"HBI8002: For Kid’s Sake" is designed to help senior pastors, associate pastors, and those preparing to be pastors to understand the importance of helping our children become Christians and live a life following in His will while living in our contemporary culture. This course will enable participants to discover ways of helping parents and children focus together toward how they both need to focus more on God and less on our present culture. Thinking about what is “wrong” has little time when we think about what is “right.” When we think and behave as God wants us, we have less time to think and behave as our secular world wants.
Session: This Institute for Ministry Enrichment (IME) course is divided into four sessions – 4 weeks. A four-week course earns 2 Continuing Education Unit (CEU) credits and is rated at a minimum of 20 hours of course time.
Participant Expectation: Participants are to dedicate a minimum of 5 hours for each of the four weeks for a total of at least 20 hours. Our responsibility is to (a) Read the textbook and lectures, and (b) Participate in the class discussion by submitting assignments, answering questions, and responding to others' responses to questions. These submissions are to be sent to the class discussion for all to read. The professor will respond to each submission in the class discussion along with everyone else.
Let’s be honest with one-another. There once was a time when it appeared more of our population was full of God-followers than it seems we have today. Yes, there were those who did not follow Him but there were more of us who “rested on the Sabbath (Sunday)” than there were those who seemed to forget God’s Ten Commandments. Now there are more who ignore God than those who worship Him on Sunday, or the other six days of the week. Week One: Reflect About the Secular World We All Live In Today.
Our textbook, For Kid’s Sake, was written only a decade ago. The crisis we have today is identified metaphorically by “The Kudzu Parable.” No one intended for our society to be like it is; the way it is when we read our newspapers, watch our news casts, and look at our cell phones and computers. What we really need is a reason for being a God-follower in every aspect of our lives. Only as we do this will we find “Advocates for our children.” Week Two: Reflect About the Godly World We Live In Today.
Think about our own congregations. Do we find a positive way to worship or do we allow worshipers, musicians, ushers, or pastors to focus our attention on something other than God’s best? When we worship God we need to think about his “Holy Love.” What is more, we need to help our children do the same. What is the Biblical pattern of worship? What does it look like, and what difference does it make in the rest of the week in our own homes and in the store down the street? Perhaps we need to eliminate the darkness by allowing God to live through us in such a way that we are known as one who shines a light with our smiles because of our sense of God’s presence. Week Three: Reflect About the Amazing Power of God’s Family.
Sometimes we discover someone who is full of “negative thinking and talking.” On the other hand we often discover someone who is full of “positive thinking and talking.”
Have we noticed that when the negative thinking and talking takes over, few come to the next worship service. On the other hand, when the positive thinking and talking take over many new people seem to know what is happening. What is more important is regularly looking for ways to add to the positive thinking. This also happens when a young couple is married in a church sanctuary and when we offer “For Kid’s Sake” an opportunity to occasionally worship with their parents instead of going to another room to have a “children’s” worship time. Week Four: Reflect About How We Will Do Our Best to Build Christ’ Kingdom for Future Generations.
Please see the Course Description below.