Romans 1:12 ‘When we get together, I want to encourage you in your faith, but I also want to be encouraged by yours.’
Kia Ora Bay Kids Whanau,
Welcome to the very first Family Discipleship Email for 2025. This is in fact impressively Number 27! We’re getting really grown up now. I hope there have been moments of encouragement and inspiration for you here amidst the information and the exhortation. And a big Welcome Back to Bay Kids for 2025 too.
My prayer for last Sunday was that as our children returned to Church and to Bay Kids, that they felt a real sense of belonging, their sense of place - the comfortable and the familiar…and I think that this absolutely happened. Our little community was buzzing! Our rooms were full, the noise was even mostly joy-filled, the interactions were delightful, and the learning had started. We love being together. What a wonderful bunch of children to hang out with.
This year my vision for Bay Kids is centred around these verses from Colossians 2: 6 and 7 ‘You received Christ Jesus as Lord. So keep on living your lives in him. Have your roots in him. Build yourselves up in him. Grow strong in what you believe, just as you were taught. Be more thankful than ever before.’
I want to gently grow our children in their formation journey this year, towards a sense of ‘filling them out’. That they would become more rounded, more stable, more confident and consolidated, built up and strengthened in Jesus.
And if this feels a little abstract, I mean it to be similar to when we observe our own kids as they develop through seasons of growing up, getting taller and ‘limb-ish’, bursting through shoe sizes and finding that any pants, shorts, jeans just aren't long enough anymore. And also, those seasons of growing out, filling out those long limbs, getting sturdier, stronger, sometimes getting squishy. And it’s all OK - they’re supposed to do both, in their own time. All of this is healthy and normalIt’s the same when it comes to our kids’ faith. We want to stretch them and challenge them and grow them, exposing them to new learning, and new understanding. We invite them to embrace curiosity and wonder AND at the same time we also want to encourage and consolidate them, strengthening their hearts and developing their depth so that they can continue to live their lives in Jesus.
We want them to have roots that secure them AND we want them to be discipled so that they grow confident in what they believe. ‘Have your roots in him. Build yourselves up in him. Grow strong in what you believe, just as you were taught…’
So with this in mind, stay tuned for a Vision and Discipleship Evening coming up this term where we can unpack this further together - both as families amidst our ordinary daily rhythms and through what we do on Sundays in our Bay Kids Community.
Here are the Formational Practices that we will continue to cycle through this term, growing in familiarity, depth, and confidence in all our Bay Kids Programmes:
Belonging
Learning to be community together in our Sunday programmes as well as developing friendships outside of this time, celebrating one another, showing kindness towards one another and praying for one another
Biblical Literacy
Learning the meta-narrative of Scripture, becoming familiar with the Big God Story of the Bible
Scripture Memorisation
Building up a collection of ‘Remember Verses’, known in context, hidden in our hearts and used in practical ways. Learning to pray Scripture
Prayer and Worship
Giving time to prayer in all our Sunday Programmes, regular prayer for Gabriel, teaching on different types of prayer, opportunities to go deeper in SPARKS prayer meetings and Home Church. Worship opportunities in partnership with Jen.
Mission and Justice
Giving of our prayers and money through regular World Vision sponsorship
With all these things in mind, I'd really love your feedback on what happens when you ask your kids to share one thing that they heard or learnt on Sunday in any of our Bay Kids Programmes.
It can be helpful to ask for something specific that made them think, or something that made them curious, or just something that was weird or maybe even hopefully helpful.
I’m interested in the anecdotes, there’s not a right or wrong response and no answer is too unusual or too small. I’m just wanting to get a sense of what’s going in and what’s sticking. It’s helpful to have this kind of feedback, so thank you. Feel free to email or message me.
And finally, some important pieces of housekeeping for our Team Bay Seniors:
Firstly, It’s just so wonderful to have a really full room of Seniors this year, lots of newbies, and an amazing opportunity for our Year 8s to show some kind leadership. A huge thank you to the very gracious and energetic team that makes this possible on a Sunday.
Please make sure you register for the Follow Intermediates Conference. It’s happening on March 8th at Engage Church, from 9am - 3.30pm and we’re super excited that it’s local, as well as joining in with other Churches across the Hawkes Bay. The cost for the day is just $15, and it’s a really great way for our new Year 6s to get a feel for what LIVE Camp will be like. Register online here.
And speaking of LIVE Camp…Save the Date...we loved it sooooo much last time that we’re heading back to El Rancho for the weekend of June 20 - 22 (Matariki) and we can’t wait. More information will be heading your way soon and our fundraising will begin at the start of Term 2. Can’t wait.
I’m looking forward to a wonderful year ahead.
Grace and Peace to you all.
Charlotte