By Jane Robinson on March 8, 2011
Legends of leprechauns. Shamrocks on newspaper ads. Corned beef with cabbage. “Kiss me, I’m Irish” buttons. These trivialities more or less define St. Patrick’s Day in the United States today. But what do we really know about St. Patrick? The answer may amaze and inspire you! Born in 387, Patrick was raised in Romanized Great [...]
Posted in Children's ministry, Christian Worker, Church staff, Encouragement, Men's Ministry, Outreach/Evangelism, Pastor, Sermon Ideas, St. Patrick's Day, Sunday School, Teachers, Women's Ministry, Youth Ministry Tagged bible, Christian witness, devotion, Encouragement, evangelism, free devotion, St. Patrick, witness
By Jane Robinson on October 20, 2010
Editor’s note: November includes several national holidays and patriotic events— Election Day, Veterans Day, and our national day of Thanksgiving. As you think about your patriotism and about your duty to both God and country, perhaps these words will stimulate further ideas–and actions. Patriotism is a hot topic these days, and it seems that in [...]
Posted in Encouragement, God and Country, Ministry, Pastor, Patriotism, Sermon Ideas, Thanksgiving, Witnessing Tagged bible, Christian, community, devotion, Pastoral Ministry, Sermon Ideas
By Jane Robinson on August 30, 2010
This devotion was written a few years ago. In it, the author reflects upon our Savior’s constant love in light of events like Hurricane Katrina and the attack on the World Trade Center on 9/11. We thought it appropriate to reprise it this week. Every parent will recognize the morning I had. Even if you’re [...]
Posted in Devotions, Encouragement, Sermon Ideas, Witnessing Tagged Care and Comfort, Christian, Comfort and Care, Pastor, Pastoral Care, Sermon Ideas
By Jane Robinson on May 27, 2009
by Gail Marsh Need a little spark in your summer ministry plans? Perhaps a tip or two will help. Father’s Day Here’s a last-minute idea for honoring Christian fathers, mentors, and role models this Father’s Day. At the close of Sunday services, invite all the men outside for a photo opportunity. Ask them to stand [...]
Posted in Ministry
By Jane Robinson on May 19, 2009
Here are two easy outreach ideas you can use right now as you reach out to people in your community with the Gospel of our Savior: Use the addresses in your guest book from the last two or three months to create a mailing list and announce plans for summer Sunday school and VBS. Send [...]
Posted in Outreach/Evangelism, Visitors, Witnessing Tagged children's ministry, community, outreach, Pastoral Ministry, VBS, Visitors
By Jane Robinson on April 28, 2009
We’ve been blogging about Mother’s Day and honoring mothers and all women in our churches. Perhaps you’re still looking for a meaningful Christian gift for Mother’s Day. CTA’s newest devotion book for women is called Be Blessed. Based on the powerful words of God’s blessing, beloved through the ages, these devotions consider Numbers 6:24–26. [...]
Posted in Ministry Tagged Care and Comfort, Comfort and Care, Mother's Day, Pastoral Care, Women's Ministry
By Jane Robinson on April 20, 2009
Roses for Mother’s Day—it’s a lasting tradition. Here’s a new twist on that idea, based on the meaning assigned to certain colors of roses. The following devotion from Bouquet of BlessingsTM: Devotions to Delight Your Soul will get you started. You’re welcome to print it and give it to a friend or use it for [...]
Posted in Ministry, Mother's Day, Women's Ministry Tagged Mother's Day, Women's Ministry
By Jane Robinson on April 14, 2009
Happy Easter Season! At our church we had more visitors than usual for Easter worship. We especially noticed a lot of families with young children. What happened at your church? Did you have more visitors than usual, as well? Did you hear any thought-provoking comments from your visitors? As you look back on your [...]
Posted in Easter, Ministry, Outreach/Evangelism, Pastor, Visitors, Witnessing Tagged Easter, evangelism, outreach, Sunday School, VBS, visitation, Visitors, Witnessing
By Jane Robinson on April 3, 2009
In a recent CTA newsletter I wrote about getting your church ready for Easter visitors. I encouraged readers to examine their bulletin boards and announcements with new eyes. This week I took my own advice. I realized that the vagueness I noticed probably wouldn’t affect visitors so much as it would make it hard for [...]
Posted in Ministry Tagged Easter, Pastoral Care, Pastoral Ministry, Visitors
By Jane Robinson on March 30, 2009
I was a visitor on Sunday. I don’t get to visit other churches very often because our family is usually involved with some Sunday-morning event at our home church. However, this past Sunday my daughter was invited to play flute for another congregation, and I got to be the visitor! Something happened that made a [...]
Posted in Ministry Tagged Easter, outreach, Pastor, Pastoral Ministry