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Changes in Sunday School

Mary Ann Zehr
Jan 8, 2012

Eighth Day and many churches across the country struggle to keep junior high and high school students interested in church--and God.

Some of the youths at Eighth Day have been asking about having “our own group,” separate from the Sunday School for younger children.

Today, at the same time adults listened to the teaching, Gail and Nolan launched a discussion time for junior high youth (grades 6 and up) and they began to brainstorm about what kind of group they could have and how they could spend their time together. Meanwhile, Meade led a lesson in Bible stories for another group of children ages 11 and younger.

I briefly “interviewed” children and youth (and the adults who led the groups) after the service and the reports were good all around. Some of the younger children who had been overshadowed by big kids seemed more comfortable in the Sunday School than before. And a couple of the older kids gave a favorable response to what had gone on in the junior high group.

I think this is a time for praising God that we seem to be having some success in addressing the needs of our children and youth. Thank you to Marcia and Marja for stepping forward recently to provide children’s teaching during the service. Thank you to Marcia and Karen for accepting an invitation to teach the younger Sunday School children, Marcia for February and Karen for March. I still need teachers for April and May.

Thank you to Gail and Nolan and David M. (and possibly others) who are interested in working with the junior high youth. It won’t be easy to keep this momentum going. We probably will need help from more of you. Please reflect on what you may be able to contribute.

Thank you.

Mary Ann Zehr

Most Recent Teaching Available

"God's Favorites"

Kent Beduhn
May 13, 2012

Part of the wonder of going away is the different perception you have of the place you left when you return.  Nothing can be quite the same after a trip to Uganda.  There is much to share, but the more important sharing for today’s lectionary seems wrapped in the questions of how we “Love one another,” how we transcend differences and move to acceptance of ourselves and one another, how we become the “Beloved Community” Jesus among us, through one another.  First, my hope in sharing today is to hold up the “compelling story” of the early Acts communities in their struggle to transcend differences and learn to love one another as a struggle we still engage in our community today—with most of the same very human limits and short-comings.  Second, I also want to expose some of the ways our discomfort and even anger in community unfolds to us as our greatest opportunities to love.  Third, I want to point us to our journey toward being a fully loving community.  These resources are found in scripture, in exploring different cultures to reveal the connections which suggest the necessity of loving, and even laying down our life for, our brothers and sisters across the earth and in our community.

Read More of "God's Favorites"

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