A siren
A baby crying
A teacher handing out a test
Rain
A fork

Seemingly unrelated items, each one of these things could be a prayer cue. Prayer cues are reminders to pray. Teaching children about prayer cues encourages them to make prayer a part of their everyday life.

I was recently at a warehouse sale of children’s books and noted a small section of books labeled as “Christian”. Perusing the titles, I determined that the booksellers’ requirement for a book to be displayed in this section was that it must contain the word “God”. Now if I ran the book sale… I would have a section labeled “Children’s books that convey a Christian message without ever mentioning God”. (The sign-makers would love me!) And if I ran the book sale…I would place I Love You the Purplest by Barbara M. Joose on display in this section.

Looking for a service project for a Sunday School class? Preferably one that would last several weeks, allow class members to take ownership and be actively involved in the development and execution of the project? A class of older children, youth or adults can plan, organize and carry out a recycling awareness program for your congregation.

Earth Day has come and gone this year, but our planet's environmental crises grow bigger and bigger every day. In climate science, the number 350 is a very critical number. That number represents the upper safe limit for CO² in our atmosphere, in parts per million. In other words, pump more than that number into the atmosphere, and our planet is in serious trouble. Unfortunately, we're at 388.79 and rising right now.

Global warming has been called the single greatest challenge to ever face humankind, and it is essential that churches communicate the necessity of making lifestyle changes now, not later. As Christian educators, we need to partner with effective efforts to educate people about global warming. Churches are some of our culture's institutions that are best-suited to organizing, to communicating with a large number of people, and to developing support networks. When we partner with other effective organizations, we don't have to create something new from scratch, and we build relationships with organizations in our communities that otherwise may have no association with faith groups.

A month ago I wrote about a ministry opportunity that evolved from a conversation with a friend after I read a recent study on children and literacy. The first part of Books for Books happened this past Saturday – a used book sale and coffeehouse. The second part – using the money from the sale to purchase age-appropriate books for the children at a local elementary school – will happen during the next six weeks. I had promised to keep you updated about this ministry idea as it developed.

A fun summertime intergenerational activity you can organize easily is a Hobby Expo. Many individuals in your congregation have unusual hobbies that they rarely get to share with others. At a Hobby Expo, persons who are willing to share their pastime with others have an opportunity to do so. It's a great opportunity for community building, bringing people of many generations together.

Palm Sunday worship at our church was great! In addition to sharing special music, the children of our church served as worship leaders in other capacities. They led prayer, read scripture and invited us to pass the peace to one another. It was a meaningful worship service and I heard many people comment that the kids did a fantastic job (which they did). There was only one thing that bothered me…

When you work in the area of Christian Education, you begin to see ministry ideas everywhere. Things that you do and read and hear make you think of ideas for Sunday School or youth group or a children’s message. I remember my father, a retired minister, saying, “That’ll preach!” This month’s prayer idea came to me the other day while I was on Facebook. (Unfortunately providing positive reinforcement for the time I spend on this site…)

Over the years I have tried a lot of Bible study methods with youth. Few have worked for me as well as one I literally created in desperation one night, a process I now call the "Huh? / Yeah! Bible Study." Here it is...

You just never know when an opportunity for ministry will present itself. A couple of months ago, I read that in low-income neighborhoods, the ratio of books per child is one age-appropriate book for every 300 children. (More reading statistics are available in a report from the National Endowment for the Arts.) As a book-lover, I was appalled by this statement and commented as such to a friend. The next thing I knew, we were in the midst of planning a way to address this issue in our little corner of the world.