Round-Table Discussions -- Invite interested
parents to come to your church for quarterly round-table
discussions. Form parent groups with parents of various ages of
children. For example, each group could have parents of newborns,
toddlers, preschoolers, school-age children, preteens, and
teenagers.
Have each parent write a question or concern on a 3x5 card.
Invite the parent of the oldest child at each round-table
discussion to shuffle the cards and lead the discussion of each
question. Serve refreshments during the discussion time. Have
parents spend time in small-group prayer. Then encourage parents to
trade phone numbers and email addresses so they can keep the
parenting discussions going.
Parent Pairs -- Invite parents to sign up for
mentoring relationships -- either to be mentored or to mentor. On
the sign-up sheet, have parents include their contact information,
children's ages, parenting experience, and primary parenting
concerns. Match parents appropriately so that each mentoring parent
has dealt with the concerns of the parent being mentored. Give each
parent contact information for his or her partner. Encourage
parents to get together, share parenting struggles and information,
and pray for one another.
Mary Vance Berlin
Boone, North Carolina
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