Agenda:

I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you. (Psalm 32:8)

  1. Prayer
  2. What to do for a stronger family ministry since home is where it all starts? – Move from last meeting
  3. Wrap-up discussion on Needs # 1 & 2
  4. Discussion on Need #5: Need to be equipped with the teachings of the Orthodox faith
  5. Wrap-up


Meeting Notes:

Notes from Hossam. Pillars of a growing church:

  • Prayer
  • Discipleship
  • Missionary teaching
  • Unity
  • Holy Spirit
  • Leadership


(Steve)

  • Regular (twice per year or quarterly) Parent/Servant meetings so parents are up to speed on what's happening in the class and participate in the spiritual growth journey. This is NOT to replace the eftekad and 1-on-1 discussion/caring for each child. To increase parent involvement.
  • (Holy) Possible consider doing it 1-in-1.
  • Parent/Child activity days where families can participate. will grow the servant/parent relationship.

(Fiby)

  • Target kids in one age group to participate in a family bible study (target/goal, education). Can be arranged by age group and where people reside not necessarily per class.
  • Divide lower mainland by area and have a regional bible study. Can be in-person or online.

(Marian)

  • Encourage parents to participate with the kids in the ongoing bible studies or reading
  • Encourage daily bible & prayer time with the whole family. How do we implement this?

(Nelly)

  • Can implement bible study contests with prizes. Works well for people who work better with a specific goal and deliverable.
  • Leverage Abouna's support to promote the importance of this as families.

(Nancy)

  • Recommend to have a couple of servants in-charge of this service who can lead all activities with focus only on this.
  • How do we bring the families who usually don't come to the regular services.

(Mervat)

  • Consider having a parent meeting around child minding during SS.


NEED #5 - Equipped with the Orthodox Faith

  • We believe we do enough in general but there is a certain items of respect that may be missing e.g. during Liturgy.
  • Mentorship/Discipleship between servants and few kids each to slowly change their minds/thinking to achieve behavior improvement.

(Fiby)

  • Sometimes, our teaching may be very biased in cases against other Christian denominations. 
  • Open more the community. Kids needs to love everyone but be affixed in their core faith.