Honoring members in this way is a good idea. But how could you step the value up from merely good to great, maximizing the assimilation value and encouraging true Christian fellowship?

 Here are four ideas:

1.  Get a group of friendly and established members to introduce people to one another. 
2. Provide name tags. Just because you know everyone doesn’t mean long-term members know newcomers or vice versa.  
3. Put sheets of ice breaker questions at each table. Include silly or serious questions. Ask people to name their favorite _______ (fill in the blank). Have everyone describe their best Easter/graduation/Mother’s Day of all time. Open ended questions like these can get everyone sharing in a way that feels safe and fun.  
4. Provide pencils and note cards and encourage everyone sitting at each table to exchange  prayer requests for the upcoming week. If they share phone numbers or E-mail addresses so they can stay in touch. Encourage them to contact each other at least once before next Sunday.

 Do you want to help worshipers break the every Sunday “hit and run” habit? Proactively leverage spring events to deepen relationships!

1. Women go to retreats be fed and nourished spiritually, as well as for the fellowship. Women love to be in the Bible, so enlist a speaker who is willing to help you lead your group into Scripture. (Can’t find a speaker like that? Then consider using one of CTA’s new free women’s retreat planning guides: Recipe for Life or Woman of God. Scroll down to find the retreat planners.) 







Women of God - Moments of Grace Devotion Book

2. Find a way to include a “Personal Retreat” time for the women towards the end of the retreat. This is an hour or more when they go off by themselves to have quiet time with God. They are in the Word and prayer and they can reflect on what they have heard at the retreat. Many women never have a whole hour of quiet for devotions and they relish this time without the normal distractions or busyness of life. (Both of CTA’s free retreat planners have built-in activities just like this!) 




3. Try to book a site where women can enjoy God’s creation—walking, sitting outdoors, or singing around a campfire. But be aware of costs. You don’t want to exclude anyone because the retreat is too expensive. Might you scholarship some women who might not otherwise get to attend? 




4. Include time for discussion! This could be during the presentations with pauses to talk with a partner or small group—discussion questions are included in both Recipe for Life and Woman of God.




5. Music! Food! Candles or decorations on tables! Mixers! Crafts! Chocolate!  




6. Prayer partners: If possible, have women who aren’t attending the retreat pray for specific participants ahead of time and during the retreat. They could also write personal prayer letters ahead of time which can be given to the attendees as they arrive. Participants will love knowing that someone is praying specifically for them and took the time to write them a personal note. 




7. Allow time for sharing at the end of the retreat—either with a partner, in small groups, or in the large group. Sharing helps everyone think about ways God touched them through His Word. Women love to hear how God is at work in their sisters’ lives. 




8. Keep registration forms simple and easy to use. Think it through! The part registrants send in should clearly include contact information so you can reach them before the retreat if you have questions. Pre-address it if you can so there’s no question about how to return it! The part the registrants keep should clearly list retreat dates, times, the retreat location/address, contact information in case they have questions ahead of time, and a list of what to bring.




9. Door prizes are always fun. No need to spend a lot of time gathering them if you use one of CTA’s retreat themes. Inexpensive, fun items are available for both Woman of God  and Recipe for Life. 




10. Bathe the retreat in prayer: for the speaker, that God would bring women, for the committee, all the details, the weather and especially that Christ would be glorified and everyone who attends would be encouraged.

Many thanks to Renee Gibbs and Amelia Fortmeyer for the valuable ideas and advice they contributed to this article!

This picture of God, mistaken though it is, nonetheless captures the view of many people still today whom we might call “cultural Christians.” Folks like these have a passing acquaintance with Christianity and perhaps a tie to the church through a pious parent or godly grandparent, but no real grasp of the Holy Scriptures or of what our Lord Jesus truly taught.

Sadly, this picture of God has sometimes poisoned the original intent of potentially powerful customs in the church. Take Lent, for instance. We can tell what our culture thinks about it by watching the excesses of Mardi Gras. The drunkenness and other debauchery, lasting in some places for weeks, seems to say something like this: “Let’s get in all the sin we can before Lent arrives and God’s angry fist descends to destroy our fun.”

While some Christians observe Lent and others do not, we all do well to prepare our hearts for the glorious celebration of our Savior’s resurrection at Easter. Such preparation goes much deeper than a superficial decision to “give up chocolate” for six weeks. The early Christian church used the 40 days before Easter to rehearse the key teachings of Christ and all he has done to rescue us from sin and death. New believers were instructed in the faith; more mature believers made use of this time of preparation to review the basics of Christianity they had come to confess as truth. 

Think of it this way: Medical doctors often treat patients with a newly diagnosed chronic illness. High blood pressure, for instance. After a week or two on medication, the patient’s symptoms begin to fade away. Some patients interpret this as a miraculous cure —and stop taking the medicine. The symptoms come roaring back, sometimes with disastrous results. Call it denial. Call it a failure to communicate. Call it what you will, the doctor shakes her head and the patient bears the consequences.

The spiritual version of this scenario may occur even more often. Pastors and other Christian workers face it all the time. The Holy Spirit leads a person to recognize her sin and her need for the salvation Jesus has won for us. She relies fully on the blood of Christ shed for us on his cross. True peace cascades into this believer’s heart and life.

Yet after a week or two, a month or two, life seeps slowly back into a routine, a kind of “new normal.” Satan subtly slips the key truths of repentance and faith out from her field of awareness. She—or should I say we, for it happens to all of us—fail to notice because we’re focusing on other areas of our busy lives. Without realizing it, we’ve stumbled back under the Law, back under the bondage of trying and of trying harder to please God.

Instead of recognizing the truth that in Christ, God is already pleased with us, we labor under what St. Paul calls in Galatians 3 the “foolishness” of works (vv. 2–3), the “curse of the law” (vv. 10–14). At heart, this curse involves primarily the burden of shouldering the doleful “have-tos,” “shoulds,” and “musts” that Satan hangs over our heads like an eternal sword of Damocles.

•  In Christ and his cross, God is already pleased with us—with you! He takes as much pleasure in you right this moment as he will on that day he welcomes you into his eternal presence in the heavenly home. His love is an everlasting love that began in eternity past and will never change (Jeremiah 31:3; Malachi 3:6; Ephesians 1:3–4).
• In Christ and his cross, your sins are gone. They have disappeared into the sea of God’s forgetfulness (Micah 7:19). God has removed them as far from you as the east is from the west (Psalm 103:12).

 Our culture, of course, fails to understand this kind of love and forgiveness. Even our own minds boggle at it sometimes. Consider, for example, Romans 4:5: 

To the [person] who does not work but trusts God who justifies the wicked, his faith is credited as righteousness (NIV, emphasis added).

 God justifies the wicked! Think of it! If we were good, we wouldn’t need a Savior! As we prepare for Easter, we do so remembering how much we truly need Jesus. We go back to the basic truths of sin and salvation. We recall that, though we once slaved for sin and Satan, we do so no longer. We instead revel in the deep, deep love of Jesus who died for us “while we were still sinners” (Romans 5:8 NIV).

 And we exercise the freedom that’s ours in Christ for all it’s worth! Our heavenly Father wants our spiritual walk to be the exciting, joy-filled adventure of being who we are in Christ. We no longer have to do good works to earn our salvation. Instead, we get to! We can! We want to! (And for those times when our sinful nature tempts us not to want to, we have the dynamic power of the Holy Spirit working in us to renovate our desires.) Only the children of God can understand the joy of the psalmist:

I run in the path of your commands, for you have set my heart free (Psalm 119:32 NIV).

Like children at 3:30 pm on the last day of school as summer vacation begins, we race down the steps and out the front door, free from assignments and term papers and the tardy bell. We get to do what we want. And what we want to do is to run in the path of Christlikeness, because at the cross, our Lord Jesus has set our hearts free.

Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.

You are welcome to copy this devotion for one-time use in your organization as long as you will receive no monetary benefit from it. Please include this copyright line and submit an actual copy of use to CTA, attention Editorial Manager.

Used with permission grant #041008. © 2008 CTA, Inc. No duplication of this devotion is allowed without the express written consent of CTA, PO Box 1205, Fenton, MO 63026. www.CTAinc.com.

It’s also why more and more churches have begun to look for ways to “theme” major celebrations—like the weeks leading up to Easter (Lent, in liturgical churches). And it’s why CTA wants to work with you as you think about doing it, too. 

Whether yours is a house-church, a mega-church, or something in-between, this year’s theme, The Power of the Cross, will resonate with worshipers. Materials—many free—include:

• Day-by-day devotional materials based on the Power of the Cross theme.
• Free sermons tied to the Power of the Cross devotions
•  Discussion guides tied to the Power of the Cross devotions and sermons, written for small groups or Bible study. (You will find the appropriate study on the pages following the free sermon for each week.) 
• Materials for kids and youth, helping them to focus on thePower of the Cross theme, too!
• Free invitations and follow-up materials, all based on the Power of the Cross theme and art.

Ash Wednesday is February 17, 2010, so it’s not too late to order! But don’t put it off. Just think of what God might want to do in the lives of everyone in your church this spring!

While it’s on my mind, I wanted to alert you to the fact that Tim Wesemann wrote the cover article for the February issue, focusing on the topic of clinical depression. If you are a pastor or serve in some other care ministry, I encourage you to read Tim’s insightful comments. He shares his own personal story from the heart. It includes priceless insights for those who minister. (Since pastors and other church professionals are not exempt from this malady, it may help you on a personal level, too.)

Oh, and don’t miss this month’s Smiles as You Serve. Also written by Tim, these are among the best we’ve published in recent months.

Not yet a Grab & Go subscriber? Find CTA’s home page and scroll down until you see the E-mail Sign Up field in the far left-hand margin.

Many blessings on your continued service for Jesus and his people!

Past issues of our ministry newsletter articles are available here.

God's Love is So Big it's Amazing Children's Valentines Book

Did you know that February 14 falls on Sunday in 2010? Have you considered ways you might “seize the day” for the children’s ministries in your church? Maybe you’ve been thinking about it, but aren’t quite sure what to do. Or perhaps you find yourself knee-deep in the planning process.

In either case, you may want to consider the new materials CTA has developed for children across a wide age range. Consider these two options:

• Host a Valentine’s Day party for kids in Sunday school and encourage them to bring their friends on this special day.
• Offer a three- or four-hour “parents day out” on Sunday afternoon and encourage both church members and community families to bring their children.

No time to plan a party? CTA offers a free planning guide. It includes tons of ideas for games, food, activities, projects, and everything else you need to make your event a success. The guide is so complete that you might consider giving it to a small team of volunteers and letting them run with it.

In addition, you may find one or more of these free devotions helpful in your planning. They will help keep everything Christ-centered.

Plus, if you need publicity, check out these free, downloadable tools (invitations, flyers, and postcards for follow-up).

If you’re looking for inexpensive reminders of God’s love, reminders that carry an age-appropriate Valentine’s theme, CTA has developed many new products just in time for February 14. Check them out!

Recently, a popular cable television channel began airing a series based on what happens to animals in utero. Week by week we watch as baby dolphins, baby elephants, and baby puppies develop, computer graphics and 4-D ultrasound imagery taking us inside the womb to watch the growth process day by day. Fascinating stuff!

It makes me wonder what it might be like to use the same state-of-the-art graphics to explore the process human babies undergo as they develop in their mother’s womb. Awe-inspiring, no doubt! I’m confident the experience would movingly illustrate the words of Psalm 139:13.

For you created my inmost being;
       you knit me together in my mother’s womb.

Thinking about all this, I must admit that too often I take God’s gifts for granted. You, too? This verse points that out as it describes the intimate care our Creator used as he brought each one of us to life. The slope of your nose. The shape of my ear lobes. The blood vessels of our heart, our lungs. The cells that make up our spleen and kidneys—and all those other organs we so seldom think about.

All of these drew God’s close, personal attention. My chin is not an accident. Your hair color isn’t either. Our lips and eyes, our mouths and foreheads, our biceps and big toes all brought a smile of approval to our Father God’s face—even before we fought our way through the birth canal and took our first big breath.

You and I were uniquely formed, “knitted together” as the psalmist puts it, in our mother’s womb.

That implies a lot! For example, when we fret about being too tall or too short, we insult the divine Artist who made us just so. When we neglect the bodies God has given, failing to get enough rest, eating too much of the wrong foods, neglecting the exercise that would keep us strong and vibrant—these are sins. When we fail to care for the hungry, to honor the elderly, to protect the innocent (yes, even the innocent in the womb), or to respect individuals who are different from us, we offend the one who made us all.

When we consider all this, we can draw only one conclusion. We’re all guilty before God. It’s bad news. Worse, we deserve eternal death because of it.

The good news, though, is that our Creator willingly became our Redeemer. Our Judge is also our Brother. Jesus heals and forgives. He really does! Calvary’s cross proves it. That cross is the ultimate irony—an instrument designed to bring the cruelest death imaginable has brought life, eternal life. It’s the life Christians celebrate most of all. It’s the life we will celebrate forever. All because of what Jesus did for us.

So now, today, what are you going to do with the life your Creator-Redeemer has give you?

Need a free PowerPoint slide to use as you present this devotion? CTA has developed one for you! Check out our website for resources you can use year-round in your sanctity of life efforts.

Introduction

In just a few days we will celebrate Christmas. For most of us, Christmas is more than just one day; it is an entire season filled with so many different sights and sounds and memories. Just about everyone seems to have favorite foods, activities, and family traditions. For most of us, Christmas is a time of joy, excitement, and anticipation. Take a moment and think about some of the things that make Christmas special for you.

 (Pause—if time allows you might invite a few people to share with the group.)

One of the many traditions Christians have is gift giving. Many of us spend hours planning what we will give and anticipating what we will receive. Giving and receiving gifts is one way we show our love for one another. And yet, if I were to ask you to tell me one gift you received or even gave last Christmas, could you do it? Perhaps a few of you could, but by now most of those gifts have been forgotten, used up, or broken.

Getting to the Heart

Remembering what we received last year can be a challenge, but there is one gift that we cannot forget; indeed, it is the very reason we celebrate!

The whole idea of gift-giving began in the heart of the One who made us. In the beginning God created the world and everything in it out of pure love for us. He created Adam and Eve and all living things. When he was finished, “God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good” (Genesis 1:31).

But as we know, it didn’t stay good. Adam and Eve disobeyed God and since then, each one of us has done the same. Our sin separates us from God. The sin in our hearts leads us to commit all kinds of sins that hurt us and those around us. Our sin breaks God’s heart. Yet, because of his great love for us, God devised a plan to save us from the punishment we deserved, a plan to bring us back to himself.

Isn’t it interesting to know God created us with the full knowledge that our sin would mean the death of his Son? Right from the start God knew the sacrifice he would have to make, and yet he did it anyway. Why? Because “God is love” (1 John 4:8), and from all eternity, he intended to share his love with us. God’s great love came to us as a Gift, the Gift of a tiny Baby born more than 2,000 years ago!

That first Christmas was so unlike the holiday we celebrate today. There were no sparkly lights, no warm food, no parties, and no tinsel or glitter. Instead, a man and woman, a group of shepherds, some barn animals, and one carol—the praise chorus offered by the angels—heralded the Gift, the baby Jesus. It is amazing to think that God would be so quiet about the event he had been planning since before the creation!

It is difficult to understand why God chose to send Jesus the way he did, but maybe the answer can come from what the angels said. As the shepherds watched their flocks out in the dark field that night, suddenly the sky lit up, and “the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord” (Luke 2:10–11).

The message was for “all people,” but it was also a very personal, individual Gift. God could have shared the news with the whole world at once. Instead, he sent his messengers to a lonely field outside of Bethlehem, to a group of lowly shepherds. Those shepherds believed the message and went to see the baby. There, beside the tiny manger, they received the Gift of Jesus! Afterward, they went on to share the Gift with all the people they met, one by one.

Taking It Home

The Gift of Jesus is for you! Jesus came as a baby for you with the expressed purpose to save you from your sin. Perhaps the best known verse in the Bible is John 3:16:

 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

You may know that verse from memory, but today, right now, I want you make sure you know it not only in your head, but also in your heart. I want you to know that it is for you! If you were the only person on earth, the only person in need of God’s forgiveness and salvation, he still would have made the sacrifice. He would have sent his Son for just one, for just you. Jesus would have gone through all of that pain and suffering just for you and only for you.

In fact, while he was on the cross, bearing your sin, he thought of you! He stayed on the cross out of love for you! He died for you, and he rose again to give life to you! Now that is a gift worth remembering!

This devotion is adapted from This Gift Is for You © 2005 CTA, Inc. You are welcome to copy this article for one-time use in your organization as long as you will receive no monetary benefit from it. Please include this copyright line and submit an actual copy of use to CTA, attention Editorial Manager.

Used with permission grant #122209. © 2009 CTA, Inc. No duplication of this article is allowed without the express written consent of CTA, PO Box 1205, Fenton, MO 63026-1205. www.CTAinc.com.

Scripture quotations are from the King James or Authorized Version of the Bible.

This time of year, many of us give gifts. In fact, most of us probably give more gifts at Christmastime than at any other time of the year. Gift giving has its own protocol. If we fail to follow it, that failure can lead to some uncomfortable moments—for us, for our friends, or for both!

For example, we don’t want to embarrass someone by giving them a gift when they have not planned to get anything for us. On the other hand, we don’t want to be caught empty-handed when a friend rings our doorbell, brightly wrapped gifts for every member of our family piled high in her arms. Some people I know (maybe some of you, too?) buy an extra generic gift or two to keep gift wrapped in a dresser drawer for just such an emergency!

Another thing. We want the gifts we give someone else to cost roughly what we imagine they will spend on us. It wouldn’t do to give someone a box of candy and then receive in return that antique baseball card we have been looking for since 1981 that sells for $815 on eBay!

And finally, as the Emily Post Institute makes clear, we would never, ever, ever try to “re-gift” a present we have received, unless we can be 210% certain that the person who gave it to us will never find out.

Getting to the Heart

God gives gifts at Christmastime, too, just like we do. (And throughout the year as well, of course!) But He stands our gift-giving rules right on their heads. He ignores the rules about “not giving more than you will receive.” He never warehouses generic blessings to have in stock in case He receives an unexpected gift. No, He gives and gives and gives and keeps on giving to those of us who live on earth, to people totally undeserving of those gifts—people totally incapable of “payback.”

We certainly have not earned our heavenly Father’s generosity. In fact, we have often defied His commands. We have, in selfishness, taken advantage of His goodness and sometimes even presumed on His mercy. Our heavenly Father knew we would do this. Still, He gave His most priceless possession to us anyway—His only Son, our Savior, Jesus.

In 2 Corinthians 9:15, Paul writes, “Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!” Let me set these words in context. Paul’s exclamation follows a “thank-you note” of sorts. At a time when the believers in Jerusalem had faced a serious lack of food, clothing, and other life necessities, the church in Corinth had come through for them—and had come through generously. So as Paul wrote about other matters, he also tucked in a paragraph of special thanks. Keep in mind that he himself had helped to organize the help drive in the first place.

The apostle doesn’t stop with a simple “thank you” though. He also wants his readers to know many people will praise God for their generosity. He wants them to know that the Jerusalem Christians will, in turn, pray for them. (Just imagine how surprising this sounded in that time and culture: Jews praying for Gentiles, Gentiles supporting Jews!)

Finally, Paul adds that the generosity of the believers in Corinth wasn’t something they dreamed up on their own or something they accomplished out of their own holy intentions. Rather, it came about almost incidentally as God’s love overflowed into their lives. Their generosity was created by the brimming-over, more-than-abundant grace of God at work in their hearts. It resulted from all the many gifts God had given, especially the gift of Jesus, the Savior, and His cross, the fountain from whom all blessings flow. That’s when Paul exclaims, “Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!”

God’s good gifts—especially the gift of Jesus—defy description. One dictionary defines indescribable as referring to “a thing of untellable splendor.” Doesn’t that fit just perfectly? The forgiveness of sins, peace with God, the hope that defeats even death itself—these are things of “untellable splendor.” And all of them—all of them—came down to earth at Christmas when love came down—wrapped in the swaddling cloths of Bethlehem’s baby boy! Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!

We celebrate that gift, especially at Christmas time! We sing! We praise! We act in love toward our co-workers, toward others in our family, and with our neighbors and friends.

Even better, this is one gift we can “re-gift,” worry free! In fact, the Holy Spirit urges us to give this gift away generously, to give it to others as we share our Lord’s unbelievable love with everyone around us. Miracle of miracles, the more we share God’s indescribable gift, the more we have for ourselves. The more we give it away, the more brightly and warmly His love burns in our hearts, despite the winter chill outside. What an indescribable gift!

We can never pay that gift back. We can never compensate the Gift Giver, and so, we “pay it forward.” We pass it on to everyone around us, to those in need of the Good News Jesus has brought into our own lives.

The Scripture quotation is from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

© 2008 CTA, Inc. Permission to make photocopies or reproduce by any other mechanical or electronic means is granted only to the original purchaser and is intended for use within a church or other Christian organization, but not for resale.

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The Christmas Story Pen is a meaningful gift all your students will find intriguing and fun–and for only 99 cents each when you buy a dozen! You might even buy two for each student and help them learn to use the second one to share the Good News of Jesus’ birth with a friend.

Want to know more? Check  out the video description!