Teaching kids -- Inspiring teachers
|
Teaching kids -- Inspiring teachers |
|
|
Kids Learn At Different Times Part 2 During the average children's service there are loud and crazy moments and there are quiet contemplative moments (or at least there should be). There are times when you are asking questions and waiting for answers and there are times when the kids are expected to listen. There are times of energy output and times of message input. The thing is: you never know when during this crazy thing we can a children's service the message will sink in to which kids' heart. Therefore, you need it all. Some kids only learn when their limbs are busy, some only learn when it is explained visually, some need the audio, others need the hands on experience. There is no “one size fits all” answer to children's ministry. That is one of the reasons that a good team is essential. A good, diversified, on-fire team puts a host of different personalities, strengths, and vantage points in front of the kids. It would be a sad day if my take on life was the only viewpoint shared with the kids at our church. They need to hear from Mr. Tim and Miss Angie and Mr. Sherman. It is important that they hear the stories of how a firefighter puts God's word to work as well as the school teacher and the mom and the children's pastor. You never know which story will make that one child sit up and take notice. And sometimes you won't know by how they appear in class. So, include it all. Ask all kinds of people to share in your service. Take the extra time for those phone calls and requests. It is worth it. Remember the story of how Jesus said he would leave the 99 to rescue the 1? It is a similar principle. Go the extra mile to reach the one child. And you don't know when that will be. No one knows what happens inside someone's heart. You cannot know when you ask them to bow their heads, who it is that is making that decision for real in their heart that day. In my children's church my biggest weakness was crafts. I hate doing them and I especially hate it with a group of kids. If it was up to me, those children would never see a craft. That would have been horrible for those kids that love the arts and crafts. So instead, I had two ladies that were arts and crafts gurus. Every time they were in the classroom the kids would get a great craft project. The kids had their needs met and I didn't have the glitter and glue nightmare. One of the things I major in is story telling. I tell them live, I use interactive stories, and I read stories. I found that children still love stories. All ages of children love stories. To be honest, adults love stories! When I do my training seminars the adults get mad if I don't finish stories because I am just trying to give examples! Anyway, I remember times when I would look up from a storybook to see my 6th grade boys staring attentively during the reading. Now, they would have been embarrassed if I would have brought attention to how into the story they were, but they were nonetheless. It was important for me to include those times in my service, everyone loved them. Who knows how those times impacted which of those children. The point – you never know. Therefore, leave nothing out. You can't do everything every single week, but you can make sure everything is hit during the monthly cycle. Take the time for prayer, take the time to make your strong point, take the time to tell a story, take the time to do a craft with a great explanation, take the time for the object lesson with the big punch, take the time for the crazy skit that makes the point in a corny fashion. Who knows if that problem child needs the corny explanation for it to hit home. Everyone learns in different ways and messages hit home at different times, so don't hold back! Go for it every single lesson, every single week. Let the truth ring out loud and clear. This might be the week that makes the difference!
To Monthly Specials To Catalog
|
|
ChildrensChurchStuff.com 1-618-789-1535
Send questions or comments about this web site to ccstuff@sbcglobal.net
|
