Dean and Andrea Corder coordinate and host the monthly Young Families' Fellowships. During this time, families eat a meal prepared by the Corder family and share their insights on God's Word.
Fellowship dates are:
- November 12, 2011
- December 10, 2011
- January 14, 2012
- February 11, 2012
- March 10, 2012
- April 14, 2012
- May 12, 2012
- June 9, 2012
Youth and Family Ministry
The Westworth Church of Christ has a somewhat unique approach to spiritual growth for young people than many. We believe the daily activities of a God-following family are the most valuable way for children to grow spiritually. Thus, like the first century believers, we do not use a traditional Sunday School or Bible Class teaching system.
Here is what we practice to help make children grow strong in the Lord:- Regular family devotionals. We believe a parent or parents are going to be the strongest spiritual influence on their children, whether they recognize it or not. Many parents don’t see themselves as teachers. Through their actions, however, they are teaching their children every day what is important about life.
We see much in Moses’ words to the children of Israel:
“Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.” Deuteronomy 6:4-9, NIV
This is what our church encourages- daily following of Jesus as a family. It may be a more formal time of Bible reading, such as around the dinner table, or the informal times of sharing family experiences.- Regular family service projects. We believe children learn to serve as they work alongside their parents, grandparents, and other significant adults and children. We encourage our families to get involved and minister together for the Lord.
- Regular family worship. We believe children learn best about worship as they sit with the rest of their church family. We encourage our young boys to participate in leading worship and schedule them to do so. It is amazing what children learn as they worship with the rest of the church: they get more out of it than many think. We love children, and enjoying having them in services (even when they fuss once in a while).
- Regular support for parents. We do our best as a group to help and support a parent or parents to teach their children. Several examples of that support are:
- Young Families’ Fellowship: a monthly time of encouragement and discussion among our young families, led by one of our elders and his wife.
- Teen Scholarships to Summer Excitement. The congregation pays the tuition for our teens to attend this annual Leadership training in Lubbock, TX.
- “Planet Wisdom”. Our teens are sponsored to attend this annual conference in Irving, TX. This lets our teens mix with young people from many religious traditions. They get to know each other and the Lord over this weekend.
- Teen Mission Trip. We try each year to have a Mission Trip. Due to problems in old Mexico and a last-second cancellation in the U.S., we were unable to go in 2010. We are working toward a Mission Trip in Summer 2011.
- Family Bible Story. During our Sunday morning worship service, we include a 3-5 minute teaching story. This might be a direct telling of a Bible story, or a story illustrating a Biblical principle. This helps model for parents how to tell stories of faith to children. Each child under 12 receives a Children’s Worship Bulletin with activities they can do during services.
- Vacation Bible School. By not having weekly Bible classes, this makes the week of VBS special for our kids. It is a pretty typical VBS format: teaching, skits, crafts, activities, snacks. We do our best to make this time joyful for both our kids and guest children- it is as much about relationships, love, and positive attention as it is about information.
- Intergenerational Small Groups. We believe having parents and children together for Bible study and fellowship breaks down the perceived barriers between generations. We have seen wonderful growth in some of our young people as they interact with parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents. We think this builds the kinds of relationships children need with caring, Christ-following adults.
Ours is a different but thought-out approach to Youth and Family Ministry. We believe that the fruit we get over the long term is healthier:
- Parents who take spiritual responsibility for their children.
- Children who grow up to love other children and love adults also.
- A depth of relationship between the generations that is a blessing for all.
