Helping families love their children
Story Investigator Kit:
The Story Investigator Kit makes stories easy and fun. Whether exploring stories from scripture, or laughing over stories from our lives, the kit is designed to make those important conversations easier. Here’s what some of our test-families had to say.
“With these activities, my kids were able to make connections between the Bible stories and their own personal stories. It helped them to see we experience those same emotions and feelings and God is with us just like he was with them.”
“It helped us voice the best qualities we see in each other that too often go unspoken.”
“The kit helped us put some familiar stories into words and go deeper. It also helped us share some new stories.”
Interested in purchasing a Story Investigator Kit for your family–or someone else?
OptIN Kids exists to help families love their children. Parents, grandparents, family friends and caregivers are carrying more weight now than ever. These adults (maybe you) understand how important it is to show the children we love our belief in Jesus by modeling Christian practices and values. Jesus ends the sermon on the mount by telling the gathered crowd:
“Everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock” (NIV).
There is no greater gift families (and churches) can give to the children they love than to teach them a way of life built around the God that loves them even more. This way of life will keep them planted in God when the storms of life come. But knowing this is important doesn’t mean it’s easy. OptIN Kids supports families by providing activities and tools that make exploring Christian practices as a family an adventure.
The project is being funded through Lilly Endowment’s Christian Parenting and Caregiving Initiative. The aim of the initiative is to help parents and caregivers share their faith and values with their children. OptIN Kids will develop tools and activities that make it easy for families to explore Christian practices in the home and build these practices into their daily rhythms of life. Over the coming years, OptIN Kids will be actively experimenting with how to best support families, and also how to best equip churches to be advocates and cheerleaders for Christian practices in the home. Pastor Micaiah Tanck explains the heart behind the project:
“The foundation for faith development today is the family, so churches need to be resources for family spiritual life. There is a depth missing to the Christian life when practices like prayer and worship aren’t cultivated. We want to help families find that depth together, and we want to equip congregations to support families on that journey.”