Premium members of The Religion Teacher have access to hundreds of practical resources to lead their students into an encounter with Christ.
Or learn more:
The three bonuses (details below) expire at 11:59 p.m. on February 8, 2023. Join today to get these gifts when you become a member of The Religion Teacher.
Help Students Choose Christ during Lent this Year
As religious educators, we want our students to Choose Christ in every aspect of their lives.
- Feel left out at school? Choose Christ.
- Someone sick in your family? Choose Christ.
- Worried about a test? Choose Christ.
- Feeling bad about a bad game? Choose Christ.
- Angry with a friend? Choose Christ.
- Feeling guilty for a mistake? Choose Christ.
- Dreaming about your future? Choose Christ.
But many of our students grow up turning elsewhere for help.
Instead of choosing Christ, they choose to follow the wisdom of the world both now and as they grow to become adults.
For many people this is because they feel the Catholic faith was forced upon them as kids.
This is a danger all of us face.
Are we creating formation programs that Force Faith?
Or are we cultivating opportunities for our students to Choose Christ?
I repeat this quote often because it is a reminder of what it truly means to be a Christian:
“Being Christian is not the result of an ethical choice or a lofty idea, but the encounter with an event, a person, which gives life a new horizon and a decisive direction.”
—Pope Benedict XVI, Deus Caritas Est, 1
Our top priority isn’t to teach the teachings.
Our top priority is to lead our kids into a personal relationship with Christ.
We make disciples, not theologians.
If the role of a religious educator is different than other kind of teacher, then you should have access to different kinds of resources.
The worksheets, videos, lessons, activities, and strategies you use in class should be specifically designed to cultivate an encounter with Christ in class.
Resources that Lead Kids to Encounter Christ
As religious educators, every little bit of help goes a long way.
My name is Jared Dees.
I’m the founder of The Religion Teacher.
In the last fourteen years I have created and shared hundreds of lesson plans, activities, worksheets, and videos with practical ways for religious educators to lead their students into an encounter with Christ.
The textbooks we get at the beginning of the year do not provide enough ideas and resources to accomplish everything we want to do.
Many of the tools we find online don’t work for our students.
There is a better way.
The resources at The Religion Teacher are meant to save you time and energy as you serve your students and their parents.
These tools will make it easier for you to cultivate encounters with Christ in class.
Invite Your Students to Encounter Christ during Lent
I challenge you to approach this season of Lent with a renewed purpose.
Our goal should be for student to encounter Christ each and every day so they can choose to turn to him for strength to overcome any challenge in their lives.
Most of all, we want our students to grow in their relationship with God during Lent.
We can’t force it.
Instead, we need to invite them into an encounter.
We need to lead them in activities and lessons that will be relevant to their lives.
The more relevant religious education is, the more a relationship with Christ will grow in their lives.
I have been a religious educator nearly 20 years and spent most of that time developing resources for other teachers and catechists to use in class.
When The Religion Teacher opened up for members to join in 2014, there were only 41 videos and worksheets.
This year members will have access to 1,000 downloadable tools to lead kids into an encounter with Christ.
Why?
Because I want to save you time and energy in planning your lessons.
You should have an easy-to-use, practical resource for every topic you teach this year from Lent to Easter to anything you want your students to learn.
Here is what you will get as a member:
What Do Members Get?
The Religion Teacher membership website provides three kinds of resources for members:
- Printable Worksheets: Downloadable handouts that challenge students to think, meditate, and pray. There is no “busy work.”
- Class Videos: Class videos with graphic organizers to help students understand the most challenging teachings.
- Online Courses: Online training on how to engage and evangelize students and parents.
The philosophy behind each of these resources is to keep the students actively learning, engaged, and encountering Christ in class.
600+ Engaging Worksheets and Graphic Organizers
“I do not have to spend as much time pulling resources off of the web because The Religion Teacher has such great ideas for members.”
Karan Giera
Middle School Catechist
The Religion Teacher’s worksheets require students to think, reflect, and make connections between Scripture, Tradition, and their personal lives.
They help get students beyond knowing ABOUT Jesus Christ and truly reflecting on their RELATIONSHIP with Jesus.
Sunday Gospel Reading Worksheets
“The weekly reading worksheets have given me a jumping off place to discuss the gospels.”
Nancy Pretto
Middle School Catechist
Each week you will get a worksheet to help teach about the Sunday Gospel. These weekly reading worksheets are based on the principles of Lectio Divina, an important Catholic devotional practice that leads people into an encounter with God in Sacred Scripture.
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*The Weekly Gospel Reading worksheets are also available in Spanish.
Share the Lives of Nearly 200 Saints with Your Students
“These activities bring our saints alive to the students.”
Elizabeth Kogler
Director of Religious Education
Celebrate the major saint feast days throughout the year with a series of saint worksheets. Each worksheet includes a brief saint biography with questions to help reinforce and challenge students to reflect on the life lessons these saints have to teach us through the way they lived and died. Multiple saint worksheets are available for every week of the calendar year.
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The Religion Teacher’s Activity and Worksheet Packs
“My teachers have saved time by being able to easily access worthwhile worksheets.”
Heather Irvine
Religious Education Coordinator
Members have access to the many collections of worksheets and activity packs that are usually sold separately for $8-12 each including The Religion Teacher’s Catholic Mass Worksheets, Beatitudes Worksheet Collection, Ten Commandments Worksheets, The Lord’s Prayer Worksheets, Seven Sacraments Worksheets, and the Catholic Social Teaching Activity Pack. Every new product from The Religion Teacher will be available to members at no additional charge.
The Religion Teacher’s Advent Activity Pack and Lenten Activity Pack are available to all members. These two products have sold more than a thousand copies each, but members can access to the lesson plans, videos, activities, prayers, and worksheets without an extra purchase.
180+ Catechetical Class Videos
“The Religion Teacher videos seem to fill a hole in our religion curriculum. In particular, there is excellent resources for the liturgical year.”
Becca Gann
Middle School Religion Teacher
Supplement your lectures and lessons with a series of short videos about Catholic Scripture and tradition.
Members have exclusive access to graphic organizer worksheets students can use to listen and learn from each video.
These catechetical videos include lessons in a variety of topics including Scripture, the Sacraments, the Saints, Catholic Social Teaching, Catholic Symbols, Advent, and Lent.
The combination of the videos with the graphic organizers will allow religious educators to introduce new topics or support in-class lessons in an engaging way.
Online Courses for Religious Educators
“After so many years of teaching and getting a bit worn out, the beginning of the year course helped re-focus and re-energize me and remind me of some things that I had forgotten.”
Judy Carney
Middle School & High School Religion Teacher
“The Religion Teacher membership has made me a better catechist and DRE for my catechists.”
Olga Saenz
Director of Religious Education
The easy-to-implement strategies and formation ideas in the courses and online seminars will help catechists and religion teachers focus on how they can become a better religious educators for the students they teach.
Members will have access to highly effective courses including:
- Classroom Engagement: Motivate Your Students to Love Learning the Faith
- Empowering Parents
- Teaching with the Joy of the Gospel: A Series of Reflections on Evangelii Gaudium for Religious Educators
- Starting the New School Year Off Right
- Contagious Classroom Prayer: Convincing Kids to Pray Now and Forever
What are people saying about being a member?
“Being a member of The Religion Teacher has given me countless ideas about lesson plans and material to accompany lessons, as well as tools to get children and parents more engaged.”
Darijana Kline
Elementary Grade Catechist
“I can provide useful ideas for my catechists especially since they are not teachers.”
Bridget Murphy
Director of Religious Education
“The Religion Teacher has given me many ways to help my students see how they can personally be a light to others. I love the way the questions get students to think and reflect.”
Cathy Singleton
Elementary School Religion Teacher
Two Special Resources for Lent 2023
My challenge to members of The Religion Teacher this year is to invite your student to encounter Christ in Sacred Scripture every day during Lent. To help you do this, I am sharing two member-exclusive resources this year:
Lenten Lectio Series:
40+ Worksheets for Every Day During Lent
Download a worksheet with activities and reflection questions for every daily Gospel reading during Lent.
The Words of the Lord during Lent:
Daily Bible Meditations for Kids
Download a short 2-minute Bible reflection and prayer for kids to use with the daily Gospel readings during Lent.
Join Today to Get These Bonus Gifts!
The three bonuses (details below) expire at 11:59 p.m. on February 8, 2023. Join today to get these gifts when you become a member of The Religion Teacher.
I am confident that the resources available to premium members of The Religion Teacher will help you lead your students into an encounter with Christ. To encourage you join, I am offering a collection of bonuses for anyone who becomes a member by February 8th.
(Already an annual member? Email Jared Dees for information on how to access these bonuses, too, if you have not received them.)
If you sign up as an annual paying member today, you will get:
1) A Paperback Copy of Take Up Your Cross: Lenten Bible Stories for Kids
Take Up Your Cross includes dozens of stories that will help young people grow closer to Christ and gain a greater appreciation for the season of Lent and Holy Week.
Value: $8
Note: Only available to those registering in the contiguous United States.
Everyone in other countries, email Jared for an alternative bonus.
2) The Religion Teacher’s Lectio Divina Worksheets (Revised & Updated)
This resource is sold separately at The Religion Teacher. The Religion Teacher’s Lectio Divina Worksheets enable teachers, catechists, and home-schooling parents to guide their youth through a lectio divina process with very little instruction required.
The simple, easy-to-use format of each handout invites students and young people to engage personally with the word of God.
After introducing and practicing each activity, students will be able to come back their favorite handouts again and again for many different Bible passages throughout the year.
Note: Check the box to add this to your order at checkout.
Value: $10
3) Digital Version of 15-Minute Stations of the Cross for Kids
The meditations and prayers in this Stations of the Cross book by Jared Dees are short and powerful opportunities for children to encounter Christ especially during the season of Lent. This collection includes five separate meditations to help kids make meaningful connections between the Crucifixion and their everyday lives:
The Fourteen Stations of the Cross with Images and Prayers
A Five-Minute Stations of the Cross
A Family Stations of the Cross
A School Stations of the Cross
A Virtues Stations of the Cross
Each set of meditations will take fifteen minutes or less to complete, but the experience will be heartfelt and memorable every time. Accompanying the mediations are kid-friendly illustrations for each of the fourteen Stations of the Cross by graphic novelist and illustrator Ezekiel Saucedo.
Value: $15
Offer expires on February 8, 2023 at 11:59 p.m.
How do I join?
There are two kinds of memberships: individual and group.
As an individual member, you personally gain access to all of the worksheets, videos, and online courses. (This option is for individual catechists and teachers.)
As a group member, your entire parish and/or school of religious educators and teachers will have access to the resources. (This option is for DREs, pastors, and principals to set up to share with all staff and volunteers.)
You can cancel at any time with a quick email or by using the customer hub link in the receipt.
Individual Membership (Monthly)
$4.99 then $4.99/month
Access for individual religious educators
Individual Membership (Annual)
$49.99/year
Special Offer! Get summers free.
Access for individual religious educators
What Else Are People Saying?
“I’m able to provide catechists with timely material to supplement their regular curriculum. Jared Dees has supplied great resources for my catechists to look at why they’re doing what they’re doing when it comes to sharing their faith with our children–and how to do it better!”
Laura Mack
Director of Religious Education
I’ve changed how I teach. I focus on them learning instead of me conveying. I use suggestions on teaching methods like the first week of class ideas.”
Kelli Norman
Elementary Grade Catechist