by Pastor Victor Chen

Working from home with kids has always been an apparent contradiction. 

Are you working? Not as much as we would like.

Are you present at home with your kids? Not as present as we were hoping.

The result is what feels like a “lose/lose” situation where you are not getting work done and you feel guilty for neglecting your children (and frequently getting frustrated with them). Factor in our current “safer at home” situation, and our prolonged work from home with kids situation looks particularly bleak.

Fortunately, with God, all things are possible. Here are some practical tips that can help when working from home with kids.

Be clear

The difficulty lies in how ambiguous our situation is. It is not always clear whether we’re working or whether we’re just at home with the kids. Our family has found that it is helpful when I am clear in my communication about work. For example, it is helpful for everybody when I announce, “I have to be in a video chat meeting at 2pm” or “Daddy has to take a phone call at 3:30pm”. It is also clearer for everybody if you do your work in a room with the door shut (but not necessarily closed).

Be creative

When your children are particularly young (toddlers or babies) and have little sense of boundaries, we will have to be particularly creative with our work time. That means getting work done during playtime, any screen time, and especially during nap times and bedtime. 

Be gracious

Remember that your children are children and they will act like children. I find that we get frustrated with our children because we expect them to act like adults when they are in fact children. So try not to be angry when they ask you to read them a book or to play with them. Remember, children are a blessing from God entrusted to us. Even though they can be a constant source of frustration, they remain God’s blessing to us. As much as we are able, let’s enjoy them.

Finally, parents be gracious to yourselves. You may not get all the work that you wanted done. You may not have been as present as you wanted with your kids that day. But we will never have complete control of our lives.

Praise God for the One who does.

And thank God that He offers us more grace! (James 4:6)

 “ Behold, children are a heritage from the LORD,

  the fruit of the womb a reward.

  Like arrows in the hand of a warrior

  are the children of one's youth.

  Blessed is the man

  who fills his quiver with them!” Psalm 127:3–5a (ESV)

*For further discussion about working from home with kids, feel free to contact Pastor Victor at vchen@evergreensgv.org

by Pastor Victor Chen

This past Sunday felt unusual. 

Rather than gathering together in the sanctuary for the worship service, we gathered around a screen in our homes to worship as a church. It was a new reality that may take some getting used to.

And though this experience is just for a season, my hope is that the worship in our homes would continue. Whether among roommates, parents and older children, married couples, or families with young children, my hope is that family worship becomes the new normal in our homes.

Contrary to what you may think, family worship is actually quite simple. In his book “Family Worship”, Donald S. Whitney highlights the three ingredients of family worship. 

First, you read scripture together. For younger children, this could mean reading a chapter from a children’s Bible. For older children and adults, this would mean reading a passage from the Bible. I would recommend starting with narrative passages like the gospel of Mark or the book of Genesis. The key is not coming up with a profound lesson to teach or an in-depth discussion to guide, but allowing the Word of God to speak for itself. 

Second, you pray together. This can be in response to the scripture you just read. This can be praying for each other. This can be praying through prayer cards, as recommended by Paul Miller’s book, “The Prayer Life”. The key is to intentionally pray together.

Finally, you sing together. This can be the most intimidating aspect of family worship, even though an instrument is not required (which may make it more intimidating). But many of us remember singing lullabies to our children, so we can sing a song of worship together. It can be a verse from a well-known hymn or a chorus from a more modern worship song. I personally recommend The Gospel Song, which is simple enough, yet profound with gospel truth that can be repeated every day.

These three ingredients — read, pray, and sing — together comprise family worship. It need not be overly complicated or elaborate. It need only happen regularly in our homes. 

This season of “Safe at Home” shall surely pass. 

My prayer is that the family worship would not. 

“Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.” - Colossians 3:16 (ESV)

*For recommended children's Bibles and more ideas about family worship, feel free to contact Pastor Victor at vchen@evergreensgv.org

by Pastor Dan Christian

Worshipping our God is not something we are to merely observe from a distance; rather it is something we are to participate in with our whole being. Though we can (and must) worship God in our own hearts individually, gathering together on the Lord’s Day with our brothers and sisters in Christ helps us to participate more fully in the worship of our God. Our hearts and souls need the nourishment that comes from our regular corporate worship together.

Thus when we suddenly cannot come together in corporate worship, it is a big deal. It may not feel as urgent of a need as something like finding toilet paper. It may not appear as significant of a need as replacing lost income. But it is actually a deeper and greater need, because relationship with God is at the very core of our being. So in the midst of all the other things we are scrambling to adjust to in this global health crisis, we must not minimize the significance of our heart’s need to join with our brothers and sisters to worship our great God.

So how can we participate more fully in this livestream mode of worship service, whether alone or as a family together at home? Here are some practical ideas…

1) Treat it like church. Get ready early—have your device hooked up and ready to go by 10am. On the livestream screen, there will be a public Chat (to the right of the video player) live at 10am where you can greet one another before the service begins. If you don’t regularly come to church in your pajamas, then put on your usual church clothes. If you have kids, download and print the children’s bulletin before the service starts, and ask one of the kids to be the “usher” to hand out the bulletins to their siblings. Get your Bibles out and whatever you use to take notes. In other words, don’t think of this as a break from normal church, but carry out the same routines you would do if you were going to our church building for the worship service (in fact, maybe it’s an opportunity to improve on some of your routines). 

2) Join in the singing. Go to the Evergreen SGV Sunday worship playlist on Spotify when it comes out earlier in the week, and perhaps have that playlist cued on a different device so that if there are glitches in the livestream you can play the song from the other device and keep on singing. Unlike being in the sanctuary, at home you get to control the volume of your device. So if you want, crank up the sound and sing with all you’ve got! If you have a musical instrument and want to play along with the worship team, this is a great opportunity to do that—make your own live worship band at home! Younger kids might enjoy pounding on a toy drum or keeping time with an egg shaker, or make up your own hand motions to go with the songs as you sing. Whatever you do, don’t just sit there and watch the singing on your screen—participate! 

3) Pray together. When there are times for corporate prayer in the service, pray aloud on your own or together with whoever is with you. If you have kids, give them a prompt for how to pray (e.g. Son, can you pray that God would help the people who are sick right now? or Let’s each go around and tell God one thing we are thankful for today.) These are great opportunities to teach and model prayer with your children.

4) Engage in the sermon. Listen attentively and take notes, just as if you were in service. When the sermon begins, move from the Chat tab to the Bible tab, so you can have an electronic Bible open as you listen. If you have kids, set up various “competitions” with them (parents against kids, kids against each other, girls against boys, etc.) to see who can notice the most repetitions of the key word that is given—perhaps have them keep a tally sheet. For older kids, challenge them to write down each of the main points, as well as anything that stands out to them. (Actually, there’s no age limit on paying attention for key words and main points—adults can do that too!) Encourage kids to ask questions if they don’t understand something—if there’s not a quick answer to the question, just jot down the question and tell them you’ll talk about it after the service. Or if you have a question about something in the sermon, type “I have a question” in the Chat tab after the service, and a pastor will message you individually through the online platform. 

5) Share with others after the service. Rather than bemoaning the fact that we cannot hang out with our friends after the service, take the initiative to engage with others in the ways we can. The Chat tab will be open for about 30 minutes after the service—that’s a great place to share something that stood out from the sermon or the singing, and to hear what others are learning and processing too. If you are at home with children, ask younger children about the key word they were listening for: What does it mean? Why is it important? What would God want you to do about it? Ask older children about the notes they took or the points that stood out to them: What caught your attention? Is that easy or hard for you? How can you grow in that area? Take time to pray for one another, either about the things you learned from the sermon, or about anything that is on your heart. Click on the Live Prayer button (at the bottom of the livestream video player) and one of the pastors will pray with you. Even beyond Sunday mornings, you could reach out to someone else in our church family and discuss what God has been teaching each of you this past week. Be intentional about making a phone call (or even sending a “snail mail” note!) to one of our senior citizens, who may not be able to access the livestream worship service. Find ways to create community and encourage one another in this time.

6) Share ideas with one another. As you experiment with various ways of participating with the service, share them with other families and friends you know. Swap ideas together. Laugh about the funny quips or antics someone's children did. Commiserate about the things that are hard. Pray for one another in the struggles you are facing in this time. In doing so, you will be encouraging one another and growing in community, even in this time when we are physically apart from each other.

May God bless you richly as you participate in this new mode of worship service, and may God grow us as a church family through all the creative ways that we engage in this core value of corporate worship.

by Pastor Terry Gee

Emotions are a tricky business. In one moment we can be giddy with laughter and only seconds later be filled with rage at the guy who cut us off on the freeway. We feel apathetic even when things are good. We’re sad and we don’t know why. Emotions cannot be trusted.

Or so we are told. But however we may feel about our emotions, the fact remains that we are emotional creatures, created as such by God who is, Himself, emotional. So the question becomes how are we supposed to deal with our emotions, particularly when it comes to worship?

EMOTIONS IN WORSHIP

Given their fluidity and subjectivity, our emotions sometimes receive a raised eyebrow of scrutiny when it comes to worship – and, at times, they should. Emotionalism, where the movement of emotions is the primary goal in devotion, will leave the worshiper empty. Emotional religious experience without substance of the truth, does not embody the worship of God we see in the Scriptures. So the mere moving of emotions does not constitute true worship.

Of course, neither does the reverse – right theology mixed with dead affections pleases no one in heaven either! Jesus, quoting Isaiah, indicted the religious leaders of the day saying that they “[honor God] with their lips, but their heart is far from me (Matt 15:8).” The right words without the right heart did not please God any more than the passionate worshiper without the truth.

THE ARTS IN WORSHIP

This brings us to the use of the arts in worship. Can, and should, the arts be used to heighten our emotions in worship? Is this cheating or somehow disingenuous, as if God can see that our love for Him was not enough and needed a little help? Or can we legitimately use the arts in the service of worship?

We can certainly go too far – the arts becoming the center point of worship and drawing our eyes towards the medium rather than the object of our worship (God). But I would submit that an appropriate and purposeful use of the arts can support and adorn our worship in a way that betters our worship and increases our love in a completely legitimate way before God.

Take for a moment the use of music in worship. During Easter, is it right that we play songs that emphatically and passionately celebrate Jesus’resurrection? Does not that sort of music help our emotions to engage in a day that should be powerfully celebrated by God’s people? Imagine singing – no, chanting (no melody - just words in rhythm) the same songs. While we could still worship joyfully, wouldn’t it be different?

The use of arts in the heightening of emotions is well and good if the emotions they incite are godly in nature and bring about the purposes of God in our lives, perhaps, even more powerfully than could be without them. Should our love for God be truly increased to a hymn well sung and well played, we should be remiss if we did not use it to our advantage in loving God more! The use of arts should not be forsaken because they may move our emotions or be subject to abuse, but should be carefully considered as means to the greater end of whole-hearted, truth-centered, Spirit-empowered worship to the one true God, and when we find the arts doing this, they find their proper place in the worship of the church and ought to be used to that end to their fullest.

THE NEW LIGHTING

With that in place, let’s talk about lights. The intent of the recent lighting change in our service was not to merely move our emotions or prize a theatrical look for its modern, contextually savvy appearance. The intent was not to increase individualism or give off the vibe that Sunday service is now some sort of performance.

The use of different lighting was an attempt to use artistic means to further the purposes of our worship service – namely, that a real encounter with God by the people of God, through heartfelt songs of praise, reception of the word of God in preaching, and through prayer would result in glory given to God and the building up of the saints who gather. As much as lighting could help us engage with the service to that end, we sought to use it.

Softer lighting sets the place apart. When you enter into the sanctuary you know something is going to happen. We, as the people of God, are going to meet with God! This is not the same place as out in the foyer. The invitation is to joyfully anticipate and prepare for what is coming next.

The ability to focus was a primary goal. During worship, the words on the screen “pop” more, to increase ease of reading and clarity. With the lights lower, your eyes aren’t drawn to the kid making faces on your left. During the sermon, while the house lights are on to allow everyone to read their Bibles, the front right and left sections are left off, framing the center stage and drawing our attention to the preacher. The lights are intentionally being used to make it easier for you to engage with what is going on in the service.

A VEHICLE FOR THE GOSPEL

The use of the arts for the furtherance of our worship presents us with a unique opportunity for the advance of the gospel. While the arts themselves are not the gospel, they can be a vehicle for the gospel message, and I hope that the responsible use of them will contribute positively to our lives of worship in the long run and result in greater praise and glory given to God through the church.

By Lesley Han and Christie Chong

Summer Bible School (SBS) is truly a highlight for kids, parents, and volunteers alike every summer! It is a week filled with learning about God, meeting new friends, working on crafts, eating yummy snacks, and having fun both indoors and outdoors! This year, we were blessed with 55 kids ranging in age from 3-6 years old, as well as 39 caregivers made up of parents, volunteers, and 12 teens from KR3W. It was especially a blessing seeing teenagers often serving alongside their own parents in blessing the younger kids in the community. We are also very much indebted to our faithful infant class volunteers that delivered loving care to 9 of our babies.

This year our Pastors Rocky and Victor developed our theme: “Only King Forever,” which outlined in 5 basic sessions the gospel story from Genesis to Revelation. Day 1 introduced God as the “Only King”, the Creator of the whole world, including man and woman. Day 2 described how Man sinned and tried to take the place of God, becoming a “Fallen King,” knowing good and evil. On Day 3, the children learned how the people of Israel demanded an earthly, “People’s King” instead of God to rule over them. Day 4 begins the redemption arc with the “Humble King,” Jesus the Son of God who came down from Heaven to suffer and die in our place. On the last day, Day 5, we ended with the promise in Revelation of Jesus returning in glory, as King of Kings and Lord of Lords, the “Only King Forever.”

These gospel themes of kingship were underscored by the daily Bible lessons taught by Shaun Ho and Dave Seiler, the creative week-long craft, the memory verses, as well as the daily large group skits. The skits were an allegorical puppet show about puppets who rebel against their makers, the puppet master and his son. After the puppets run away, the son becomes a puppet himself to demonstrate his love for them and bring them home. The kids were drawn into the drama and often shouted input from the audience or excitedly talked about the story with their teachers and parents.

For the craft, the kids made paper crowns that they “cast down” before Jesus the King. They also worked on a cardboard puppet theater that featured two stick puppets, roll-up curtains, and a decorated backdrop, to remind them of the gospel as depicted through the puppet skits.

At large group, the kids sang worship songs led by Emily Chan on guitar. They picked up fun hand motions and learned the theme song, “Shout to the Lord,” which we all later performed on a following Sunday during the church service. They also got to practice memory verses and work towards winning prizes for correct recitations!

For fun, the kids enjoyed playground time at drop-off as well as some fun outdoor games and challenges. Friday was our water day, with kiddie pools, water guns, water balloons, and very wet campers and KR3W volunteers!

The aim of this week was not only to provide a fun and memorable time for the children, but also to teach each child to see from the Bible how God was always meant to be their one true King. Every year, our desire is that seeds of faith would be planted in the kids’ hearts and that they would make a commitment to follow Him for the rest of their lives. Through this week of fellowship, not only do the children benefit from the love of our church family, our own volunteers develop lasting friendships from the bond of serving together.

On behalf of the SBS Core, thank you church family for making SBS such a success!