years, but I habitually work on the Sabbath. It wasn’t until just a few weeks ago that I realized how out of control I was and began to put guidelines back into my life concerning the Sabbath. Actually I jumped into a small group of other men on staff and we’re on a Bible reading plan. While we were in the books of the Law, the thing that convicted us the most was the importance of the Sabbath and how pitiful we all were at celebrating it. Being in ministry, we’re all busy with really good things. Unfortunately our family was taking a back seat to unrealistic and out of control schedules.

For us, we first had to recognize what our Sabbath was. Sunday is a workday, so it wouldn’t be fair to our families if that was our Sabbath. We chose to go OT style and do the sundown on Friday to sundown on Saturday. It was a schedule that allowed us to have a full 24 hours with our families without school or work getting in the way. It also gave us flexibility to start ramping up for work again on Saturday night. We then surrounded each other with accountability, making sure we’re all celebrating the Sabbath.

I’m five weeks into my new practice and I’ve only blown it one weekend. Here is what I’ve learned:

• I’m just as productive as I was before. I’ve got the same about of work, but I seem to be getting it done in one less day of work. Who knew. I think it’s like the tithe. For many people it is a step of faith to first begin giving that 10% and they have to trust God with the tithe. When choosing to celebrate the sabbath, you have to trust that God will multiply your ability to get everything done with one less day to work.
• Celebrating the Sabbath changes the way I work during the week. Every day I’m thinking about that Sabbath and and prioritizing my week so that when Thursday comes, I’m able to wrap up what needs to be done for that week. I’ve found that it has helped me become more efficient.
• I’m happier. Seriously, I’m less stressed, I feel more confident about the direction we’re going and I’m having such a blast with my family on my days off. My relationship with my wife is better and I’m making great memories with my family.

It’s funny how as pastors, we’re sure to tithe and stress how important it is for others to follow this suggestion, yet so many of us totally neglect taking a Sabbath rest. The irony of it all is that taking the Sabbath rest is one of the ten commandments, which is pretty important.

So, schedule your next Sabbath rest day. Enjoy it and be sure to honor God this way!