Author: Thereasa Winnett

Thereasa Winnett is the founder of Teach One Reach One and blogger at Parenting Like Hannah. She holds a BA in education from the College of William and Mary. She has served in all areas of ministry to children and teens for more than thirty years and regularly leads workshops for ministries and churches. She has conducted numerous workshops, including sessions at Points of Light’s National Conference on Volunteering and Service, the National Urban Ministry Conference, Pepperdine Bible Lectures, and Lipscomb’s Summer Celebration. Thereasa lives in Atlanta, GA with her husband Greg, where she enjoys reading, knitting, traveling and cooking.

Kids, the Bible, and Ben Franklin

Kids, the Bible, and Ben Franklin - Parenting Like Hannah Have you ever heard someone “quote” the Bible and realized they were actually quoting Benjamin Franklin or some other more modern person? Evidently, it happens often. Even adults often have trouble distinguishing between a “proverb” from Benjamin Franklin or even an actor or politician and an actual “Proverb” from the book in the Bible.

Those who believe in the concept of “all wisdom is equal” would say there isn’t a problem with that. Since they are all proverbs, they should agree. The problem is that often popular proverbs are in direct conflict with scripture. Even those which aren’t, can be misused to confuse someone about how they should and should not make decisions.

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Fun Ways to Use Music to Teach the Bible

School children automatically hate to memorize almost anything. Put it to music though, and it is amazing what they can recall. For years Bible class teachers have taught even the youngest of children the books of the New Testament by song. In fact you can still hear adults hum it as they look for a passage. It seems though that most of us stop there.

Did you know many of the songs we sing in church are actually scripture songs? Not only that, but Christian book stores carry cd’s with scripture songs. Many stores even have a way for you to listen to the music before buying to make sure it has tunes your children will enjoy.

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Fun Crafts to Teach Good Prayer Habits

Fun Crafts to Teach Good Prayer Habits - Parenting Like Hannah Part of dedicating your children to God is helping them make the switch from following your lead to having their own personal relationship with God. One of the easiest areas to begin helping your children develop a personal spiritual life is in teh area of prayer.

The two concepts you want them to incorporate in their prayer lives are constant, consistent prayers and the idea of taking everything to God in prayer. Yesterday, we had the kids make two crafts which hopefully will help them with these concepts.

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Re-Thinking How We Teach Kids to Give

Did you grow up in Church hearing about tithes or that you needed to give 10% of your income? Have you heard about something called the “prosperity gospel”or been told to give a lot to Church so God will give you a lot of things? Do you struggle with how much to give or if you should give based on your net or gross income? If we are confused about how to give to God, how are we going to teach the concept to our children?

Jeff Anderson has written a little book called Plastic Donuts. In it, he re-examines Biblical giving and applies it to today. What he found was interesting. In spite of much Church talk of a tithe, about half of the offerings commanded in the Old Testament were actually freewill offerings. Of course the obvious question is, “How much is that?”

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Teaching Kids to Encourage Church Volunteers

Teaching Kids to Encourage Church Volunteers - Parenting Like Hannah Peek into any Church on a Sunday and you will see lots of volunteers running around performing a variety of functions. Some take just a few minutes, while others have spent hours in preparation and will volunteer yet another hour or more during classes or services. Yet most of these people go unnoticed and unappreciated by the members they are serving. When they are noticed, it is often by someone wanting to criticize their endeavors.

In the Biblical model, the leaders of the church are called Elders. They are men who are required to have a long list of qualifications to even be considered for this volunteer position (I Timothy 3:1-13 and Titus 1:5-9). God expects these men to lead the congregation, which often includes teaching, counseling and solving the most difficult problems. They are also to make the decisions that affect the spiritual lives of the congregation. They oversee (in fact one of the names for this position is overseer) everyone in the congregation including ministers, staff, deacons, ministry leaders and members.

I can’t imagine how many hours Elders volunteer each week. Yet often, they receive more criticism than anyone in the Church. Rarely do members show their appreciation for all of the time these men (and their wives) spend helping and guiding everyone.

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