Resources — English
Making God Part of Your Family
The hustle and bustle of everyday life challenges us to find quality, uninterrupted time to spend with our family. Even in many Christian homes, we let society dictate what is right and wrong instead of the standards established by God. It is imperative that we spend time together as a family and teach our children God’s way. I believe parents must ensure their ideas and influences are given more weight than those of their children’s peers or society. Even more important than our own opinions, is God’s message to us. Sharing His truth is essential in our time together as...
The Huge Intangible of Children’s Ministry
When asked to summarize his theology, Karl Barth, the prolific Swiss theologian, was said to have simply replied, “Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so.” Now the question is, “How do we get that message to children?” Often this question has been answered through program and curriculum, and the challenge becomes to make the program fun, jazzy, and exciting enough that kids will want to be there. That just may be getting more difficult all the time as children are growing up in a world where they have access to all kinds of exciting things...
Talking to Children about Prejudice
Preschoolers in a Dallas church opened their Christmas program with greetings in seven languages. In San Diego, Spanish, Sudanese, and Cambodian pastors are regular visitors in children’s Bible classes. These young global Christians are learning to look on the heart rather than outward appearances. (1 Samuel 16:7 NLT) Children are not born with prejudices. Preschoolers may notice physical, family, and religious differences, but they naturally accept them. It’s often in elementary school that children come into contact with negative attitudes toward those who are different from themselves. When children witness hurtful prejudice, teachers can help them respond with accurate information,...
Tween Trends
In 1945, an atomic bomb fell on Hiroshima, effectively putting an end to World War II. Around the same time, another bomb was dropped smack-dab in the middle of the United States—a cultural bomb that spawned the birth of “youth culture.” Never in the history of our nation had such a distinct and fundamental change to our society occurred. All of a sudden, parents were dealing with a new kind of son and daughter. Kids now had their own kinds of clothes, music, idols and fashions, not to mention vocabularies. If you were to mention the word “tween” to the...