Tag: children’s church lessons

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Volume Not Perfection | 7 Habits of a Good Artist | Andrew Price

Habit #2  Work on Volume not Perfection

7 HABITS OF A GOOD ARTIST based on Blender Foundation Speech by Andrew Price
(You can find the series on Youtube.com)

Habit #2 is to work on Volume of pieces and not perfection of each piece of art that you do.  Andrew Price uses the example of Picasso and how he did a huge volume of artwork, thousands and thousands of pieces, but only a few pieces became famous.

Apparently the more compositions you make in 5 years, the higher your chances become in making a “hit”.

How I found this related to me in my cartooning of the bible is that, because each story required 10 to 15 pictures, I couldn’t afford to do “perfect”  artwork, as the upcoming Sunday service only allowed me a certain amount of time to get the story presentable. Fortunately since kids are so forgiving, I just made the pictures as best as I could and over time my art work started to improve.   Probably most stories have been done 2 to 3 times to get them to their current level.  I can attest that volume of work makes a difference.  You get better as you do it.  Don’t slow yourself down trying to be perfect.  Just keep on moving.

I also have come to ACCEPT that my work WON’T be perfect.  Before I even started the project of cartooning the bible, I was at a church and the pastor called me out and said that he felt God had a message for me.  He said God was going to give me a work to do and that I was not to compare myself to others and say that others could have done this job better.  I accept the job given to me and I am doing my best to develop the talent given to me.  I encourage the same for you.

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Do A Little Every Day | 7 Habits of a Good Artist | Andrew Price

Do a Little Every Day | SEVEN HABITS OF A GOOD ARTIST based on Blender Foundation Speech by Andrew Price.  (You should be able to view the full series on Youtube.com)

Habit #1 is “Do a little bit every day”.

If you are reading this blog, you most likely know that I am attempting to cartoon the entire bible (at least all the parts that have a story to illustrate).  A few times I have felt overwhelmed to the point of tears at how massive this project was, but I have learned that doing a little bit everyday does add up.   I am amazed at how much I do get accomplished when I block a certain amount of time each business day of the week, and stick to my schedule.

The old Chinese proverb is true that a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single footstep.

Use your little moments that you do get.  Use the technology you have.  Record ideas on your cell phone.  Don’t lose time.  Don’t lose a thought.  Even if you don’t have time to develop your thoughts at this moment, at least they are recorded for the future when you do have time.

 

Click here for Children’s Ministry Resources.

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Orphanage and Home for Aids Affected Children India | Mission Moment #4

Mission Moment #4 | Orphanage and Home for Aids Affected Children

In the next few weeks we will be focusing on some of the children the home cares for.  All of these stories were provided to me by Simon David, the director of the home.  You can reach him at blessingchild2002@yahoo.com

Pavani lost her father when she was 3 months old. Her grand parents chased the mother and the girl out of the house, because they said we have nothing to do with the child as our own son is no more. Hence Padma and her daughter Pavani had to live alone, and that is when they knocked our door and we kept her with us. Pavani was suffering with terrible fits and God healed her.

This girl is our branch Pastor’s daughter. She was in incubator and Doctors gave up hopes and told only a miracle can save her. When we came to know we went and prayed for her. God heard our prayers and saved this child. Pastor promised God that if she survives I will leave her in our home. That is the reason why she is with us.

 

Click here for Children’s Ministry Resources.

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Why Start a Home for Aids Affected Children? | Mission Moment #2

As I mentioned in my previous blog, many years ago a Christian minister in India contacted me in regards to helping with children’s ministry.   This was in the early days of email.  Now I receive many such requests and most of them I don’t pursue, but this one seemed special.  I asked him if he would write and tell my why he started the home for Aids Affected Children.  Below is his response.

 

“We have a small hut church in this village. Whenever we conduct the service few children and women used to stay back with us after the service is over and this increased rapidly. When we inquired about them, they would say that they have been chased out by their own family members and their village people because they have AIDS. They would say can you please ask Jesus to heal us or please allow us to stay in the church.

Some mothers wanted to silently kill their daughter by feeding them with paddy husks, (when this goes into the food pipes, it will tear them and they will silently die, without anyone knowing that this a cold blooded murder) because they already have 4 daughters. This moved our hearts, it was then when we went on our knees to Pray for them. Holy Spirit gave us a burden to build a Orphanage for children and shelter for the AIDS affected women.”

If you would like to contact the director of this Home for Aids Affected Children,  Mr. Simon David, you may do so through his email address  blessingchild2002@yahoo.com

Below is the story of one of the children they are caring for.

Pavani lost her father when she was 3 months old. Her grand parents chased the mother and the girl out of the house, because they said we have nothing to do with the child as our own son is no more. Hence Padma and her daughter Pavani had to live alone, and that is when they knocked our door and we kept her with us. Pavani was suffering with terrible fits and God healed her.

 

Click here for Children’s Ministry Resources

 

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Over Under Game

Over Under Game for Children’s Ministry

Good high energy game for all ages. Instead of water, you may find slippery things at a dollar store that make this game a lot of fun to pass from one to another.

http://www.greatgroupgames.com/over-under-game.htm

 

Click here for Children’s Ministry Resources

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ORPHANAGE AND HOME FOR AIDS AFFECTED CHILDREN INDIA | MISSION MOMENT #6

ORPHANAGE AND HOME FOR AIDS AFFECTED CHILDREN | MISSION MOMENT #6

Here are more stories from Simon David the director of the home for children in India.  You may contact him if you wish at blessingchild2002@yahoo.com

This is Ezra, this boy ran away from his home and was wandering on the roads. As one of the cops who is known to me requested me to take him in our home, hence he is with us.

(photo not included for child’s protection)

George’s father (name changed) had many wives. As George was a hinderence to him, he wanted to get rid of George. One day his father came with a knife to kill him. This boy with some injuries came and landed in our home with his mothers concern. His father is still in a hunt for George.

This Raveli, she lost her father with AIDS. She ran away from home and landed in her uncle’s house. When he heard about our home he requested us to take her in our home.  Long after we taking her, her mother Lakshmi from whom all the evil sprits were delivered. She is the one from whom all the knifes/bottles/bricks/stones came out. Today she is delivered and she is well.

This Ajay, she lost both his parents from AIDS. He is been abandoned by his own family members and the society.

 

Click here for Children’s Ministry Resources

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FEED YOUR SPIRIT

The message I want to remind you of as a children’s minister is the importance of remembering to feed your spirit.  You need personal time with the Lord that is NOT about ministry.  I know, having been a children’s minister, that you can spend enormous amounts of time doing the work of the ministry doing bible related activity.  But, you can end up neglecting time with the Lord that is not focused on anything but him, so that he can talk to you.  Don’t forget to spend time reading the bible with an open mind and no agenda for ministry.

 

Click here for Children’s Ministry Resources.

 

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SOUR RELIGION

The church has had 2000 years to win the world by religion, and many times the religion is “sour”.  Religion by rules never worked in the Old Testament under the law.  People do well under love and grace.  Jesus was the friend of children and sinners.

 

For many who grew up in church as children, all they remember was a bunch of rules.  The church ought to be a joyful, accepting warm place especially for children.  In most cases they equate Jesus with how we represent him.  Tis a great responsibility.  We want children to see Jesus as “sweet” not “sour”.

 

Click here for Children’s Ministry Resources.

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The Number Game

The Number Game for Children’s Ministry

This would be a fun game to review biblical statistics. Choose numbers that describe the size of the tribes of Israel or the enemy armies etc.

http://www.greatgroupgames.com/the-number-game.htm

 

Click here for Children’s Ministry Resources

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CROWD CONTROL

HELP!  THEY GOT AWAY! (Need Crowd Control)

A Blog by Rev. Grace Verrier

 

Last Sunday I ministered to a class of eight children, ages from Kindergarten to Grade 5.  It was so easy compared to the times I have ministered to 150 to 300 children in grade school assemblies.

I remember at one school session I decided to teach on worship and to help illustrate it I had brought approximately 40 puppets to the auditorium.  My plan was to play a jumpy contemporary Christian song and have the children move the puppets in time with the music.  I asked the children who would want to volunteer and of course they all wanted to.  I quickly pointed to children and told them to come up and put on a puppet.  However, the children grabbed the puppets, put them on their hands and began to run around the gymnasium completely out of control.  The teachers looked dumbfounded and I cried out to God, “Help!”

God told me to ask the children to stop and hold their breath.  It worked.  As they were quiet I told them to all come forward and listen to the music and do what I had originally asked.  Teachers told me later that the idea definitely came from God because they had never heard of it.  Needless to say, I thanked God all the way home.

 

Click here for Children’s Ministry Resources.

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WE CANNOT DO IT WITHOUT THE LORD

WE CANNOT DO IT WITHOUT THE LORD

A Blog by Rev. Grace Verrier

After many years of ministry, and having my “congregations” change every six years (I taught children 6-12 years old) I became very familiar with the curriculum I taught.  My goal in presenting the six-year curriculum was to familiarize children with the layout of the Bible and teach them how God used individuals and groups of people to accomplish his purposes.   I also wanted to show the children how all of this information is still relevant today and we can use it in our own lives.

After many years of “working” at fulfilling my writing and teaching goals, I felt that I had accomplished what I had set out to do and I began to get rather complacent.  One morning with only minimal preparation and a hurried prayer I stood before the children fully convinced I was ready to teach.  (During worship time the Lord seemed to say to me, “Do you really think that you are that good that you can minister to children without me?”  I heard what He said, but I really didn’t take it to heart.)

We left the sanctuary and went to class and it was as if the children had been given a pound of chocolate and had an extreme “sugar high”.  It took me about 15 minutes to get them settled.  Then they became complacent, staring off into space and taking no part in the program.   Finally one said out loud, “This is boring!”  That is when I quickly repented and asked God to “take over” the class.  Needless to say I learned my lesson and appropriated the scripture, “Except the Lord build the house, they labour in vain who build it.”  (Ps 127:1)

When I was a new Christian I thought, “I am doing a really good job for God.”  After about five years of knowing Christ, I thought, “God and I are really doing a good job together.”  Now I know that, “God is doing a good job and I am just along for the ride.”

 

Click here for Children’s Ministry Resources.

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HOW TO TEACH A MEMORY VERSE

HELPING CHILDREN “HIDE THE WORD IN THEIR HEARTS” (Memory Verse)

A Blog by Grace Verrier

I remember when I was a child going to church and I would get a star on my chart if I could memorize a particular scripture and be able to repeat it the following Sunday.  Because I was diligent I received lots of stars.  However, the majority of the class “lost” the memory verse paper before they arrived home and consequently had nothing to say when it came time to repeat the verse the following week.  When I became a Children’s Pastor I realized that there had to be a better way to get the children to “hide the word of God in their hearts so that they would not sin against Him” (Psalm 119:11).

The first thing I did was make sure the children totally understood the meaning of the verse I was teaching.  I always chose a pivotal verse that was the centre of the day’s teaching.  I made sure I used it several times (with its address) during the presentation.  Then I would play a game where each participant had to read the memory verse in a loud voice before they could play the game.  For example in one of the games, I placed two masking tape lines on the floor approximately 12 feet apart.  A child first said the memory verse in a loud voice and then he blew a ping pong ball between the two lines (not using his hands) and I would time the endeavor. Each week we would hold a different contest. The winner always got a small prize or I fed them a treat such as a gummy worm.  The children had already memorized the scripture before they left for home.

Some Sundays would be “Memory Verse Review Time” where I might write out part of the verses they had learned and see who could fill in the blanks.  These would reinforce their memory work.  The children always had fun playing memory verse games.

 

Click here for Children’s Ministry Resources