WeePoint Lessons for September

This month, preschoolers will be reminded that God loves them - no matter what. Think about that for just a minute. No matter what we’ve done or what we haven’t done, God loves us. Always. It’s an amazing and humbling realization. We will introduce this concept to preschoolers by teaching them that God loves them when they are sad, scared or happy. And, we’ll celebrate that love on the last Sunday of the month just like David celebrated that God loved him.

KidsPoint Lessons for September

Club Respect

Did you see it? What would’ve been recorded as a perfect game for pitcher Armando Galarraga had not umpire Jim Joyce made that bad call? How about Wimbledon’s longest match ever, between Nicolas Mahut and John Isner? Maybe even more impressive was what happened right after each of those competitions. How each of the four key players reacted. See any raised fists, hear any harsh words, notice any sour looks? Me, either. Instead, hands were shaken, words of congratulation (or remorse) were spoken, and faces expressed respect.

I, for one, am impressed with how each of those gentlemen responded to each other. Surely treating others with respect (regardless of their mistakes and foibles, regardless of whether we disagree with them, regardless of how we feel around them) is one of the hardest things God expects of us, in sports or everyday life.

And so, come September, we will focus on the virtue of respect: showing others they are important by what you say and do. Here’s the rundown:

You respect God when you show respect for people in charge. Your respect for people is connected to your respect for God. This week will help kids discover how. (Romans 13:1-7).

You can show respect with your actions. Actions speak respect just as loudly (maybe even louder) than words. (1 Samuel 18; 19; 24).

You can show respect with your words. Words are powerful. Help kids discover what builds up and what tears down. (James 3:9-12).

Show respect to God because He’s in charge of everything. Above all and anyone else, we need to respect God. This week will help kids learn how. (Matthew 8:5-13).

So, with all due respect, join the club: Club Respect.

What is unique about a Community Group living on mission?

**Remember as we read through ways that our faith will be put into action, the primary motivation for all of this “activity” must be the gospel of Jesus, not simply moral deeds.  The Church is the multiplied presence of Jesus in our communities and around the word for the purpose of casting light into darkness through the declaration of the gospel message of Jesus, as well as the demonstration of the gospel working out in our everyday lives.  The following blog post is going to focus on the latter, however in practice they must not be segmented.**

————

Each Community Group must be able to define & articulate their sense of mission

• Sense of Mission is a product of proximity & time
• Proximity: nearness in geography, occupation, life stage, or concerns (i.e. neighbors)
• Time: intentionally creating space in our weeks to interact with our neighbors

Question: What neighbors has God sent you – individually and/or as a group – to serve?

Each Community Group must have a plan of action for being intentionally on mission

• Missional Action is a product of needs & resources
• Needs: identify the needs of the people group, geographic area, or neighbors
• Resources: identify resources God has given you that can meet the needs

Question: How can we leverage our resources to regularly meet needs & be a blessing to our neighbors?

Each Community Group must be actively calling others to join in that mission

• Calling others is a product of seeing abundant needs & recognizing signs of grace
• Seeing abundant needs: a group must learn to see more needs than it can meet
• Signs of grace: a group must identify how God has gifted & equipped each other for mission

Question: How can we regularly invite others to help us accomplish this mission?

Many Christian parents face a paradox: How can some children hear the good news of the Bible and believe, while others hear the same message and remain unaffected? While the process of faith may be miraculous, it is not entirely mysterious. Jesus explained it in His parable of the sower (Matthew 13:1-23). Teaching received without understanding kills the yield. Faith with shallow roots withers and dies. Distractions, worries and desires for other things choke the Word. But one who hears the Word and understands it bears fruit.

How can we help our children receive the Word and bear fruit? Jesus’ parable inspires several practical planting tips.

Focus on understanding. Many parents and teachers attempt to impart faith primarily through the transfer of Bible facts. Those seeds will not likely take root unless kids truly understand the meaning of the facts. Sunday school worksheets often use fill-in-the-blanks and word puzzles to drill children on their factual knowledge. But unscrambling the word forgiveness in a puzzle is far less important than understanding the meaning of forgiveness. Hearing is not enough. Reading is not enough. Memorizing is not enough - unless your goal is to produce a Bible “Jeopardy” champion. Concentrate your time on helping kids really understand God’s Word, its relevance today and how you apply it.

Let them experience the message. People remember and are affected by vivid experiences. When Jesus wanted His disciples to learn about servanthood, He got down on His knees and washed their feet. You can be sure those disciples never forgot that faith lesson! You can do the same with your children. For example, to help them experience the concept of grace, involve your family in giving to others without expecting anything in return. Or to encourage kind words as mentioned in Ephesians 4:29, invite family members to write or draw a kind note to one another.

Use teachable moments. Typically, when your kids are enveloped in emotion-packed situations, they are the most ready to grow. When circumstances provoke feelings of fear, sadness, anger, exhilaration, awe or wonder, be prepared to help them see how God is working. When Johnny is scared may be the opportune time to teach about God’s presence. Jesus took advantage of teachable moments often, such as during the storm on the lake and with those who threatened to stone the adulterous woman.

Reinforce for long-term retention. Some information we quickly forget. Other things we remember a lifetime. We can help move more of God’s message into long-term memory through “interval reinforcement,” review or use of the message repeatedly over time. If the brain registers information just once, less than 10 percent of the message is likely to be remembered after 30 days. But if there are six exposures to the information over 30 days, 90 percent of the message is likely to be retained. If you want your kids to understand God as Creator, repeat the message frequently - when you drive through the mountains, when you witness a sunset, when you visit the zoo and when you marvel at the intricacy of the human body.

Avoid bribes. Many well-intentioned parents and teachers attempt to grow their kids’ faith through the enticement of rewards. “Learn this verse and get a ribbon.” “Go to Sunday school and get a cookie.” It may seem harmless, but bribing kids actually sets up a distraction. The “do this and get that” approach causes kids to focus more on the “that” than the “this.” Jesus never said, “If you do unto others what you want them to do to you, you get a lollipop,” or “If you feed My sheep, you get a Twinkie.”

Employ delight. Your kids will learn more when they enjoy the process. Make learning about God fun! Some parents and teachers wince at this suggestion. Few people gain a love for anything that is marinated in drudgery. No one ever accused Jesus of being dull or boring. In fact, consider His first miracle: turning water into wine for the wedding at Cana. And remember how He told Peter to find cash for the temple tax - go catch a fish and pull a coin from its mouth. Delightful! So, make faith learning delightful.

Jesus concludes His parable: “The one who received the seed that fell on good soil is the man who hears the word and understands it. He produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown” (Matthew 13:23). What crop are you plotting with your kids?

This is part one in a series called: What is a Missional Community?

A missional community by nature is intended to be more than a typical bible study. The Gospel is never static, but moves us into action.  As we hear and believe the Gospel again and again, the love of Christ working within our hearts energizes us to practical works of love.  We begin to ask, “What does loving my neighbor really look like?”  This means that we will also want to avoid anything in our community group that does not have this goal of Gospel motivation and love:

A Missional Community is a partnership of Christians for the mission of God (Matt 28:18) to our neighbors, who demonstrate the gospel tangibly and declare the gospel creatively to each other and to the world.

What A Missional Community IS:

A Partnership of Christians: In the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, God has redeemed a people for himself whom he empowers and sends to be his witnesses.

For the Mission of Jesus: the Great Commission given to the early church was the command to make disciples: those who, because of what Jesus has done for them, actively live in his ways and help others to do the same.

To Our Neighbors: Just as the Father sent the Son to a specific time, place, and people, so the Spirit does with the church, sending us to specific groups of neighbors.

A Neighbor is “anyone you cannot avoid” (Guder) or anyone who has needs that you have the resources to meet. Your neighbor may be those who live next-door, those you work with, those you play with, or those with whom you share some sort of affinity, including your immediate and extended family. Paradoxically, your neighbor may also be someone you have little in common with but whom God has placed squarely in your path or specifically called or commanded you to care for. In addition, your neighbors will most likely be both in the church and outside the church.

Demonstrate the Gospel Tangibly: Just as Jesus came demonstrating the kingdom through selfless acts of service, so we actively look for opportunities to meet the felt and real needs of our neighbors so that we become a blessing to them.

Declare the Gospel Creatively: A missional community must listen to and understand the stories of their neighbors in order to be able to tell the Gospel Story in ways that are Good News.

To Each Other and To the World: God’s grace in Jesus is good news for those in the church and those outside the church – we all need the gospel!

A Missional Community IS NOT JUST:

• A Small Group: does not exist primarily for the good of the group itself, but for the mission of Jesus
• A Bible Study: while a missional community will study the Bible together, the goal is not simply more Bible knowledge
• A Support Group: ongoing care and basic counseling happens primarily through a missional community, but it’s not only that
• A Social Activist Group: not just about a social cause but about Jesus and his mission in our city
• A Weekly Meeting: more than just planning and working, an missional community is a family on a mission

—–

Credits: Steve Hart – Vintage Faith Community Church, Drew Goodmanson – Kaleo Church

“Fusion” is a family-integrated worship experience with skits, music and teaching that will be offered every quarter at Woodlands Point. The first “Fusion” will be Sunday, September 12th immediately after the service. Invited friends, family and neighbors with kids to join you after church for lunch, games, bouncies and then the “Fusion” service! Mark your calendars! Click http://woodlandspoint.org/announcements/fusion for more information.

REGISTRATION OPENS THIS SUNDAY, AUGUST 29TH! Every semester a variety of courses are offered on Sunday mornings to help train and mobilize you for the mission of God in this world. Our Fall 2010 schedule will include a Men’s Equipping Track, Women’s Equipping Track, Theology 101 and an Intro to Bible Study Methods course. Schedules and class information will be available online this Sunday, August 29th.

New to The Point? RSVP for the next “Discovery” Lunch on Sunday, September 19th. You’ll have the opportunity to meet leadership, hear vision, mission and values, and learn about different opportunities to get involved at Woodlands Point. The COST for lunch is FREE and CHILDCARE IS AVAILABLE. Visit http://woodlandspoint.org/resources/announcements/discoverylunch for more information and to RSVP for the September 19th Discovery Lunch.

“The gospel is the best news we could ever hear. The gospel is about Jesus Christ and his power to transform our lives and relationships, communities, and ultimately, the nations. Through this gospel, we are freely given a new identity-an identity not based on race, social class, gender, a theological system, or a system of rules and regulations. Rather it is a new and perfect identity based solely on faith in Christ, an identity that defines every aspect of our lives. We are now forgiven, righteous, adopted, accepted, free, and heirs to everything that belongs to Christ. So even our sin, weakness, and failures do not define who we are. Because of this good news, we no longer have to hide from our sin and imagine that we have it all together, for God knows and loves us as we are, not as we pretend to be. Receiving and resting in the truths of the gospel translates into a Christian life of joy, peace, freedom, and love. So the gospel also gives us a new way to live and relate to other people. It frees us from sin’s stranglehold on our lives, liberates our conscience, and releases us from living according to the principles of this world. Since our new identity and new way to live is based solely on faith, the gospel excludes all manner of boasting and arrogance. Everything that we have has been given to us-thus it is called the gospel of God’s grace (Acts 20: 24). Moreover, this gospel has continual and daily applicability. It is not only relevant to us when we first believe, but continues to work in us and through us as we continue to believe. This continual life of faith visibly expresses itself in love (Gal 5:6).”

The Gospel is simultaneously at work in us and through us. Inwardly, our desires and motives are being changed as we repent and believe the Gospel. As we experience Christ’s love in this way, we are compelled to engage those around us with the same kind of redemptive love. God’s grace brings renewal everywhere, in us and through us.

Internally, the grace of God moves me to see my sin, respond in repentance and faith, and then experience the joy of transformation. Externally, the grace of God moves me to see opportunities for love and service, respond in repentance and faith, and experience joy as I see God work through me.”

(adapted from “The Gospel-Centered Life”, by World Harvest Mission)

“So when we sing, ‘Draw me nearer, nearer, blessed Lord,’ we are not thinking of the nearness of place, but of the nearness of relationship. It is for increasing degrees of awareness that we pray, for a more perfect consciousness of the divine Presence. We need never shout across the spaces to an absent God. He is nearer than our own soul, closer than our most secret thoughts.” –A.W. Tozer

Woodlands Point is excited to introduce “Fusion”, a family-integrated worship experience with skits, music and teaching that will be offered every quarter for families at The Point. The first “Fusion” will be Sunday, September 12th immediately after the service. Invite friends, family and neighbors with kids to join you after church for lunch, games, bouncies and then the “Fusion” service! Mark your calendars! Click HERE for more information.

Woodlands Point is committed to seeing followers of Jesus effectively equipped with the Gospel for ministry. Every semester a variety of courses are offered on Sunday mornings to help train and mobilize you for the mission of God in this world. Our Fall 2010 schedule will include a Men’s Equipping Track, Women’s Equipping Track, Intro to Theology and a Bible Study Methods course. Schedules and registration info will be released soon.

New to The Point? RSVP for a “Discovery” this Fall, where you’ll have the opportunity to meet leadership, hear vision, mission and values, and learn about different opportunities to get involved at Woodlands Point. The COST for lunch IS FREE and CHILDCARE IS AVAILABLE. Click HERE for more information and to RSVP for our next scheduled Discovery Lunch.

Kitchen Conversations are a new series of videos Woodlands Point is producing to share stories of how the Gospel is manifesting itself in community and mission through the lives of ordinary people. Each video is shot around the kitchen table in a relaxed, conversational environment. You will hear stories of how individuals, couples, families and community groups are wrestling through the question, “In light of the Gospel, what is God calling me/us to?”. We’ll be unveiling new “Kitchen Conversations” throughout the fall as we celebrate God working in the hearts and lives of people at Woodlands Point. To learn more, click HERE.

Over the past month our KidsPoint children have been collecting backpacks and school supplies to help children in our community. This project was especially meaningful to our children because they could relate. All children need school supplies; the lesson learned was that some children don’t always have the means to buy the supplies they need. It was a simple way to teach children how they can share the love of Christ with their peers.

We were more than able meet the needs for Tamina, Hauser, and the Therapeutic Education Program. The best part is that we have now formed relationships with each group and will continue to see how our church may assist them in the future. Thanks to all of the parents for encouraging participation in this service project.

Here’s a picture of some of the children that participated in Operation Backpack. They were so excited to see all of the backpacks and supplies they had gathered together! They realized that if they worked together they could achieve more than if they worked alone.