Framing
Session 3.1 · Note 1
Framing
It’s easy to have lots of information about God but not really understand how he impacts our ordinary day to day lives, or what part he’s playing in the world. The Key Tool of Framing helps kids join up the dots between the God they hear about and the God who is daily interacting with them, and who is busy and active in the world too.
Have a go … with children and teens
- As you’re reading a Bible story with your child, stop and ask: I wonder what God was thinking or doing, and enjoy the conversation!
- In church, have a go at framing parts of the service – explaining what you are doing, and why – for example – people are worshipping God using their bodies / Rosemary is reading the Bible because it’s a message from God to us / coffee time is really important so we can catch up with people and see how God wants us to love them.
- When you look at the world, where do you see God at work? For example, in the compassionate and courageous response of ordinary people in a disaster, people campaigning for the rights of the poor or vulnerable, someone sharing they felt God draw close in their grief, charities working hard for conservation, or churches supporting their communities. Share what you notice with your child or teen.
- Ask a question to spark an interesting conversation about God – our free download 101 ways to spark an interesting conversation about God has ideas to get you started.
- Tell your child or teen what you wish you’d known about God when you were young and why.
- If your child has a question about God, try answering it together using the four steps to answering any question – there's an explanation of this here Four steps to answering any question your kid might have. This post on ‘Intellectual wrestlers’ below might be helpful if you have a child or teen who likes to understand the nitty gritty of everything.
Have a go … with babies and toddlers
- In church, have a go at framing parts of the service – explaining what is going on: for example – people are worshipping God using their bodies / Rosemary is reading the bible because it’s a message from God to us / coffee time is really important so we can catch up with people and see how God wants us to love them. This post explains what this might look like with toddlers: Helping under fives make sense of a church service.
- Pick some little phrases to use with your child to help them understand God - there are some examples here Little phrases to help under fives understand God.
- Talk about God as if he is another human in the room with you. For example: ‘Oh God, I’m so cross it’s raining’ or ‘God, thank you for strawberries, they are so delicious!’
- When you are reading a bible story with your child, chat about what the characters might be feeling, point out what God might be doing and explain any tricky questions or ideas. There are some ideas and examples here Reading a bible story for under-fives
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