Week 2: Dream Now For Your Family
Hannah Browning: [Mic bleed] Hi, I'm
Hannah and I am the early childhood
pastor at the Lake Forest campus.
Happy to be here.
Thanks.
James Browning: This week,
we're going to be talking about
Dream Now for your family.
Hannah, what are you most excited
about as Saddleback is called
to Dream Now during this series?
Hannah Browning: Well, week
two is probably gonna be my
favorite because I love families.
That's part of what I do with my
ministry, is minister to little kids
and their families, and I have two
children myself, so I am all about it.
James Browning: I'm happy to hear that
because Listener, Hannah is also my
wife and her children are my children.
,We are a family.
So, this is a big week.
at the Browning House, as we
also are going through Dream now
in our small group as a family.
So, what does it?
mean to dream For your family?
What does it mean for families with
children, for families who are newly
married, for empty nesters, and
even for people who are not married
but are part of a broader family?
we wanted to spend a few moments talking
about how to Be a small group with kids.
So Hannah, what are some of your tips
for Hosting a small group while families
have kids or bringing their kids
Hannah Browning: of course, there's
a lot of different possibilities with
age ranges and you can obviously adapt
things, but, from my experience, we
have young children, early elementary
age and, we're not actually hosts.
We go to someone's home every week
with our children and, I have to
say our hosts do a great job of
supporting us as parents with what
we need for our young kids each week.
So, sometimes we bring iPads for them at
some point and so we can have a discussion
and they are always open to like, oh,
here, let us get you the Wi Fi code.
Let there have a space for our kids
to be in, um, if that's what we ask
for and what we need in the moment.
They're also really supportive
if we want to bring our kids into
certain aspects of the group.
Like, they'll join us
for prayer sometimes.
Or, when it's the end of our
Bible discussion maybe, and we
want to just fellowship, we'll
bring the kids in with us.
And they're definitely welcoming
to them in that way as well.
James Browning: And I, I don't want
to sugar coat it because bringing
kids to a small group is different
than just going as a couple.
But I think that for all of the
additional challenges and logistics,
it's worth it because we are building
a stronger home and we are modeling a
value that is important to our family.
Hannah Browning: Yeah, it is definitely
messy sometimes, but that's, I
mean, how parents parenting is.
James Browning: Yeah,
I, 100 percent agree.
I, think that it is a picture
of small groups as a whole.
If you were to describe to someone
just the logistics of parenting, just
the dirty diapers, the driving kids
around, the fighting over homework,
the, like, eternal struggle to get
them to clean their room or brush their
teeth, they're all the things that
just make them a decent human being.
I That doesn't sound fun.
It doesn't say if you were to only
describe that to someone, they
would say, why is it worth it?
But to anyone who has
kids, it is worth it.
And it's one of the most
worthwhile things that we do.
And that's true of a small group,
small groups at times are messy
because they are relationships.
I, and, uh, because people have feelings
because people have opinions that are
different than yours, that people have,
uh, Things going on in their lives that
make it hard, but it's so much more worth
it because we're growing together In the
same way that family grows together and
because God is using them to shape me
So Hannah, do you have any other tips
for any small group that wants to
Bring wants to include kids in that
Hannah Browning: a theme in
James Browning: This is a
theme in all of our podcasts.
Uh, snacks.
is central And.
honestly, this goes back to what we talked
about last week in that being prepared.
If you are a host having game
ideas, snacks, a movie and popcorn,
something like that for the kids, Or.
even discussion questions
for the, to include the kids,
depending on how old they are.
Hannah Browning: Yeah, I think it's great
when a host can set the expectation ahead
of time of like, if they know some of
the, their members have children, just
going out of your way to be clear about
like, yes, we are expecting your children.
We have, we're ready for them,
whatever that might look like.
Making that clear that children are
welcome and having snacks, that's
got to be the number one reason
why how we get our kids out the
door on Friday nights for group.
They're like, okay, we're tired.
We've had a long week of school.
We'd rather just stay home and watch TV.
Wait a minute.
There's going to be snacks there.
Okay, let's go.
And that is huge for us.
It's something to look forward to.
And they know that they
can expect that every week.
And sometimes we bring the snacks to
James Browning: And I, I will say that.
exercising patience and forgiveness
at times as a host is valuable.
Heavenly father let us forgive
others as our host has forgiven us
because we have uh, our kids have
broken things at their house before
Hannah Browning: multiple interruptions.
James Browning: And so they are
exceedingly gracious and forgiving
and honestly that is a valuable
thing and a blessing to us.
Hannah Browning: Yeah, another thing
that's really helpful if you do have
kids in your group, no matter what level
they're involved in, if every member
comes prepared, like we're, we want to
make the most of our time and not that,
you know, catching up in relational,
like just conversation isn't valuable,
but like, if it's important for you to
get through a certain chapter of a book,
like be ready when you get there because
you don't know exactly how much time
you have before everything falls apart.
James Browning: Can you tell which one in
our relationship is the one who keeps the
small group moving on time and which one
Hannah Browning: I'm like, all
right, let's keep it moving, guys.
James Browning: This is why we
are complementary as a couple.
Hannah Browning: Yes.
Uh huh.
So being mindful of time.
Set realistic time expectations for
what, you know, everyone in your group
can handle and stick to it, please.
James Browning: Alright, and lastly,
the same thing that is true for all
groups, whether you have kids or not.
is to be a good listener.
People are sharing, people are, parents
are trying to, talk about what's going
on in their life while their kids are
like yelling about something
on the iPad in the other room
or whatever But as a host be a
good listener and be intentional.
And also, even though our kids may be
on iPads, it's a great time to put your
phone away and ask follow up questions.
We want to look at how all of that can
work in together, dreaming for future
generations, , it's a fun and exciting
time to dream together as a family.
And for some of you this may seem like
a new thing, but Saddleback is actually.
built on this kind of thing.
You recently had some volunteers
who just retired a husband and wife.
Hannah Browning: The Reedy's are a
couple who have been serving at Lake
Forest in the kindergarten classroom
for 26 years and they started out when
their own kids were young And they were
faithful, they served together as a
couple, as a team every single weekend.
And they just now retired
last year from SK.
And they handed over their
classroom to a couple of young
ladies who are in college now.
Who had been also in the Reedy's class
when they were in kindergarten and
they grew up together and they served
together as students in the Reedy's class.
And now they are adults and
officially have taken over the class.
And that's what the Reedy's were
waiting for to pass their, , ministry
down to the next generation.
That was really cool.
James Browning: I think that it's
such a good picture of legacy
and we get to see the whole
picture from this Right now we're
launching our stronger homes initiative.
We're working on building a family
equipping center, but it can
be Hard to see the big picture.
And I think the Reedy's are such
a perfect illustration of that.
Each one has their unique
shape and specific gifting.
But together their shapes
form a complementary whole.
Hannah Browning: And that really
is displayed in our small group.
A small group is an entire family
affair for us every week and, um,
it's really interesting with kids.
James Browning: Yes.
so don't forget.
to send in stories of your dreams,
whether that's your, own individual
dream or your family's dream.
We'd love to share those
dreams on this podcast.
So Hannah, thank you for
joining us and we'll see you.
all next week.
