PICNIC IN THE PARK – Sunday, May 16, starting at 6 PM, you are invited to a picnic at Cherry Hill Park. Cedar Hills will be providing hot dogs and hamburgers and leading some group games after the picnic. Click here to RSVP with the number of children and adults coming from your family and plan to bring a side or dessert to contribute to the picnic spread.
Parenting is really hard. You don’t really know that until you’re in it, and suddenly discover how much a child changes everything. You literally go from living for your own needs to living for another’s needs (and maybe another and another!)
I want to be a better parent and thought maybe gaining some new skills or perspectives would help.
Mid-June, my husband and I had the privilege of attending a Parent and Family Ministry Summit in Kansas City. The summit ran alongside a camp we also plugged our six-year-old into. At certain points throughout the week, the camp and summit converged for joint services. This is where it got super fascinating.
At the camp, the kids were specifically trained in how to walk out their faith in power and the full ministry of the Holy Spirit. One night, after some time in worship and praise, they called the parents to the front while the kids came around us in small groups and prayed a simple but effective healing prayer over us. We became their practice field to try out the new tools they had been learning all week. As parents, we are always pouring out lives into these little ones but here they were, ministering to us.
“Holy Spirit,
make Jesus known in this body.
Heal them in Jesus’ name.”
The next day, the camp held a special healing service for the entire community. Many flocked to the service, as they desired healing from many infirmities, some obvious, some not so obvious! Those ministering? The kids. And you know what? GOD SHOWED UP. I believe now more than ever that our children can and will walk in faith if we equip them with the tools and the simple confidence that they can walk in the power of the Holy
Spirit.
Leah
Director of Worship & Media
We are excited to announce a new parenting community!
All parents are invited Sunday, May 20 at 9:45 AM to room 135 to connect and ignite this new group. Open to anyone with kids ages infant to elementary, this group will be a fun way to get to know others going through the early-parenting life stage. This is a community that will continue to meet throughout the years, thus allowing friendships to grow. As with most relationships, the real connections will likely happen outside of our Sunday meeting.
In June and July, this group will not meet at the church building (since there is no summer childcare/Sunday school). But, we will hold activities outside of church, such as a picnic, to get to know each other. We hope to initiate “Dinner 6” for the month of June. This is an event where 3 couples or 6 individuals are paired up and decide on a time to get together. This is an excellent way to start to get to know other parents in the church.
For the month of July, we will be meeting at the Ungs house (near the church) for a morning brunch-potluck on July 22nd. Time is yet to be decided.
We will discuss all this and start to get to know each other at our very first meeting on May 20th.
We wish you all a delightful summer.
For more info about the group, contact Karl or Lindsey Ungs. We’ve begun a group in CCB to use for group communication. To be added to the CCB group, please let Jennifer Wagaman in the church office know you would like to be added. This is likely how we will notify you of events.
Fri, Jun 1, 2018 6:00p – 8:00p
On June 1st from 6-8p, you are invited to come and learn more about what family discipleship means, how we can live it out, and partake in discussions with other parents! Childcare will be provided.
Our Children and Family Ministry Director, Kyle French, will open the night with a brief overview of what the Bible teaches and how it values family discipleship. Doing so will help us to have a foundation for application as we seek to shape and enrich our understanding of what family discipleship is and how it can be a church-wide endeavor.
For the remainder of the night, Mark Forstrom from New Covenant Bible Church here in Cedar Rapids, has committed to speak with us about practical ways in which family discipleship can be done well. For those who don’t know Mark, he has been ministering at New Covenant since 1992. And after this summer, Mark will be stepping away from his current role and will begin to use his experiences and gifting in Christian counseling. Mark loves creating environments where families can grow in their faith. He is also passionate about how we should be developing healthy relationships with God and with others.We hope you’ll be able to join us as we look deeper and invest greater into modeling family discipleship!