Your Stewardship Sunday is just around the corner and you “don’t want to leave the kids out” but you aren’t sure how to explain the concepts of tithing or pledging and you know that they cannot sustain a commitment made for a year since they can barely wrap their little heads around what a calendar even is. And yet, stewardship, remembering that all we have belongs to God, allows us to give back to God with our time, talents, gifts and service. After meeting with my 84 congregations who are participating in A Time for Children, here are some great ideas to make stewardship “real” for kids. First, remember that “teaching or telling” about stewardship is not as effective as “experiencing stew

Because devils, skeletons, ghouls and goblins, are considered dark and evil, many churches have banned Halloween and any activity associated with it. Some Christian parents, who want to take their kids trick or treating, feel like they have to justify their choice to their church friends. As a pastor in the United Methodist Church and, after 30 years of debating this issue, I want to say that I think Halloween is fine to celebrate but to be honest, I don’t think it belongs at the church unless it is tied to the religious holiday, All Saints Day, that Halloween get’s its name from. Halloween is a contracted version of “All Hallows Eve” or in simpler language it is, “the night before All Saint