Multi-faith
teaching for your chuch playgroup? - CFN newsletter 71
CHRISTIAN FAMILY NETWORK NEWSLETTER 71
> Should church playgroups have to provide multi-faith teaching?
> News:
> Bob Geldof stands up for single dads
> European Parliament in vote for the family
> Mothers Union message for career girls
> Sites:
> New messageboards with Acts on the Net
> Sports outreach camp for teens in Scotland
> Golden
Jubilee services resources
> Events: New guide to 2002's festivals/Bible weeks
> Marriage MOT:
> Humour: A tale of two in-patients
> Members' Zone latest
Plenty of talking points this week - from multi-faith teaching in your church playgroup to getting older joyfully, who dads see as their role models to the mums who have changed a community for their teenagers.
There are reviews aplenty, stacks of new sites to visit, marriage tips, and much more.
And stay tuned: soon we'll be serialising a major excerpt from J John's new book Marriage Works, and providing you with some great competitions!
Do make the most of CFN - use the bulletin boards, pass on the material and help us help you with plenty of feedback, positive and negative.
God bless
Russ Bravo
Christian Family Network
info@cfnetwork.co.uk
http://www.cfnetwork.co.uk
TALKING POINT
Multi-faith teaching in your church hall?
- Should church-based toddler groups and playgroups have to celebrate non-Christian festivals? Playleader magazine Diana Turner looks at the issue
Many families who never attend church on Sundays cross the threshold on weekdays when they bring their children to the local pre-school playgroup or toddler group.
In 1999
the Publications and Research Manager of the Pre-school Learning Alliance
(PLA) estimated 56% of their groups (ie.between 10,000 and 11,000
groups) occupied church halls and village or other community halls,
but she knew that the great majority of these groups use church halls.
So often church-linked groups provide gentle opportunities to share
your faith with little children and their parents. However, for several
years now Christian leaders have contacted me because they are distressed
at being told they should celebrate other faith festivals.
Last week, when one parish playgroup leader phoned asking for advice
about this, I realised some of the children in her group were less
than three years old, most enter school soon after their third birthday,
and the group only meets for two hours on two mornings a week.
"Couldn’t you just celebrate Diwali?" pleaded the inspector.
The leader said she did not think so. Do other faiths come under the
same pressure to celebrate Christian festivals?
It is important for pre-school supervisors and nursery teachers to
know how to respond when told to celebrate other faith festivals.
Life is difficult for Christians these days, but I am sure we are
not alone in believing multi-faith teaching is confusing and unsuitable
for very young children in the Early Years. Yet nobody wants a bad
OFSTED report.
How can
Christians fulfil their obligations under law without confusing young
toddlers or 'teaching' in a way that conflicts with their faith? For
the rest of this article, head for the Advice section at http://www.cfnetwork.co.uk/members/advice.asp
> THIS WEEK'S NEWS
>
Geldof
comes out for single fathers
Bob Geldof is making a stand on behalf of single fathers.
Go to http://www.cfnetwork.co.uk/members/news.asp for the full story
> European Parliament puts family where it belongs
The European Parliament has voted to place the family at the centre of policy on children.
Go to http://www.cfnetwork.co.uk/members/news.asp for the full story
> Mothers Union's message to young career girls
The Mothers'
Union is urging young professionals to think seriously about their
jobs and how they spend their free time in a bid to encourage them
to get more out of life and their local communities.
Go to http://www.cfnetwork.co.uk/members/news.asp for the full story
> DON'T MISS
On 13 July 2002 thousands of Christians from all generations, denominations and races, are expected to gather at Reading's Madejski football stadium for a day of prayer, fasting, repentance and worship, to see the hearts of this nation turned back to God.
Much more information on this gathering, its background, how to get involved, and details of the Christian leaders supporting TheCall England can be found at http://thecallengland.com
>
MARRIAGE MOT
Continuing our partnership with marriage resource site 2-in-2-1.co.uk,
here's their regular marriage tip from Kate:
Past
experiences
Some friends of mine were telling me the other day about a misunderstanding
that had been rumbling on for ages. He was rather overweight and she
kept pestering him to lose a few pounds. He brushed her concerns off
with a joke and she found herself making derogatory remarks about
his appearance.
The hurt grew and they knew they had to talk about it. They tried to share how they felt about his being over weight, and she shared how worried she was in case he was ill. Then it came out that she often thought of when she was growing up and her mother got overweight and had a stroke. To her illness was something that happened because you didn't look after yourself.
His father
had died of cancer of no known cause, and so he regarded illness rather
fatalistically. He hadn't realised why she was so worried and thought
she'd just been fussing over him. He was touched by her love and concern
for him and she felt reassured to have her concerns taken seriously.
Misunderstandings often arise because we don't see life quite the
same way as our partner. Our experiences from the past may be very
different. We don't have to change to be like our partner, but understanding
where they are coming from can take the hurt out of differences.
Next time you bump up against each other in some way, why not stop and try to understand what's going on underneath? It's amazing what you can learn about each other and your love.
>
Check out the rest of this item, plus our archived marriage tips in
the Members
Zone, plus stacks more marriage resources at http://www.2-in-2-1.co.uk
.
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> EVENTS
New: Alive for God 2002. Check out our Events guide in the Members'
Zone at http://www.cfnetwork.co.uk/members/resources.asp
Send your family/church event to info@cfnetwork.co.uk
for a free listing.
> SITES WORTH SEEING
Evangelistic website Acts on the Net is hosting four messageboards
with Xalt.co.uk - find them here
Teenagers all over Scotland will be heading Dunblane from 14-19 July
for a new Christian sports camp run by Sports Outreach Scotland -
check out the details at www.sportsoutreach.com
If your church wants to show the National Service of Thanksgiving
for the Queen's Golden Jubilee, being broadcast on 4 June from St
Paul's Cathedral, you can get orders of service from 15 May at www.oxford.anglican.org.
And following concerns that the Churches' Together liturgy for Jubilee
services is too "royalist", Methodist minister Rev David
Flavell has put his own together, available free from www.freeliturgy.org.uk
> YOU'VE GOT TO LAUGH
Two little
kids are in the hospital, lying on beds next to each other outside
the operating room. The first kid leans over and asks: "What
are you in for?"
The second kid says: "I'm in here to get my tonsils out and I'm
a little nervous."
The first kid says, "You've got nothing to worry about. I had
that done when I was four. They put you to sleep, and when you wake
up they give you lots of jelly and ice cream. It's a breeze."
The second kid then says: "What are you here for?"
The first kid says: "A circumcision."
And the second kid says, "Whoa, I had that done when I was born.
Couldn't walk for a year."
forwarded
by Chuck Wysong
>
CHRISTIAN FAMILY NETWORK THIS WEEK
(MEMBERS' ZONE) - http://www.cfnetwork.co.uk/members/default.asp
> Advice: How should church playgroups handle the pressure
to teach on other faiths?
> Fun: Signs that you're living in 2002, Part 2
>
Resources:
> Dads vote on their best role model
> Growing old joyfully: a celebration at 60
> Old age = scrap heap? Some surprising facts
>
News Extra:
> How a 13-year-old's brush with death kickstarted a teenage skatepark
pioneered by the community's Christian mums
> Reviews:
Film: Russ Bravo reviews Ice Age
Books: David Waite on Laurence Singlehurst's wake-up call to pressured
families Beyond The Clouds
PLUS Peter Dilley reviews the latest US worship albums
>
Top sites this week:
>
Roots - a new worship resource from the URC
> Sheeptrax - fun, humour with a point and a free e-book
> Golden Jubilee resources for your church
> New chat boards with Acts on the Net
> Scottish sports outreach to teenagers
> Events: Alive for God 2002, plus the guide to 2002's festivals
and bible weeks
> Webwatch Index: more than 450 sites at your fingertips
> Site Search Engine: the easy way to trawl our 450-page
plus archives
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