I'm glad to hear your thoughts on Watkin's book so far! I've got it on my shelf, but it's been intimidating looking.
In our Sunday School I hope that we are answering the "so what" in all that we do: we pray for others who are hurting and ask for his comfort and peace. We praise him for his attributes and trustworthiness. We acknowledge our needs, our fear, loss, anger, and sadness as we look to him. We sing hymns that are rich and beautiful, memorize passages, read scripture, and look at art that all points to God's grace and love for us. We point to how Jesus is better in every Bible story. Our teachers will often confess their own failures (in a general way) after reading about how beautiful and safe Jesus is. We work with our hands to encourage the sick and lonely. And we hear Christian biographies which can be particularly good at showing how non glamorous the Christian walk of faith can be and how faithful God is. I pray that many seeds are planted as we memorize Mary's song, read a thank you letter from a teen facing cancer who received their cards, and read aloud about the challenges of missionaries such as Lottie Moon who saw God work mightily in small unseen places and also had to teach the mission board back home how to care for Christian workers' mental health and empower women for service.
Your question has me thinking about how to be more explicit in answering questions they may have. I value your thoughts in these newsletters so much.
I'm glad to hear your thoughts on Watkin's book so far! I've got it on my shelf, but it's been intimidating looking.
In our Sunday School I hope that we are answering the "so what" in all that we do: we pray for others who are hurting and ask for his comfort and peace. We praise him for his attributes and trustworthiness. We acknowledge our needs, our fear, loss, anger, and sadness as we look to him. We sing hymns that are rich and beautiful, memorize passages, read scripture, and look at art that all points to God's grace and love for us. We point to how Jesus is better in every Bible story. Our teachers will often confess their own failures (in a general way) after reading about how beautiful and safe Jesus is. We work with our hands to encourage the sick and lonely. And we hear Christian biographies which can be particularly good at showing how non glamorous the Christian walk of faith can be and how faithful God is. I pray that many seeds are planted as we memorize Mary's song, read a thank you letter from a teen facing cancer who received their cards, and read aloud about the challenges of missionaries such as Lottie Moon who saw God work mightily in small unseen places and also had to teach the mission board back home how to care for Christian workers' mental health and empower women for service.
Your question has me thinking about how to be more explicit in answering questions they may have. I value your thoughts in these newsletters so much.