Effective Children's Ministry

Archive for the ‘Teaching’ Category

Some big things! Photo by Creatas/Thinkstock.com

Ken Sapp, over at CreativeYouthIdeas.com today recounted a story of the great Abraham Lincoln.

Abraham Lincoln was riding home from church in his carriage one Sunday when his secretary asked how he liked the sermon. “Not very much,” said the president. His response surprised the secretary because the preacher was popular and most people considered him a very gifted speaker. When asked what the problem was, Lincoln replied, “He did not ask me to do anything great.”

Applying Bible truth

When we are communicating Bible truth, whether to kids, teens or adults, do we apply to their lives the truth we are teaching ?
Do we make sure that they know the “great thing” God wanted them to do as a result of what they had heard from us? Do they understand that, though they are young, they can do great things for God?

Asking the right questions

We often ask the children, “What have you learned today from this Bible lesson?” It’s good to do that. It helps us assess the effectiveness of our communication.
But let’s not forget to also ask the children to consider this , “What are you going to do about it?” (They don’t need to answer aloud, but they will benefit from considering it.)
Knowing something and doing something about it are two different things.

A “call to action”

Secular marketers and advertisers call it a “call to action”.

• Sign up here!
• Buy Brekky Crunch today!
• Order your copy now!

We don’t need to be so “in-your-face”! But we can point children in the right direction, and encourage them to consider what action they could take to follow up on what they have learned.

For example, wouldn’t it be great if our kids were able to say something like this?

Today I learned:
… that Moses worshipped God in the desert and up a mountain as well as in the Tent of Meeting. I can worship God anywhere.
Now I will:
… come to God at any time when I want to pray or worship him; in any place, not just church – Even silently in school or out in the back yard.

Today I learned:
…that God wants me to honour and respect my parents
Now I will:
… come in from playing outside, or clean my room, when they ask me.

Today I learned:
…Barnabas was kind to Saul when he was just converted. He introduced him to the disciples and stood up for him.
Now I will:
…be a friend to the new kids in my class and try to encourage and help them

Abraham Lincoln wanted to be asked to do “something big”. Any of the three outcomes above, and plenty more besides, are BIG things! We’d be stunting our children, rather than stretching them and encouraging them grow, if we fail to help them see the big things God is calling them to do.

Oh, and by the way, will you ask yourself, as I do, “What big thing did God speak to me about today? How can I make a start?”

Then pretty soon we’ll have some practical examples to share with our children of how God helps when you tackle the big things!

This video shows how some engineers changed the behaviour of people who usually preferred the escalator to the staircase.

Do you think this principle has any relevance to children’s ministry?
Feel free to comment below!

Amplify your message with story-telling

We have blogged here before about the value of story-telling. And today I saw a recent post from Steve Fogg on the same topic.

His post tells of a stunning presentation given by his Pastor, which began with the story of a young man sharing his faith with a friend and ended with…

Well, I’ll let you find that out by hopping over to Steve’s post. I know your heart will be stirred.

He writes on the topic 4 Ways To Use Storytelling To Amplify Your Message.

Just in time for Hallowe’en (though useful all year round), this free PowerPoint presentation for children, deals sensitively with with how to cope with fear. It begins:

We have all felt fear at some time or another.
Some fears are good. They keep us safe. For example, fear of being hit by a car will help us watch out when crossing a street. Fear of being burned will help us to be careful when we are near camp fires or barbecues.
But sometimes there are fears which are harmful to us. They can take over and spoil our lives and even control what we do, so that we are held back form doing good things we would enjoy and are compelled to wear ourselves out doing other things which are not helpful.
But fears can be zapped, so that will no longer upset us or spoil our lives.

Using scenarios that children can identify with, (including “spooky stuff”, creepy-crawlies, the dark, bullying and others sources of fear)  this presentation gives you visuals and full presenter’s notes. It suggests how you might lead the children in discussion, as well as give the biblical answer to the question “What can I do when I am afraid?”

It focuses on the mighty power of God and shows in very practical steps how we can use the Bible effectively, and how to rely on Christ at all times.

By the end of this session, the children will have learned how to zap some fears by themselves, how to ask for help when they need it and how to trust God to zap the fears that only he can deal with.

Right-click on the links below and save the files to your own computer.

Download the presenter’s notes for When I am Afraid (PDF)

Download the free PowerPoint presentation for When I am Afraid. (8MB)

As children’s ministry workers, what are we aiming for? What do we hope will be the outcome from our teaching  in the long-term? In other words, what sort of adults do we hope our children will become?

Over at the WhyMissionaries blog, Wanda has put a lot of thought into answering this. Looking at the whole child in every aspect - spiritual, emotional, social, mental and physical – she has begun a list of goals.

Wanda says:

As we pray, plan, develop and implement ministry for children do we ever stop and ask who we want that child to be when he is an adult? I believe asking this question will make a big difference in how we do ministry to children.

Below is my beginning list. I’m sure it will grow and change – if I’ve missed something let me know…

When you see her list, add no doubt add your own items, perhaps you will respond as I did:

What a great personal checklist for me as a teacher! Does my life model these attributes? Phew! Food for thought !

So, in the midst of the nitty-gritty, week-by-week planning  and preparation for your children’s ministry, why not consider Wanda’s challenge and build your own list of long-term goals for your young people. Allow God to mould you, so that you model these qualities. Then he  might use you in some measure to mould the young lives in your care into great men and women of God.