Resources for Parents & Children

With a desire to love our neighbors as ourselves, and out of an abundance of caution for the members of our church and community amidst a global pandemic that is affecting our city, as of Sunday, March 22, Friendship worship gatherings will be moved online until further notice. More information about what this means and why we have made this decision is available at fcbc.church.

In addition to our online worship gatherings, we wanted to provide some resources for parents and guardians to use as you disciple your children during these days. We recommend that families watch the online worship gathering together and then take advantage of these resources as a family throughout the week. While this season certainly brings some unique challenges (such as teleworking while kids are out of school, or extra unanticipated time together), we really want to encourage families to leverage this time to be together and focus on things of eternal significance. Should you have any questions or issues with the resources and ideas listed below, feel free to contact the church and speak to our Director of Ministries. For some suggestions on how to talk to your children about how we as Christians can understand and process everything related to the coronavirus, Here’s a helpful article.

ACCESS OUR CHILDREN’S CURRICULUM ON DEMAND

The creators of our children’s curriculum have made most of the weekly materials available online for families to access so you can host Children’s activities with your kids at home. Lifeway’s Digital Pass gives families access to each week’s teaching through a fun interactive video, a downloadable coloring and activity pages for the kids, and a conversation guide for parents to help the children process what they are learning. If your children have been participating in FriendshipKIDS already, you’ll soon be emailed with instructions on how to access this content. Anyone, whether you’re a part of Friendship or not, can also download the “Lifeway Kids” app for free on your mobile device to access content and resources connected to our weekly children’s programming.

LEAD FAMILY WORSHIP IN YOUR HOME

Family worship is a simple way for families to worship the Lord together through various activities such as singing, praying, and reading God’s Word together. We have put together “A Simple Guide to Family Worship” that provides parents with some helpful thoughts and practical resources on how to lead a family worship service in your own home. Don’t feel intimidated! This practice can turn into a wonderful daily or weekly rhythm that draws your family closer to the Lord and each other. You can access that guide here.

ACTIVITIES FOR STUDENTS

As we develop questions related to the sermon for adult groups each week, we are encouraging our students to process those questions with their families and small groups as well. Our FriendshipKIDS and FriendshipYOUTH teams are also working on ways for our students to connect digitally with their small groups throughout the week. We also highly encourage families to involve their children of all ages and abilities (including students!) in family worship during the week. Students that are currently connected to FriendshipYOUTH will be receiving further instructions via email and social media on how they can stay connected in the days to come. If you have further questions related to students, please reach out to our Director of Ministries.