Are the kids’ talks at your church varied and involving, or rushed and repetitive? Annabel Catto looks at the purpose of having a kids’ spot during a church service, and shares ideas for what it could include. (more…)
Category Archives: Children
Helping teenagers read
Resource Talk
A friend of mine visited my house, an English teacher clearly unhappy with her day. One of her teenage students had rubbished her lesson and the novel they were studying to another teacher. In the staff room there was general consensus that, though my friend is a great teacher, the book was totally unsuitable for boys because the lead character is a teenage girl. Gosh, of course they should forget about the book and watch the movie version instead. After all, a teenager wouldn’t be able to discover the mind or world of another person within the pages of a book! That would be way too demanding; they’d better just watch the movie.
Bible bites
Review
Bible Bites: 365 Devotions for Aussie Families
Ladeane Lindsay
Youthworks, Sydney, 2010. 376 pp.
Ladeane Lindsay’s Bible Bites offers 365 family devotions to assist any parent or grandparent in the spiritual teaching and guidance of children. Bible Bites doesn’t assume that families will be able to consistently conduct devotions on a daily basis, and so does not lock you into dates and days of the week for studies. This helps reduce guilt or rushing unhelpfully through studies at unsuitable times. Also, as the spiritual leader of your children I think you should have the flexibility to study the Bible as often or as spontaneously as you feel led, so the format assists with this as well. (more…)
Raising kids in a sex-crazed world
Life
Imagine living in a world where husbands wooed their wives with Adam’s passion—bone of my bones, flesh of my flesh—and sex was enjoyed. Imagine living in a world where, after the stress of each day, husbands and wives found comfort in sexual intimacy as David did with his wife after the death of their child. Imagine living in a world in which the only reason for not having sex with your marriage partner was the urgency of prayer. It would be a sex-crazed world.1
Freedom for gifts of hope: Revisiting the ethics of contraception
Thought
This article is about the morality of contraception, and we are going to state our position up front: we think there is a place for contraception in married life. We also think that marriages should normally become open, at some point, to welcoming children. (more…)
Getting Real (Melinda Tankard Reist)
Review
This article has been edited by the author from the version originally published. (January 2019)
Getting Real: Challenging the Sexualisation of Girls (more…)
‘Missional Lifestyle’: Education
Everyday Ministry
In this series I’ve been working my way slowly through various facets of life (home, education, work, sport, etc.), talking about the opportunities that each presents for being involved in the lives of others for their good and their salvation, and the idolatries that have the potential to destroy us and our witness by luring our hearts away from Christ. In this post, having set out a general framework and taken a brief look at the opportunities and idolatries of the home, I want to turn to the topic of education (our own and our children’s) and the opportunities that it provides for mission.
Talking about predestination with children
Everyday Ministry, Sola Panel
It’s the question that every Christian parent knows is coming sooner or later. I’m driving when six-year-old Thomas pipes up from the back seat. We’re alone, which doesn’t happen often in a family of six, so it’s a precious time for us. Deep thoughts are clearly running through his head: “Mummy, why do some people believe in Jesus and not others?”
Making babies when sex just isn’t enough
Life
Three things are never satisfied;
four never say, “Enough”:
Sheol, the barren womb,
the land never satisfied with water,
and the fire that never says, “Enough.” (Prov 30:15b-16)
Infertility is on the rise: current statistics say it now affects one in six couples.1 If you are not personally affected, you may know someone who is, and certainly there will be couples within our churches who are struggling with infertility. With the rise of infertility and medical advances has come in-vitro fertilization (IVF). Ethics for Christians can be highly contentious, and the process and implications of IVF are no exception. We write this article to share with you our story, our struggles, our theological conclusions, our sadness and our joy. We hope that this article assists your walk through the minefield of ethical issues IVF raises for Christians.
(more…)
Kids@church/Click: Some great material for your children’s Sunday School
Review, Sola Panel
I teach Sunday School for children regularly, but I don’t always have the time and energy to write my own lessons. So last year I found myself in the market for Sunday School material.
Thanks to a friend trawling through the shelves at a Christian bookshop, what I discovered was kids@church, put out by Youthworks in conjunction with CEP. (In Britain, it’s published as Click by The Good Book Company). I suspect that lots of churches in Sydney are familiar with this material, but many other churches aren’t.
Give me Fervr
Resource Talk
The arrival of the iPhone in 2007 redefined the template for the exploding markets of both mobile phones and PDAs. But it signalled something maybe even more significant: the expanding reach of the worldwide web. Since the early 90s, the web has operated primarily through home or work computers. But more recently, we see it penetrating into almost every aspect of life. Now it’s not uncommon to find the web in your car, your phone, your cafe, your school, your fridge and maybe even your parents’ home! (more…)
Unity in the gathering or ‘adults only’ church?
Life, Pastoral Ministry
Meeting together is extremely important to Christians. It reflects the wonderful truth that God’s gospel breaks down barriers. When Christians gather around God’s word, all kinds of people rub shoulders who, but for the gospel, wouldn’t be seen dead together. We do, however, allow ourselves one major exception: rather than listening to God’s word together, one group of people —the children—are typically taken out of the meeting to be taught separately. This seems to keep everyone—adults and children—happy, and allows each person to be taught at an appropriate level. (more…)
How to encourage your kids’ Sunday school teachers
Everyday Ministry
On Sunday mornings, I come to church wearing two hats: parent and Sunday school teacher. Drawing on my experiences from both roles, I thought I’d put together a few thoughts about how parents can encourage our children’s secondary ‘disciplers’ (in this case, their Sunday school teachers) to keep doing the job with perseverance, diligence and joy. It’s a somewhat random list based mainly on my own frustrations and joys over the years. I’d love to hear your additions to the list.
Teaching the Psalms to our children
Up front, Sola Panel
Picture my husband and I sitting side-by-side on the couch in semi-darkness, watching a DVD. There’s the patter of little feet on the floorboards. A plaintive voice says, “Mummy, I’m scared. I can’t sleep!” And as always, there’s the same response: “Do you want me to pray with you?” “Yes.” “Okay, snuggle up and we’ll pray.” (more…)
Ideas for strengthening families (Part 4)
Everyday Ministry, Sola Panel
Another idea for strengthening families is reading something other than the Bible at the breakfast table. (It’s not often you’d see a Sola Panellist reading something other than the Bible!)
However, as you have probably guessed, I’m talking about something that aids our understanding of God—something that has provided a helpful change of pace to straight Bible reading and discussion. In other words, a bit of systematic theology.