Let's discuss faith-shaping ministries to kids.
Faith Formation
Karen
Lenae
Staci
Jill
Sandra McCracken has recorded a new children’s album with songs that are appropriate for children without dumbing down the theology or the music. The songs have melodies that kids will remember and enjoy singing.
I came across this really interesting blog post called the “Bible in 66 Verses” on the Lutheran Forum. The author, Sarah Wilson, selected a verse from each book of the Bible that summarizes that book’s content. How could you use this idea?
I thought this was a great idea for what might be extra or unused materials. The kids will be reminded of what they learned over the course of the last year and the parents will be encouraged to share a story that we didn’t have a chance to tell.
If the purpose of the making an item in Sunday School is for the kids to keep the item long term, we are doing a bad job. Most of the stuff kids make and take home barely gets looked at. In fact, much of it barely gets home. So why do we bother?
Sometimes the 9th and 10th grade students are not ready to engage with the Heidelberg Catechism. This makes the Sunday School hour crawl by for everyone and the teacher feels like she hasn’t connected at all. Have you been there?
Psalms are important for kids and teens being raised in a postmodern culture, a culture where sometimes facts take a back seat to feelings. Our kids and teens need to know that they can bring their emotions and their responses to God in an appropriate way.
Is there an age when video instruction is appropriate and an age when it is not? Is Sunday School a time when kids ought to dis-engage from the technology that is so pervasive in other parts of our lives? Or are videos a tool that we can and should use to deliver the best instruction possible?
Sunday School teachers need to know when things are working and when they’re not. But even knowing that isn’t enough. Teachers need to have a clear grasp of what the objectives are for the lesson -- what it is that you want your students to be able to do after the lesson.
I see them all around — people standing just off the street holding signs for businesses. Once I even saw one dressed like the Statue of Liberty. The world is getting so noisy that we need to have people standing by the street to get our attention.
Here is a book I have used many times and keep returning to it when I need a new idea. Each page is packed with art ideas that can be used in working with children and teens in Sunday school.
We sometimes like to change things up in worship or in church school because we often crave new things but it is good for us to remember that rituals are not just boring routine — they are things that often make us feel.
Sometimes I see art as something to take up some extra time. But it is much, much more than that — it could be the time we spend doing art in Sunday School has the biggest chance for a lasting impact.
While reading a book about creation, one of the first pages in the book had this question: “Who named the animals?” Immediately many of the kids responded by saying “God”. When you’re in Sunday School “God” is a pretty safe answer to most questions, right?
The church is much bigger than just our town or country. God’s people live all over this world. By singing songs written by people from other parts of the world we can better understand them, what is important to them, and the challenges they face.
One of the wondering questions for the Parable of the Ten Virgins was "I wonder who the foolish virgins were?” A child answered, "I know, it was Jill" (another child in the class). What is the best way to respond?
The three year olds I teach in Sunday school are wonderfully creative and fun but I need to be ready to adjust my lesson on the fly. A few weeks ago the lesson I had prepared began with each child getting a paper figure of a child to represent themselves. Then I handed out the figures ... That’s when things started to go in ways I didn’t plan for.
This age is a challenge for me. I plan something active, then a quiet activity, followed by something active again. Because these children are quite young I can go through many of these active/quiet sets in half an hour. Yet some days, no matter what I do, they lose interest.
I recently attended the Dwell preview event. Each story in the curriculum has been given a symbol and these symbols are included on all of the materials for that story.
Sunday School teacher is not just a teacher, but part of a child's family.