Tag: children’s church curriculum

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Feed the Lambs

Feed the Lambs

“When you feel like criticizing the younger generation, just remember who raised them.”
(E. C. McKenzie from 1800 Quotable Quotes)

You know, if as children’s ministers we have the mindset that we are raising the next generation of believers and ministers, we would take our work much more seriously.  I have been in children’s ministries where the workers were truly just babysitting, filling in time so that the adults can enjoy their service.  They did not “feed the lambs”.

We need to feed the lambs the word of God.  You can find free cartoon bible stories at our web site www.rocksolidcurriculum.com  God promises that his word will NOT return VOID.  It will accomplish what he pleases.

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Conscience – A Gift from God

Conscience – A Gift from God

“The most painful wound in the world is the stab on conscience.”
(E. C. McKenzie from 1800 Quotable Quotes)

Our conscience is a gift from God, the first way to tell us right from wrong.  It is meant to keep us living the “good life”.

Encourage the kids to never ignore their conscience.  It is their first defense against evil and it is there to protect.  The bible says that when people’s consciences become seared, and past feeling, they become capable of doing great evil.  This in turn leads to judgment and destruction.

Keeping a tender heart starts with heeding the voice of your conscience.  Remind the kids constantly that there is forgiveness with God when we confess our sins.

If our lives were a castle, our conscience is definitely the moat.

Dictionary Definition

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Joy keeps you Young in Spirit

Joy keeps you Young in Spirit

“A man as he so lives may die old at 30 or young at 80.”
(E. C. McKenzie from 1800 Quotable Quotes)

I remember an elderly man well into his 80s who ran the bus ministry of a church we attended.  He was always full of joy with sparkling blue eyes and a smile from ear to ear.  He definitely had a younger spirit about him than some of the younger people in the church.  If there is one thing that can keep you young, is that fire for evangelism and passionate love for the Lord.  It was plain to all who knew him that he had a passion for souls.

We as children’s ministers have the privilege of leading children to the Lord.  There is nothing more rejuvenating than that.  Be sure to bask in that joy each time you lead a child to the Lord.  The joy is the reward for our labour.

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Be Tenacious

Be Tenacious

“Many a man has turned and left the dock just before his ship came in.”
(E.C. McKenzie from 1800 Quotable Quotes)

The bible is full of stories of people who never gave up.   Tenaciousness is definately a virtue.  Kids need to be constantly reminded to never give up.  Don’t give up just because things are not easy, or conclude that God is against you.  Go with what is in your heart and never give up.

Since God may not work things out the way we think it will happen, we need also to have wisdom and keep open hearts and eyes to see how he may working in our situations.

This is why the bible stories are so important to teach.   Every culture has it’s ancient stories, preserved to encourage every new generation.

Never neglect our spiritual ancient stories.

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Game Candy Stealing

Game – CANDY STEALING

Preparation:  Mark a large square unto the floor with either chalk or masking tape.  In each corner place 4 candy items. (Example in one corner you would put 4 chocolate bars, in the 2nd corner, 4 bags of chips, in the 3rd and 4th corners some other type of candy treats.)  Make sure that the candy treats you choose, do not roll.  Place one child in each corner.  When you say go, each child must simultaneously go and steal a candy treat from someone else’s corner and then bring it back to their pile.  The hitch is that they can only go to one corner at a time and they must promptly bring the item to their corner.  They can run diagonally also. Run each round for 20 seconds.  The action is fast and intense.  Remind the kids to be careful not to crash into each other.   Have them recite the memory verse before and between rounds.  The one with the most candy wins.  We usually award the winner with one candy prize.

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Game Book Relays

Game – BOOK RELAYS

Divide players into two teams, with the same number of players in each team.  The first player from each team puts a book on his or her head and makes his way around an obstacle course and back to team member #2.

Every time a book is dropped, 10 seconds are added to that teams score. Touching the book with your hands gains 5 seconds to the teams score.  Have an umpire/time keeper assigned for each team.   Team at the end who completes the course in the shortest time is the winning team.  Have the kids recite the memory verse several times before and between rounds.

Click here for Children’s Ministry Resources

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EQUIPPING CHILDREN LEADERS

EQUIPPING CHILDREN LEADERS

GOOD LEADERS MAKE GOOD LEADERS (A Blog by Rev. Grace Verrier)

A few years ago I assisted in ministry within a church whose adults had lost their vision for teaching children.  I did try to recruit workers and offered to fully equip and train them.  However, no adults were willing.  (My style of teaching is an open format requiring a minimum of three teachers with some extra for “crowd control” as the number of children increases.)  My husband who was traveling at the time offered his assistance sporadically and I honed my curriculum so that the lessons I taught could be taught by myself and my husband when he was available.

The children’s church began to grow and I was quickly running out of lessons that could be adapted to one or two teachers.    It was then (out of desperation) that I discovered that older children were quite capable of teaching those younger than themselves.  I had a meeting during class time and asked who would be willing to help me.  If you work with children, then you will know that every hand in the class went up.  The next few Sundays were spent “equipping the (younger) saints for the work of the ministry”.  I did puppetry workshops for those who wanted to use them to teach.  I gave acting lessons to those who wanted to do the teaching skits.  I gave lessons on teaching the memory verse in fun and active ways.  Children were taught to reinforce the solemnity requirement for the altar calls.  Some children wanted to actually stand before the group and teach the lesson I provided them  the lesson the week before so they could learn it.  Some children offered to do the “crowd control” in an adult style respecting the other children and thereby earning respect from their peers.

When I finished that church assignment I received one of the greatest confirmations of my ministry.   A twelve year old girl (who was the pastor’s daughter) said, “I now understand how and why we teach the younger saints.  I will become a Children’s Pastor.”

Click here for Children’s Ministry Resources

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Everybody’s It Game

Everybody’s It Game for Children’s Ministry

This game is best played in a large room or gymnasium.

This large room game will really burn off the excess energy from the kids. Get the wiggles and giggles out of them before you teach them the Word of God.

http://www.greatgroupgames.com/everybodys-it.htm

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William Booth

William Booth – The Power of Saving Child

 

I just read a short biography of William Booth.  Did you know he received the Lord at 14?  I didn’t.

Here is a clip from the article.

When he was criticized for using secular tunes to attract crowds, he replied, “Secular music, do you say, belongs to the devil? Does it? Well, if it did I would plunder him for it, for he has no right to a single note of the whole seven.”

I really like this guy.  Interesting how Christians are still talking about secular music.

http://www.christianitytoday.com/history/people/activists/william-booth.html

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Contentment

Contentment

Ads designed to create dissatisfaction don’t faze those with the peace of contentment.

— Charles R. Swindoll

 

Here is a link to an article about contentment.

http://www.insight.org/resources/daily-devotional/individual/the-shores-of-lake-contentment-part-one

The gist is that ads are designed to make people discontent.  Boy, those with children know those ads work!  Now more than ever we are bombarded with ads.  How can we help kids become more content?

As children’s ministers we can remind the kids of where true joy comes from – a deep relationship with the Lord.

Talk to them about the commercials that bombard them at Christmas time.  Ask them if when they get their desired toy, is it as fun as the commercial makes it look to be?

Most of all tell them that commercials are made to make them DISCONTENT and they can RESIST!  They can refuse to fall for it.

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Millennials Abandoning the Church as it is today

Millennials Abandoning Faith

Below are a couple of quotes from an article from Focus on the Family.  I think this article is SO very relevant today – a must read for churches.

“Millennials are more likely to ask what the church is doing for the poor than whether there is a specific Bible study available on Thursday nights. There is a growing desire to be part of a cause rather than to simply attend a church with convenient meeting times, facilities or location. A Millennial is likely to pass five megachurches to attend a new startup with 20 friends who really care about his or her life.”

“Many Millennials have distaste for how rigid church has become. They do prefer a church with structure, but not one so rigidly traditional that they don’t have a say. Much of the feedback we have gotten from Millennials about growing up in church was that it didn’t feel natural to them. They were told it was a place to be free and open, but generally Millennials never fully engaged. They kept to themselves.”

http://www.focusonthefamily.com/socialissues/citizen-magazine/abandoning-the-faith

This sound like a negative message, but I believe it is a wake-up call for the church to start caring about every generation.  Worship needs to be such that every generation engages.

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3 Ways to Disciple Children

3 Ways to Disciple Children

I came across this article and really enjoyed it.  Here is a quote from the article:

“A pastor’s primary job is, not to preach, but to prepare God’s people for works of service. In other words, a pastor’s primary responsibility is to disciple his congregation to do ministry. If that’s true, then a children’s pastor’s primary responsibility is to disciple or prepare children to do ministry.”

The 3 emphasis are Prayer, Evangelism and Service.and you would do well to read the entire article.  I especially liked the idea of the coloured bracelet.  What a great tool for evangelism.

3 Ways to Disciple Children

 

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