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…
Seven Subtle Insights From the Life of Joseph
Lessons abound in the story of Joseph from Genesis 37; 39–50, and many of these are obvious. Numerous insights, however, are fairly subtle and can be easily overlooked. Here are seven often overlooked principles from Joseph’s life that will benefit both kids and adults. 1. It’s important to speak up and to challenge others—even family…
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God Is in Control: Part 2
Unlocking the Mystery of God’s Sovereignty What Joseph’s Life Teaches Us About an All-Powerful God Part 2: Principles We Can Apply In Part 1, we noted seven principles evident in Joseph’s life that relate to the teaching that God is sovereign over, or in control of, all things. Now we will consider how these principles…
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God Is in Control: Part 1
Unlocking the Mystery of God’s Sovereignty What Joseph’s Life Teaches Us About an All-Powerful God Part 1: Principles We Can Observe When Joseph revealed his identity to his brothers, he spoke with sincerity and eloquence about God’s role in bringing him to the position where he now served. He “said to his brothers, ‘Please, come…
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Preserving Life (Gen. 45:5)
When he revealed to his brothers who he was, Joseph said, “And now don’t be worried or angry with yourselves for selling me here, because God sent me ahead of you to preserve life” (Gen. 45:5). One can marvel at Joseph’s perspective, yet here the ordinary-Hebrew-turned-second-in-command-in-Egypt models even for New Testament believers how they should…
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Dreams in Genesis
Divine Communication Through Dreams in Genesis In the Bible, God occasionally used dreams to communicate the messages He had for one or more persons. The following examples took place in Genesis. As early as Genesis 20:3, we read that “God came to Abimelech in a dream by night and said to him, ‘You are about…
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Making the Message Stick: Part 2
Part 2—Bible Teaching Tailored to Kids Jesus, the master teacher, used direct teaching at times, object lessons occasionally, and parables (stories) frequently to make His points. We can learn from and teach from these great stories. We should note that we find powerful stories not just in Jesus’ parables, but also in events from the…
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Making the Message Stick: Part 1
Part 1—Why Stories Are Important for People of All Ages The children in the classroom “leaned forward as Ruth’s voice softened. Instinctively they knew she was about to say something really important. Third graders love story time in Sunday School, and this week’s story was a tale told by a fish.” This is how longtime…
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Stocking Stuffer Ideas to Encourage Faith in Kids
It’s that time of year. Christian parents and teachers are thinking about appropriate Christmas gifts for their kids. So, why not use the gifts themselves as opportunities to encourage a child’s faith? The right gift can become a regular reminder that Jesus is more than a reason to celebrate Christmas. Now, please understand that we’re…
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Justify
After Jesus affirmed to an expert in the law that loving God supremely and loving one’s neighbors selflessly were keys to eternal life (not to earn salvation, but reflecting salvation that already had been given to repentant people), the legal expert asked “And who is my neighbor?” He did this, Luke wrote, because he wanted…
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