Articles: Serve

Looking to promote Acts 2 in your church? Here are some logos to help you out.

Wes Bartel sits down with 2010 Teacher of the Year, Peggy Southerland, and her husband Jurl.

Choosing Obedience

An ancient question is new again for 21st-century Christians.

Enthusiastic proponents of Christian education share a desire with the Psalmist when he said, "I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you" (Psalm 119:11, NIV).

A sobbing little girl stood near a small church from which she had been turned away because it was too crowded. "I can’t go to Sunday School," she sobbed to the pastor as he walked by. Seeing her shabby, unkempt appearance, the pastor guessed the reason and, taking her by the hand, took her inside and found a place for her in the Sunday School class. The child was so touched that she went to bed that night thinking of the children who have no place to worship Jesus.

It seems strange that a community could come to dread a day of the week but that happened in Gloucester, England in the eighteenth century. Instead of inspiration and rest, Sunday became a day of dread for much of the population.

Statistics indicate that churches lose nearly 50 percent of graduating seniors who enter the work force and close to 90 percent of those who attend a secular college. For all the activity and challenge churches have been providing for teens, Christian service has not been embedded in their priority structure. Of all the avenues our students will travel in pursuit of "success" the local church may not even be on the map.

The last promise in the Bible is still in effect: "Whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely" (Revelation 22:17). This applies to the mentally and emotionally disadvantaged as much as it does to those who have been spared the challenges of disabilities. We need to include them in all the Christian education activities of the church.

The question is: How effectively do we present gospel truth to the mentally and emotionally disadvantaged adults in our Sunday Schools and churches?

An increasing, but often overlooked, segment of our society is the single-parent family. Recent statistics reveal that 25 percent of children under 18 years of age live in a single-parent home. During the last decade, the number of single fathers increased 33 percent; the number of single mothers,17 percent. There is no sign this trend will stop.

What can we do as church leaders and as Christian educators to minister effectively to the single parents in our society and churches?

By Larry Sauters

By Stefanie Reubell

by Gina Lee

Summer may bring vacationing Christians to your church. They may be just passing through on their way to some other destination, or they may be staying in your area for a week or more. Besides having an official greeter to meet them at the door, why not present each guest with a visitor’s package? Here are a few items you might want to include.

by Billie Davis

A sad dark face seemed to accuse me as I opened my morning paper. "Tears rolled from the eyes of the African-American teen," the front-page story began. She had found ugly racial words scrawled on her art-class project. The article called black/white relations in the school a "racial divide," and asked, "What can we do to bridge it?"

Do you remember a happy event that made you feel you were leaving childhood—that you were growing up? My event was the day I became a teacher. Well, not a real teacher at first. I was only 13.

Good Sunday School teachers are always looking for opportunities to give. They freely offer time and energy. Often they find ways to give material help to a class member with obvious needs. One of the greatest gifts I received from a Sunday school teacher was an opportunity to be the giver.

Some know him as the legal counsel for the Assemblies of God. Others, as a graduate of Harvard Law School. Some know him as an expert on tax law or the author of 40 books. In Springfield, Missouri, a group of fourth-grade boys know him as their Sunday School teacher. Richard has made a long-term (read 17-year) commitment to discipling boys so they will know and live by God's Word. Each week via e-mail, Richard updates parents about their sons' Bible lesson. Enjoy this sample.

Joy is one of the outstanding identification marks of the true believer in Christ. More than 500 times Scripture records such words as joy,joyfulness, rejoice, and gladness. The apostle Paul lists joy second in cataloging the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22).

First in a series of devotionals based on the fruit of the Spirit

by Robert Douglas

By Stefanie Reubell

This four-part presentation is designed to help your members understand God's purposes for the Church, the structure and needs of the local church, and their calling to serve God by discovering their gifts and learning they can fulfill themselves through service in the local church.

by LeRoy Bartel

Training must be educationally sound, comprehensive, ongoing, and practical with an emphasis on spiritual dynamics.

By William J. Martin

By LeRoy Bartel

By Billie Davis

author, former missionary, and longtime proponent of Christian education

Wes Bartel interviews Youth Pastor Rich Skerbitz in 2004

Tom Bougher discusses the challenge of recruiting volunteers within the church and the practical steps that can be taken to make the task a little less daunting.

by Leroy R. Bartel

(Download includes PowerPoint and Teaching Notes), and watch video by Dr. Debbie Gill

by Dr. Debbie Gill

by Bob Jacks

All you need to reach the people around you with the Good News is a living room, a few paperback Bibles, and faith.

By Major Denise McGarvey