RICHARDSON—Matt Allen saw a chance to get better acquainted with his yet-unborn son, Daniel, and jumped at it.
Matt Allen and his wife Michelle use Alpha Ministry’s microphones to read to their unborn child. Although he and his wife, Michelle, are members of St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in Richardson, they are enthusiastic proponents of First Baptist Church in Richardson’s Alpha Ministry.
The ministry allows young couples to bond with one another and their child while the baby still is in the womb through a band equipped with microphones and speakers wrapped around the mother’s stomach.
“Honestly, this was something I had never heard of before,” Allen said. “But I thought it was a great idea, and I was really anxious to try it.
“One of the things that got to me was that I got to bond with my son, and he got to know my voice even before he was born. My wife had a connection with him all through the pregnancy, and this allowed me to start that bond as well.”
Daniel now is 10 months old, and his parents have continued reading Scripture, singing and praying with him—all central components of Alpha Ministry.
Allen acknowledged he did not think that would be the case if his family had not established the habit before Daniel’s birth.
“We may have read poetry—that is something that had been done in family before. But I don’t think we would be reading Scripture and singing like we do,” he confessed.
“I would recommend this to anyone, and I know we want to do this when we have our next one.”
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The Alpha Ministry is a part of the senior adult ministry of First Baptist Church. The ministry connects senior adults to young families as the seniors teach expectant parents how to use the Alpha equipment.
“I think this is a very unique way to reach families,” said Gerald Ware, minister to senior adults. “It’s a unique way to bring Christ into a family.”
See the January issue of CommonCall magazine to read about Alpha Ministry at First Baptist Church in Richardson. To subscribe, click here.
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