Believe it or not, March starts next week. This Sunday, February 28, is the last day of February, and as you wrap up your February calendar, take a look ahead at the next month. Here are the highlights to keep in mind:

• March 14, Sunday:  Daylight Savings Time begins. Set your clocks forward one hour on Saturday night. Here is a Daylight Savings Video Loop to use in your service the week prior.
• March 17, Wednesday:  Saint Patrick’s Day. A Classic Green Shamrock works well as a calendar clipart for this day. 
• March 19, Friday:  Saint Joseph’s Day
• March 20, Sunday:  1st Day of Spring. Try this Spring Renewal Bulletin Covers on this day. 
• March 28, Sunday:  Palm Sunday. This Palm Sunday Christian Video Loop is an ideal way to welcome your people on this special Sunday.
• March 30, Tuesday:  Passover.  A Last Supper Church Bulletin Cover works well as a teaching aid on the significance of the Passover.

March is a full month with a lot of opportunity to exercise creativity and use the media enhancements from Sharefaith.

And don’t forget, this Sunday is Purim.

No tags

At the most important time of year in the Christian calendar, we want to help churches keep aware of the three most significant days that are coming up. Here is a quick countdown for the days that you need to remember–Palm Sunday, Good Friday, and Easter. Over the next few weeks, we will keep you updated, and will continue to share valuable resources to enhance your ministry on these specific days.

Palm Sunday        March 28        30 days away
Good Friday         April 2            35 days away
Easter Sunday      April 4            37 days away

It still seems like a long way off until these days, but it is important to be making plans and preparations right now. Click on any one of these three days above to be directed to Sharefaith’s resource page. We have devoted a specific page to each one of these days where you can consider PowerPoints, bulletins, music videos, flyers, and clipart that will best meet your ministry goals.

No tags

Here’s a quick reminder for you. We are rapidly heading toward a time of year in which churches have an expanded opportunity for gospel outreach. It’s called Easter. Church attendance swells. Families get together, and perhaps for the first time in their lives, unchurched people will hear about the resurrection. Here is some helpful information as you anticipate Easter Sunday

Easter is on April 4 this year. That is only thirty-eight days away. Now is the time to begin your preparations. Pay special attention to your church’s visuals and the use of media. The Bible, as a supernatural book, is the most powerful component of your ministry. However, other elements of the service such as the Easter Sunday Resurrection bulletins, the Easter Sunday Resurrection PowerPoints, the Easter He Is Risen Jesus music video loops, other Easter Resurrection Backgrounds, and the Easter Sunday atmosphere, all contribute to the impact of Easter worship.

Sharefaith is passionate about helping churches spread the life-changing news of Jesus’ salvation on this important day. As you prepare, be sure to bookmark our Easter Sunday Resurrection Passover Templates, for a powerful resource in proclaiming the resurrection of Jesus Christ. View our Easter Sunday Resurrection Collection to access a menu of Easter media options.

No tags

As we observed in an earlier post, Lent can be a time of valuable devotion to God. Because of the potential spiritual impact of a time like Lent, you may want to consider a special sermon series, a single message, or simply a devotional email series at this time of year. Here are some resources that you should consider using.

For Sermons
Powerpoints like the one pictured below are a way to capture attention, visualize the teaching, and emphasize your message. There are twenty Lent-themed PowerPoint templates in the Sharefaith collection. Click here to view them all.

For Bulletins
Don’t underestimate the power of a striking visual on a bulletin cover. As church members and attendees, this is one of the physical objects that they will take away from the building. It is one of the items that they will look at most frequently. Thus, a bulletin cover has remarkable potential for influencing the atmosphere and memory of a church service. Visit this page, to see the variety of Lent bulletin covers from Sharefaith.

For Other Media
It’s more than just PowerPoint templates and bulletin covers. Sharefaith features a collection of video loops, word art, and clipart. This year, you can make the meaning of Lent come alive for the people of your congregation.

No tags

Like thousands of other churches your church has probably began your preparations for your annual Palm Sunday, Good Friday and Easter Services. Out of all the services of the year, Easter Sunday is probably the most-attended service, giving church leadership the perfect opportunity to effectively minister to their congregation and visitors. In order to maximize your reach and enhance your ministry, you need to announce these special services early in the year. Sharefaith provides a wide array of beautifully designed Flyer Templates. These flyers are all pre-designed, and are provided in a MS Word document. All you need to do is to add your text.

No tags

One of the purposes of the Sharefaith Blog is to inform believers about the valuable ancient traditions of their faith. Most Christians are at least familiar with the names of some of these traditional celebrations–like Lent, Ash Wednesday, or Maundy Thursday–but few really know what they mean, or why they are even observed. There are some Christian denominations or religions that strictly follow these traditional holidays in their liturgical calendar, which may be one of the reasons that Christians of differing denominations choose not observe them, in an effort to distance themselves from the aspects of those denominations they do not like. However, it is a helpful exercise to explore the rich tradition behind these Christian observances and evaluate their Scriptural significance. Today, we want to investigate the period of Lent.

What is Lent?
Lent is not a single day, but is a period of forty days in the liturgical calendar. It begins on Ash Wednesday (which was February 17 of this year), and concludes on Easter. Sundays are not part of the forty-day count.

What is the history behind Lent?
Most Christian calendar observances, apart from Sunday worship, are not something taught in the Bible. In fact, the Bible warns against slavish adherence to empty religious observances. However, most Christian holidays do tie in to some Scriptural event. The forty-day duration of Lent is intended to recall the forty days that Jesus spent in the wilderness after His baptism. Lent is also a time of concentrated preparation toward the most celebrated Christian holiday–Easter Sunday.

We don’t know exactly when the practice of Lent started, but we know it was probably in the early centuries of the church. Lent, earlier known as Lenten, became attended by a host of prescriptions, laws, rules, and superstitions. The devout would eat simply and moderately. They would thoroughly cleanse their homes, their bodies, and their souls. They would allocate hours of their day to prayer, repentance, and fasting. Christians would engage in almsgiving toward the poor, or giving up a certain pet sin, or adding a certain virtue such as additional time in prayer. Some of these practices are still observed today.

What is involved with Lent?
Lent is more than just a forty-day period of fasting. Within its forty days, Lent involves other observances and celebrations. As mentioned, Lent begins with Ash Wednesday, a day of intentional sorrow, repentance, and remorse over sin. In some Ash Wednesday worship traditions, actual ashes are mixed with oil and applied to the forehead of worshipers in an outward manifestation of inward humility. The day before Ash Wednesday is known as Shrove Tuesday. It is sometimes called “Pancake Day.” So, what in the world do pancakes have to do with an otherwise sacred-sounding holiday? The connection has to do with fasting–a common practice of Lenten observance–and the desire to indulge the day before the fast begins. So, pancake eating became a tradition prior to the start of Lent. Unfortunately, celebrations of Shrove Tuesday have gone too far, resulting in the excesses of celebrations like Mardi Gras, Carnival, and Fat Tuesday.

Within the actual period of Lent, there is the observance of Clean Monday (or Ash Monday). Halfway through the period of Lent is the observance of Mothering Sunday, which has evolved into Mother’s Day.  The fifth week of Lent is called “Passion Sunday” and begins a two-week period called Passiontide, leading up to Easter. The following Sunday, the sixth one in Lent, is called Palm Sunday, and begins the Holy Week or Passion Week. Thursday of that week is called Maundy Thursday, in which some Christians celebrate the Last Supper. Lent concludes with three days, known as the Easter Triduum. These include Good Friday, Holy Saturday, and Easter Sunday.

What’s the point of Lent?
Lent, in Christian traditions, includes three main activities: prayer (including penitence), almsgiving, and self-denial (including fasting). These activities assume a spirit of humility and sobriety. Many Christians use the period of Lent as a focused time of devotion to God. Some may concentrate upon acts of devotion and self-denial such as giving up coffee, eliminating desert, limiting their entertainment, or other similar choices. Other believers make Lent a period of self-examination and repentance. Commonly, this is a time when Christians give their time or money to relief organizations, the poor, or other charitable actions.

The solemnity of Lent is a welcome change from frivolous preoccupations which threaten to consume our lives–even the lives of Christians. It is important to keep one’s focus upon Jesus–the whole reason for the observance–rather than mere external acts of religious devotion. Periods of intense religious activity are acceptable, but not to the flagrant permissiveness of other times (e.g., sinful indulgences of Mardis Gras). Life–every day and every action–is an act of worship to God, and must be lived in service to Him.

Sharefaith and Lent
Since we are right now in the period of Lent, it may be a good opportunity to share with the people in your church the significance of the period using the many media options from Sharefaith. We will devote another post to feature several of these media options. As we come closer to the climax of Lent, the Easter Season, these will be particularly helpful as you plan for that important day.

No tags

If you are looking for ways to enhance your Palm Sunday, Good Friday, or Easter Sunday service, or make it more memorable, consider using an Easter bulletin cover. These powerful works of art are more than a nice picture; they are a visual message communicating the truth of the resurrection. Here is just a sampling of some of the Easter bulletin covers. Click here to view the entire collection.

The power of this Easter bulletin cover is in its unmistakable message and intense colors. It conveys the pathos of the crucifixion moment by its image of three crosses on a hill against a burning orange sunset.

This Palm Sunday themed bulletin cover features a wooden cross with a thorn crown, placed in between two green palm branches. The design is overlaid on a vintage old paper textured backdrop.

Jesus’ triumphant defeat of death is the joy of Easter celebration. In this Easter bulletin cover, the cross brightly shines at the end of a dark tunnel. The bulletin features a brown vintage look and the word “welcome.”

Remember, that there are many more options for Easter bulletins. Click here to view them.

No tags

This Sunday, February 28th, marks the observance of a very special day. It is called Purim, and it is one of the most important days in the Jewish calendar–their salvation from destruction by Haman of the Persian Empire.

What is the story behind Purim?
The full story behind Purim is in our Bibles, in the book of Esther. It is a story of a beautiful queen, or political intrigue, and ultimate deliverance. Twice on Purim, the book of Esther–known as the Megilla–is read in its entirety. As the story opens, the Persian King Ahasuerus was hosting a big party for all of the government officials. In a drunken craze, he makes unreasonable demands of his wife. She rejects, and Ahasuerus dismisses her. This commences an intense search for a new queen–and Ahasuerus demands that she be the most beautiful woman in the land. His eye falls on Esther, and although the king does not know it, she is an ethnic Jew living as an exile in Persia

The faithful Mordecai, Esther’s uncle and guardian, is a civil servant. He uncovers an assassination plot, reports it, and has his name recorded in the royal ledger. Meanwhile, we meet Haman, the wicked antagonist of the story. Haman, recently promoted in his government post, takes notice of Mordecai. Mordecai, a faithful Jew, refuses to bow down to the king. Haman is enraged and makes plans, with the king’s approval, to anihilate every Jew in the empire.

Mordecai learns of the tragic plot and tells Esther. She is the Jew’s only hope, because she is the queen. As the plot continues, Haman builds a gallows on which he plans to hang Mordecai. Meanwhile, Esther, by strategically arranging a series of banquets for the king and Haman, is making preparation for her ultimate request. She announces to the king, in Haman’s presence, that he–Haman–has connived a plot to massacre the Jewish people–and that she herself was a Jew.

The king was enraged. In a touch of poetic justice, Haman is killed on his own gallows. The king distributes a new edict that the Jews were entitled to self defense on the appointed day. Esther 9: records, “On the very day when the enemies of the Jews hoped to gain mastery over them, the revese occured:  the Jews gained mastery over those who hated them.” It is a story of joy, triumph, and sovereign salvation for the Jewish people.

Who celebrates Purim?
Purim is originally a Jewish feast. It is a day of feasting, reading of Scripture, and exchanging gifts of food and drink. Many Jews celebrate by wearing masks and publicly celebrating in the streets. The most important event, however, is the reading of the Megilla and the feasting. Purim is not just for the Jews, however. Christians of all nationalities can appreciate this day. It is a day when Christians recognize the sovereign hand of God over the affairs of men. It is a day when believers can rejoice that God preserved His people, and protected the ethnic line from which the Messiah would be born.

How can we observe Purim?
This Sunday, your church can observe Purim with a message from the book of Esther. Perhaps a Jewish-style reading of the Megilla would be appropriate, or even a special meal in commemoration of the event.

What resources are available for Purim?
Sharefaith has a wide collection of resources available for Purim, including a bulletin cover, PowerPoint templates, and clipart images. You can use these resources to recognize and honor the event, and most importantly to bring glory to God whose saving power is still available to us today.

Click here to check out more Purim media.

No tags

On Easter Sunday Christians around the world celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Sharefaith’s designers have spent a lot of time in order to bring you the largest and most beautiful collection of Easter Sunday Resurrection PowerPoint templates ever assembled, enabling you to visually communicate your Easter Sermon.

View more Easter Sunday Resurrection PowerPoint Templates

No tags

We’ve spent the last two weeks doing a comprehensive overview of some of the most popular VBS programs. This summer, thousands of churches will launch programs ranging in variety from high seas adventures to forest treks. Will your church be hosting VBS this summer? In case you haven’t quite decided which program is best for you, consider these ten questions that will help you narrow your focus and determine the right program.

1.  What is your goal?
At the very basic level, consider what you are trying to achieve through a VBS program? Evangelism? Encouragement? Community relationships? Determining your overall goal will help you decide the program that is best for your church.

2.  Who is your audience?
Who will be coming to VBS? There is a difference between audience—the kids who will most likely come—and target audience—the kids whom you want to come. If your target audience is widely unchurched kids who will be unfamiliar with biblical truths, this will steer your choice of a program towards something more basic and evangelistic.

3.  What is your experience level?
Not only should you think about your audience, but you should think about yourself, too. Hosting VBS is a huge administrative role. If you’ve never done it before, it may be smartest to pick a program that will be simpler to plan for.

4.  How many kids do you anticipate?
Size ought always to be a consideration. In our survey of the most popular programs, we’ve tried to point out which ones are more difficult to adapt for larger or smaller crowds.

5.  How many workers will you have available?
VBS isn’t about just inviting a bunch of kids out. It also means recruiting a lot of volunteers. Depending on the number of volunteers, you may need to make strategic adjustments in your planning.

6.  What are your facilities like?
Nearly any church can creatively plan a great VBS program, regardless of their facilities. However, this is a helpful factor to keep in mind. When planning rotation stations, game time, classroom accommodations, and snack area, realize that some types of programs won’t mesh well with some types of facilities.

7.  What is your budget?
A good VBS program is money well spent, but it is still money spent. What is your budget like? Are you able to afford a program that requires ordering a lot of crafts, or will you be able to get away with just creativity and lessons plans?

8.  How much time do you have left for planning?
As your projected VBS date looms nearer, take an honest look at the calendar to count down the days until VBS launches. Do you have time to do all the planning? What about recruiting staff? Ordering materials? Preparing decorations?

9.  What materials do you have from previous years?
Churches who have been hosting VBS programs for a long time probably have a great collection of past decorations. Trees from a past jungle theme may work well for this year’s Egyptian theme. This isn’t about being lazy . It’s about being smart and creatively using the resources you have.

10.  What sounds like the most fun?

Still having a tough time making a decision? Go for whatever sounds most fun. The kids will enjoy it if you enjoy it. Pick a theme that you think you’ll love getting involved in. You’ll be glad you did.

For more VBS curriculum packages please visit: Christian Ed Warehouse

No tags