Effective Children's Ministry

Archive for February, 2010

What will keep kids returning to our classes and clubs week after week?
Do we need to add more pzazz to our meetings, more fun, more technology?

Wayne, over at Dad in the Middle says:

No matter how relevant…no matter how exciting…no matter how deep…no matter how much fun your children’s ministry is, the key ingredient in successful children’s ministry is love.   It is more likely to bring kids back to you ministry week after week than virtually anything else you might try. 

Check out what else he has to say  about how this love can be implemented

Why we can believe and trust the Bible is covered in Parts 1 and Part 2 of our free PowerPoint teaching series About the Bible.

Here is another presentation, dealing with such matters as:

• What sort of things are in the Bible?
• What are the Old and New Testaments?
• What is the difference between them?
• How did the books that are in the Bible get there?
• What are “verses” ?

The presentation gives opportunity for you to share your own real-life experience of God helping you through the Bible. Or perhaps you have a helper you would like to involve in this way.

The presentation  finishes with an open-ended challenge, which you can develop to suit your group’s age and development.

We have found that children, teens and adults alike have valued this sort of information.

Full presenter’s notes are included and you are free to adapt and develop them to suit your group. To  download these files, Right-Click on the link and save the file to your hard drive. When you open this file, the presentation will self-run.

The Bible Part 3 : PowerPoint presentation  (10 MB .pps file)

The Bible Part 3 : Presenter’s notes   (PDF)

Here is another way of scoring your review quiz. While suiting the Easter theme of new life, this game is enjoyable any time of year. It is very simple , and enjoyed particularly by younger children.

Two hens each stand beside their nest, in which is a clutch of their eggs.  As the teams answer questions correctly, the eggs “hatch” and are replaced by yellow chicks. Which hen can hatch 6 eggs first, to win?

This free downloadable game is in a PDF file, with all the pieces ready for you to print , cut out and laminate. Full instructions are included.

Right-Click on the link below and save the file to your hard drive.

Download the Hens, Eggs and Chick game

What if some of the children in your meeting have no family in the church? What if Christian church life is a foreign culture to them? How can you relate Bible principles to their life experience? And how might you engage their parents with the Christian message, so that they feel welcome and comfortable in church?

Reaching beyond the church walls, out into a culture which is not familiar with Christianity, is not easy. But Gary Newton has tackled these issues in a thoughtful and thorough way, over at ChristianMinistry.com.

There is a lot of food for thought in Drop Off or Drop Out? Spare five minutes to check it out. And if you have longer, there’s a wealth of good things elsewhere on the site.

I know Easter is a little bit away yet, but Catherine and I are trying to roll out some suitable resources in good time.

This game is a simple PowerPoint “Concentration” game. Matching pairs of decorated eggs are lined up behind numbers. (Thanks PeHaa for the free use of your beautiful designs!)

We have found that children of all ages enjoy this style of game as the bright illustrations make it an attractive way to review your Bible lessons.

At present this is available only in PowerPoint format. But we realize that some of you may not have access to a projector. If you would like the visuals for this game in a printable format, we might be able to arrange that.

Visuals suitable for printing and laminating could be secured upright on a board, or used as a floor game for a small group of younger children.

If this is something you would like, click on the contact tab above for our email address and get in touch. We’d love to help if we can.

Full instructions are included in the file which you can download below.  If you do not have PowerPoint on your computer, this presentation will still run. It’s ideal for playing with a child in your family while at the computer!  Or maybe giving your own little grey cells a work-out!

Right-Click on the link and save to your own computer.

Download the Matching the Eggs PowerPoint review game