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Children's
Ministries When beginning a new church there are several things that must be considered. As soon as a few families begin to attend faithfully, the pastor of the church must answer the question of how to meet the needs of the children and mother's in the church. A mother that has to hold a crying baby for an hour will not be able to enjoy the sermon nor will anyone else sitting next to her! Thus the need for the SS class arises. Believing that it is important to train children how to behave themselves in church, and considering that we are still a small church and able to do this, we have the children stay in the church service with their parents during the announcements and singing. As soon as it is time for the preaching, the children are dismissed to the SS classroom.
Keys to an effective SS Class: I. Decoration: The class must be well decorated and inviting. A new visitor should come into the classroom and be in awe at the pictures and Bible verses on the walls. Chairs should be comfortable and to the size of the children. Remember, if the child does not like the SS class, the parents will not want to force their children to come back to church the next week! II. Visitors: The first order should be to seat a new visitor next to an older member. Introduce them and make them feel welcome. I usually try to put them next to someone the same age as them. At the end of the class the visitor is given the opportunity to choose a gift from a box of small toys.
III. Songs: Kids love to sing. When we first started none of the children knew any of the songs. We sang the same five songs every week until they were learned and then slowly added more. Use a variety of songs. If the children look asleep sing a song that requires them to stand up and move around. If the children look bored tell them that whoever sings the loudest will receive a candy. Make sure that you as the teacher are doing all the hand motions will a lot of enthusiasm and the kids will likewise become enthusiastic. Visuals are always great but they require that at least some of your children know how to read. If at least half of your children can read, I would try to have a new song visual each week.
IV. Story: Before beginning the Bible lesson, be sure to have all the children's attention. Have the children sit up straight, and fold their hands. If they are lacking interest, then provide an incentive such as a "good seat" prize to the best girl and the best boy. Tell them what it is and show it to them. If it is candy and you have an extra one, tell them that you need to try it first and then eat it very slowly in front of them making all sorts of facial expressions and sounds telling them how good it is. After you have their attention give the Bible lesson. I really like ABeka flashcards. They are easy to use and have the story to go along with the cards to study. Do NOT read the lesson. It is good to act it out and also if you are talking about different places, have one side of the room be a certain place or person, and the other side of the room be another person or place. Have the children help you to tell the story. Have them stand up and be the characters. Pick your troublemakers and then they will be so busy "helping" they won't be able to make any trouble.
V. Prayer and Offering: Teach the children how to pray. Teach them to bow their heads and close their eyes. Teach them that it is disrespectul to be looking up to the sky with their mouth open to pray. Teach them that it is important to give an offering every week, even if it is just a penny. This will carry over to adulthood. VI. Bible Verse: Have the children memorize a short Bible verse each week. Make "Verse tokens" and give them to the students. I like to make them 1/4th the size of a sheet of paper. It is such a joy to go to the homes of the students and see the verse tokens on the fridge and walls of their rooms. Break up the verse in parts. Teach one part of the verse and then have each student say that back to you. Then go to the second part, etc. Finally have each student try to say the verse out loud.
VII. Incentives: I made each of the students a little book that has a crown on the front. I explained to them that just like they will be rewarded in heaven for the good works they do, they will be rewarded in our class. For each Bible verse they say and offering they give, they earn a sticker. When they have 10 stickers they get to choose a prize from the prize box. VIII. Game: When we have extra time we play a game. There are so many games to make that simply revolve around the kids answering questions from the story. Our favorite is "zonk". I have about 40 colored circles that all have different numbers of points on the back. Some of them have the word "zonk". When a child answers a question correctly they can choose as many circles as they want until they receive a "zonk". They can stop any time they want, but if they choose a "zonk" then they lose ALL their points. Another game we have played is I made two elephants with very long trunks. I divided the class into boys and girls and as each side answered a question correctly, they were able to add another piece of the trunk. The team to use all the pieces first with the longest trunk won.
IX. Homework: If you so choose you can give homework to the children. They love takehome sheets. A simple book of Bible worksheets will do. It is also good to have some on hand for when church services go longer than expected! X. Rewards: Finally give all the children a small token candy and give out the prizes that have been earned as well as the gifts to the first time visitors.
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