Tag: sunday school lessons

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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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DEVELOP YOUR TALENT

DEVELOP YOUR TALENT:  It took me some time to accept all the “re-do’s” that I had to do in my cartoon drawings and bible story writing. All the early stories that I did, I had to re-do at least 3 times and at first I used to get so frustrated and angry at myself.  “Like why do I have to learn SO slowly and why do I have to re-do all this?”  As things start to click in, you get a little wiser, but through all this, I have come to realize that God has allowed time in his plan for us to develop our skills.

 

Keep on walking.  Don’t get discouraged if you have “re-do’s” in life.  You will always be under construction until the day you go home.

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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THE FUNNY THINGS KIDS SAY

CHILD CHUCKLES (The Funny Things Kids Say)

A Blog by Rev. Grace Verrier

 

Today my stomach hurt.  I used every muscle in it trying to control my laughter.  I was teaching on Adam and Eve and I had a little boy in my class who comes from a family of nine.

My question to the class was, “What did God tell Adam and Eve to do after they ate the forbidden fruit in the garden?”  I expected the answer to be, “God told them to leave the garden.”

The little boy from the large family started shaking his hand wildly shouting, “I know!  I know!  I know!”  When I asked him what his answer was, he said, “God told them to be fruitful and multiply just like my mom and dad say.

Later, I told his parents what he had said and they explained how he had taken their words totally out of context.  I then told the parents, “I’ll believe only one-half of what they tell me about you if you will believe only one-half of what they tell you about me.”  When you serve in children’s ministry that is very good advice.

 

Click here for Children’s Ministry Resources.

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HOW DOES A CHILDREN’S MINISTER RETIRE?

RETIRE OR REFIRE! (on Retirement)

A Blog by Rev. Grace Verrier

When I turned 65 I retired from full time ministry.  Ministry can be an exacting calling requiring long hours and an unending commitment to fulfill it.  (Remember, our “Boss” neither slumbers nor does He sleep).

At first I tried activity and hobbies using interaction with people to justify continuing ministry through life style outreach.  It just wasn’t me.  Also, my husband and I wanted to travel and see some of God’s great creation like the Grand Canyon for example.

However, when there is a call on your life and you know it is to minister to children, there doesn’t seem to be that much opportunity to reach that demographic when you are over 70.  I asked God if He would show me how to use my gifting so I could be just as fruitful as when I worked full time for him.  This is what He told me to do.  I went to our home church (the first one we had NOT pastored) and asked if they could use some help in Children’s Ministry.  They were starting two services on Sunday morning and it was the right time.  When they found out I had my own curriculum they were even happier.  This worked really well for me as my curriculum was embedded in my heart and I did not have to study to present it – just pray.

Because we now spend several months in Florida yearly we asked our home church there if they could use some help in Children’s Ministry.  They also were delighted and I could reuse the teaching from my home church in Niagara Falls.  I had enough room in my fifth wheel trailer to bring a few puppets and props that I needed.  Then my husband asked if he could help me teach using my methods (not just sermonizing as he did over the years) and he developed a strong call to help me.

Then Patti asked me to participate in this blog so I could continue to teach children’s teachers by using my own ministry experience.  So now I haven’t retired – just refired and I feel just as fulfilled as I did with full time ministry.  God is so faithful!

 

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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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

 

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Musical Chairs Game

Musical Chairs Game for Children’s Ministry

There is a reason this game is a classic.  It is aways fun.  Get the wiggles and jiggles out of the kids before you teach them the Word of God.

 

http://www.greatgroupgames.com/musical-chairs.htm

 

Click here for Children’s Ministry Resources.

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MAKING LEADERS

John the Baptist said of Jesus, “He must increase and I must decrease”.

 

I have the philosophy in my capacity as volunteer leader of the kids club outreach, that I would like to work myself out of a job.  Nothing pleases me more than to see the kids we have ministered to, rising up and taking responsibility for different aspects of the program.  Making leaders is the most rewarding thing we can do.

 

Our greatest resources for future workers, are the children themselves.   As they become confident readers, begin to use them as puppeteers, in music and skits etc.   Use them as greeters.  New children feel most comfortable when greeted by children.

 

Teenagers and new Christians are also a good source of help for your children’s ministry.  I have often had adult new believers thank me for recruiting them to children’s ministry because the bible stories and principles were taught in such a simple to understand way.

 

Click here for Children’s Ministry Resources.