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…
The Story of Who We Are (Identity and the Biblical Story)
The Bible tells a story. It is a story about God’s dealings with humanity and creation. It tells us a good deal about God Himself, but it also tells us a great deal about humankind and who we are. But like all good stories, you can’t simply “drop in” to the middle or end of…
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Lead Volunteers: Create Community Among Your Volunteers
In this episode of Lead Volunteers (just over 2 minutes), Josh talks about the value and priority of creating community among your volunteers. Yes, they need a relationship with you as the leader, but they also need a relationship with each other! Josh’s ideas and resources can help you immediately develop community among your volunteers!…
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Lead Volunteers: Vulnerability is the Key to Community
Everybody wants community. We were created to be in community. Isolation is one of the worst forms of punishment that can ever be executed upon a human being. Solitary confinement is torture. There is beauty and health and healing found in community. If community is a beautiful treasure and a prize behind a locked door,…
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Babies, Identity Development, and Attachments
Identity development begins at birth, if not earlier. Ideally, the church should seek to influence the child’s identity at the earliest possible age, even with newborns. The fact is that we can influence the development of a healthy biblical identity from the first time the child is under our care. What’s important at this age…
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Lead Volunteers: Know Thyself
St. Augustine said to “Know Thyself.” What type of a leader are you? One of the most important things you can do for the health and benefit of the ministry you lead is to know yourself. Do you understand your SHAPE for ministry? SHAPE is a wonderful acronym that stands for Spiritual Gifts, Heart, Abilities, Personality,…
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Lead Volunteers: An Orderly Ministry is More Appealing
It is amazing to me the differences between an orderly ministry and a disorderly ministry. A ministry that is clean and clutter free just seems more appealing. Mirror Image? I have to take you back 10-15 years ago when I was a high school chemistry teacher. I taught next to a teacher and our rooms…
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Lead Volunteers: Walk with the Wise
Walk with the wise and become wise. A companion of fools, however, suffers harm. Have you ever noticed that when you spend a lot of time with an individual, you begin to say some of the same phrases and have some of the same jokes? You begin to carry out some of the subtle rhythms…
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Identity Development and Early Christian Education
It’s possible to begin influencing the development of a child’s identity from the very beginning. This generally happens within the family, but other people and factors also influence this development for better or worse, usually without even knowing it. This creates an opportunity for the intentional church to begin shaping the child’s identity from the…
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A Biblical Identity Model
A biblical identity must, by definition, reflect what the Bible says (or assumes) to be true about people. (The Bible is not always overt in its teachings. When the Bible assumes something to be true, then we can be certain that is the case.) Creating a model of biblical identity provides educators, ministers, and publishers…
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