Bucketlist
When it comes to parenting, intention matters more than perfection.
As parents, it’s easy to get bogged down in the day-to-day details of parenting without stopping to look at the big picture. It’s easy to look at each decision independently rather than the collective impact of them all. Adjusting priorities and making decisions can be difficult. When it comes to parenting, intention matters more than perfection.
In Waumba Land & Upstreet, every month means a new big idea! A big idea is just a topic that is focused on each month and every week, the bible story and small group times are dedicated to reinforcing that big idea!
In Transit & InsideOut, the same thing is happening, it’s just broken into series of teaching instead of monthly big ideas. These series are focused on what your student is struggling with the most in their phase of life.
At the beginning of each month or series, you’ll receive an email outlining exactly what your child will be learning and discussing in small groups. We are doing this so you are more equipped to talk about this with your child.
No matter what environment your child attends, you can start a discussion with them each week using these three questions below!
Big Idea: Love
- What was the series or Big Idea about today?
- What’s most difficult about loving others?
- How does that make you feel when you think about loving someone who has hurt you?
Praying can be difficult to know where to start, but we believe Jesus gave us a great example of how to do this in Matthew. He gave us a beautiful framework in how we should communicate with our heavenly Father.
“This, then, is how you should pray: ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.’
Matthew 6:9–13
Here’s a breakdown of the Lord’s Prayer and how we can use this framework to pray our own prayers.
‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.’
- Jesus acknowledges that God is a perfect Father. God loves us more than we can fathom and He wants to talk with us. Next, Jesus praises God for who he is. When we tell God what’s awesome about him, it helps us remember how big, loving, patient, kind, powerful, and good he is. Not only is it a way for us to tell him how much we love him, it also reminds us how awesome he is. Praising God is a way of showing him that we love him. It’s a way of showing our appreciation for him because of who he is and what he has done in our lives.
Give us today our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation… // Matthew 6:11–13
- Finally, Jesus asks God to meet our needs and to forgive us. God wants to hear our needs, what’s on our hearts, and wants us to ask him things! We talked about how God was our perfect Father. A perfect Father delights in hearing “I need you.”
Now, remember, Jesus didn’t say this is WHAT you pray. He said this is HOW you pray. It’s not a formula you have to follow or something you have to memorize. Jesus doesn’t want us to say the same prayer every day. He wants to have a personal conversation. As your perfect Father, he wants you to come to him with anything and everything. So praying with your family doesn’t have to be hard, and it can look different for every family. But this is a great place to start.
Reading the Bible can be hard, especially with your child or student. Oftentimes not knowing where to start is the biggest challenge. One of our favorite resources is The Bible Project (https://www.youtube.com/c/bibleproject/featured)! They have created hundreds of videos that break down some of the most popular, and most difficult, topics and stories of the bible. If you don’t know where to start, find a bible project video on a topic that suits your family, watch the video, and read the story or verses together.
Who doesn’t love some carpool karaoke? We have built a playlist with all of your child’s or student’s favorite songs for their environments! You can find the playlist HERE! Your child or student will be sure to sing along, and before you know it you’ll find yourself singing too!
We believe serving is one of the best ways to grow in your faith. Loving our community is so important, and we want to be known for serving and loving them! You can find many different non-profit organizations in our community that would love to have you join them for a morning or afternoon to serve! If you don’t know where to start, keep your eyes out on our events page for serving opportunities with our local non-profit partners!
Do you know a family that struggles with one of these 3 NOTS?
NOT in church
- A family that hasn’t been to church before, or maybe, hasn’t been to church in a long time.
NOT going well
- A family or couple of parents who would say that something isn’t going well. Maybe it’s a job, family situation, or relationship.
NOT prepared for
- A family that would say they aren’t prepared for what is next. Whether it’s their child moving to a new school or they just transitioned and moved into our area and aren’t sure what’s next.
If one of these describes a family you’re close to, it may be time to invite them to Beachside. You never know what hangs in the balance of a simple invitation!