One of the best aspects of working with children is taking the time to play games with them. Some games are traditional, like hide-and-seek, tag, or hopscotch. Other games are made up on the spot (and some have more enduring popularity with others). Some of my games have been flops, lasting only a short while, and mentally discarded; some have been very successful, and are oft requested.     One of the games which I regularly use with older children is termed “Romans vs. Christians”. It is educational only in the sense that it cements the idea that one should avoid a first century Roman centurion if one wishes to…

Repent and Be Cleansed A certain electronic gadget in my life decided to repent of its circuitry sins and undergo baptism. I did not demand such repentance nor encourage such baptism. It underwent the procedure without my knowledge and consent. Unfortunately, until someone invents a flux capacitor and makes a real time machine, I cannot go back in time to discourage this ill-advised response.

  Ministry is a piece of cake when things are going right.  But sometimes things go wrong, very wrong.  Every leader of children's ministry is a shepherd.  Sometimes we shepherd children and youth, and sometimes we shepherd adults who work with them.  I've been privileged to observe, though from a distance, two of my friends as they shepherd through the storm.  I've learned a lot about caring for wounded sheep.  I've changed the names and some of the details as these are real sheep in a real flock, being shepherded by heroic shepherds.

What Does It Truly Mean To Teach? If learned, they did not, taught, you did not. This is how Bruce Wilkinson may have phrased his Law of the Learner had he chosen to reference Yoda.  One of his maxims is that “Teachers are responsible to cause their students to learn”. Does this surprise you? Did you know that the same Hebrew word is translated “teach” in Deuteronomy 4:1 and translated “learn” in Deuteronomy 5:1? In other words, biblically, the two ideas are interconnected. Many of today’s teachers have the mindset that “If I dispense the material, it is the student’s responsibility to grasp and master the material”. This mindset is…

Able and Willing             Are you able and willing? In their book How We Learn, a Christian Teacher’s Guide to Educational Psychology authors Klaus Issler and Ronald Habermas discuss the importance of being able and willing. The term “able” is defined by the authors as “whether students are capable of successful participation” while the term “willingness speaks of their motivation.” (Issler and Habermas, 100).             A few days ago I was in working in a church nursery and, having no other available seating at the time; I sat on a piano bench while the babe snuggled in my lap. That is when he saw it. His eyes fell upon its…

The Law of the Teacher A disciple is not greater than his teacher, but everyone when fully trained will be like his teacher (Luke 6:40).             In Luke 6, Jesus gave this message on the plain, after He selected his inner circle of twelve disciples. The “class” convened, it was time for the first “lecture”. But the disciples were not given the luxury of merely listening to lectures and smiling sagely back at their master; Christ had higher expectations for them: their complete transformation. The students would one day be teachers themselves; teachers who served the Great Teacher.             The call to teaching was not limited to the disciples. Nor…

            Bare Feet. Playskool Tricycles. When the two come together in a church nursery, there is much pain!             This time, I was smart enough to see the impending peril. Adam (not his real name) was not. A typical toddler, he had flaunted his independence by removing his socks and shoes to celebrate barefooted freedom!             But I had the audacity to gather his footwear and propose re-shoding his feet. I then picked up the protesting tyke and set him on my lap. A defiant glare was in his eyes as he protested, loudly. “I don’t want my shoes!”             “Well, have you asked your shoes if they want to…

  I have a multi-colored thumb.  It wants to be green, but is sometimes brown, and other times in between.  No matter what I do, or how many hours I spend, my yard just never seems to be quite right.  This year, I resolved to solve just two problems – gophers, and dandelions.  For now, the score is gophers – lots, Ed – not so much.  But the dandelions, now that is a different story.  

Have a Little Honey, Honey Proverbs 24:13-14: “Eat honey, my child, for it is good,And honey from the honeycomb is sweet to your taste.Likewise, know that wisdom is sweet to your soul;If you find it, you will have a future,and your hope will not be cut off.  (NET)             As a child, my favorite sandwich was a peanut butter and honey sandwich. Honey, to my mind, was better even than the classic peanut butter and jelly. Children growing up in biblical times never had a taste of peanut butter, (Peanuts are a New World crop.) but honey was a welcome treat. This proverb is one of the thirty Sayings of…

Cup of Chesed Psalm 136:1: “Give thanks to the Lord for He is good, For his loyal love endures.” (NET)             Anyone who has ever watched a group of small children knows that small children love to carry around sippy cups. For many children, they provide a combination of sustenance and comfort while they wait for their parents to return. But at some point, the cup is forgotten, dropped on the floor or left on a surface, where the coveted drink is commandeered by another child who hurries to “destroy the evidence”.