Astor Yelangueuzian Director of Christian Education

September 11, 2016

Dear APC Parents, In our Sunday services, our offering is an act of worship, a response of gratitude. We give to others and the church as a way of saying thank-you to God for all that we have received. The offering we share each week at APC supports the work of our church and the many ministries our congregation supports. Our children are stewards, too. They have been blessed with many gifts and opportunities. It is important that, as part of their Christian development, we teach them what it means to give. Here we are reminded of the words of Solomon in Proverbs 22:6,“Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it.” Helping children to understand and participate in stewardship is essential to their faith journey, and is an important element of a congregation’s stewardship ministry. We teach our children from a young age to say thank-you. One of the ways we can teach this is by helping them participate in the weekly offering. Included in this letter are ‘offering envelopes’ for your children’s weekly offering collected during Assembly. Please take some time to talk to your children about what these envelopes represent. Our Sunday School will endeavor to teach your children the many aspects of stewardship. We will inevitably teach the words of the apostle Paul on the subject of giving, namely, “Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver” (1 Cor. 9:7). Moreover, we will also remind them of the words of Solomon, as he rightly said, “One gives freely, yet grows all the richer; another withholds what he should give, and only suffers want” (Prov. 11:24). This should remind us of the power and pleasure that one can experience when generosity abounds. Ultimately, we give because God gave first. God’s greatest gift to us was His one and only Son, Jesus Christ.

Thank you for the many ways that you support the APC Sunday School ministry.

Astor Yelangueuzian Director of Christian Education