November 28, 2018
| Tags: discipleship, family worship, family ministry
Dear Parents, Peter's story of faith began when Jesus said, "Follow Me." (Matt. 4:18) Peter and his brother Andrewtwo fishermen from Galileeleft their nets and followed Jesus. As one of Jesus' twelve disciples, Peter witnessed firsthand Jesus' miracles and teachings. He saw Jesus heal his mother-in-law (Matt. 8:14) and raise a little girl from the dead (Luke 8:49-55). He s...
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November 28, 2018
| Tags: discipleship, family worship, family ministry
Dear Parents,
This week, kids learn that on the sixth day of creation, God created man in His own image. God formed the man out of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature. (Gen. 2:7) Man was set apart as different from the rest of God's creation. God skillfully formed man out of dust as a potter forms a...
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November 7, 2018
| Tags: discipleship, family worship, family ministry
Dear Parents,
John was on the island of Patmos when he had a vision. Jesus appeared to John and showed him what will happen before the end of time. John wrote about what he saw in the Book of Revelation. John saw a vision of the future. John saw a throne in heaven and the Lord was on the throne.
John saw a scroll in the Lord's right hand. A mighty angel asked, "Who is w...
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October 23, 2018
| Tags: discipleship, family worship, family ministry
Dear Parents,
During this unit, we will be looking at God's message about what will happen when Jesus returns in the Book of Revelation. The apostle John wrote the Book of Revelation from the island of Patmos. Patmos was a small Greek island where the Roman emperor often exiled prisoners. John was likely sent to Patmos as a prisoner, arrested for preaching the gospel.
W...
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September 26, 2018
| Tags: family worship, family ministry
Dear Parents,
Consider how your life would change if you could know the futureif you could accurately predict the weather or outcomes of a baseball game. If you could know how your life is going to turn out, would you live today differently? In the bigger picture of God's plan for the world, we do know the future. God reveals the outcome of His plan for humanity in His Wo...
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September 18, 2018
| Tags: family worship, family ministry
Dear Parents,
During this unit, we will be looking at how God gave hope to Christians while they waited for Jesus' return. Paul was a prisoner under house arrest in Rome when a man named Onesimus (oh NESS ih muhs) came to visit him. Onesimus was a slave who had run away from a wealthy man named Philemon. As it turned out, Paul was a friend of Philemon. So when Paul told O...
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September 11, 2018
| Tags: family worship, family ministry, family discipleship
Dear Parents,
Paul wrote his letter to the church at Colossae not long after he arrived in Rome as a prisoner. The letter served to correct false teaching in the church and to encourage right living among believers. Focus on verses 15-20, in which Paul described who Jesus is.
Paul's teaching to the Colossians was important because the believers were trying to figure out ...
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August 29, 2018
| Tags: discipleship, family worship, family ministry
Dear Parents,
Paul was in Roman custody because the Jews said things about Paul that were untrue. Paul had stood before rulers in Caesarea and invoked his right as a Roman citizen to appeal to Caesar. So Festus the governor arranged for Paul to go to Rome. Paul got onto a ship going toward Rome. As if Paul's journey to Rome had not already been delayed and complicated eno...
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August 22, 2018
| Tags: discipleship, family worship, family ministry
Dear Parents,
Paul was in custody in Caesarea, the capital of the Roman province of Judea. The Jewish leaders had brought serious charges against him, so Paul now stood before Felix, the governor. Felix listened to Paul's defense but delayed a ruling. He met with Paul off and on for two years. When his time as governor ended, Felix left Paul in prison because he did not w...
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August 15, 2018
| Tags: discipleship, family worship, family ministry
Dear Parents, This unit we will be talking about God's plan for Paul, who had devoted his life to preaching the gospel and planting churches, in a frightening and dangerous position. As Paul's third missionary journey came to an end, a prophet named Agabus warned him that the Jews would seize him in Jerusalem and hand him over to the Gentiles. (See Acts 21:10-11.) 

Bu...
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August 7, 2018
| Tags: family worship, family ministry
Dear Parents, It is common to think of faith as something that is just within ustrust and confidence in God. While that is surely part of it, faith doesn't stop there. Faith starts inside of us and always leads to action.
The writer of the Book of Hebrews wanted to explain the fullness of faith to the early Jewish Christians. One of the best ways he could do this was to w...
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July 25, 2018
| Tags: discipleship, family worship, family ministry
Dear Parents,
Paul knew that following Jesus is difficult. After Paul met Jesus on the road to Damascus, his life was turned upside down and he was never the same. Paul spent the rest of his life struggling and suffering to advance the very gospel that he had denied and fought against before his conversion.
Paul was in prison when he wrote his letter to the believers at...
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July 18, 2018
| Tags: family worship, family ministry, family discipleship
Dear Parents,
Paul knew that following Jesus is difficult. After Paul met Jesus on the road to Damascus, his life was turned upside down and he was never the same. Paul spent the rest of his life struggling and suffering to advance the very gospel that he had denied and fought against before his conversion.
Paul was in prison when he wrote his letter to the believers at...
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July 11, 2018
| Tags: family worship, family ministry
Dear Parents,
All of the letters Paul wrote follow the same basic outline. The first part of each letter focuses on important doctrines: the gospel. The second part of each letter then explains how those doctrines can and should shape how we live every day: gospel transformation.
When it comes to Romans, the first eleven chapters are Paul's explanation of the gospel, w...
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July 3, 2018
| Tags: family worship, family ministry
Dear Parents, All of the letters Paul wrote follow the same basic outline. The first part of each letter focuses on important doctrines: the gospel. The second part of each letter then explains how those doctrines can and should shape how we live every day: gospel transformation.
When it comes to Romans, the first eleven chapters are Paul's explanation of the gospel, whi...
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June 20, 2018
| Tags: family worship, family ministry
Dear Parents,
As the early church expanded outside Jerusalem, new churches were planted in various cities. Each church needed godly leaders to help it grow and stay true to the gospel. Paul understood this need, which is why he wrote letters to some of the leaders in the church. Two of these leaders were Timothy and Titus. Timothy was Paul's friend. He had traveled with P...
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June 13, 2018
| Tags: family worship, family ministry
Dear Parents,
During Jesus' earthly ministry, many Jews struggled to believe that Jesus was indeed the Messiah, the Son of God. This included James, Jesus' half-brother. But that Jesus' crucifixion and resurrection, Jesus appeared to James, and at last James believed. James later became the leader of the church in Jerusalem-a vital role in the early, growing church.
The...
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May 29, 2018
| Tags: family worship, family ministry
Dear Parents,
Peterone of Jesus' original discipleshad grown up in a culture where the Jews believed that God only cared about them, not the Gentiles or non-Jews.
Most of the Jews looked down on the Gentiles and refused to even associate with them because Jews believed Gentiles were unclean; Gentiles didn't live the right way to please God. Any Jew who did associate wit...
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May 23, 2018
| Tags: family worship, family ministry
Dear Parents,
Paul's third missionary journey was unlike his first two because he didn't set out to plant churches. Instead, his mission was to encourage and strengthen existing churches. Paul wrote letters to the churches, but he knew some guidance was best given in person
Paul's journey began when he traveled to the city of Corinth. To make a living, Paul was a tentmak...
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May 16, 2018
| Tags: family worship, family ministry
Dear Parents,Paul and Silas had been released from prison in Philippi (FIH-lih-pigh). Before leaving the city, they met with believers at Lydia's house and encouraged them. Then they traveled to Thessalonica and stopped at the synagogue to explain to the Jews that Jesus is the Messiah. A large number of Greeks and influential women believed in Jesus.
Before long, Jews in ...
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May 9, 2018
| Tags: family worship, family ministry
Dear Parents,Paul was back at the church of Antioch in Syria. The church had sent out Paul and Barnabas to preach the gospel to Jews and Gentiles in places like Lystra and Derbe. Then they returned to the church of Antioch. Some time passed, and Paul wanted to return to some of the cities he visited on his first journey to see how the new believers were doing.
Silas accom...
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May 2, 2018
| Tags: discipleship, family worship, family ministry
Dear Parents,The church in Antioch praised God for His grace to Paul on his first missionary journey. Though Paul and Barnabas were strongly opposed in some places, many people heard the gospel and believed. Paul and Barnabas took the gospel to both Jews and Gentiles. But a problem arose when some Christians began saying that the new followers of Jesusthe Gentile believers...
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April 25, 2018
| Tags: discipleship, family worship, family ministry
Dear Parents,Jesus' followers preached the gospel in Jerusalem, and the good news spread to places like Judea and Samaria. More and more people believed, and new churches began as both Jews and Gentiles began to follow Jesus. Barnabas went to Antiocha city about 300 miles north of Jerusalemwhere he brought Paul to help teach the believers. The church in Antioch grew. It wa...
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April 11, 2018
| Tags: discipleship, family worship, family ministry
Dear Parents,Saul was no stranger to religion. He grew up in a religious household. He was a devout Jew who was born in Tarsus (Phil. 3:5) and inherited his Roman citizenship from his father. So when people began talking about this man named Jesus and claiming that He was the promised Messiah, Saul was defensive.
Saul believed strongly in the Jewish faith of his ancesto...
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March 21, 2018
| Tags: discipleship, family worship, family ministry
Upcoming EventsZava ZoneSaturday, April 7th 2-4pm
ZAVAZONE is an indoor adventure park, a unique space dedicated to active fun for people from ages 5 to 105. ZAVAZONE brings together ninja courses, ropes courses, trampolines, climbing challenges, zip lines, and more under ONE soaring roof. Parents, feel free to join in on the fun! If you have any further questions, please...
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March 13, 2018
| Tags: discipleship, family worship, family ministry
Dear Parents,When Jesus ascended to heaven, He instructed the disciples to go to Jerusalem and wait. Jesus promised that the Holy Spirit would come upon them. So the disciples went back to Jerusalem, where they waited and prayed.
The time came for the Jewish festival called Pentecost, or the Feast of Weeks. As with the Passover festival, Jews from all over the Roman Empir...
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March 7, 2018
| Tags: discipleship, family worship, family ministry
Dear Parents,Picture the reality of your salvation: Imagine standing as a defendant in a courtroom. You've been justly found guilty of a crime and the penalty is death. But rather than ordering law enforcement to lead you away to be executed, the judge gets up and takes your place. He takes your punishment upon himself, declaring your innocence and allowing you to walk fre...
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February 27, 2018
| Tags: discipleship, family worship, family ministry
Dear Parents,After Jesus' crucifixion and resurrection, Jesus showed His followers that He is alive. He taught them about Himself and about God's kingdom. (Luke 24:25-27,44-48) Jesus told them that He would soon return to the Father. (John 20:17).
Jesus directed the Eleven to go a mountain. When they arrived, Jesus appeared. Some of them wondered if Jesus was finally goin...
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February 13, 2018
| Tags: discipleship, family worship, family ministry
Dear Parents,After Jesus' resurrection and His appearance to the disciples, seven of the disciples returned to Galilee, near the Sea of Galilee where Jesus had called four of His disciples to be fishers of men. (See Luke 5:1-11.) The disciples went fishing. Perhaps they felt it reasonable to return to the fishing business since their stint as disciples was apparently overo...
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February 6, 2018
| Tags: discipleship, family worship, family ministry
Dear Parents,After Jesus' resurrection and His appearance to the disciples, seven of the disciples returned to Galilee, near the Sea of Galilee where Jesus had called four of His disciples to be fishers of men. (See Luke 5:1-11.) The disciples went fishing. Perhaps they felt it reasonable to return to the fishing business since their stint as disciples was apparently overo...
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January 17, 2018
| Tags: discipleship, family worship, family ministry
This week our kids studied Matthew 28:1-15 and John 20:1-18. The time between Friday afternoon and Sunday morning must have been dark hours for Jesus' disciples. Fear, doubt, and confusion certainly overwhelmed their thoughts. Jesus, their Lord, was dead. He had been unjustly arrested, falsely accused, and severely beaten. Even worse, He had been killed in a horrible manne...
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January 10, 2018
| Tags: discipleship, family worship, family ministry
This last Sunday in our PreK and Elementary classes we studied Matthew 27:11-66. We learned that Jesus’ crucifixion, burial, and resurrection are the center of the gospel. Jesus accomplished the plan God had been working out throughout the Old Testament to bring salvation to sinners, and it happened in such an unlikely wa...
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