Sep 1, 2012 |
By: The other day my daughters (ages four and six) taught me something important about being open to the Spirit. They were dancing around a sofa-cushion house they had assembled on the floor of the living room. As they skipped in circles, they sang this song: There’s...
Sep 1, 2012 |
By: Drama is a means of expression that may be used to build up or to bring down, to heal or to hurt. Drama can be a powerful tool in church. It can be used for worship, evangelism, or Christian education. As with any means of expression, it is necessary to determine...
Sep 1, 2012 |
By: Lis Van Harten Much to the delight of some, renewal occurs in surprising, unintentional ways North American culture is such that we work too hard, and too much. While the resulting productivity is a good thing, it often leaves us spiritually, emotionally,...
Sep 1, 2012 |
By: Picture this scene on a September Saturday at your local church: A girl band rocking out to Cyndi Lauper’s feisty song, “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun.” A team of amateurs painting rock-star symbols on smiling faces before they step into a photo...
Sep 1, 2012 |
By: All the pews are filled and the sanctuary is silent. Every person holds a noise maker. We clasp old plastic bottles filled with beans, last year’s plastic Easter eggs filled with rice, little sticks decorated with Crayola markers, or even our own keys. We...
Sep 1, 2012 |
By: Bible Games for Church School, Anna Baker. Graphic Gallery, 1984. This resource provides directions for teachers to make 48 games for use in a variety of educational settings. The Christian at Play, Robert K. Johnston. Wipf & Stock Publishers, 1995. Johnston...
Jun 1, 2012 |
By: A quotation in the New York Times Magazine has captivated me: “Every life is a story worth remembering.”1 Jesus’ life is a story on which we base much of our living as Christians. We actively remember Jesus’ life, his story. Jesus’...
Jun 1, 2012 |
By: There are lots of stories in the Bible that are never read in church, or taught in church schools, or even get discussed in adult Bible studies. They are the embarrassing underbelly of the Bible. How are we to regard them? Are they mistakes that somehow got by the...
Jun 1, 2012 |
By: As he left worship last August, Ted commented to me, “I bet if we had been telling these stories about ourselves, we wouldn’t be where we are today.” On this particular Sunday the mayor of the city, the school district superintendent and the...
Jun 1, 2012 |
By: I had heard rumblings about a coordinator of technical and social media, and was excited when I saw the notice. I immediately sent in my application, interviewed with the task force, and was thrilled to learn that I had been the one chosen to fill this important...
