Last night after our Discovery Bible Study was over my daughter told me, "Dad, that did not work well."
The discussion with the adults went fine. The problem was the children. They were banging on the piano, making it hard for the adults to hear. My daughter ended up leaving the group repeatedly to quiet them down. She missed a good portion of the study.
She went on to suggest that we change everyone's expectations: "Let's call this Family Church and design it so that the children have a reason to be here".
This weekend I went to a six year old's birthday party.
Some parties are easier than others for me. I am an introvert and prefer parties where I already know at least one other person.
This was among my favourite parties. The host made a real effort to make sure that everyone was engaged. The theme of the party was "Legos" and the first activity was to assemble a Lego kit. There were kits for each child and three for the adults. I worked with another adult to make this firetruck. We were totally immersed in this project. Looks good doesn't it?
The other night I went with my wife to the local park to give out bread. A local baker clears his shelves every night and gives us the left overs every Monday. Usually people come to our home for the bread, but it is summer holiday and only a few people came. We put the bread in the boot (trunk) of the car and headed to the park.
We are fairly well known at the park and it didn't take long until people started moving towards the car to pick up their free bread.
Saturday morning we had our DBS with David* and his family.
It was supposed to have been on Thursday night, but David had to work late and so we rescheduled. That is one of the advantages of meeting with just one family. You can flex the time easier.
When I asked David, "who have you been talking with about God since our last meeting?", he immediately started telling me about the conversations that he and Samuel had at work.
I've met Samuel. We both were at the birthday party for David's son. I know he is a keen Christian.
What my Discovery Bible Studies are doing for Christmas
Body:
At this time of year we usually focus our Discovery Bible Study on the Christmas event. My goal is that our group members can tell the story from the time the angel came to Mary through to the time Joseph and Mary left for Egypt. That allows them to say "from the very beginning there were some people like the wisemen who worshipped Jesus and others like King Herod who wanted to get rid of him."
I totally forgot about my coaching time with Doug* yesterday. That is I forgot, until my computer beeped. My ten minute reminder. Now why did I schedule a coaching appointment in the first week of the school holidays? Must be important. Oh, yes. Doug was on holiday last week and we need to keep moving forward.
I grabbed a blank sheet of paper and wrote down my outline: CASA.
Wednesday night I went to the school musical -- Yes, I can.
We've been active in this primary school for over 20 years. Both of our children started there in KIndergarten. Now we are continuing at Scripture teachers. I teach Year 6/5; my wife teaches Kindergarten. Each year we attend the school musical.
This year there was a page in the program about the Growth Mindset which caught my attention. The diagram below reminded me of the task we often face: helping a person take the next step.
