On the first Friday of June, the Chinese and English family groups had a special gathering. We ate dinner together and shared with each other our gains from our family fellowships, giving each other suggestions. What made it special was that a group of new moms and dads could listen to and learn from the experiences of others, while at the same time, those who have been married for many years could also gain insight and motivation to improve from the young parents. Here are some snippets and interviews from that night:
Why do we need to have a family fellowship time?
Their responses:
● To live out and build up God’s household, to establish support between parents and their children
● To pursue together with their spouses and motivate one another. Not only to talk about and support each other in spiritual things, but also in terms of lifestyle.
● To be a good example to their children and begin to help their spirits grow starting from home.
● Parents have the responsibility to bring their children before God. They can’t push that responsibility solely to the church.
It looks like having family fellowship time can only be beneficial. We can even say that, for God, for our other half, for our next generation, we need to persevere in having a well-designed family fellowship time. Wanting it is easy, but how do we actually do it? Let’s listen to some brothers and sisters’ testimonies:
● Penny & Eric – “We will read Bible stories to our son before his bedtime and then pray together.”
● Blue & Terence – “We will plan time to play and exercise with our daughter as well as set an anchor point to pray together when we get in the car to go somewhere.”
● Johnny & YY – “We will find time to sing with our 3-year-old son. We will clap hands and encourage each other after we sing or blow a kiss to Abba. From this, our son is learning how to express himself to God, and our family can experience greater joy and freedom before God.
After the games and testimonies, we divided into cell groups by table and shared what we were doing in our own family fellowship time or how we wanted to improve in this area. One of the brothers shared how his wife and he would argue every Sunday over which church they should go to; but, recently, they can enjoy the time to pray the Precious Prayers and worship together instead. Another brother shared that he liked to portray strength and didn’t like to tell his difficulties or feelings to his wife. But he also agreed that a family fellowship time was needed—he just didn’t know where to begin. Another brother immediately suggested him to start with a simple 5-minute daily prayer time with his wife, which would help them both establish a habit of entrusting all to God.
In the end, brothers and sisters were so into their conversations that they almost forgot that it was time to go home! This brings great hope to us and our families; the future looks bright! May we see the importance of family fellowships, to bring harmony between couples, to raise up a glorious second generation, and have the whole family involve themselves in serving God. It all starts from our own family.
一切從家庭開始
六月第一個星期五晚，我們中英文家庭組開了一個特別的相聚，一齊食晚飯，一同分享，一起來交流家庭小組的得著和提供建議。特別是一班新手父母能聽取和學習到別人的經驗，而一班結婚多年的也能從這些年輕夫婦的分享中得到啟發和被點燃去進步。以下是當晚的一些採訪及片段。
為什麼我們要有家庭小組？
弟兄姊妹的回應：
• 活出建造神的家，在家庭中建立父母及兒女間彼此的支持。
• 與伴侶一同追求，彼此激勵。不只是屬靈方面，生活也要增加溝通和支持。
• 作兒女的好榜樣。從家庭開始培養兒女的心靈。
• 家長有責任把子女帶到神面前，不能只將這責任推給教會。
看來，無論在那一方面，設立家庭小組都是大有好處的。甚至可以說是為了主，為了另一半，為了下一代，我們都須要有一個有設計和持之以恆的家庭小組。但想望總是美好的，實際上又可以如何去實行呢？讓我們聽下一些弟兄姊妹的見證。
• Penny & Eric – 我們會在兒子睡覺前和他一起讀聖經故事，之後一齊禱告。
• Blue & Terence – 我們會和女兒一齊玩球，讀書和做運動。不僅一同有屬靈方面追求，是一個團契，有方向地設計家庭生活。
• Johnny & YY – 我們夫婦會找時間與三歲的兒子向神歌唱，唱完了就彼此擊掌及鼓勵，還有向阿爸向主獻上飛吻。我們的兒子從中學到怎樣向神表達，我們一家都經歷到更大的快樂和到神面前時更釋放自然。
在遊戲和見證之後，大家就按座位去分組，彼此相交我們的家庭是怎樣實行小組和前面想在小組中怎樣進步。有弟兄分享他從前和太太在每個星期日都會為去那間教會聚會而吵架。直到最近，他們卻能一同操練奇珍禱告和唱詩敬拜，兩夫婦都珍貴當中的時光。也有弟兄說自己是個大男人，鐵男，從來不輕易在太太面前表達自己的難處和心事，但是也同意需要設立家庭小組，只是不知道從何入手。另一位弟兄立刻就建議他先從簡單的開始。例如每日與妻子一同禱告5分鐘，這樣能彼此建立信靠的習慣。
最後，有很多的弟兄姐妹都談得不可開交，幾乎都忘了歸家的時間。這樣的光景給我們個人及家庭都帶來了很美好的盼望及前景。願我們都重視家庭小組，建立夫妻間的和睦，培養榮耀的第二代，全家投入教會的事奉，一切從家庭小組開始。