Let's Talk Grandparenting Ministry - Science, the Bible & Fun!

Stop and think for a moment about how a strong Grandparenting Ministry helps our Children's Ministry be much stronger as well; and as you do, think about what we want to see happen in this ministry with the grandparents in our church. Clearly, we want to engage them; help them see and understand how they still have a very important job to do. Their "job" is not over when their own children are grown. These years are not the time to just retire and recreate. There are very important things for them to do in passing on a heritage of faith!

Yes, we want to, and need to engage the grandparents in our churches, but we also have to equip them. We need to provide resources they can use which will help them feel able to pass on a heritage of faith. I've talked with many grandparents who tell me they want to pass on a heritage of faith, but they do not know how to do so; they do not know what to do.

Thursdays = Science, the Bible & Fun!

My husband and I are members at a large church (about 6000 people). Our church is in the middle of a major building and renovation project. Since April we have been meeting at a local college (Calvin College) on Sundays in their sports arena, as our own auditorium is being renovated (balcony removed, roof raised a few inches, back wall pushed back to make more room). We are hoping to return to our newly renovated auditorium in December.

The Children's Ministry area is also being made new with a new addition, but it will not be ready until August 2017. So, due to available space issues on Wednesdays (the old Children's Ministry area) they had to limit registration in our mid-week ministry this year. I knew this was going to be the "plan" while the new area was being built, so a year ago I wrote, Science, the Bible & Fun to use with my grandsons while the new children's area was being built. (My grandsons attend my church's mid-week ministry.)

Today is the first day of our Science, the Bible & Fun! We decided to have it on Thursday nights this year, so their poppa is picking them up from school and we will have supper together. After supper we will spend time discovering more about God through fun science projects, work on crafts or bake something tasty and most importantly, learn about real Bible people who chose to love, know and follow God. We will talk about how we can do the same and spend time learning to pray the Psalms back to God. The boys will learn how to keep a prayer journal . . . it is my prayer at the end of our year of Science, the Bible & Fun, they will be boys who are serious about talking to and with God!

So, tonight we will be having fun with a science project where we combine yeast, dish soap and peroxide . . . we will learn about obeying from this project. We will make our prayer journals, play some fun games and spend time talking about Jeremiah 29 and 33 and how God promises to listen to and answer our prayers! Over the coming months we will learn about Noah, Jehoshaphat, Josiah, Jesus, Daniel, Caleb, John and the Judges - and have a lot of fun doing so!

As I mentioned, I wrote Science, the Bible & Fun to use with my grandsons, but it is available for you to use with your grandchildren/children, too! You'll find all the details at this link . . . check it out and try this free lesson, too! This is one tool you can use as a grandparent to pass faith to your grandchildren!