Mileposts

Praying for and Blessing Your Baby

Children are such an incredible blessing from the Lord. It’s amazing to think God knows your child, before he or she is born, and He chose you to parent His new creation. While you may be going through the physical changes of growth during pregnancy and infancy, or eagerly awaiting the adoption of your child, you can also be cultivating your child’s spiritual growth and development.

We are eager to walk with you on this journey as you seek to raise your child to know Christ. You can begin by praying for and blessing your child, even before they are born. Once your child arrives, you can continue to pray for and offer blessings upon your children. Develop these practices and habits now to lay a foundation that will have an eternal effect on your child’s life.

Parent Seminar

• Baptism vs. Dedication
• How to pray scripture over your children
• How to pray blessings over your children

Church Celebration

A new life is a time of celebration for you and your church family. As a marker for this Milepost we encourage you to dedicate or baptize your infant.

We are happy to meet with your family privately to answer any questions and plan for dedication or baptism. We schedule these services throughout the year to mark this event in your family life and affirm that we as a church body are going to encourage and walk alongside of you as you raise your child.

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Family Celebration

After your child has been dedicated or baptized, we encourage you to mark this time together as a family. Extended family and friends are certainly welcome to attend the worship service and we encourage you to continue the celebration with them. Document this special day with photos and perhaps write a letter to your child to be opened at a later date.
The letter could contain your prayers and desires for your child as they grow and could be given to them as they reach a future Milepost in their faith development.

Recommended Reading

• Praying the Scriptures for Your Children by Jodie Berndt, 2008
• MOPS – Mothers of Preschoolers 

Knowing and Loving God Through Everyday Conversations

What an exciting time of growth for your child! Curiosity, questioning, and pushing boundaries often mark these years. Kids are growing physically, cognitively, and emotionally. It’s also important to help your child to grow spiritually. The Holy Spirit is already at work in the life of your preschooler and you can come alongside the good work He has already begun.

Your faith should also be on display at this time as you nurture your child. While you are continuing to pray for and bless your child, you can also begin to help them know key truths about God. The resources for this Milepost are intended to serve as a springboard for natural conversations about who God is and can be woven into your family routine. They include truth statements about God, simple verses to remember, songs, and prayers.

Parent Seminar

• Deuteronomy 6 is our call to action
• Spiritual Parenting Workshop

Church Celebration

Each spring we hold a preschool affirmation celebration during a worship service. This is a time for the congregation to reaffirm their promise to encourage you on your journey of raising your child. Your child will also have an opportunity to share his or her growing faith.

Resources

Age appropriate verses, songs, and simple verses are available online that you can begin to teach your children.

Family Celebration

These days of raising young children can be so busy and pass so quickly. We encourage you to take time around the preschool celebration to gather with friends and family, pause and reflect on how faithful God is and celebrate His goodness at work in the life of your preschooler and your family.

Recommended Reading 

For your child:

• Toddler Bible The Jesus Storybook Bible by Sally Lloyd-Jones, 2007
• The Big God Story by Michelle Anthony, 2010

For parents:

• Homefront Magazine
• Preschool Celebration Songs & Verses
• Spiritual Parenting by Michelle Anthony, 2010

Using and Caring for God’s Word

As your child grows and becomes a fluent reader, now is an excellent time to begin the spiritual discipline of reading our Bibles. More than just having a Bible, we need to use them. We’ll help you discover creative ways for you, as a family, to dig into God’s word together and turn your child’s Bibles into a scrapbook of their lives with God.

During these elementary school years, your child will be learning how to care for and use a Bible. Habits aren’t formed overnight so provide your child with more structure at the beginning. Be patient, give grace, and model these habits in your own life. Your child will be focusing on developing a regular reading plan, learning the books of the Bible, and how to use the table of contents and concordance.

Parent Seminar

• Spiritual Parenting Workshop
• Spiritual Parenting Goals for this age
• Developing a Family Mission Statement
• Practical ideas on using the Bible as a scrapbook
• Practical ideas on how to help your child learn the Bible (i.e. Books of the Bible, verses to memorize)

Church Celebration

Every fall, we present our first graders  with a Bible as a gift from their church family at PLCC. Older children who may not have previously received one will also be presented a Bible. As a church, we will reaffirm our commitment to walking alongside you and your child as they grow in God’s word.

Family Celebration

Celebrate the day your child receives their Bible from PLCC. Perhaps guide them to a passage to read as your family celebrates over a meal. Record your child’s name inside their new Bible. The family celebration need not be limited to just this particular day, continue to use and celebrate the gift God has given us in the Bible.

Write your family mission statement. Describe the desires you have for your children as they grow, who you want them to be, and who Gods wants them to be. Include your children in the discussion and display the finalized family mission statement in your home.

Recommended Reading 

For parents:

• At Home Weekly
• Homefront Magazine
• Spiritual Parenting by Michelle Anthony, 2010

Growing in the Body of Christ Through Baptism & Communion

If your child has not yet participated in the sacrament of communion, now is a good time to review with your child why we take communion.

Also, if your child was not baptized as an infant, now is an appropriate age to begin discussions around baptism.

As children learn about communion and baptism, they’re learning about their own story in Christ. The next step in their spiritual journey revolves around their testimony of who Jesus Christ is in their life and sharing Him with others. As they recognize their own place in God’s story, children will also learn about the historic creeds in Christianity defining why we celebrate them in church today.

Parent Seminar

• Spiritual Parenting Environments
• Teaching your children about communion and baptism
• Practical ideas to help your child learn the Apostle’s Creed, the Lord’s Prayer, the Ten Commandments, and Psalm 23

Church Celebration

• First Communion When your child is ready to celebrate their first communion, please let us know. We would like the opportunity to pray with your family as well as acknowledge it at the communion table. Contact Pastor Nancy
• Baptism These services are scheduled throughout the year. Please check with staff for the next scheduled baptism. We generally encourage celebrating baptisms in a public location as a way to share our faith with our community.
  
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Family Celebration

When your child is preparing to take communion for the first time, be sure to spend time praying with them the week prior to communion. In addition to understanding the theological aspects of communion, walk them through the logistical pieces – how we line up, ways to receive the elements, and the actual partaking of the bread and juice.

As you make preparations for baptism, mark the date on the calendar. Invite family and  friends to witness the baptism and join in the celebration. The date marked on the calendar is a milepost anniversary of your child’s decision to commit their life to Christ. This date is also a yearly reminder to look back over the year at the spiritual growth and maturity in your child. 

Recommended Reading 

For parents:

• At Home Weekly
• Homefront Magazine
• Spiritual Parenting by Michelle Anthony, 2010

Identity

All throughout middle school and high school, students are asking the question : Who am I? In response students begin formulating answers like this: I am a(n) __________. I am a musician. I am an athlete, a student, a book nerd, a jokester. As Christians, through our attempt to offer deeper value to this question we often say that our identity is first “in Christ.” But what does this actually mean? All throughout Scripture, we discover four character traits that shape the identity of the people of God:

• Good
• Loving
• Wise
• Free

Relationships

A healthy identity begins to shape healthy relationships, and that’s why the first two mileposts that we desire students to encounter go hand in hand. One of the most important parts of adolescent development is the opportunity to cultivate healthy relationships: with God, our families, friends, teachers, and community. Jesus models the way to pursue healthy relationships, and an important part of this is a lifelong framework for cultivating a healthy sexuality. Jesus calls us to pursue ‘sexual integrity’ in every aspect of our lives to uphold the highest standard for living a life that seeks to glorify God.

Serve

As students begin to encounter the life and teachings of Jesus, it becomes evident that Jesus was a person of action. Through this, we encounter the reality that our faith is only alive when it is in action. This milepost seeks to offer a framework for students to discover that opportunities to serve our church and community are grounded in the call of Jesus to pursue humility as the foundation to love others deeply in all that we do.

Apprenticeship to Jesus

Following Jesus is a lifelong process, so this milepost begins to offer tangible ways that our faith in Jesus can shape our daily lives. The way we like to talk about following Jesus for students is using the word ‘apprenticeship’. Apprenticeship to Jesus simply means to learn how Jesus lived, and to begin to see how this shapes every aspect of life: the way we work, the way we rest, and the way we play. Apprenticeship to Jesus is best cultivated in the context of mentorship/discipleship and therefore an even greater emphasis on offering every student the opportunity to be in a mentoring relationship is emphasized. This milepost continues to cultivate a trajectory of lifelong faith through the framework of five important practices of following Jesus:

• Serving
• Learning
• Worship
• Fellowship
• Outreach

Purpose

As each milepost builds upon one another, we desire to be a church that sends students into the next season of young adulthood with an understanding that our passions and calling in life gives purpose to our role in the Kingdom of God. During senior year, students are offered opportunity to explore new avenues of leadership that begins to further unpack their giftedness and strengths.