Parents

Parenting Refresh

Parenting is an incredible joy but it requires everything we have and more. Thankfully, God gives us more. His grace supplies what we lack, which is very good news for the inadequate parent (wait, that’s redundant). Of course, God supplies his grace in lots of different ways, but he definitely does so through one another. Parents are strengthened and encouraged as they glean from one another’s wisdom and experiences.

With that in mind, we want to provide regular opportunities for parents to be refreshed in their parenting through their fellow parents. Over the course of this school year, we will take five Saturday mornings to cover a number of different topics related to parenting. Each gathering will run from 9:00-11:30 a.m. and will include teaching, parent panels, small group discussions, and prayer (not to mention tasty food and fun giveaways!).

Our goal is to have each morning be helpful for parents of all ages. If the topic seems to relate more to the teen years, for example, we will try to make it applicable for younger parents as well. Besides, young parents need to wrestle with such topics long before the teen years, so at the very least it will be good preparation. What’s more, one of the main goals of these times is not merely to deliver content and instruction, but to relationally connect parents of different ages.

Childcare is also available. We just need to know numbers beforehand, so please register yourself and your children for each Refresh you plan to attend so that we can make sure we have enough food and childcare.

Below are the dates and a quick summary of the topics we intend to cover this year. We’re expecting these times to be both refreshing and challenging for all of us as parents, so please join us!

September 20 | God: Shepherding a pursuit of God through the Bible, prayer and the church.
Our primary job as parents is to point our kids toward Jesus, but helping them develop a consistent and vibrant walk with God isn’t easy. This week we hope to talk through the many facets of helping our kids, starting at a young age, to pursue a relationship with God through regular times with him and through the community of the church.

November 8 | Communication: Talking to your spouse about your kids and talking to your kids about their lives.
Parenting can especially be hindered when husbands and wives aren’t on the same page. Spouses need to be able to have fruitful and uniting conversations about their children. They also need to be able to draw out the deep waters of their kids’ hearts and be able to shepherd them at the level of the heart rather than just modify their behavior.

January 31 | People: Girl drama, boy aloofness, cliques, romance, peer pressure and all the relational intensity of youth.
Our kids are relational creatures, whether they’re infants or 18-year-olds. Much of parenting is helping our kids to develop healthy patterns of relating to other people – to love like Jesus in every situation. Although the need for relational health intensifies in the teen years, patterns and values can be instilled into children all along the way, preparing them for healthy, enriching relationships as they head into young adulthood.

February 28 | World: Technology, culture, and interacting with a world that never stays the same.
We live in a confusing world that seems to be constantly changing. Modern parenting requires awareness and conviction as we help our kids develop a healthy relationship with technology. But more broadly, we need to shepherd our kids into engaging with the world in appropriate ways, and to be salt and light in that world.

April 25 | Schedule: Living life to the full by not filling up your life.
Our kids have options. They can be involved in a thousand good things (as can we!). To allow for a life-giving pursuit of Jesus, though, we need to be able to clearly discern between what is good and what is best, to be willing to make difficult choices, and to lead our kids and ourselves in healthy prioritization.