Discipleship Archive
It’s hard to believe that school’s out and summer’s here. Parents know that summer means a packed planner filled with everything from vacations to VBS. In many homes, both parents work, and as time gets stretched, parents and children may talk less frequently and fall back on timesavers, like notes or text messages.
You Are Special by Max Lucado is a story about Wemmicks—small wooden people that spend their time awarding one another grey dots or gold stars. Pretty and talented Wemmicks received gold stars. Not-so-lovely Wemmicks received grey dots. Punchinello is one such Wemmick who had lots of grey dots. Punchinello is chipped and ugly, and thinks he’s not worth much at all. But Eli the master …
Practical idea: Share this helpful article with your children’s ministry volunteers and parents. “Character is like a tree and reputation like a shadow. The shadow is what we think of it; the tree is the real thing.” -Abraham Lincoln The development of positive, stable character traits should flow directly from spiritual growth. Attempts to train a child to be “good” will be relatively meaningless and …
Practical idea: Download and read this important article with volunteers and staff and ask the simple question: What can we do to ensure that our children are growing in Christ-likeness? Thomas A. Tarrants III, Director of Ministry at the C.S. Lewis Institute, cautions, “There is a crisis of discipleship in the American church today. Reams of research confirm the simple observation that in many ways …
Practical idea: Share this helpful article with your children’s ministry volunteers and parents. Barry Sneed, NavPress Executive Vice President, writes, “Jesus gave us the biblical imperative to go and make disciples. Paul reminded the church in Colossae that we must teach everyone with all wisdom so that we may present everyone mature in Christ – in order that none be deceived by persuasive arguments and stay …
Why Sunday School Lost its Edge By Ed Stetzer, President of LifeWay Research It’s probably not a secret that Sunday school is no longer the en vogue program of the local church. Its reputation has, well, suffered over the years. My focus here is not to give answers or prescriptions, but to help us consider how it lost its reputation—its edge—and how a once thriving program is now …
Once upon a time, Christian parents asked their children after church, “What did you learn about God?” Today, the question is often, “Did you have fun?” Where are today’s Christian kids? Not too long ago, churches offered Bible training for all ages—wanting to fully equip children to serve Christ. Today, many churches offer high-energy, entertainment-based programs—wanting to keep kids happy and to make recruiting easy. …