Category: The Ministry

Sensory Bins for Sunday School

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Maybe you have heard of them, maybe you have yet to experience them, the really cool visual and tactile learning tool – The SENSORY BIN!

What is a sensory bin?

It is a hands-on activity placed in a box, bucket, or even a plastic swimming pool for a child to experience hands-on lesson or theme being studied. They have a fillers, like beans, rice,  and then add items that the child can play with. Some sensory bins also include smells from essential oils, scented sprays, cinnamon, etc. Sensory bin activities can be found all over the internet for toddlers, preschoolers, and even older children.

How could you use a sensory bin for Sunday School?

1. For a visual as you teach your Sunday School class.

Simply have your activity box with filler, it’s best to have something with a lid to transport easily. Then as you tell your story add the story items into your sensory bin, setting up the scene of the story.

As you go through a series of lessons then make it a little more interesting, do not put all of your story items into your sensory bin or change some of the items in your bin. Example, if you teach about Daniel, the first week you may teach about Daniel and his friends not eating the king’s meat. You might have a king, 3 friends, and little fruit objects in your bin. In the second week you may remove the king and food and teach about Daniel in the lion’s den adding lions and maybe even some bad guys transforming it into the new story. This will renew the children’s interest in the sensory bin.

2. To reinforce elements of your Sunday School lesson in a day or over a few weeks.

The child gets to play with items associated with the lesson and learn with their hands, eyes, and other senses have your sensory bin(s) before your Sunday School class or following your Sunday School lesson.

If you use this as an activity instead of a visual you might make this a station where children rotate to play with it or make multiple bins of different types of Bible stories to rotate.

I have made these sensory bins for the 2’s and 3’s Sunday School class that I worked in, but my children 3-8 all love playing with them. They act out the Bible stories and ask me questions about why each item is inside the box. It’s a great tool for little growing minds.

More information on the Resurrection Sensory Bin and the Creation Sensory Bin can be found at my sister site, www.ministrymamas.com.

These are very popular and I figured, why not make some Bible-based bins for Sunday School!?

I would love to challenge you to make one of your own for a Bible or  church related activity and send me some of your photos! If I get enough photos then I will make a special sensory bin blog post.

 

Church Camp Adventures

After spending a week at church camp, as the photographer, with my little brood accompanying me, I am so happy to be home. I always enjoyed church camp but there were some things about it that I always dreaded, so I have to say that I love going to church camp as an adult. Thankfully, we were given the opportunity to be able to bring our kids with us and I was given a responsibility that I could handle while monitoring the kids.

A Lesson Learned – Whatever you do, do not forget your razor when you go to church camp! I remembered almost everything except my razor to shave my legs. What a bummer that was because the majority of my outfits were shorter skirts. Here’s a tip, if you ever are like me and find yourself in a faraway place razorless, then you just plan to wear your shorter things earlier in the week and progressively wear your longer outfits as you go along. That covers up your hairy-ness and saves you from a bit of embarrassment and having to explain why your legs looked like a javelina pig’s back. Yikes! I hope I never do that again.

Morning Devotions

A Heart Burdened – It doesn’t take me long around a group of teenagers to begin to pick out the fringe teens and begin to have a burden for their lives and their spiritual growth. I see myself in too many of them not to have a concern for their well-being. I was heart-broken that more of our teens did not make open decisions. I know though, that God’s Word will keep working in their hearts as they go along their journey of life into the next school year and quite possibly their life. The best thing I can do is to continue to pray for those that seemed to leave exactly the same way they came.

My Axe Sharpened – My greatest joy of church camp is being able to fellowship with other people in the ministry. I was around two special ministry mothers that both have more children than we do and just talk to them about their life and experiences. I am thankful for both and their openness to share with me little glimpses of their lives and the wisdom God has taught them both.

This year my husband and I were able to see two other ministry people that we have not seen in several years. Listening to their testimonies and heart for their particular ministries was like an energy drink sparking our weary spirits. What seem like momentary interactions or discussions really do encourage our hearts to be faithful to the Lord and be encouragers ourselves.

Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend. Proverbs 27:17

Past Experience Used – God has a way of using your past experiences for a purpose. I was really praying and hoping God would give me an opportunity to be able to minister to a teenager this week, but that did not happen. Instead, God used a borrowed camera and allowed me the opportunity to be able to minister by the click of the button. In 9th grade, I took a photography class, so that I could be in the Yearbook class in the older grade levels of high school and this week I was able to take many of the tidbits of information from that class and use them this week and take photos. It was a blessing to me to be able to see how God used that to be able to help our church work. Now I just have to work on not coveting the camera I borrowed…it was a fancy Canon with interchangeable lenses. I hope someday to save enough money to buy my own.

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Fears Conquered for My Children – Both of my boys decided to climb the tall rock wall and to go on the zipline. For Uno, our oldest, he had to conquer some fear to carry out the feat. He is naturally more afraid of most things and sensitive, this was a huge obstacle for him to have the courage to accomplish and I could not be more proud of both of them.

My Velcro child, Cuatro (our 4th child), did cling to my legs a lot this week as we were around multitudes of strangers, 136 teenagers plus their pastors, youth pastors, and other church sponsors. But she did branch out and sparkle her personality to people as they came along. She struggled with potty training all week long, but that was to be expected. She did not quite conquer her fears of me leaving her side but she is improving. We take her stick-to-it-tiveness one day at a time.

Uno ClimbingDos Climbing Rock Wall to Zipline

God Works in His Ways – In many ways I was expecting a huge gong to be struck in my heart this week, but God just used the everyday life experiences of our church camp and the preaching to speak His faithful soft whispers of exactly what my heart needed. But isn’t that just how God works? Big things can happen, but God likes to use His still small voice and speak the clear sweet tones of comfort and even conviction. That’s how loving He is, to watch over us so carefully and to speak to us so gently.

I urge people who have a heart for teenagers whether you are a parent or not, if you have the opportunity, go to church camp! If you don’t have any huge responsibilities at church camp then I even dare you to take your family with you. The kids and I had a better time being where the action was than waiting around for a week for The Ministry Papa to come home. It may take you a little sacrifice, extra fundraising, and even more time to pack up all of your kiddos, but I truly believe it is a great opportunity for your family to experience the same blessings as those who go to camp, just in a different way.

 

Q&A: What Makes the Difference In Having Compassion in Ministry?

Ministry people all have their own experiences with enduring hardness and I specifically asked a group of people in and around ministry what factors they believed made the difference in having compassion. These answers come from a range of ages and places around the country.

Here is what they had to say!

“I think one thing that makes a difference is if we are serving for God or serving for the people.” ~Pastor’s Wife in Vermont

“I’ve seen those that get hardened usually have pride, they forget the grace given to them, they base their ‘service’ on results, or they themselves operate from a position of going through the motions. The service they render is no longer real to them and heart is far from the ministry at hand. Regarding the tender-hearted, they maintain a level of humility, they are thankful for the grace given by God and man, they never forget where they could be, and they walk with God, which keeps them tender and humble. As we draw closer to a loving God, we recognize the love we don’t deserve and are willing to share it because it was given so freely to us. As one person put it, salvation is one beggar telling another beggar where to find bread. It’s when we stop seeing ourselves that way that we start getting hardened.” ~Pastor in New Mexico

“Always remember that even when people offend us; God has not changed; people offending us should never change our service to Him. I imagine it helps to focus your mind on those who still serve God as opposed to those who don’t.” ~Youth Pastor’s Wife in Maryland

“Maybe it is judging versus forgiving. Knowing that we are all sinners and that another’s sin is no better or worse than our own. Just a different sin. We have a tendency to judge people harshly if their sin is different than ours. When we realize how wicked we are then, we can have a more forgiving attitude and loving spirit toward those we serve or those that serve us. Mom was a prime example of that. She had the most forgiving spirit I have ever known. It was almost like she didn’t even know they ever did anything wrong. She loved and she was loved!” ~Senior Saint that was a Pastor’s Kid

“Realizing that ‘… we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places’ (Ephesians 6:12) The devil loves it when believers are hard against each other, for then the gospel is hindered. Also, forgiving those who hurt us, and seeking forgiveness when we’ve hurt someone…because we will hurt people whether we mean to or not. Bottom line is just striving to be like Jesus, Who reviled not when He was reviled, and Who sacrificed Himself for us.” ~Pastor’s Wife in Michigan

“Forgiveness,Forgiveness,Forgiveness!!! So simply said, but hard to do at times!” ~Pastor’s Wife

“Perspective…when we view people through God’s eyes, we see them much differently than when viewed through our sin marred eyes.” ~Sunday School Teacher in Oklahoma

“Realize they are human and that they are probably hurting. I’ve been a pastor’s kid and preacher’s wife. Hard on both ends. Always do what Jesus would, with His heart and not your own.” ~Pastor’s Wife in New York

Taking some specific thoughts from the answers above, check your life and heart and think about whether you do these things.

  • Do I serve God instead of man?
  • Do I have humility instead of pride?
  • Do I have tenderness that comes from a thankful heart?
  • Do I recognize the love God has given to me and share it?
  • Do I focus on God who does not change, even when offenses come?
  • Do I see who I am as a sinner or focus on judging people because their sin is different?
  • Do I forgive over and over again?
  • Do I recognize the problems that come are likely a result of a spiritual battle?
  • Do I view people from God’s perspective or my own?
  • Do I love with God’s heart even when I do not feel like it?

A Few Thoughts From The Ministry Mama

These are very Biblical and pointed questions… for me some of the thoughts caused me to have to meditate on them for a while. I hope that although this is not a blog post centered around a specific verse or study like I usually do, you will take these questions into consideration.

I know I fall short… I am not God and cannot be Him or like Him all the time. I can only live within the  moment and honestly pray that I will make the right choice to be obedient. I am not always the type of person that demonstrates love and grace like I should or even as thankful as I even wish my own children to be. But I can make a conscious decision to ask God to show me when He wants me to be more compassionate when I serve my family and other people in this world.

Will we get it right every time? No. Will be blow it sometimes? Yes. Ask for forgiveness and move on… compassion is always centered around having a heart that yearns for people and is usually followed by a demonstration of mercy. If you will be aware and in tune with God, He will show you needs and give you the chance to be able to put your Biblical knowledge into practice.

I hope you enjoy this post. My hope is that I can do more Q&A posts in the future! If you have any questions that you would like answered please contact me and share them with me in an e-mail.