Faith In God - Err, What's That Then?
This past week I mentioned the Faith in God programme a few times and mostly everyone was really accepting of it, but I did get asked a question in my email asking what the Faith In God programme actually was, as they couldn't work out if it was a youth club, a religious thing or a thing I just made up!
The answer is, it's actually a mix of the first two. As much as I'd like to think I was that clever, there is no way I could have made up the programme. To explain properly I need to give you a little background. Stay with me if you already know this and if you don't, well read on!
At the Church that I attend we have several different auxiliaries. There is a group for Women, a group for Men, a group for teenagers and a group for children. The group for children is what I'm over, and it's called Primary. Each Sunday the children in Primary have lessons about different Gospel topics and they are put into classes based on their age. They also have a sharing time lesson with me or one of my councillors and a singing time too. Maybe I'll share more about that another week, but for now just know it's a lot of fun and I wouldn't want to be anywhere else.
So, the older children in Primary, the ones aged between 8 and 11 have a "club" for want of a better word that they attend, which is what we call Faith In God.
Faith in God is an award based programme, which can take place once a month, (or maybe even twice a month if you're lucky) and it helps the children learn to apply the principles of the gospel to their lives. The idea is that the Faith In God leader arranges activities that give the children opportunities to develop good personal habits, to be mindful of other people, to develop their own personal talents and to prepare them for the future. Of course this is all done with a Faith perspective, we are part of a Church after all!
There is a little booklet that the children get, that have suggestions of things to do, a sort of tick list and we all know how much I love a tick list. On the list are the basics of faith, prayer, reading Scriptures, keeping the commandments and other things in a similar vein.
Then there are things which I think make the children a little more rounded with activities such as attend a museum or a play, to try a new sport, to learn how to budget and to show appreciation for those around them by writing a letter of appreciation.
There are parts for understanding more about their faith, about being able to explain their faith and knowing about the history of our religion, and one of those came in very handy when Dan Jon was trying to explain to a friend, why he didn't play console games on a Sunday and why he didn't mind that his friend didn't believe in God.
Anyway, at the end of the children's time in Primary and the Faith in God programme, they get a little award and a pat on the back for a job well done.
The new Faith in God leader is the sort of grown up I wish I was, she rides a motorbike and speaks two languages and is so kind... and she's a proper grown up not just pretending like me! I think that having us two together is going to create some kind of trouble though as we're both quite adventurous and if we're not careful we'll have the children base jumping or something... actually that's not a bad idea!
The answer is, it's actually a mix of the first two. As much as I'd like to think I was that clever, there is no way I could have made up the programme. To explain properly I need to give you a little background. Stay with me if you already know this and if you don't, well read on!
At the Church that I attend we have several different auxiliaries. There is a group for Women, a group for Men, a group for teenagers and a group for children. The group for children is what I'm over, and it's called Primary. Each Sunday the children in Primary have lessons about different Gospel topics and they are put into classes based on their age. They also have a sharing time lesson with me or one of my councillors and a singing time too. Maybe I'll share more about that another week, but for now just know it's a lot of fun and I wouldn't want to be anywhere else.
So, the older children in Primary, the ones aged between 8 and 11 have a "club" for want of a better word that they attend, which is what we call Faith In God.
Faith in God is an award based programme, which can take place once a month, (or maybe even twice a month if you're lucky) and it helps the children learn to apply the principles of the gospel to their lives. The idea is that the Faith In God leader arranges activities that give the children opportunities to develop good personal habits, to be mindful of other people, to develop their own personal talents and to prepare them for the future. Of course this is all done with a Faith perspective, we are part of a Church after all!
There is a little booklet that the children get, that have suggestions of things to do, a sort of tick list and we all know how much I love a tick list. On the list are the basics of faith, prayer, reading Scriptures, keeping the commandments and other things in a similar vein.
Then there are things which I think make the children a little more rounded with activities such as attend a museum or a play, to try a new sport, to learn how to budget and to show appreciation for those around them by writing a letter of appreciation.
There are parts for understanding more about their faith, about being able to explain their faith and knowing about the history of our religion, and one of those came in very handy when Dan Jon was trying to explain to a friend, why he didn't play console games on a Sunday and why he didn't mind that his friend didn't believe in God.
Anyway, at the end of the children's time in Primary and the Faith in God programme, they get a little award and a pat on the back for a job well done.
The new Faith in God leader is the sort of grown up I wish I was, she rides a motorbike and speaks two languages and is so kind... and she's a proper grown up not just pretending like me! I think that having us two together is going to create some kind of trouble though as we're both quite adventurous and if we're not careful we'll have the children base jumping or something... actually that's not a bad idea!