This fall we received a special financial gift and were charged with how to share it. We shared this with the congregation in November >
One way we used the gift was to give Children’s Bibles to the preschool children at Jacob’s Learning Ladder (JLL). JLL families are reflective of society which means some go to church and some don’t. The number who do not participate in a church continues to grow. No matter how much we invite them to church, they aren’t interested in church, period. Still, we have an opportunity to share the good news of Jesus with them.
Jennifer Snook and I each lead Bible story time once a month with older JLL students. This means that some 50 children get to hear two Bible stories a month. That’s far more children than we have here on Sunday morning. Jennifer has also worked closely with JLL to support family events. Other initiatives from the past have been hampered by Covid and may or may not come back.
Jennifer is passionate about supporting families, and we realized that getting a children’s Bible into every home was a great way to support them. There are lots of good children’s Bibles, and we went with the one my family uses because I can share how much we enjoy reading it together.
During the JLL Thanksgiving program Jennifer and I presented each child with a Bible from Grace while their parents watched. They were able to hear us talk about the joy and value of reading these stories at home, and we hope they are doing so.
~Catherine Neelly Burton
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