Build an altar: We would love to encourage you to redeem the time that has become available and “build an altar” in your home. By this we mean, an opportunity to centre your family around the person of Jesus, accessing His presence together and consecrating our homes afresh
See below some of our ‘HOME’ resources:
Personal Resources
KIDS
Each week our Emmanuel Kids Team will be providing different resources to encourage all of our kids to stay connected and to deepen their relationship with Jesus. All of these resources will be available to access through the Emmanuel kids Facebook or Instagram and some will also be available to download below.
Verse of the week: We believe that memorising God’s word is so important to know His ways and to have His wisdom in our lives everyday. So alongside our Kids Church programme we will be releasing a short video with actions to help our kids remember the new memory verse of the week.
Deep meaningful conversations (DMC Tuesdays): Throughout the week are are hoping to provide helpful suggestions for DMC’s with your kids. This will aim to prompt you with some ideas to start and enjoy significant conversations with your kids in the weeks ahead.
Little God thought: Each week one of the Emmanuel Kids Team will be leading a short devotion for your kids to focus in on a thought that they feel God wants to share with His kids.
Leaders spotlight: At this time, we recognise that connection for our kids is so important and so each week we will be putting the spotlight on one of our amazing kids’ leaders to answer some of the questions that you always wanted to know about them. Every Wednesday a new kids leader will be nominated so please send through your questions for them on the weekly Wednesday Instagram post.
Challenge Thursday: Is your family up for the challenge? We will be releasing different challenges for you and your family to achieve, ranging from fun activities to different ways that you can bring God’s Kingdom to earth.
Resource List: We want to make sure that you have lots of resources available to you and your family over the next few weeks as you seek to disciple your kids, including great apps, websites and books for devotionals, worship, prayers and craft activities. The resource list can be downloaded here.
Communion Prayer for Kids: As we encourage our families to take communion together over this period we have provided a specific prayer for kids to engage with, you can download it here.
If you require more information or guidance please email heather@emmanuel-church.co.uk
Youth
Each week our Emmanuel Youth Team will be providing different resources and tools to ensure that we continue to have fun together, build relationships, encourage our young people to stay connected and most importantly, to continue discipling them in their relationship with Jesus. All of these resources will be available to access through the Emmanuel Youth Facebook, Instagram, YouTube Channel and WhatsApp groups.
Lifegroup 3’s: In these days we realise how important it is going to be to keep communication levels and accountability high. It can be difficult to do this in large groups. Therefore, every young person in Vital, Collective and Vital Sunday will be put into a small WhatsApp group with two or three other young people and two leaders.
Monday devotions: Every Monday there will be a weekly devotional sent into these smaller WhatsApp groups. The leaders will lead them through the devotional, where they will be encouraged to read scripture, think, discuss, pray and live it out.
Wednesday – Each week we are going to release a blog post by one of our youth leaders, who will share about their testimony. This will help the young people get to know their leader and will also be relatable to them, providing encouragement and a challenge too. We will also release some blog posts about what we feel God wants to say to our young people in these times. The blog can be accessed here or on the Emmanuel Youth Facebook and Instagram pages.
Wednesday LG’s 12’s: We are going to have Lifegroups as scheduled on Google Hangout which can be downloaded on the app store or google play store. They will go through their highs and lows from the week, pray for each other and hang out together.
Friday: 8:00pm - we are going to have live games and challenges using IGTV on our Instagram page.
8:30pm - we are going to upload a Collective Ted Talk and a Vital Ted Talk on our Emmanuel Youth Facebook, Instagram, YouTube Channel. These talks will be shorter but continue on with our themes.
8:45pm - follow up questions will be sent into the Lifegroup 3 WhatsApp groups to discuss in more depth.
Vital Sunday: A video is going to be sent into the Vital Sunday WhatsApp group and uploaded onto the YouTube channel. This video will be released at 11am to encourage young people to watch the Church livestream with their families. Follow up questions will be sent into the Lifegroup 3 WhatsApp groups to discuss in more depth.
Resource List: We want to make a list of resources and tools that young people can use themselves to help them grow in their faith. The resource list can be downloaded here.
If you require more information or guidance please email tara@emmanuel-church.co.uk
FAMILY
Prayer Resource
Morning Prayer: we are encouraging families to say ‘Morning Prayer’ together. You can download the prayer here.
Communion Prayer: each evening we encourage families to have communion together, to centre their hearts and lives around the person of Jesus. You can download our communion prayer here.
Wash hands to Lord’s prayer: It takes 20 seconds approx. to say the Lord’s Prayer, the same length of time we are being encouraged to wash our hands. Why not practice this habit over the coming weeks as a family!
24/7 prayer: we are planning a virtual 24-7prayer room where we are encouraging families/individuals to sign up for an hour each. This will commence on Sunday 29th March. We will give you prayer points, including our 1000 hours of prayer for 1000 lives initiative.
Readings/Devotionals
Daily Psalms: we encourage families to read and pray the Psalms this season. If we are locked in for the next 2-3 months and we pray 2 Psalms a day we will get through the whole book! Guidance for this can be seen on the Prayer Tool Shed here.
Lectio 365: is a daily devotional resource that helps you pray the Bible every day. Written by leaders from the 24-7 Prayer movement, and produced in partnership with CWR, this resource helps you engage with Scripture to inspire prayer and shape your life. You can download it from the App Store or Google Play.
Jesus Guide: The Jesus Guide is our primary small-group / family discipleship tool for people to gather around the presence of Jesus and His word. It is a simple and flexible intentional tool to facilitate meaningful conversations around the scriptures. You can download the Guide here. You can watch this short ‘guidance video’ below on how to use the guide.
Managing Coronavirus Anxiety.
The amazing team at Links Counselling have created a great resource, it has been designed for individuals and families as a supportive mechanism to help you during this time of social distancing and isolation. We are mindful that this current pandemic can trigger many various emotions and fears. Therefore, we want to give some guidance that might help us navigate this time of global crisis. You can view the resource here.