Find a large-print 2013 calendar. Cut it apart and spread all 12 months onto a table so the entire year is clearly visible at a glance. Invite the teenagers to circle dates on the calendar that are im...

For this game, you will need a hat, index cards and pencils.Begin by asking each teenager in the group to write down one thing about him or herself that no one else in the group would know. Write no names on th...

"I am about to do a new thing" (Isaiah 43:19).When I was a kid, we sang a folk tune that went something like this:"Once was a man named Michael Finnigan"He had whiskers on his chinigan"Pulled them out and ...

And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them (Luke 2:8-9).A couple of ye...

The angel answered, 'The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God' (Luke 1:35).In Charles Dickens' classic sto...

The record of the genealogy of Jesus Christ (Matthew 1:1).The Book of Matthew begins most inauspiciously—with a genealogy, a list of names. The list, though scarcely read by most, serves as an i...

Jennifer ShawCarpenters Son Publishing, 2012, 240 pp., $14.99Top 40 Billboard recording artist Jennifer Shaw offers an atypical parenting saga in this faith-inspired memoir. Shaw, while her songs were climbing ...

Let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds (Hebrews 10:24). The weeks leading up to Christmas are filled with activity and busyness, especially in the church. There are service...

Arrange for a pianist to bring in a book of favorite Christmas music (carols and hymns). Divide your group into two teams and allow one person from each team to compete against each other in naming the carol. T...

"Jesus asked, 'Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?'" (Luke 17:17-19).Here on this Thanksgiving weekend we are reminded o...