Skip to main content

The best gift ever

 

Each year in December we give the Sunday School children a small gift as an acknowledgement of our love for them as a church family. This year, we have only had around four to six children attending Sunday School as we currently have very few families participating in our morning church services.

Today, I met with our Corps Officers (the Salvation Army name for ministers or pastors), to discuss what the children’s slot in the church service might look like. Each child will be invited up for their gift, plus I have a special extra gift which is a name plaque with the spiritual meaning of their names. I will give a brief talk on the importance of names, present the plaques then pray for the children.

We will also recognize a group of neurodiverse children who are brought to church with the couple who care for them. They do not attend Sunday School but are an important part of our church family.

Then the Corps Officers mentioned they would be inviting families from Recovery Church, staff, and the family stores. Suddenly it looks much bigger. We discussed how to manage an unknown number of children to ensure they all receive something.

I was thinking what a blessing children are to us, and how important they are to our church family. The reality is, the only gift that matters, the best gift of all, is the gift of salvation. We are called to instruct our children in such a way that they accept this amazing gift. It is not always easy to do, and their parents have a key role in this. For those children who do not come from a church family, it is even more important to talk to the children about this gift. I urge you to encourage and support any children you know, in the faith, that they may receive everlasting life.

God bless you each.

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Taking Time Out

  I had the privilege this week of attending a retreat with five other women. The retreat was over three days but unfortunately some of the nine women who intended to go, were unable to as other urgent commitments came up and needed to be kept. So it became a bit different than expected. Six of us attended the first day, but two of us could only go for the day. Another two were going out the following day for the rest of the retreat. Unfortunately one of our ladies became quite sick and to her disappointment missed it all. However, the day I attended was blessed.   The retreat was held at a beach house belonging to one of the group, at an isolated beach about an hours drive away. It was a beautiful sunny day. We deposited our bags and the first thing we did after admiring the view, was to have a cup of tea. This lead to a lovely lazy discussion about all sorts of things, a great introduction to spending time together. Following this we spent about an hour studying and discus...
Post a Comment
Read more

Friends

  I am so blessed to have a circle of really good friends in my life. I am a definite introvert so find it really easy to simply stay home, especially if I have a good book to read. I am an avid reader of Christian fiction. However, I do know that it is better that I have some socialization. Research shows that isolation increases the risk of an early death as well as the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease so obviously I want to avoid that if possible. Research also shows that socialization is good for brain health including making your memory sharper as well as increasing well-being and feelings of belonging. Although as an introvert I find socialization can be a little exhausting, I do enjoy time with my friends and it makes me happy. Introverts tend to have a few very close friends whilst extroverts tend to be friends with everyone and find socialization energizing—strangers are only ‘friends they haven’t yet met’! Now that is of course a very broad generalization, but i...
Post a Comment
Read more

Planting Seeds

  Carrying on from last week, I was wondering how I am sowing seeds. I realised that we can all sow seeds everywhere we go. I don’t go out that often actually, I don’t belong to any secular groups but I can still be responsive to the leading of the Holy Spirit. Under his leading I made a determined effort to get to know the names of all the staff at my two favourite cafés that I visit at least weekly. I ask about their families; I support where I can. My friends and I find opportunities to give them all a little gift of chocolate and a card with a verse of scripture written on it. They all know we are Christians. I guess that might be called planting seeds. I converse with the supermarket checkout operators just to have a chance to bring a blessing to them. Some of them now know I am a Christian. I can easily bring God into conversations with unsaved family members, neighbours and strangers I stop and talk to in the park—with the leading of the Holy Spirit. I do not adopt a heavy...
Post a Comment
Read more