Church at the water’s edge

In summer, our Outlet 10.27 gatherings move from our house to our backyard.

Summertime means food, fellowship and pool time. It makes for a great gateway for families to come get to know each other in a relaxed atmosphere. In addition to summer fun-time, we use this time to lead a discussion with the kids (and adults looking on).

This year I decided to lead the kids time in the “Seven Signs” in John, encouraging the kids to spend time each week reading the stories in John, and then reading them together on Sunday night and talking about what it says to us about people, about Jesus and about ourselves.

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Tami Nice leads a poolside Bible study for kids that Outlet 10.27 connects with in Graham, N.C. Photo courtesy of author

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As you can imagine, it is sometimes hard to get a group of kids out of the pool and into meaningful discussion. The deck gets a bit crowded once everyone exits the water.

This last summer, I got the idea to put the kids on the side of the pool and wade out into the water so I could more easily get and keep their attention.

We shared the story in Mark 4 where “Jesus began to teach by the lake. The crowd that gathered around him was so large that he got into a boat and sat in it out on the lake, while all the people were along the shore at the water’s edge.” We decided if it worked for Jesus, it may just work for us.

It has been a lot of fun to see the mixture of kids relating to the stories: from those hearing the story for the first time, to our own applying how they see themselves in the story. We find some rich blessings in spending this relaxed time investing in relationships through the sharing of food, fun and just plenty of opportunity for conversations.