If your Kid’s Church is part of a bigger organisation your lessons will be set out in the curriculum that has been provided.  But there are still many Churches where Kid’s Ministry leaders need to find content for themselves.  There’s a range of lessons you can download.  Some are reasonably priced and some are free including those at Cooee Kid’s Ministry!  However, have you ever considered writing your lessons?

Who knows where you may end up teaching children?  You could be somewhere you only have intermittent internet coverage.  You may need to create a specific lesson for your kids about a particular situation.  Writing your lessons means you are not dependent on technology or budgets but free to work with the Holy Spirit in providing spiritual content for the kids in your care.

Take Notes

You need somewhere to write down your thoughts and ideas when they come to you…and they will come.  I use journals because I still like to put pen to paper.  Don’t rely on remembering ideas.  Write them down! I’ve been journaling for 8 years and have just opened journal number 21.  I started a separate notebook to index ideas, titles, and themes with the journal number beside it.  I also have a ‘Working on It’ file on my computer.  If I’m ever unsure about the next lesson to write, I turn to the index file or the computer file and the Holy Spirit will usually highlight the one He wants me to work on.  Some ideas can take a year or more before they become completed lessons because it’s just not their time yet.  But when you know, you know!

The Logos and the Rhema

I find the best lessons have come out of my morning devotional time.  I use a daily devotional magazine and sometimes a study book.  I read the devotion and the additional Bible scriptures provided.  While reading a phrase will leap out, or a picture will form in my mind, so I write it down in my journal and continue reading.  I know it’s important to read for my benefit and not just for the Kid’s Ministry. 

I’ve also turned my Pastor’s sermons into lessons.  I always ask for permission and they’re happy for me to use them. I’ve used my observations, things my grandchildren have said, or stories my friends have shared over a cup of tea.  It’s very exciting when your spirit is stirred by something you see or hear.  You know there’s something in it…you may not be exactly sure what, but something is there waiting to be discovered!

Research

Which leads me to the next step.  I use online commentaries to check my lesson idea is correct and in context.  I once wrote a sketch only to find the verse I was using as my foundation didn’t have the meaning I thought it did, so I had to scrap it.  We have to be so careful that what we are teaching is correct.  (James 3:1)  My husband reads every lesson before I load it onto the website or teach it.

I know all this takes time but there are so many benefits.  Your knowledge of God and His Word grows.  You ‘hear’ the voice of the Holy Spirit and creativity flows. 

Living Water

Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink.  The one who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ‘From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.’” John 7:37-39             

Essentially Jesus said, “Put your loving trust in Me, enthrone Me in your heart, and life and abundance will flow out.”  (David Guzik)

It’s out of that overflow that you will be able to minister to the children around you!

This post was originally published on 29/7/21 and updated on 13/3/25