Light of Life, Covington, Wash., is a home mission congregation that began worship services in November 2003. Of its 130 members, 45 are under the age of 12. Light of Life offers a thriving preschool program. Yet after preschool, most children attend a public elementary school.

“A few parents asked if there was anything we could do to supplement the Christian education done in Sunday school,” says Jared Oldenburg, pastor at Light of Life. “Three of the parents who asked had their children in our preschool and saw the benefits of regular instruction about Jesus. We started a pilot program called HOPE—Helping Our Parents Educate—with the idea of assisting our parents in their callings to train up their children in the way of the Lord.”

HOPE is based on Northwestern Publishing House’s Christ-Light curriculum, which offers Bible lessons and memory books for Sunday school and Lutheran elementary school students. Oldenburg developed a parent’s guide to go along with the Christ-Light curriculum and encouraged parents to teach their children one lesson each week. About once a month all the families reviewed the lessons at church with games, a craft, prizes, retelling of the lessons, and a review of the memory work.

Matt and Tzeitel Lorette, members at Light of Life and parents of six-year-old Gabe and four-year-old Madeline, appreciated the instruction and support that they received from HOPE. As Tzeitel explains, “Our kids will attend public school, and they love Sunday school. So we thought HOPE would be another great avenue for them to hear God’s Word. The most important thing Matt and I learned is that Gabe and Madeline are always wanting to hear more Bible stories. We also appreciated meeting with the other parents for ideas to try the following month.”

Oldenburg says that Light of Life will again offer HOPE this school year. The program will undergo some changes after feedback following its first year, but the goal is the same—teaching children about their Savior.