This school year our student ministry at Eaton Community Church will be venturing through The Gospel of John together. The book is so rich in theology and full of meaning. As a youth group we will be studying John in large group settings, small groups, home groups, retreats, and more. Essentially, we will be immersed in John’s Gospel for the next nine months!

Part of our journey through this Gospel is through a weekly devotional we are encouraging each student to partake in. Each week, we provide four days worth of devotions on one section of reading from John. They are designed to help expand our knowledge of John’s Gospel, and hopefully (even if we read just one devotion a week) by the end of the school year we will have read through the entire gospel together!

The reason we bring this to your attention is we’d like for you to join us in this journey. The devotions themselves take no longer than 20 minutes, and we believe they’re beneficial to adults and students alike.

Who?

You’ll hear words from the classics like Charles Spurgeon, Alexander Whyte, and John Wesley. You’ll read thoughts from current leaders in the church. You’ll also hear devotions from people within Eaton Community Church: Pastor Josh, Pastor Dan, Miss Coleen, Martin Peacock, Amanda Harpold, and more.

Why?

The devotions are posted weekly on our website under our student ministry. By the end, there will be approximately 33 weeks of devotions for you to read along with us. If you’re a parent of a teen, this would be a great opportunity for you to study God’s Word along with them, while also creating a common place to have conversations about what you are both learning about God.

If you’re an Etch attender, this could be a good place to communicate with our students about what they’re learning, while also being familiar with the material as well.

We hope you can come alongside us during this time. Below is a link to the page where our devotions are located.

Weekly John Devotional

What did you call your grandparents? Grandpa, Grandma, Mawmaw, Pawpaw, Grandad, Nana, Gramps, Grams, Mimi, Meemoo, Baga, Baki, Deda, Dodo? I always found it interesting the fun names children come up with to call their parent’s parents.

Spiritual Heritage

At Etch this Fall, a class is being offered for grandparents. The main focus of this class is to help grandparents understand their role as disciples, and how vital they are in discipling their children’s children. And it all begins with a Spiritual Heritage. Our Vision here at ECC says this:

By 2026, our church will follow a pattern of spiritual formation in one another that brings hope to broken lives where individuals and families pass on a spiritual heritage.

Grandparenting is key when it comes to passing on a spiritual heritage. And we understand you may be in a scenario where that is extremely difficult. This curriculum addresses many of the places grandparents find themselves.

Grandparenting

It seems today that this role has undergone a drastic change. I grew up most of my childhood with my grand parents only 20 minutes away, as did many of you. However, many currently do their grandparenting over a long distance. And though Facetime and other video chatting formats help, it isn’t quite the same.

There are some who aren’t grandparents yet, and for those of you who are grandparenting via long distance, there are several young people in our church who may be in the need of a “local grandparent” or someone who is older who just takes the time to see how they’re doing.

And let’s be real. There are some scenarios as grand parents that are just difficult to know how to react. It could be your child has chosen to not bring their children up knowing Christ, and you’re stuck with not being able to share Christ with your grand children. There are others who (because of addictions or other unforeseen circumstances) have been placed in the role of parenting your grand children.

Each of these scenarios are addressed in this upcoming Fall Elective on Grand Parenting. If you are wanting to know how to be a grand parent who understands your role as a follower of Christ and what it means to help your grand children grow spiritually, despite your circumstances, I want to encourage you to take this six-week class. You won’t regret it.

Register for Grand Parenting

Last Sunday the ECC Student Ministry gathered at the 1st Service to worship, and then ventured together to Brookville, IN to take a 7 mile journey down the Whitewater River. Halfway on the trip, they stopped for a devotion led by one of our students, and following the trip they had dinner at Jay’s a restaurant in Brookville.

Check out their adventure below (if you’re viewing this in an email, you’ll most likely need to see it on our full site: lifeshare.live):

Etch begins tomorrow, and we’re starting the season off with a smash! In similar fashion to our start last year, we are having a Community Night of Dodgeball. In this post, I’d like to break it down a little to help each person understand the heart behind a night like this:

Community Night

Community Nights are at the root of what we’re trying to accomplish with Etch. Etch is an intergenerational ministry that is focused on generations passing on the truths of God. Listen to these words from God in Deuteronomy 6:

Deuteronomy 6:4-9 NIV – 4 Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. 5 Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. 6 These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. 7 Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 8 Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 9 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.

There is a responsibility we’ve been given as believers in Jesus Christ to help those who are behind us to know how God operates. And there is not a moment in life we are to take a break from that responsibility. When we’re at home, walking along the road, lying down, waking up… God established a precedence for his people to follow: Make God our only focus, and let the generations behind us see it!

Now you may be thinking to yourself, “I’ve been to Etch before, but there’s nothing there for me. I don’t really enjoy it.” My encouragement to you is this: Maybe what Etch is offering is a chance for you to share your story to the generations behind you.

Community Nights are designed atmospheres to begin tearing down the barriers built between generations. And it starts with the realization that YOU (a believer and follower of Jesus Christ) have something to offer.

Dodgeball

Paul Ethington was very close and influential mentor in my life. While in my early 20s, he invited me over to his house one day for dinner with his family. His son, P.J. was only about 4 at the time, and while he and I talked about life he was sitting on the floor playing with P.J. and his toys. I asked him, “How do you do that? I just don’t know how to relate with children.”

Paul’s response blew me away. He said with a smirk on his face, “It’s funny you should ask. When I was your age [I was in college], I saw your father playing with your younger brother and his toys and I asked him the exact same question. So, I’ll give you the answer he gave me: You father said, ‘if you want your children to know you love them, you need to humble yourself and meet them where they are. Get on your knees and play because that’s how they speak.”

So why dodgeball? Kids LOVE it! They see it as a challenge to take on those who are older than they are. What happens, though, is the barriers between generations become broken when a Sr. Adult picks up a dodgeball and throws it at a 6-year-old! The 6-year-old instantly thinks, “This is so cool!”. The barrier is broken when an Elder of the church picks up a dodgeball and flings it with all his might toward a 17-year-old. The barriers break when we remove our pride, our shame, and just have fun!

And yes, I’m calling it out. Pride, shame, the fear of looking silly, all of these are what stand before us and tearing down generational barriers and building strong generational relationships. Dodgeball may not be your “cup of tea”, but I can promise you if you humble yourself and meet people where they are, you’ll be looking a whole lot like the One who humbled himself and met us where we are.

Philippians 2:5-8 NIV – 5 In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: 6 Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; 7 rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death–even death on a cross!

If you are physically unable to play, fear not, watching dodgeball is almost as entertaining as playing. So, come be a spectator! We’ll save you a seat.

We hope to see you tomorrow!

• Meal is served from 5:30-6:15PM
• Dodgeball follows with a devotion from P. Josh

Haven’t signed up for Electives? Links are below:
FALL ELECTIVE INFORMATION

ETCH ELECTIVE REGISTRATIONS

ETCH KNIGHTS CLUB INFORMATION