The Covenant of Grace.  How do we teach this great doctrine of our faith?  God is with us.  How does God in his Word teach this great promise to us?  He definitely uses all of the learning styles.  Abraham heard the voice of God and the people heard the thunder at Mount Sinai.  God illustrates the vast reaches of his promise through the stars in the sky.  The Israelites travel through the wilderness guided by a cloud and pillar of fire.  And over and over, they experience the physical reality of his presence as he protects and provides for their bodily needs.  It is a spoken covenant, sealed with a physical and visible sign.

We do not normally review children’s books, but once in a while one comes along that deserves special mention. Emmett Cooper (PCA) is a master at developing ways to help people remember, and this book has many such helps.

For more information on our Regional Trainers please visit www.pcacep.org/regionaltrainers.

What does this have to do with the church today? There is a big emphasis currently on “intergenerational worship,” but what does that mean? What place do children have in worship, other than feeling like ignored spectators? Communion can be one of those important times when a child can be made to feel a part of the service while being taught what it is all about.

To have a disciple making Sunday school, your teachers must teach the Bible from the kingdom perspective with a definite plan to encourage the spiritual growth of the students. The process of making disciples begins with God’s covenant children at their baptism, assuming they received the sacramental sign of baptism near birth.

Audio from the 2007 Children's Ministries Conference: Telling God's Story to the Next Generation; Atlanta, GA. Keynote Speaker: Steve Smallman. Audio of the general sessions by Steve Smallman, Allen Curry and Susan Hunt.

By David Nelson. Equip for Ministry will be featuring selected churches in the PCA excelling in the ministry of making kingdom disciples. The following article features First Presbyterian Church of Stanley, NC., Dan King senior pastor. The article by David Nelson, associate pastor of Christian education and discipleship,was written at the request of EfM. Our thanks to David for his assistance. We asked him to highlight their ministry to the rising generation. We commend them for their vision and desire to begin the discipleship process in the early years of their covenant children’s lives.

I am responding to two related questions below that focus on curriculum, the main topic in this edition of Equip for Ministry. One is what difference does it make what curriculum we use in our church? A second question has come from pastors who basically ask, why should I get involved in the curriculum used in the church? Several years ago in a random sampling, I found that only one-fourth of the pastors queried knew what curriculum was being used in their Sunday school.

By Dave Matthews. Part of the church’s responsibility of equipping teachers for a ministry in the church is to provide them with the proper curriculum... A major problem in churches today is choosing a curriculum that is biblically sound and faithful to a correct theological interpretation of Scripture—the redemptive-historical approach. Many churches, independent and denominational, use material that is broadly evangelical and user friendly without discernment of the curriculum’s focus.

Audio from Sue Jakes' seminar during the 2006 WIC International Conference. 1 hour 18 minutes.