Preparing hearts for Christmas

Have you noticed the shops already have an abundance of Christmas items for sale, encouraging people to prepare for the upcoming holiday? In the church, we have a preparation time for Christmas called Advent. During the four weeks of Advent, we prepare for the coming of Jesus. It is also the beginning of the church year.

Did you know the Grow Ministries resource Growing Faith at Home starts with Advent and has many wonderful ideas on preparing our hearts for Jesus and his coming at Christmas?

Growing Faith at Home is a weekly lectionary-based resource to help households, individuals, and small groups live, share and celebrate each and every week. It has been designed to help connect weekly congregational worship with the faith life of the home. While the primary target is households with children and young people, it is flexible enough to be used by a variety of people in a variety of ways.

There are two different designs of our Growing Faith at Home resource:

• The original version includes daily readings for the week in the Bible Readings section and a Creative Response idea.
• The simplified version focuses on the Sunday Bible readings.

Ways to use Growing Faith at Home

• Use for devotional time together.
• Try starting with highs and lows – around the table, in the car or wherever you can.
• Maybe introduce one question from the conversations around the table or in the car – maybe choose a day of the week to ask the questions.
• Choose a special day and time of the week to read the gospel together.
• Set aside a time to read the Bible readings (perhaps around the table or before bed). If the reading is long, perhaps choose one part to read if you have young children. Or find the story in an age-appropriate children’s Bible.
• Choose a day of the week you might be able to do the action response (or is it something you can do a little each day).
• Use the mealtime prayer during the week at each meal.
• Bless each other with the blessing as you go to bed or drop off at school. Maybe have a whiteboard or chalkboard and write up the blessing to have by the door to bless people as they leave.
• Have some fun memorising the memory verse – have a special treat at the end of the week for remembering.
• Choose one household member to lead each week, letting them plan and choose the days, times and activities to do for the week.
• Use the gospel reading, prayer and blessing for an opening devotion for a meeting. Perhaps take the time to do highs and lows and use some of the conversations.
• As a congregation, use the conversations during morning tea to instigate conversations about faith.
• As a congregation, encourage everyone to do the action response during the upcoming week and share their stories the following Sunday.
• Have some fun and see if everyone in the congregation can learn the memory verse during the week. Have some suitable treats as an incentive.

Whatever way you decide to use Growing Faith at Home, we pray it will bring great blessings to your family or faith community throughout the whole year.

Order Growing Faith at Home from Grow Ministries’ website:

• Original
• Simplified