TAKE IT HOME EVENT DESCRIPTIONS

Baby Dedication or Infant Baptism (Newborns)
Family Blessings: For Families with Two-Year-Olds
Family Devotions: For Families with Three-Year-Olds
My Church (Preschoolers or Four-Year-Olds)
Family Prayer (Kindergartners or Five-Year-Olds)
Family Service Projects
Family Worship (Second Graders)
My Bible
Money and Me (Fourth and Fifth Graders)
Computer Boundaries (Teenagers)
Faith Mentoring
Talking About Dating, Kissing, Sex & Stuff (Teenagers)
Looking Into the Future (Teenagers)

• Baby Dedication or Infant Baptism (Newborns)
  Some churches dedicate young children to the Lord. Others baptize infants. Whatever service your church has to acknowledge the value and priority of raising children in the ways of God must be more than simply a ritual. If it were nothing more than a ritual, it would have little, if any, lasting impact. Yet, as we seize the opportunity to be intentional in dedicating children, this act can become a powerful first step in establishing the parents as the most important faith influencers. The home is the primary place where faith is nurtured and the church becomes a lifelong partner in equipping parents to pass on the faith to their child. This Take It Home Event will provide ideas for how you can approach that meeting or class as well as the dedication or baptism itself.
  
  Goal: To establish the partnership between parents and the church in passing on the faith to our children and children's children.
  
  Suggested Resources:
  I love to Wiggle and Giggle! Instant Activities for Babies and Toddlers
  Faith Begins at Home
  I Love to Look! Bible Story Picture Cards
  
  
• Family Blessings: For Families with Two-Year-Olds
  If begun early, the habit of praying God’s blessings over children will open the door for God’s blessing and for intimate faith talk between parents and children that will bear fruit in years to come. This event will provide many Scriptural blessings a family can use.
  
  Goal: To establish the ritual of parents praying God's blessings over their children on a daily basis.
  
  Suggested Resources:
  Blessing Your Children by Jack Hayford
  Blessing Your Children DVD
  The Family Blessing by Rolf Garborg
  
  
• Family Devotions: For Families with Three-Year-Olds
  The most precious commodity in our world today is time. We don’t have enough of it. And this problem is perhaps most evident in the lives of families where the schedules of multiple persons converge in one home. Families have a hard time even sitting down at the table for dinner let alone carving out time for God together. It is no wonder that George Barna reports that fewer than 10 percent of parents who regularly attend church have consistent family time with God.1 It wasn’t a part of their routine at home as a child and so it has not become a practice in their lives today. At some point we must help our families break this cycle. This Take It Home Event will help families establish the habit of having family devotions.
  
  Goal: To empower families to have a consistent, effective, successful, positive devotional experience together that will encourage a lasting discipline in their children's lives.
  
  Suggested Resources:
  God's Story for Me Bible Storybook
  FamilyTime Story Book
  Raising Up Spiritual Champions Newsletters
  Bible Story Pictures #1
  Bible Story Pictures #2
  Blessings Every Day by Carla Barnhill and Elena Kucharik
  
  
• My Church (Preschoolers or Four-Year-Olds)
  What is the church? Is it just a place we go every Sunday or is it something more? How do I fit in at my church and why is it so important? In this Take It Home Event you will answer some of these questions about the church and more importantly help kids and families experience and understand what a very important part of the faith community they are. They will understand that the church is not just a building, but also an extended family. You will help families to be familiar with and feel comfortable in the building where their church meets. While most of the Take It Home Events focus on equipping and encouraging parents to implement faith in the home, this event is a little different. It is more focused on the experience of empowering families to live for Christ.
  
  Goal: To allow families to have a memorable experience together at church as they learn how much they matter to the faith community.
  
  Suggested Resources:
  Rock-Solid Kids by Larry Fowler
  Transforming Children into Spiritual Champions by George Barna
  
  
• Family Prayer (Kindergartners or Five-Year-Olds)
  At the very heart of the Christian life lies communication with God through prayer. In fact, Martin Luther King, Jr. once said, “To be a Christian without prayer is no more possible than to be alive without breathing.”2 Unfortunately, many Christians don’t regularly engage God through prayer because it was not built into their lives as children. While many adults must make a concerted effort to spend regular time in prayer, our goal for the next generation is that prayer will become a regular habit, a reflex reaction, something they naturally and instinctively engage in because from a very young age it became a part of who they are.
  
  As you train parents to pray with their children, you are basically teaching them to pray on the most basic level. Ultimately, it is Prayer Class 101. The great thing about this from my experience is that when it comes to prayer, many parents are in the same place as these kids. They have very little personal experience with regular, consistent prayer. So, as you teach them to pray with their children, you are simultaneously training parents how they can pray personally. It’s beautiful, because what might come off as childish, silly, embarrassing or condescending when being taught to a group of adults alone, can be effective coming from the angle of teaching to pray with their kids.
  
  Goal: To empower families to develop the regular habit of prayer and thus connect the next generation to God in a powerful way.
  
  Suggested Resources:
  The Lord's Prayer Coloring Book by Shirley Dobson
  Growing As God's Child Coloring Book
  God Answers My Prayers by Denise Vezey
  
  
• Family Service Projects
  With our children growing up in a “what’s in it for me?” society, how can we help them care about and be willing to serve others in response to God’s love for them? This Take It Home Event will motivate families to go beyond simply hearing and talking about ways to love and obey God.
  
  Goal: To inspire and engage the family in being the hands and feet of Christ through church, community and global service as a family.
  
  Suggested Resources:
  The Big Book of Service Projects
  Missions & Service Projects by Jim Burns and Mike DeVries
  DoingGoodTogether.org
  Random Acts of Kindness
  
  
• Family Worship (Second Graders)
  Most families don’t worship at home because no one has equipped them to do so (“I don’t know how to plan a worship time. I’ll probably do it wrong.”) This is a common fear most people have when it comes to planning and leading a worship service. These fears are not necessary because planning and leading worship in your home is easy, meaningful and fun. This Take It Home Event will teach parents what worship is and how to do it with their family.
  
  Goal: To help families understand and appreciate the important role worship should play in their lives and to equip the family to worship at home.
  
  Suggested Resources:
  iExplore Music CD, Volume 1
  iExplore Music CD, Volume 2
  Next Generation Praise 1 (2 CDs)
  Next Generation Praise 2 (2 CDs)
  
  
• My Bible
  How many people in our world today wish they knew more about the Bible? How many Christians wish they had the discipline to spend more time reading God’s Word? How many times have Christians been in situations where they wish they could reference the authority and power of Scripture but have been unable to recall the passage or verse they are thinking of. What if the Bible became a part of who we are as people? What if from a very early age the stories, history and truth of God’s Story became a part of our story? What if people, when they talked about Scripture, didn’t just refer to a book that sat on the shelf and collected dust, but were connected to that book in such a way that it shaped the very core of who they were? What if it wasn’t just “the Bible” but truly became “my Bible”? This Take It Home Event will make this a reality for families in your church.
  
  Goal: To empower families to spend time together reading the Bible and memorizing Scripture, truly putting God's Word at the center of their lives.
  
  Suggested Resources:
  What the Bible is All About for Young Explorers
  The Big Book of Bible Facts and Fun
  The Adventure Bible
  
  
• Money and Me (Fourth and Fifth Graders)
  Habits are formed at home and very early in life. And more and more kids are encountering, dealing with and developing their money-handling habits earlier and earlier. In addition, very few parents give their kids any training on how to handle money effectively. As a result, for many people in our society, money is not being controlled by them, but controlling them. Combine this with the fact that Jesus frequently addressed the subject of money and we may safely assume that how we learn to deal with money will be a significant factor in our spiritual growth and development. Families can learn together how to handle their finances in this Take It Home Event.
  
  Goal: For kids and families to learn what Jesus has to say about money, be challenged to consider how God might shape their finances and be empowered to develop some God-honoring and freedom-building money management skills at home.
  
  Suggested Resources:
  Your Money by Ralph Moore and Alan Tang
  The Secret of Handling Money God's Way by Bev Dayton
  Making Your Money Count by Kenneth C. Ulmer
  
  
• Computer Boundaries (Teenagers)
  We often refer to the world of computers and the Internet as the “cyber” or “virtual” world. When we do, we sometimes get the impression that what happens on the computer isn’t real or somehow doesn’t count. This is far from true! For many teens today, the cyber world is where they really live. They shop, talk, study, entertain, socialize and do numerous other activities sitting comfortably at home in front of a computer screen. But just like the physical world, the cyber world can be dangerous and parents need to set boundaries and enforce rules to protect their children from harm and danger. This can be difficult to do when parents are unfamiliar with how life on the web works, where the dangers lie and how to implement and monitor rules. When I was a kid, there was a classic commercial on television encouraging parents to be active in protecting their kids. The punch line to this ad asked, “It’s 10 p.m. Do you know where your children are?” If it were only that simple today! Sitting safely in their own room kids can literally be making plans with friends, talking with strangers, purchasing forbidden items, or viewing explicit materials. “It is 3:00 in the afternoon, do you really know where your children are?”
  
  As a response to this reality, parents often act in one of two opposite ways. They either decide that computers, the Internet and cyberspace are evil and ban their children from ever visiting this forbidden land, or they throw up their hands and let their kids roam the virtual world with no supervision or restrictions. At this Take It Home Event we want to help parents find a balanced approach. Fear and avoidance are responses that stem from not having enough information and experience.
  
  Goal: To empower parents and give them the information and tools that will help them effectively support and guide their children into good, safe, Christ-honoring decisions on the computer as they spend time online.
  
  Suggested Resources:
  Eyes Wide Open by Brienne Murk
  iSafe.org
  SafeTeens.com
  ConnectSafely.org (formerly BlogSafety.com)
  TheSafeSide.com - Internet Safety DVD and other resources (geared toward younger kids)
  Netsmartz.org
  WiredSafety.org
  CyberTipline.com
  
  
• Faith Mentoring
  As teenagers begin the journey into high school, they naturally begin to seek out the perspective and “voices” of other people. Teenagers need other adults in addition to their parents, teachers and pastors with whom they can talk about faith and life issues. In a Search Institute report only 41 percent of youth felt that adults in the church cared for them. This event will help your teens and your church strengthen relationships between generations that will spiritually guide your children as they continue to develop. It includes an orientation session, a six-week mentoring program and a wrapup session.
  
  Goal: To help teenagers identify and establish an adult faith mentor they can turn to for advice and support, and to build a stronger relationship between the youth and adults of your congregation.
  
  Suggested Resources:
  Addicted to God by Jim Burns
  Gospel Light's youth resources
  The Youth Bible
  
  
• Talking About Dating, Kissing, Sex & Stuff (Teenagers)
  The issues of dating, sex and relationships are some of the biggest questions, challenges, and struggles teens face. Messages, temptations, information and even opportunities are regularly offered by society when it comes to sexual experiences, and yet, the Church has been reluctant to engage teens in authentic conversations. Likewise, parents who are often intimidated, overwhelmed and disengaged from their kids’ sexual struggles have received little or no support from the Church on how to instruct and guide their children towards healthy sexual development and activity. How can the body of Christ help students work through their struggles, challenging them to discover how God might guide and direct their sexual choices? Furthermore, how might the Church empower parents to engage in open, honest and value-passing conversations with their teens, providing much needed support for them as they seek to live in a radically counter-cultural way? This Take It Home Event will be a starting place in creating an event that is right for your families.
  
  Goal: To engage teens and challenge them to think through their sexual choices from a Christian worldview. To bridge the gap between teens and their parents, effectively bringing Mom and Dad into the discussion.
  
  Suggested Resources:
  The Naked Truth by Lakita Garth (book, leader's guide, student guide, DVD)
  Friends Without Benefits by Ron Luce
  Preparing for Adolescence by Dr. James Dobson (book, family workbook, group guide, CDs)
  "Parent Resources" download
  
  
• Looking Into the Future (Teenagers)
  Some teens seem to know just what it is they want to do with their lives, while others are overwhelmed by the choices and decisions they are facing. This Take It Home Event will provide the reassurance that God gives gifts to each person to accomplish amazing things—no matter what his or her daily job might be.
  
  Goal: To examine and explore spiritual gifts God has given children and the possibilities God may have for using these gifts in the future.
  
  Suggested Resources:
  ReCreate Your World:An Action Plan for Teens by Ron Luce
  Discover Your Spiritual Gifts by C. Peter Wagner
  Finding Your Spiritual Gifts (questionnaire) by C. Peter Wagner
  Find Your Fit by Jane Kise and Kevin Johnson