We need your photos!

We're still looking for photos with spiritual meaning or value--pictures that show Christian fellowship, worship, and faith. Send your photos to Picture this, Forward/NL, 2929 N Mayfair Rd, Milwaukee WI 53222-4398. On a separate sheet, give us information about the photo. Those whose photos are chosen will receive a small gift.


Sund

ay school suggestions

How can you and your congregation get involved with the church's youth? Help with Sunday school! Divinity, St. Paul, Minn., offers some suggestions:

* Have a Sunday school kickoff--a family night that includes a meal and an opportunity to visit classrooms and meet teachers.

* One Sunday a month, have the pastor or superintendent inform the congregation of Sunday school "happenings." Someone could even record two to three minutes of footage and display it (similar to WELS Connection).

* Develop a "Sunday school support group" to do things like provide treats, put on short plays (or act out stories), wrap Sunday school gifts, do bulletin board displays, and help with art projects.

* Have a congregation member speak to the Sunday school about his job, his relation-ship with God, his service to the church.

Picture this

How do you normally get to church? In Siberia, 12-year-old Marina pulls her three-year-old sister Sofia to church for the Sunday morning children's service and Sunday school--in -30 degrees Celsius weather.

Writes Jenny Ewart, wife of Missionary Michael Ewart in Iskitim, Russia: "God has blessed our Bible school program with about 200 children attending at different times throughout the week."

The cold weather isn't just in December, either. Missionary Michael Ewert e-mailed the May 2nd weather report: 31 degrees Fahrenheit with snow! He writes: "It's not the severity of the winter that gets to you . . . it's the length. Our Easter service felt more like Christmas."

Questions Christians would like to ask God

In the Next American Spirituality, George Gallup Jr. and Tim Jones asked Christians, "What is the most important question you, as a Christian, would like to ask God about your own life?"

Here are the answers they received.

What do I need to do to get to heaven?
How can I encourage my children to walk with God?
How can I grow in faith?
Why are there problems in the world?
Why do the innocent suffer?
Will I see heaven?
What is God's ultimate purpose?
What is his plan for my life?
Why has he not revealed himself to me sooner?
Am I pleasing God?
Going in the right direction?
Worthy of his love?
What will the future be like--will I find happiness?
Will my health improve?
How long will I live?

[Emerging Trends, Dec. 1999]