Articles by Rick Edwards
The articles listed below have been written by Rick Edwards. Rick is a publishing veteran with more than 40 years of experience in ministry, curriculum development, and magazine publishing. He is currently involved as a speaker, author, and Bible teacher while managing a Christian publishing business. He is the owner and publisher of SundaySchoolZone.com.
Christmas Activities and Resources
Christmas is close! Children, and all of us, need to understand that Christmas is about the good news of God coming humbly as a baby to live among us as a human and, ultimately, die to save and restore us. What people could not do to rescue themselves, God did for us. Christmas is about…
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The Christmas Story Video Highlights
We’ve prepared five brief Christmas Bible story videos (the longest is just under four minutes) that cover five popular Christmas stories. We also have free activities and lessons for each of these stories on Sunday School Zone. Each of these Christmas Bible stories videos provides a highlight of the story’s key points based on the…
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Easter Bible Verses and the Resurrection Story
The Easter story is the story of Jesus’ resurrection following his crucifixion. Below are some key Bible verses related to Easter and the resurrection story with commentary to help the teacher or parent understand the broader biblical story of Christ’s resurrection and its significance. Interestingly, the Bible as a whole has more to say about…
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Messiah
The word “Messiah” comes from the Hebrew word meaning “anointed” or, by inference, “the anointed one” (one who has been anointed). In the Old Testament, this referred primarily to the kings and high priests who were anointed for their service. As a reference to a king or priest, the term typically is translated as “anointed”…
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Teaching God’s Unfolding Story to Kids
The Bible is filled with stories, but it also tells a single, ongoing story. We call this story God’s Unfolding Story. Teaching the biblical story is an important aspect of children’s Christian education, but it is often neglected in Bible study curricula for children. Sunday School Zone provides a number of free resources that will…
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We’re Commanded to Teach the Story
In the first article about teaching the biblical story to successive generations, we talked about the need to help kids see the “box lid” of the biblical story and not merely teach the “pieces” of story. This makes “educational” sense because it helps kids learn the Bible more easily as well as permanently and that…
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Teaching the Story vs. the Stories (of the Bible)
There is a simple axiom of life that has received far too little attention. Here it is… A jigsaw puzzle is easier to assemble when you have the box lid. What!? Okay, so maybe this won’t make it into future systematic theology books, but it is, nonetheless, an important truth that has real application for…
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Preparing Kids for Salvation
Jesus’ admonition to Nicodemus in John 3 is familiar… “You must be born again!” As Christian adults, we understand that “unless someone is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God” (v. 3). But what about the children under our care? How do we, as parents and teachers, go about preparing kids for salvation and…
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Resources for Teaching Kids the Bible
Decreasing time and attention spans are driving the conscientious children’s Bible teacher to be more deliberate and more creative, but that can be a good thing. Teaching the Bible to any age group is an awesome responsibility before the Lord. That alone should make us want to be the best we can be. We should…
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