Getting to Know Your Child’s Sunday School Teacher

Getting to Know Your Child's Sunday School Teacher - Parenting Like HannahBeing a Sunday School teacher for children and teens is a special calling. There are many wonderful Christian men and women who spend countless hours and a good bit of their own money to try and provide your child with the most meaningful Bible class experience possible.

Sadly, there are also those who are guilted into the position. These well meaning, but often unmotivated individuals may barely scan a teacher’s manual at the last possible second and pray the worksheets provided will last the entire class – if they let the kids talk awhile before starting.

Sunday School (in some churches there are also week night classes once a week) was probably created to give children some additional time each week in Bible study. Most classes also tried to make some attempt to begin teaching children to apply biblical concepts to their every day world. It was never meant to substitute for family or independent Bible study. The classes were a way for churches to provide parents with extra support in their efforts to raise godly children.

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Accessible Mentors for Christian Moms

Accessible Mentors for Christian Moms - Parenting Like Hannah
The Blessed Woman by Debbie Morris

As a mom of young children, many of your crisis times seem to hit during the middle of the night. Often the crisis is a sick child or a young one with bad dreams. Sometimes the crisis is only the anxiety that hits you once you finally have the time to lay still in a quiet, dark house. I was blessed to have relatives and strong Christian mentors nearby, some of whom accepted late calls. What about those times when I didn’t want to bother anyone? What about women who had no close Christian relatives or friends to turn to for godly advice? How would they get the mentoring they needed as quickly as they needed it?

Debbie Morris wrote The Blessed Woman with this woman in mind. At one point in her life, she was that woman who wanted godly mentoring, but had no resources. She turned to the women in scripture to answer the questions she had regarding living life as a woman of God.

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Mentoring Groups for Moms

Mentoring Groups for Moms - Parenting Like Hannah
Photo by Juhan Sonin

Did you know God wanted moms to have some earthly backup? I think that is one of the reasons Paul told the older women to teach the younger women. (Titus 2:3-4) God knows being a mother is one of the greatest blessings on earth. He also knows it is one of the greatest responsibilities.

I don’t know about you, but when I am responsible for something incredibly important, I tend to get a little stressed. Add the love a mother has for her children and the pressure can be overwhelming at times. I remember when my daughter was an infant, there was a part of me that may just have thought it was important to make sure she breathed regularly. After a few days of motherhood, I finally realized she probably didn’t need me to watch her breathe every breath just in case she forgot one!

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Surrounding Your Children with Christians

Surrounding Your Children with Christians - Parenting Like HannahWe talked earlier this month about our month-three challenge for teaching your children to live more like Jesus.  This month we are adding to our previous challenges of encouraging your children to read their Bibles and pray independently.  The challenge this month is to help them develop meaningful relationships with a variety of strong Christians. Men and women who are godly and are willing to help mentor your children. Other children and teens whose parents are actively parenting their children towards God.

Some of you may be wondering how spending time with Christians reflects Jesus and his life. Wasn’t Jesus known for ministering to people who often were rejected by the religious leaders of the time as ungodly? Shouldn’t our children be spending their time trying to share their faith with children who don’t know God? Isn’t that how Jesus lived His life?

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Why Your Kids Need to Spend Time with People Who Love God

Why Your Kids Need to Spend Time With People Who Love God - Parenting Like HannahIf you are following the 12 month challenge to teach our children to live like Jesus, March is about having our children spend time with people who love Jesus. Sounds a little silly. After all, your home is probably filled with Christians and you most likely attend Church at least once a week. Getting your kids to read the Bible and pray on their own was a challenge, but this month your family can phone it in. Or can you?

Over the years, I have heard the same story over and over again. Parents whose children either no longer attend church or go somewhere the parents believe is teaching error because that is where their children’s friends are. Usually, if I ask a few more questions it turns out the child never made friends at Church and the school friends are the ones pulling their child either away from God or at least in a direction the parent is uncomfortable with on some level.

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