The Christian Calendar

Carly Haas

I did not know very much about the Christian Church Calendar before this assignment, so I had to do some background work. I am attaching the source I got my information from on here so if you want to get some background you can. http://www.cresourcei.org/chyear.html

In thinking about the church calendar I did not realize how purposely laid out it is to tell the story of Jesus. The website above talks about how the Christian calendar revolves around the life and ministry of Jesus from start to finish and it also touches on the Great Commission and Jesus’ return. With thinking about the Church Calendar in association with teaching the children, I think it is a great way to connect them with the stories of Jesus. A lot of the time the children are learning something different than the congregation in “big church”, but I think if the children, youth, and adult ministries all teach and learn from the Christian Church Calendar then they can connect with each other, while learning about the life and teachings of Christ. We don’t, however, want to loose the other important stories within the Bible and only focus on the Gospel. The other stories are also part of our Christian history. In what ways can we implement the use of the Christian Calendar in teaching the children, but not loosing sight of the other stories within the Bible as well?

The Role of Missions as a Form of Recreational Ministry

Tyler Cheek

When most people think of 'missions' their minds travel to the far reaches of China, the safaris of Africa, or the rain forests of South America. However the idea of missions is so much bigger than the extreme images of full time missionaries. Missions is an important part of Christianity that any person of any age should carry out in their daily lives. While it is no exactly realistic to prepare first and second grades to be sent into Las Vegas for street evangelism, there are still areas of missions that they can be trained in. Before Jesus left the Earth he left us with the instructions on how to live our lives. He summed all this up with what is known as the "Great Commission" (Matthew 28:18-20). How can the Great Commission be literally applied in your life as a teacher, so that through example you can teach and disciple others?