Thanksgivings at Kerith

In the Bible, we read about an encounter that took place one day between Jesus and children.

 Mark 10 v13-16     13 People were bringing little children to Jesus to have him touch them, but the disciples rebuked them. 14 When Jesus saw this, he was indignant. He said to them, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. 15I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it." 16 And he took the children in his arms, put his hands on them and blessed them. 

 We know that Jesus deeply loves and values children, and at Kerith we do also. The Bible also says “Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus”.   1 Thessalonians 5 v16-18

At Kerith we follow the pattern of Jesus, in giving thanks for children. We want to pray for children, giving thanks to God for them, as well as asking for blessing and protection over their lives and praying for wisdom and guidance for the parents/guardians.

We are sometimes asked if we do Christenings, or Infant Baptisms for babies and children, as some other churches do. Our theology on this differs from some churches because we believe that each of us – children and adults – get to choose for ourselves one day to become a follower of Jesus. That may be at 5, 15 or 50 years old! So our Thanksgivings are not about babies and children becoming Christians on that Thanksgiving day - but we do pray that one day they will choose to do that for themselves.

I asked a family from our Farnborough Site, who recently gave thanks for their children, why they chose to do this;

 “We knew we wanted to give thanks to God for our two gorgeous boys and would love nothing more than for them to choose to follow Jesus for themselves one day. We also want to raise them to become independent young boys/men who think for themselves, so don’t want to make that choice for them, we want them to one day make that choice for themselves. A Thanksgiving was a perfect choice for us as we are believers ourselves, so it allowed us to be able to praise God for the gift of our two special children, without choosing for them. We hope to empower them to hopefully make that choice for themselves one day.

It was also a great day of celebration, as many of our family and friends gathered together to support us, as they will do throughout our boy’s lives.”

 So - what happens at a Thanksgiving?

•  We invite the immediate family to the stage and introduce them to the wider church family.

• We then as a whole church family pray and thank God for the life of the child. We thank God for the family He has placed them in.

• We then ask God to bless the children as they grow, pray for protection and that they will grow up to chose Jesus for themselves, living lives that bear much fruit.

• We also pray for the parents, for God to guide them as they raise and disciple their children. It’s especially useful to pray for an abundance of wisdom and patience!

We want to do everything possible as a church community to support and love children and their families. A Thanksgiving is a public way of parents saying to God – and to their wider church family – “We don’t want to do this alone - we need you!”

 There are usually Thanksgiving Sundays spread across the year where families can join together in giving thanks to God for their children. The next one is on Sunday morning 19th March, which is also Mother’s Day, a perfect chance to invite friends and family members to church.

If you haven’t ever publically given thanks for your child(ren) – why not sign up today?

This blog was written by Sonia Hopkin, the Kerith Farnborough Site Pastor, and Families Lead.