Articles for tag: Sunday school

March 9, 2018

Kent E. Fillinger

Kent E. Fillinger

What Are Your Church’s Push and Pull Factors? (Part 2)

By Kent Fillinger Last month we looked at “push” factors that cause a person to leave a church or religion. This month we look at conditions that “pull” someone into one church or faith over another.   Common “Pull” Factors A LifeWay Research survey asked about 2,000 “unchurched” Americans (those who have not attended a worship service in the last six months, outside of a holiday or special occasion) what, if any, life experiences would make them more open to consider turning to the church for help. The top three life experiences (as reported in Facts & Trends, Fall 2016)

February 23, 2018

Jerry Harris

Discipleship and the New Lookout

By Jerry Harris As the publisher of both Christian Standard and The Lookout, I have been tasked with reimagining the magazines and what they are supposed to accomplish. Christian Standard is primarily focused on ministry from a leadership perspective, so I know that leaders are primarily reading this. You are the decision makers, the ones with the sacred responsibility of caring for the flock of God. Like me, you want to have the very best tools at your disposal, and so providing you with the best tools is our goal at Christian Standard. We want to leverage the power that

January 22, 2018

Mark Scott

Lesson for January 28, 2018: A Strong Faith (Daniel 10:10-19)

Dr. Mark Scott wrote this treatment of the International Sunday School Lesson. Scott teaches preaching and New Testament at Ozark Christian College, Joplin, Missouri. This lesson treatment is published in issue no. 1–4 (January 7-28, 2018) of The Lookout magazine, and is also available online at www.lookoutmag.com. ______ By Mark Scott  Reading Daniel 7-12 is somewhat like reading Jonah 3, 4. We rarely do it. These are often neglected chapters because they are difficult chapters. But they contain important content for both comings of Christ. Daniel would need a strong faith to receive these teachings. This text might be appreciated more thematically if we

November 6, 2017

Christian Standard

Lesson for November 12, 2017: Promise of a New Covenant (Jeremiah 31:27-34)

Dr. Mark Scott wrote this treatment of the International Sunday School Lesson. Scott teaches preaching and New Testament at Ozark Christian College, Joplin, Missouri. This lesson treatment is published in the November 5, 2017. issue of The Lookout magazine, and is also available online at www.lookoutmag.com. ______ By Mark Scott  The Bible has a love/hate relationship with old and new. On the one hand, God”s people were to ask for the ancient paths and old ways (Jeremiah 6:16), and even Jesus said that the old wine was best (Luke 5:39). On the other hand, Paul taught that if anyone is in Christ he is

October 23, 2017

Christian Standard

Lesson for October 29, 2017: God’s Covenant with the Returned Exiles (Nehemiah 9:32-38; 10:28, 29)

Dr. Mark Scott wrote this treatment of the International Sunday School Lesson. Scott teaches preaching and New Testament at Ozark Christian College, Joplin, Missouri. This lesson treatment is published in the October 22, 2017. issue of The Lookout magazine, and is also available online at www.lookoutmag.com. ______ By Mark Scott  More than 500 years had passed since the events of last week”s lesson. The 10 northern tribes had been taken captive by Assyria (722 BC), and the two southern tribes had been taken captive by Babylon (586 BC). But God raised up Cyrus to send the exiles home (Isaiah 45:1). They came home in

June 26, 2017

Christian Standard

Lesson for July 2, 2017: Moses (Exodus 3)

Dr. Mark Scott wrote this treatment of the International Sunday School Lesson. Scott teaches preaching and New Testament at Ozark Christian College, Joplin, Missouri. This lesson treatment is published in the June 25, 2017, issue of The Lookout magazine, and is also available online at www.lookoutmag.com. ______ By Mark Scott  One of the great characteristics of God is his interpersonal capacity. He communicates. He called judges to rescue his people (last month”s lessons). He also called prophets to prosecute his people (this month”s lessons). “Prophets don”t prepare messages. Prophets are messages” (Spirit, Word, and Story by Calvin Miller). Moses is often viewed as the great

June 19, 2017

Christian Standard

Large Church . . . Small Town?

By Jim Estep It”s easy to understand why small towns have small churches. We can visit a town of 3,500 and find several congregations with fewer than 100 people in each. In fact, some would say that small towns like small churches. Bristow, Iowa, for example (population 160), boasts of having “The Smallest Church in Iowa.” One can readily explain a large church being in a large city. Finding a church of 1,000 in a city of 200,000 people””that”s reasonable. Most megachurches are in “mega” cities. But, what happens when we encounter a church of 1,200 in a town with

April 3, 2017

Christian Standard

Lesson for April 9, 2017: Saving Love (John 3:1-21)

Dr. Mark Scott wrote this treatment of the International Sunday School Lesson. Scott teaches preaching and New Testament at Ozark Christian College, Joplin, Missouri. This lesson treatment is published in the April 2, 2017, issue of The Lookout magazine, and is also available online at www.lookoutmag.com. ______ By Mark Scott  This famous text contains the teachings of Jesus, the questions of Nicodemus, and the saving love of God. This late-night conversation between Jesus and this Pharisee led to a bright sunrise of teaching concerning saving love. Birth | John 3:1-5 In each section of our text there is a rhetorical device (verses 3, 5, and 11).

March 27, 2017

Christian Standard

Lesson for April 2, 2017: Shepherding Love (Psalm 23)

Dr. Mark Scott wrote this treatment of the International Sunday School Lesson. Scott teaches preaching and New Testament at Ozark Christian College, Joplin, Missouri. This lesson treatment is published in the March 26, 2017, issue of The Lookout magazine, and is also available online at www.lookoutmag.com. ______ By Mark Scott  David”s music comforted King Saul (1 Samuel 16:23), but the lyrics of the shepherd”s 23rd psalm comfort us all. Who hasn”t been moved by the words of this most famous passage? It has been read at more funeral services than any other psalm. It underlines God”s comfort, provision, discipline, guidance, joy, reception, and affirmation. This

February 27, 2017

Christian Standard

Lesson for March 5, 2017: Perfect Love (1 John 4:7-19)

Dr. Mark Scott wrote this treatment of the International Sunday School Lesson. Scott teaches preaching and New Testament at Ozark Christian College, Joplin, Missouri. This lesson treatment is published in the February 26, 2017, issue of The Lookout magazine, and is also available online at www.lookoutmag.com. ______ By Mark Scott  God”s primary identity must become our primary activity. That identity and activity in a word is love. A loving God was all but unheard of in ancient Greece. The false gods they believed in were often more immoral than humans and had to be appeased””not embraced due to their love. But in a stunning statement

February 20, 2017

Christian Standard

Lesson for February 26, 2017: Christ Creates Holy Living (Galatians 5:18″“6:10)

Dr. Mark Scott wrote this treatment of the International Sunday School Lesson. Scott teaches preaching and New Testament at Ozark Christian College, Joplin, Missouri. This lesson treatment is published in the February 19, 2017, issue of The Lookout magazine, and is also available online at www.lookoutmag.com. ______ By Mark Scott  Jesus taught that good trees bear good fruit and bad trees bear bad fruit (Matthew 7:18). Christian freedom allows believers to bear fruit like healthy bushes and trees. Christians are to live in moral excellence. But this is not so we can look at others with moral smugness, but rather so we can serve others

January 2, 2017

Christian Standard

Lesson for January 8, 2017: Praise God with a New Song (Psalm 96)

Dr. Mark Scott wrote this treatment of the International Sunday School Lesson. Scott teaches preaching and New Testament at Ozark Christian College, Joplin, Missouri. This lesson treatment is published in the January 1, 2017, issue of The Lookout magazine, and is also available online at www.lookoutmag.com. ______ By Mark Scott  The Psalms improve your song. If your song is exuberant, a psalm will sound like seventy-six trombones in a marching band. If your song is a lament, the psalm will sound like the blues. For every season of the heart, there is a psalm. Much like the preaching of Jesus, there is something for everyone.

August 29, 2016

Christian Standard

Lesson for September 4, 2016: The Peaceful Kingdom (Isaiah 11:1-9)

Dr. Mark Scott wrote this treatment of the International Sunday School Lesson. Scott teaches preaching and New Testament at Ozark Christian College, Joplin, Missouri. This lesson treatment is published in the August 28 issue of The Lookout magazine, and is also available online at www.lookoutmag.com. ______ By Mark Scott  The Prince of Peace knew that wars and rumors of wars were standard fare in a fallen world (Matthew 24:6). But Isaiah, who predicted the coming of the Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6), knew about rumors of peace as well. Even though the northern kingdom would fall to Assyria and the southern kingdom would later

June 6, 2016

Christian Standard

Lesson for June 12, 2016: The Day Is Coming (Zephaniah 3:1″“8)

Dr. Mark Scott wrote this treatment of the International Sunday School Lesson. Scott teaches preaching and New Testament at Ozark Christian College, Joplin, Missouri, and has held preaching ministries in Missouri, Illinois, and Colorado. This lesson treatment is published in the June 5 issue of The Lookout magazine, and is also available online at www.lookoutmag.com. ______ By Mark Scott  “Turn out the lights” or “00:00″ or “Pay day some day” are all ways of expressing the inevitable, “Time is up.” Last week”s lesson from Zephaniah predicted the day of the Lord. This week”s lesson is focused on that day actually coming. God had an

March 31, 2016

Michael C. Mack

April Ministry Ideas

By Michael C. Mack Autism Awareness Month. April is Autism Awareness Month. What can your church, class, or group do to come alongside families in your community who deal with autism? “¢ Start a support group for families with autism. “¢ Some churches offer Sunday school classes designed especially for children with autism. “¢ One church offers a regular “Parents” Night Out” event, providing volunteer child care for parents with autistic children. While moms and dads enjoy some quiet alone time, children have fun with crafts, snacks, and movies. “¢ Be creative. Come up with your own ideas to reach

March 10, 2016

Christian Standard

Lessons from Limestone

By LeAnne Blackmore For the past 16 years my husband, Ron, and I have led, taught, cast vision, and ministered to many in our city megachurch, First Christian Church, Johnson City, Tennessee. From college ministry to missions, greeter to elder, we have stepped into roles as variegated as the fall foliage on the Blue Ridge Parkway. By man”s standards, we experienced great successes and toyed with the temptation to take the credit. But God, in his grace, also allowed us to face colossal failures. In merging the two extremes, and through immersing ourselves in the Word, a mutual mind-set surfaced.

March 8, 2016

Mark A. Taylor

Surgery and Other Sickness

By Mark A. Taylor “I have visited and prayed with many sick people,” Professor Sherwood Smith told my class at The Cincinnati Bible Seminary more than 40 years ago. “But never did I pray like I did when the patient was my wife.” For some reason that insight has stuck with me all these years, and now it comes into sharper focus as I anticipate my own surgery Thursday this week. “Lord, heal him,” the elders prayed in December, not long after my diagnosis of prostate cancer. “Lord, keep him in the palm of your hand,” the men in my

November 23, 2015

Christian Standard

Lesson for November 29, 2015: Teaching God”s Word (Acts 18:1″“11, 18″“21)

Dr. Mark Scott wrote this treatment of the International Sunday School Lesson. Scott teaches preaching and New Testament at Ozark Christian College, Joplin, Missouri, and has held preaching ministries in Missouri, Illinois, and Colorado. This lesson treatment is published in the November 22 issue of The Lookout magazine, and is also available online at www.lookoutmag.com. ______ By Mark Scott  Our lesson title is taken from verse 11 of our text: So Paul stayed in Corinth for a year and a half, teaching them the word of God. The content was not Bible exposition as much as gospel announcement. Could teaching the gospel reverse an immoral

November 7, 2015

Michael C. Mack

November Ministry Ideas

By Michael C. Mack November 21: National Adoption Day. Held the Saturday before Thanksgiving in all 50 states. On this day a number of courts and communities work together to finalize the adoptions of thousands of children in foster care. Ideas: Work with agencies in your community to support adoptions. Plan with adoptive parents in your church to advocate for adoption in your community. Plan your weekend services around adoption, inviting adoptive families from the community. Speak about God adopting Christians as his children (Romans 8:15, 23; Galatians 4:5) in your sermon or Sunday school lessons. November 27: Black Friday.

September 29, 2015

Mark A. Taylor

Annual Panic

By Mark A. Taylor Every August and September, I was gripped by panic. As part-time education minister with a smaller church (now it”s mega), I was responsible to recruit Sunday school workers for every age level and to staff a fully graded program on Wednesday nights. When kids choirs took a break on Sunday evenings (we had Sunday-night church back in those days), my job was to create and find workers for kids” classes then too. In a church of a few hundred, that was a lot of volunteers, and we never seemed to have quite enough. We encouraged people

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