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”

Astor Yelangueuzian Director of Christian Education (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.