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SSTN # 21 - March 8, 2006


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IN THIS ISSUE OF THE SSTN e-NEWSLETTER:


1) Games and Ideas?
2) S -E - X and the Book of Esther
3) Venting and Listening
4) Rise and Shine song?
5) Moose and Owl Ideas?

Easy Make N' Take Downloads For EASTER...get ready now!

6) Special Needs Sunday School
7) Teaching Communion
8) St. Patrick's Day...LUCKY
9) Venting and Listening
10) Kids Under Construction


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1) Games & Ideas?

I am a sunday school teacher in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe. I need ideas,
games and activities that are bible related to motivate the sunday
scholars. Any one willing to help to contact me at: fkhuyah@yahoo.co.uk
 
Looking forward to your assistance.
Sister Freda

--from SSTN: Hi Sister Freda:
The site is full of ideas and games at:
http://www.SundaySchoolNetwork.com 
However, you are more likely to get specific help when you have a topic or
Bible reference in mind.
ysic,
sarah keith


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2) S -E - X and the Book of Esther

> The children had question about who a vi rgin is and the teachers
> explained that a virg-in is a woman/ man who does not know a man/woman,
> who has not shared a bed with a man/woman.

As a protective parent and a children's teacher, I can say that you never
know for sure what a child knows when they step into your classroom. 
Also, we should always make the content of our lessons available and
appropriate for the youngest children in our classrooms. 

On that note, the word virg in is not necessary to teach the lesson of
Esther.  It is Biblical, but there are parts of the Bible right for small
ones, and some that should wait until they mature.  If you choose to use
that word, I would explain that a virgin is an unmarried woman, someone
who has never been married before.  The older children, or those whose
parents or peers have explained the process of sharing a bed with another,
will understand--and the younger children, or those still more innocent
than their peers, should be satisfied.  Any other questions I would refer
to parents (Can we talk about that afterwards with Mom/Dad?) and move on
with the lesson.  Unless it is a class dedicated to teaching purity to
young ladies and men of appropriate age, you have covered the bases with
that discussion.

It's a shame the parents took out their anger on you.  Don't be
discouraged.  God bless!

Anne


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3) Venting and Listening

To: Wanda (Venting and Listening) praise the Lord, my heart goes out to
you because I was in the same position you were in at one point in my
life.  My pastor did however talk with me and listen; but I must say,
after you've apologized to the indivdual and asked for forgiveness, that's
all that's necessary for you to say.  People have a tendency to hold
things over our heads for wrong doing, and not willing to forgive and
forget.  The Lord has forgiven you so move on. Continue to pray for the
person and people in your church and (please go to church as well as
Sunday School) it will be a blessing and they will see
that Jesus is your help and your strength.  "God is not the author of
confusion, but of Peace."  As far as the Sunday School none support,
please talk to the Sunday School Superintendant and request a meeting of
the staff so these issues can be aired out and talked about openly, that
God gets the glory.  I'm praying for you and your situation with your
church in Jesus Name.

YSIC
Dorothy :-)

 
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4) Rise and Shine song?

I have been looking for lyrics to a song that wentlike this:

Rise and shine and give God the glory, glory
Rise and shine and give God the glory, glory

But I can't remember what else went with this  Thanks

--from SSTN: this is the "Arky, Arky" song. It continues with these words,
"Rise and shine and give God the glory, glory, children of the Lord." I
can't reprint the rest of the words without copyright consent. But you can
find it on "Kids' Praise: Sunday School Songs". Type the title into the
bookstore search box to locate it at:

http://www.sundayschoolnetwork.com/bookstore.html 



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Easy Make N' Take Downloads For Easter...Get ready now!

Go to:
http://www.sundayschoolnetwork.com/curriculum.html 
(you may need to copy and paste the link to your browser)



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5) Moose and Owl Ideas?

Help!  I need to come up with a bunch of ideas for our new
curriculum--it's main characters are a moose and an owl.   I need
craft and game ideas, and anything else anyone knows of having to do with
owls and moose.  How about a moose song??????????? 
Thanks for all the great ideas and assistance this site provided.  I
checked the archives and could not find anything I needed.
 
June H.

--from SSTN: I'd begin with asking myself, "What are the stereotyped
characteristics of these animals?" For instance, an owl is known for it's
wisdom, then connect wisdom with your Scripture. For example,
"...In whom (Jesus) are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge."
Colossians 2:3

Likewise, a Moose is a "great", big animal. Matching Scripture: "How
'great' is the love the Father has lavished on us,
that we should be called children of God!" 1 John 3:1.

You get the idea. ;o)

ysic,
sarah keith <><


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6) Special Needs Sunday School

We are in our third year with special needs adults.
The material is pricey and we stopped using it quickly. Now our results
are
better, we found that if we use 'motion' songs and the material for the
4th
and 5th grade, we get interest. We also include this class once a month in
our Wednesday Youth Group with activities and devotionals that they can
integrate into. We are even included them in our landscaping day with four
Habitat for Humanity Homes. They have had parts in our storytelling, Ken
comes once a week and waters our flower beds, we call him our landscape
coordinator and David comes on Fridays and reshelves the books in our
children's library -- we call him our children's librarian. So we try to
do
both things, integrate them into normal activies and give them
responsibilities in the church.
This seems to be more meanful to them than when we had everything they did
separate from others in the church. Their unusual singing in the service
is
just like angels to me and I am proud that we took up this ministry. Good
luck. If you want some morale support, sldevall@earthlink.net, Sandra
Devall



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7) Teaching Communion

I teach Chiildren's Church, age 3 to 10 and annually do a lesson on
Communion.
Any ideas on how to teach small children this powerful message?  I have
served them food (unleaved bread, grapes, lamb, grape juice and nuts),
dressed them in tunics, and washed their feet as I told the story of the
Last Supper.  Any fresh ideas out there.  Some of the same ones will have
had this lesson three years in a row and I hate to keep doing the same
thing over and over.  Thanks for your suggestions.  Melba



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8) St. Patrick's Day...LUCKY

Hello all.  I just wanted to share an idea with you.  I have ages 1-8 in
the childrens ministry at my church. We did this activity last night and
the kids loved it.

for each child you will need

one foam shamrock ( I bought my at A.C. Moore) about 10" x 6" in size
glitter shamrock stickers

On the front of the large shamrock write with a black marker 
"I AM LUCKY"

L-Loved
U-Unconditionally by
Christ our
King,
Yeah!
( I put this part on the back)

I gave a brief description of St. Patrick's Day and the shamrock and then
led into what a shamrock can symbolize in church....

The Holy Trinity: The Father, The Son, The Holy Spirit......
The The LUCKY part.

I also shared that we can remember when we see a shamrock that we are
LUCKY because God loves us no matter what.

The kids then decorated their shamrock with stickers.  Very age
appropriate for this group.
We then made a bulletin board in the fellowship hall....FEEL LUCKY? as the
title and hung our shamrocks on the board...each child was instructed if
asked what it means, to share what they learned.

Hope you can find a way to use this in March. 
God's Blessings
Carla from Ebenezer Lutheran, Catawba, NC



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9) Venting and Listening

I've been a teacher of children's ministries for many years and one thing
I learned is that you will never please everybody or get along with
everyone, even in church.  You mentioned that "I get tired of no support,
joy".  You must learn that your mainstream of support comes through Jesus,
everyone else will fail you at some point.  Jesus- He will guide you and
direct you and give you the wisdom you need.  Satan is out to destroy you
and he know exactly how to do it, but you must decide today that it was
Jesus that placed you in that teaching position, that you always have room
to grow, that you must forgive and not let it build inside of you until
you are no longer going to church or teaching those precious children
about Jesus.
Always remember that Pastors are not perfect and as much as satan attacks
you - he attacks you pastor even more.  I'm a Pastors daughter and there
have been many a trials I've encountered as a teacher/leader and still
encounter while and believe it or not many a time my father didn't stand
by me or least as that is what I thought at the time, honestly bless his
heart sometimes he caused the situation to get worse.  Until Jesus showed
me that it is Him that I need to count on, that it is Him that will stand
up for me (and usually not the way I think He should, you know with His
sword a blazing).  It is Him that I had to show my heart was pure and true
and Jesus that I have to answer to for all my doings.  Satan wants to
destroy you, your ministry, and your church - God has given you the power
to defeat him and sometimes it seem that it isn't always easy and once
you've conquered this victory there will be someone else that you will
feel strife from, and then someone else, and then someone else.  I
remember driving to church one Wednesday evening before VBS and fighting
with my husband and I said forget it I'm not strong enough to do this
anymore, I'll just sit back and do nothing so Satan will leave me alone
and then I got my mind off myself and on Jesus and all He went through for
us and I began to cry and ask God to forgive me and praise God will saw
soul's saved at Bible School.  Please seek Jesus to give you the wisdom to
heal you and your fellow brother or sister in Christ's relationship, so
you may unite together.  Remember "Joy" is Jesus first, Others second, and
Yourself last.  You will be in my
prayers.

Much love and encouragement.
Jenny




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10) Kids Under Construction

Dear Melanie,

Kids Under Construction (KUC) is our theme for our outreach children’s
ministry.  I too loved that song as a kid and we found it after a long
search.  It’s only available on cassette.  “Kids Under Construction” 
Listening cassette.  We think we ordered it on the Gaither’s website. 
I’ll check with our music leader.  I have Gaither’s 1-800 number on the
cassette if that will help.  E-mail me at jjrglenn@cableone.net and I’ll
give you other ideas that we use for our ministry.  Maybe we could even
talk by phone!  We gained a lot of ideas from the VBS kit used as one of
last years theme, “Kids Under Construction”.  (Standard publishing, I
think)   The CD from Standard is awesome…transparencies already typed up,
etc.  They had cute things to purchase and even a “Darrell the Barrell”
puppet and costume for an adult to wear.  We bought construction orange
fencing and use it to block off our puppet stage to keep little eyes from
seeing behind the puppet stage and puppeteers.  Several men in our church
made us construction signs that are yellow and black and say “Kids under
Construction”  ministry of….  We have orange cones to mark our spot in the
park so the kids know where to come.  We wear construction workers vests
and hats so that parents know we are with Kids Under Construction
ministry. 

Rhonda, KUC puppet leader in Oklahoma


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