God's Faithfulness, Graduation and Blankets
May is the time for graduations from college and high school. What do you do to recognize the graduates in your congregation?
Write your own blog post to share your ministry experience with others.
May is the time for graduations from college and high school. What do you do to recognize the graduates in your congregation?
I came across this really interesting blog post called the “Bible in 66 Verses” on the Lutheran Forum. The author, Sarah Wilson, selected a verse from each book of the Bible that summarizes that book’s content. How could you use this idea?
Our worship services would not be as good if we did not allow our members to learn as they do things. We want to let many people use their gifts – including children and teens – and we want to support them so they do well. That also means that sometimes worship will be less than perfect.
Leaders of Sunday School need to share and tell the good stories of what is happening when they gather. We can choose to tell the stories of frustration and failure or the stories of how God is powerfully moving. We have an opportunity to set what becomes the prevailing narrative of Sunday School in our church.
One of the things I like about baptisms is that, in addition to the parents making a vow, the congregation does too. The congregation promises that they will love and support this new child and play a special role in her instruction in the faith. It reminds me that we, as a church, take faith formation seriously.
85% of Christian kids never hear their parents talk about their faith. God’s Big Story Cards are an easy way to engage in faith talk and Bible study. While these cards can be used to build relationships in the Sunday School classroom they also can be used to connect families to the story and connect to each other.
I thought this was a great idea for what might be extra or unused materials. The kids will be reminded of what they learned over the course of the last year and the parents will be encouraged to share a story that we didn’t have a chance to tell.
Every week in our morning worship service, the children in 3rd and 4th grade bring in the Bible and light a candle in the front of church. During Lent, a third child is added to the procession who carries in a cross, holding it up high as the congregation sings “Lift High the Cross”
Sometimes, volunteers are hard to find! There are some people who are just not good working with children or don’t feel comfortable working with kids. But then there are those who are good with children and just do not have the time available to lead on a weekly basis. Sometimes we have difficulty
If the purpose of the making an item in Sunday School is for the kids to keep the item long term, we are doing a bad job. Most of the stuff kids make and take home barely gets looked at. In fact, much of it barely gets home. So why do we bother?
When Sunday School curriculum focuses on morals and good behavior we are missing an opportunity to teach children about God. Should we be surprised then when teens are Moralistic Therapeutic Deists?
Sometimes the 9th and 10th grade students are not ready to engage with the Heidelberg Catechism. This makes the Sunday School hour crawl by for everyone and the teacher feels like she hasn’t connected at all. Have you been there?
Sunday school leaders like you disciple children who are at the very beginning of their Christian journey. When the Holy Spirit works in their hearts, these children begin to respond to the call of the gospel.
The reason we teach Sunday School is to teach kids who God is and to bring them into a saving relationship with Jesus Christ. But how do we do that?
Psalms are important for kids and teens being raised in a postmodern culture, a culture where sometimes facts take a back seat to feelings. Our kids and teens need to know that they can bring their emotions and their responses to God in an appropriate way.
How do the church’s elders provide “encouragement, instruction and accountability” for the congregation as they think about welcoming children to the Lord's Supper? Harderwyk Ministries in Holland, MI recognized that some of their families are ready for their children to participate
Barb has heard many heartbreaking stories over the years. People have told families with a person with a disability, "Sorry - try the church down the road, they might have something for you there" or "Your family can come, but not that child. We don't have anything for him here."
One of the cool parts of the new Dwell curriculum from Faith Alive are the picture cards for each lesson. The teachers post these cards on the walls of the classrooms, adding another story card each week. As the year goes on, these story reminders surround the class.
This Sunday I am taking my camera to church. I will take pictures of the kids singing or working with their teachers. This is a great way to remember the relationships we are building, preserve church memories and build an awareness of the practices of people of faith.
Is there an age when video instruction is appropriate and an age when it is not? Is Sunday School a time when kids ought to dis-engage from the technology that is so pervasive in other parts of our lives? Or are videos a tool that we can and should use to deliver the best instruction possible?
First CRC of Detroit wrote their own kid-friendly version of the Ten Commandments.
All of us in church ministry know that we need to be thinking about Christmas and the Christmas program by now or we’re in big trouble. How can you plan for programs that accomplish what you want while minimizing headaches?
Sunday School teachers need to know when things are working and when they’re not. But even knowing that isn’t enough. Teachers need to have a clear grasp of what the objectives are for the lesson -- what it is that you want your students to be able to do after the lesson.
For three weeks the Sunday School kids have been learning a song from Cambodia called “Now I Know.” The text is a great reminder that we are children of God.
This issue of Nurture addresses questions such as “How do help our kids listen to God’s word?” and “When is a good time to have devotions?” There's also a section with prayer ideas for preschoolers, elementary school agers, and teens.