Stickers. Pencils. Trinkets. Been there, done that. How can a baptismal birthday celebration reflect the significance of the event? Consider ten ideas that could be used monthly in your Sunday School or elementary school classroom. Have a party and invite your community of believers!

Over the past month or two, I’ve slipped on a teacher shoe from time to time in order to imagine the teens who may be reading The Messengers: Discovered. What a thrill it has been to create potential lesson plans! 

Teachers have been tweeting, texting, messaging, and emailing me about ways to teach Discovered in their classrooms. For a teacher who suffers from occasional classroom withdrawal, this engagement with fellow educators is downright thrilling! I love knowing that some of your students across the nation will be using my new novel to learn about their world and their God, who created it.

The #SelfiesWithSimon. The #SimonSightings. The book reviews and random Facebook tags. I am so very thankful for my brothers and sisters in Christ for sharing how Simon has impacted their lives this summer. Teens and adults alike are sharing The Messengers with others, and the youth group is one setting in which this is taking place.

Sunday School teachers are very important. They help us bring our children up in Christ and put them on the right path to Jesus. Week after week, they choose to work with kids—boogers and all—so that they can share the love and forgiveness of Jesus. Many of us remember these amazing individuals in our own lives. We recall their bold faith and their unconditional love. (I even recall a few snacks as well!) Unfortunately, it can be hard to recruit and retain people for this vital position. We have come up with 3 tips for finding Sunday School teachers.

My novel Discovered, in The Messengers series, has been out for a few weeks now, and I have loved hearing feedback from people with all kinds of backgrounds. One theme that I often hear is this: “How do I share this book?” The context might be a book club, a youth group, a classroom, or social media. This question excites my former-teacher self, and I start thinking of ways for me to help you get the word out about The Messengers and the message it contains.

The Reformation is the cornerstone of our Lutheran faith. Teaching it to the future generation is important to uphold the central doctrine of rich faith and tradition we share this time of year. The following ideas will help teachers bring the story, characters and ideas of Reformation to life. Teachers may use them and adapt them according to their needs and students.

It’s no secret that being a teen in today’s world is difficult. As more teens are seen leaving church and losing faith, churches across the country are trying to figure out how best to meet the needs of these young people. The most common response seems to be to customize programs to teenagers’ needs. Youth Bible studies, youth service projects, youth conferences, and other “youth-centered” events are created and grown to connect young people to the church.

As a pastor’s daughter who, at 21, is not too far removed from teenhood, I’d like to suggest another option: Start treating teen church members more like adults.

Children memorize many things word for word without realizing it. They know the words of hundreds of songs on the radio, many which are not worth memorizing. Children memorize jingles from commercials on television and radio, hours of exact dialogue from their favorite Disney movies, and the biographies and statistics of players from their favorite sports teams. How do they do it? Repetition! It works.

Children’s Ministry leaders across the country are experiencing the annual “August panic.”.  It goes something like this:  “Sunday School starts up again in three weeks and we don’t have enough teachers!   Eeeeks, what will we do?”