MIM
E-ZINE JANUARY 3, 2005
CONTENTS
From
the Editor
Purpose-filled
Ministry - Hope Amidst of Chaos
Children's
Ministry Check-up - Teaching A Multi-Age Level Class
Book Review
– A Gift from God:
Foundational Principles of Biblical Parenting
Classified Ads
From the Editor,
Happy
New year MIM subscribers. It's hard to believe that we are
already entering the year, 2005. Seems like just
yesterday when we were preparing to celebrate the new millennial
amidst worries about the Y2K glitches. As we enter into a new
year I hope you will take time to renew and recharge for
ministry. Before you dive in, schedule some extra time to
reflect on your year in ministry in retrospect, considering
what worked well and what needed improvement. Pray over
your plans for the upcoming year asking God to guide your
decisions and ministry plans.
I
pray that all your worries be resolved as easily at Y2K.
Teena
Stewart
Consultant/Editor
for Ministry in Motion
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Purpose-filled Ministry - Hope
Amidst of Chaos
By Teena Stewart
I spent the afternoon driving a friend to the doctor and
watching her kids in the doctor’s office while she went for
treatment for life-threatening anorexia.
She is a young Christian and prior to becoming a Christ
follower, she had little struggle with the illness.
However, recent painful events in her life thrust her
once again into the path of her dysfunctional extended family
and the hurt and brokenness it resurrected manifested itself as
a serious eating disorder.
Despite desperate attempts at treatment and healing,
including spending several months away from her family in a
treatment facility, upon her return she continued to decline.
Health and counseling experts are making a desperate attempt to
stop the downward spiral. At the time of this writing, things
look pretty bleak, and though she claims she is following
doctors’ orders and is eating what she is told to eat, her
body temperature, pulse and other vital signs indicate no
improvement.
I returned home from the appointment tired and depressed. Why
were the prayers of so many of us for this woman and her
strongly Christian family going unheeded?
The brokenness prevails. It has been a week of
brokenness. The newspaper headlines tally the rising body count
of victims lost to the destructive tidal waves that made the
recent news. Like
many other physically untouched by such an event, I struggle to
grasp the magnitude of such a loss.
As I do so, I recall some other disturbing recent
headlines, and I find myself wondering at the darkness and
brokenness of the world.
“How could a
loving God allow this to happen?” and, “Why are some people
spared this pain while others lose so much?”
“Why does it seem that some people suffer so much more
than others throughout their lives?”
Thoughts such as these go through my head.
And then my heart speaks what it knows to be true, that
the chaos I am witness to is just part
of living in a broken world.
God did not send the title wave, nor did he pick my
friend to suffer insurmountable odds, it just happened as a
result of sinful human nature. If God had had his way, we would
still be living in a garden of paradise.
Christian leaders are often privy to much
more information about the brokenness in the lives of others
who enter our circle of influence. They seek the church out for
help, and as church leaders we are right in the nucleus. Being
exposed to so much chaos and brokenness can have a serious
effect on us. It
can depress us and in some cases even make us cynical.
It can wear us out.
Even now, as a small group leader with this family
struggling in the throes of anorexia, I feel the added
responsibility of trying to help care for their needs.
In the worst cases the chaos can cause us to turn our
backs on God, especially when we have never experienced such
chaos before. It is
only natural to feel this hurt and sadness.
Even Jesus wept for his people. (John 11:35)
God does not intend for the world to be so chaotic, but because
of free will and continually bad human choices, we are locked
into the chaos. We can rest assured that the rains falls on
both the righteous and unrighteous (see Matt.
5:45
) and be reminded that how we respond is going to reflect to
others what we truly believe. As intimidating as it may be,
people are watching us. When
bad stuff happens how will we, as leaders, overcome?
I hope that it would be by giving those around us hope
through our attitudes and actions.
It might as simple as wrapping our arms around someone
and weeping with them. It
might require getting ourselves and others involved in helping
with relief for those affected by the chaos.
When “the world” knocks us to our knees and the cold waves
wash over us, sometimes the only thing we can do is pray a
prayer of desperation. Our
prayers may even be rantings and ravings as we ask the hard
questions, “Why, God, Why?” When the storm is over, we can
stand up, brush ourselves off and start picking up the pieces.
It begins by placing one foot in front of the other and getting
back onto the road as we continue our journey so that others
can find the way too and continue on.
Sometimes I think that’s what it’s all about.
Teena Stewart is
a Ministry Team leader, a Ministry Discovery Seminar teacher, a
published writer, a speaker and a consultant/editor for
Ministry in Motion. To learn more about her speaking visit her
speaking web page at http://www.ministryinmotion.net/speakers_christians.html
You
can contact Teena at smartwords@sbcglobal.net
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Children's Ministry Check-up
-
Teaching A Multi-Age Level Class
By Karen Wingate
Imagine my surprise when four rowdy teen-aged boys walked into
my mid week Drama Club class for elementary aged children.
Their teacher had done a no-show and I had to quickly augment
my lesson to fit their needs.
While I’d like to bury my head in the sand and believe that
multiple age level classes went out with the one-room
schoolhouse, Christian educators often face classrooms filled
with a variety of age levels and learning needs. Ideally, it is
best to create classes narrowly focused to age levels and
learning needs. But changing numbers of children in each
age level and the number of volunteer staff often prohibits
Sunday School teachers and youth workers from having the ideal.
So what do we do?
First, don’t fret that you can’t be as effective as you
could be. Use every available opportunity to proclaim
Christ as Lord even if it doesn’t seem ideal. Silently
pray that God will guide you and give discernment in how to
handle the broad age differences and learning needs of the
group you have. You never know what you might say or do
that will touch a child’s life just in the way he or she
needs to be touched that particular day.
What are ways you can tailor your class to fit the needs of a
multi-age group of young people? Here are some
suggestions:
1. Use the older students as helpers. Pair an older
student with a younger student. Have the older students
read instructions or bible verses. Let small children
dictate answers, stories, or poems to the older child who can
write down answers.
2. Have multiple learning activities that cater to a
broader interest and ability level. Your small children
can do an art project while your older students do bible
research. You can also give your multi-age group the
choice of drawing or writing answers. You might be
surprised at the older students who choose to draw!
3. Choose activities that appeal to a broad age range.
Most every age level likes games, drama, singing, and some
crafts. I’ve found kids of all ages like to carve
pumpkins, paint murals, dye Easter eggs and make cookies.
The older kids enjoy adding more complex and creative touches
to the same activities they did in simple versions only a few
years before.
The night the foursome joined my class, I was guiding the drama
club in writing their own choral reading about God’s majesty.
In preparation for the choral reading, I asked everyone to
share their definition of the word majesty, draw something they
thought was majestic, then title the picture, “God is more
majestic than (the item in the picture.” One artistic
teenager became engrossed in a complicated sunrise picture.
One young man gave a definition of majesty the younger children
grasped more readily than my definition or the one from the
dictionary.
Their involvement showed me that, while more challenging to the
teacher, a multiple age level class could be made to work to
everyone’s benefit.
Karen
Wingate is a teacher of teachers. She is known for her
off the edge activity based teaching that is still solidly
based on the Word of God. Currently, she is writing
curriculum for the Salvation Army’s new Sonday’s Cool
programs, teaches a high School Sunday School class and
oversees the Youth Ministry Team at her local church near
Canton
,
Ohio. You can reach Karen with comments or questions at kwingate@neo.rr.com.
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Christian Books
& Ministry Resources
Find resources and books to help you in Christian ministry at
Ministry in Motion's Bookshop. We've developed these
ministry resources from our own ministry experience. Our
bookshop also includes Christian bookstore search engines to
help you search for general Christian books. Visit our online
bookshop now
---
Book
Review – A Gift from God:
Foundational Principles of Biblical Parenting
By
Dr. Larry Mercer, Moody, 2001, 0802414419, 304 pages
Reviewed
by Teena Stewart
Larry
Mercer is vice president of church ministries and assistant to the
president at Moody Bible Institute.
He lends an authoritative voice to coping with the challenges
of effective parenting. A
parent of four children, Mercer draws from his own parenting
experiences plus the experience he cultivated in the trenches as a
junior high school counselor and superintendent of a resident
placement facility.
I’ve
read a lot of parenting books and this is probably the best parenting
book I’ve had the privilege to read.
Mercer is honest, sharing some of his own parenting struggles
but he also incorporates his vast knowledge giving concrete statistics
on specific parenting issues and well thought out suggestions for
coping and becoming a better parent. Where some books only cover a
specific age range, I felt that much of what is covered is also
appropriate for parents of children and teens as well.
The book is very comprehensive and walks parents through the
development of their child but also covers issues such as the impact
of divorce on a child, dealing with a child’s sexuality, how to help
children bee successful in school and much more.
The
back of each chapter includes a section called Faith Steps that gives
specific suggestions for how parents can stretch and grow regarding
that particular chapter’s focus. The chapter concludes with a
heartfelt prayer and the pages following give parenting insights and
special care instructions which include research statistics regarding
that particular topic. But
it doesn’t’ stop there. Readers
are also given suggestions for how to apply this research info to
their parenting.
The
book also has an Appendix, Using Biblical Principles to Guide Your
Parenting Practices and it highlights a principle, such as “Your
child is a gift from God” and then gives observations parents can
make regarding how they relate to that principle. Parents are
encouraged to reflect on where they stand and think about ways they
can improve. I highly recommend this book. I think good parenting
principles are something many parents continue to struggle with and we
cannot do enough to strengthen our families.
A
Gift from God Workbook
You
can also order a workbook that compliments this book. The workbook is
co-written with Mercer’s Wife, Annie, who is a Graduate of the
College of the
Albemarle
and has worked with children in Sunday school, preschool and
elementary classrooms (in addition to being a mom). This interactive
study guide helps parents reflect on their present parenting
principles and develop new understanding of ways to improve. The
workbook can be used as an independent study tool for parents or in a
group study format should churches or organizations wish to offer it
as a course.
---
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more ministry resources visit Ministry in Motion's home page at
http://www.ministryinmotion.net
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