The Sunday School Zone Blog
The Sunday School Zone Blog contains insights on children’s spiritual formation as well as tips, ideas, and suggestions to help Christian parents and leaders as they work with kids of all abilities (and even adults with special needs) at home, church, and school. If you would like to contribute to the blog, please visit our Writer Inquiries page and then send us an explanatory email at [email protected] describing the kind of writing you’d like to do. We welcome those who have something of substance to say to Christian parents and teachers of children. You already know that Sunday School Zone offers tons of free, printable Bible activities for kids. If you think you’d like to contribute, please read more…
Intergenerational Christian Formation by Holly Allen and Christine Ross
Intergenerational Christian Formation: Bringing the Whole Church Together in Ministry, Community and Worship by Holly Catterton Allen and Christine Lawton Ross is an important book. Anyone with an interest in helping people of ANY age grow in Christ should read it. The typical church in North America today with its age-segregated paradigm needs to rethink its…
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The Value of Bringing Generations Together
Recent decades have seen a growing interest among churches for bringing the generations (different age groups) together for worship, learning, and ministry. This phenomenon, what I and others call “intergenerational ministry,” is actually a resurgence of the way things typically happened in the church in the past. The move toward highly age-segmented ministries at church…
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Maundy Thursday
“Maundy Thursday” is the annual day when many Christians remember and celebrate Jesus’ final meal (the Last Supper or Lord’s Supper). It is observed on the Thursday before Resurrection (Easter) Sunday (the day before Good Friday). Many church traditions don’t do anything particular to recognize the day. Consequently, many inside and outside the church are…
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Jesus’ Triumphal Entry (Palm Sunday)
All four Gospels tell us about Jesus’ “Triumphal Entry,” the day Jesus entered Jerusalem on a young donkey. Only John, however, tells us that particular Sunday was the Sunday before Jesus’ crucifixion. That places the event at the beginning of Jesus’ final week before his death, resurrection, and eventual ascension. We call this final week…
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The Passover Festival
The Passover Festival or celebration is central to a biblical understanding of who Jesus was and what He did. The Passover originated when God passed over the land of Egypt and took the life of “every firstborn male in the land” (Ex. 11:5). In order to escape this final judgment on Egypt, each Hebrew household…
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Is Easter Associated with a Pagan Holiday?
It is not uncommon to hear claims that the name “Easter” originated from a pagan celebration. Such accusations often (but not always) come from those wishing to discredit, in some way, Christianity in general and the resurrection of Jesus specifically. It is virtually impossible to avoid the use of “Easter” in any discussion of the…
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Children’s Spirituality Summit Set For June 27-29
This year’s Children’s Spirituality Summit should be of particular interest to parents and children’s Bible teachers because its theme, Spiritual Formation Across Contexts: Families, Churches, and Communities, specifically targets the need to take children’s ministry beyond the walls of the church and the professional children’s minister (and children’s ministry). The three-day event will be held…
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When Is Easter Sunday?
Most people are aware that Resurrection Sunday (Easter Sunday) is observed at different times of the year each year. This is because Resurrection Sunday (Easter Sunday) always falls on the first Sunday following the Spring Equinox and the Spring Equinox will vary from year to year. (The Spring Equinox is the day of the year…
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Reasons to Study the Bible
There are many reasons to study the Bible, but perhaps the most basic reasons rest in what the Bible is and what it does for us. Anyone such as a Christian parent or children’s Bible teacher should have a firm conviction that the Bible is a different kind of book in its nature and provides…
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