By admin on January 30, 2013
By now, the Christmas tree is being recycled or lies resting in the attic until next December. All the parties have ended and the candlelight services are only a memory. The hours of daylight are lengthening, but ever so, so, so slowly. And February’s biting winds have arrived a few days early in many towns [...]
Posted in Christian Worker, Church staff, Church Volunteers, Encouragement, Encouraging Volunteers, Grieving, Men's Ministry, Ministry, Pastor, Prayers, Sunday School, Teachers, Women's Ministry, Youth Ministry Tagged care ministry, helping the discouraged, hope
By admin on December 5, 2012
Bright lights and tinsel. Carols and cocoa. Family time and laughter. Christmas is all these and more. But Christmas is also sadness and pain, confusion and frustration, loneliness and tears—at least it is for some to whom we minister. Think back over your counseling sessions during the past year and remember that young couple who [...]
Posted in Advent, Christmas, Church staff, Church Volunteers, Encouragement, Grieving, Men's Ministry, Ministry, Pastor, Time Management, Women's Ministry Tagged children's pastor, family ministry, grieving, Pastoral Care, shut-ins
By Alison Zeller on August 29, 2012
Editor’s note: No one likes to think about it, least of all those who minister to children and youth. Still, death is a reality and at some time during the new school year ahead, the children in your class may find themselves grieving the death of a loved one. Why not tuck this article away [...]
Posted in Back-to-school, Children's ministry, Christian Worker, Encouragement, Grieving, Outreach/Evangelism, Pastor, Sunday School, Teachers Tagged children's ministry, children's pastor, Christian children grieving, Grief
By Kristin Schultz on March 19, 2012
Editor’s note: This week’s free devotion is based on one of CTA’s new themes for Mother’s Day and Women’s Ministry, Whispers of God’s Love. This product line comes with lots of free resources, including even free water bottle wraps and cupcake toppers! A prayer journal anchors the product line and several unique items round out [...]
Posted in Christian Worker, Church staff, Church Volunteers, Devotions, Encouragement, Encouraging Volunteers, Grieving, Men's Ministry, Mother's Day, Pastor, Sermon Ideas, Sunday School, Teachers, Women's Ministry Tagged encouraging staff, encouraging volunteers, free devotion
By Tim Wesemann on February 13, 2012
Editor’s note: This devotion is slightly adapted from a new title in CTA’s Care & Comfort product line, Facing Difficult Days with Hope. Written by Pastor Tim Wesemann, it is intended to encourage those who struggle with many kinds of difficulty—job loss, financial concerns, physical challenges, and family problems among them. This new resource will [...]
Posted in Christian Worker, Church staff, Church Volunteers, Coming Soon, Devotions, Encouragement, Encouraging Volunteers, Free Resources, Grieving, Men's Ministry, Pastor, Sermon Ideas, Teachers, Women's Ministry Tagged Care and Comfort, care ministry, free devotions, Pastoral Care
By Tim Wesemann on February 6, 2012
Editor’s note: This devotion is slightly adapted from a new title in CTA’s Care & Comfort product line, Facing Difficult Days with Hope. Written by Pastor Tim Wesemann, it is intended to encourage those who struggle with many kinds of difficulty—job loss, financial concerns, physical challenges, and family problems among them. This new resource will [...]
Posted in Christian Worker, Church staff, Church Volunteers, Coming Soon, Devotions, Encouragement, Free Resources, Grieving, Men's Ministry, Pastor, Sermon Ideas, Teachers, Women's Ministry Tagged care ministry, free devotion, Pastoral Care
By admin on November 2, 2011
Does it feel to you like we’re riding a roller coaster? Employment figures rocket upward one week, then plummet the next. The stock market accelerates, then plunges, then soars again. The so-called “Arab Spring” stirs up hope, then threatens to drag the world into cataclysm. Down. Then up. Then down again. Has national uncertainty ever [...]
Posted in Children's ministry, Christian Worker, Church staff, Encouragement, Encouraging Volunteers, Free Resources, Grieving, Men's Ministry, Pastor, Sunday School, Teachers, Women's Ministry Tagged anxiety, community outreach, fear, financial crisis, free event guide, Grief, Lasting Hope
By Jane Fryar on August 30, 2011
As a new school year begins, few children’s ministers are thinking much about death or the process of grief. Instead, Rally Day, Fall Festival, and even Christmas service plans probably consume your thoughts. It’s sad, but true, though. Before the new ministry year ends, you may very well find yourself comforting a grieving child. Perhaps a grandparent will [...]
Posted in Back-to-school, Children's ministry, Christian Worker, Church staff, Encouragement, Grieving, Pastor, Resources, Sunday School, Teachers, Youth Ministry Tagged Christian resources for helping children grieve, helping youth cope with death, hope in grief, kids and death, Remembering My Someone Special
By admin on March 2, 2011
Remembering My Someone Special: Jesus Gives Me Hope is a new resource leaders and parents, too, can use as they minister to children who grieve. Soon after CTA published Grieving with Hope: Leaning on Jesus for adults, customers began asking what resources we could provide for children for whom death has become a grim reality. Remembering [...]
Posted in Children's ministry, Christian Worker, Church staff, Encouragement, Grieving, Ministry, Pastor, Sunday School, Teachers, Youth Ministry Tagged children, children and death, children who grieve, children's pastor, DCE, death of a brother, death of a friend, death of a parent, death of a sister, DRE, Grief
By Jane Fryar on May 3, 2010
Editor’s note: This week’s free devotion was written many decades ago by a faithful pastor, Walter E. Schuette, who has since gone to be with the Lord. As he basks in the Savior’s presence, Pastor Schuette realizes more fully the truth of the words he wrote while he lived here on earth. His witness speaks [...]
Posted in Christian Worker, Devotions, Easter, Free Resources, Grieving, Ministry, Pastor, Prayers, Sunday School, Teachers, Witnessing Tagged Christian, Comfort and Care, Easter, Encouragement, Pastor, Pastoral Care, Sunday School