Family Discipleship

Partnering with parents to make disciples through time, moments, and milestones



God calls the family to play a vital role in discipling the next generation. How this is accomplished varies from family to family and is as unique as the DNA of each home. Family discipleship isn’t one-size-fits-all, and it isn’t easy—even the most intentional of Christian parents may find themselves at a loss as to how to begin. At TVC, we want to come alongside parents to help them craft their own approach to family discipleship. Though each family is unique, we believe that vibrant family discipleship can take shape through family worship and a framework of time, moments, and milestones.

Family Worship

Worshiping together is one of the most spiritually significant and influential things your family can do. Our hope is for children to catch a desire and passion for worshiping God by seeing Mom and Dad enjoy Him in the corporate gathering. Therefore, we want to encourage families to worship together during our Sunday services. This is especially true for middle school and high school students who attend the main gathering alongside their parents every Sunday. We aim to integrate students into the life of the church, where they can live out our mission with their parents and other adults. Additionally, throughout the year, younger children are intentionally invited into the Sunday gathering for Family Worship Weekend and Celebration Services. These special services orient them to the feel, flow, and purpose of the main worship gathering. The resources below will help families capitalize on this time together.

Time

(Create Time)

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What it is:

Parents build intentional time into the rhythm of family life for the purpose of thinking about, talking about, and living out the gospel.

How we help parents:

We help parents create family discipleship time in the home by providing weekly material and resources that build on and connect to what your child is learning in our programming environments.

Learning how to do family discipleship time and keeping it a regular part of your family's rhythm can be challenging, so we leverage and utilize Home Groups as training, accountability, and encouragement for family discipleship time. As family discipleship time becomes part of the normal routine and rhythm of Home Groups, we hope parents will be encouraged and better equipped to build intentional time into their own family life.

Moments

(Capture Moments)

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What it is:

Parents capture and leverage opportunities in the course of everyday life for the purpose of gospel-centered conversations.

How we help parents:

Effective discipleship can’t be limited and confined to set places and scheduled times. In other words, discipleship is always happening. Moments is the “as you’re going” discipleship that happens through the day. And the key to leveraging these moments is knowing what to say when they present themselves.

To help parents capture family discipleship moments our Next Gen departments create and incorporate concise and consistent theological language and vocabulary into all of our curricula. This language is designed to be accessible both to children and parents, serving as tools in your family discipleship tool belt. You can find portions of this language in the parent toolbox sections of our Take-Home Sheets (handed out each Sunday in Little Village and Kids Village) and in our glossary.

Milestones

(Celebrate Milestones)

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What it is:

Parents mark and make occasions to celebrate and commemorate significant milestones of God’s work in the life of the family and child.

How we help parents:

Milestones are the significant moments and markers in the life of your child and family. They present a unique and very special opportunity to celebrate and remember the Lord’s faithfulness. Additionally, they provide a rallying point for the church and home to partner together for the purpose of celebrating the child and equipping parents. The Village would love to celebrate each of the following milestones with your family and provides resources and equipping for parents to mark them.

Baby/Child Announcement

Children are a blessing both to their biological family and the family of God. To mark this first family discipleship milestone, we celebrate these precious gifts from the Lord. We announce new babies and adopted children to the congregation during our quarterly Celebration Services.

Announcement instructions go out a month prior to each Celebration Service. Parents who participate in this milestone are invited to attend our Foundations of Family Discipleship class.

First Picture Bible

First birthdays are a blast. But there’s much more to celebrate than presents and a smash cake. Parents can mark this milestone by giving their 1-year-old their first Bible. In Little Village, this milestone marks the beginning of classroom curriculum and Bible teaching time.

Children at TVC receive a birthday card in the mail near or around their first birthday congratulating them on this milestone. Parents can bring this card to the First-Time Families desk in Little Village and pick up their free picture Bible.

First birthdays are also a time when parents can partner with their community to host a baby dedication ceremony. Though not explicit in Scripture, dedicating children to the Lord is a helpful milestone both for reminding parents that children are good gifts to be stewarded and encouraging accountability in godly parenting within community.

First Storybook Bible

Children at TVC receive a birthday card in the mail near or around their third birthday congratulating them on this milestone. Parents can bring this card to the First-Time Families desk in Little Village and pick up their free storybook Bible.

Kindergarten Blessing and Children’s Bible

Kindergarten Blessing marks the first big ministry transition for children at TVC. After five or six years in Little Village, children are now ready to promote to our Elementary Ministry—Kids Village.

This significant milestone is celebrated every August on the Sunday prior to Promotion Weekend. Little Village marks this important milestone by giving each child their very own ESV Children’s Bible to take with them to Kids Village. Parents of kindergarteners are released early from the main service to join their children in Little Village and speak a word of blessing and encouragement over their child.

ID Weekend

Early adolescence is an age of opportunity for parents and curiosity for children—particularly around the topics of identity, gender, and sexuality. Parents can mark and celebrate this milestone at our ID Weekend. Parents and children will spend lots of one-on-one time talking through topics like identity, self, and manhood/womanhood.

This year's ID Weekend will be held Friday–Saturday, October 2–3. Registration opens in late August.

5th Grade Blessing and Mix56

The transition from elementary to middle school is a big one for both kids and parents. During their final Sunday in Kids Village, 5th graders get to hear from their leaders and ministers and enjoy some special snacks. As a KV graduation gift, they each receive a devotional journal to encourage and teach them to read the Bible on their own. During the following weekend, these incoming 6th graders are invited and encouraged to attend their first Middle School Ministry event, Mix56. This overnight event is designed to welcome and introduce them to the Middle School Ministry and its events, staff, and small group leaders.

This transitional milestone is celebrated every August on the Sunday prior to Promotion Weekend. Just like Kindergarten Blessing, parents of 5th graders are released early from the main service to join their children in Kids Village and speak a word of blessing and encouragement over their child.

ID Weekend 2.0

Awkward. That's how most parents describe conversations with their kids about sex. But don't let the awkwardness of the topic prevent you from having one of the most loving and necessary dialogues you can have with your child, especially when they are in middle school. ID Weekend 2.0 is an overnight milestone event for 7th graders and their parents and is designed to further conversations about identity, sex, and gender introduced at ID Weekend two years prior. Over the course of the weekend, parents will be equipped and set up to have meaningful conversations with their children while making fun, lasting memories together.

This year's ID Weekend will be held Saturday–Sunday, April 24–25. Registration opens in late March.

*Participation in the first ID Weekend isn't required for ID Weekend 2.0.

Fish Camp

Transitioning from middle school to high school is a major marker in the life of a student. High school brings a ton of challenges and opportunities that allow the parent and small group leader to partner together for the discipleship of the student.

This milestone retreat provides incoming freshmen the chance to meet and develop relationships with their peers and small groups leader(s) before transitioning to our High School Ministry, Rise. Part of the weekend includes a parent meeting to help equip them to see their student grow to own their faith before graduating high school.

You will receive communication on how to register for Fish Camp and the Parent Meeting starting in June. Registration will be open from late June to early August, with Fish Camp taking place before the first Rise service of the fall.

Student Mission Trips

We believe that God does something profound in the heart of a student when they see how He is moving in places outside of the DFW area. Our hope would be to have every high school student go on an overseas mission trip prior to graduation.

This milestone helps students learn how to share their faith, participate in the mission of God globally, and foster a heart for evangelism in their everyday life. We desire for students to be about taking the gospel from the neighborhood to the nations.

Our High School Ministry will teach on missions in October and will have applications for all of our trips run from late October to early December. Information on how to sign up will be sent via text and through email to parents and students.

High School Graduation

Every May, our graduating seniors will get the opportunity to recount all that God has done in their lives through our Senior Family Dinner and Sunday Morning Celebration in the main gathering.

This milestone invites the family to affirm their student through encouragement, the body to pray over the students as they transition to what’s next, and for the student to consider how God would desire to work in and through them as they head to college/work.

Registration for the Senior Family Dinner and Sunday Morning Celebration will open in early April.

Graduation

Every May, our graduating seniors will get the opportunity to recount all that God has done in their lives through our Senior Family Dinner and Sunday Morning Celebration in the main gathering.

This milestone invites the family to affirm their student through encouragement, the body to pray over the students as they transition to what’s next, and for the student to consider how God would desire to work in and through them as they head to college/work.

Registration for the Senior Family Dinner and Sunday Morning Celebration will open in early April.

Family Baptism Class

Baptism by immersion is a theological distinctive of The Village, and we treat the baptism of children with special care. This class helps parents of 1st–5th graders walk through the baptism process with their children. The hope of this class is to equip parents to better discern their child’s belief in and understanding of the gospel in order to determine their readiness for baptism. It is a great way for you and your child to learn what the Bible says about making this public profession of faith and why we believe what we do.

Sign up for the next Family Baptism Class

Family Mission Trip

Experiencing a short-term mission trip together can be one of the most impactful and transformative things your family does. We encourage families at TVC to make this a family discipleship milestone by participating in one of our short-term family trips.

Only one adult and one child are required to participate in order to qualify for a family trip. Trips are announced in the fall and take place over spring break and summertime.

Sign up your family for a trip

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