The mediocre teacher tells.  The good teacher explains, but the great teacher demonstrates.

My grandma loved to tell stories from her life.  I heard the same stories many times over but here I am sharing one of them so she’d be pleased.    ‘I had a dreadful teacher when I was six,’ she’d say.  ‘Her name was Miss Lemon, and oh, she was sour.’  Just the way she said it would make my mouth pucker.  Miss Lemon was as real to my grandma when she was ninety-four as when she was a child of six!  Which teachers do you remember?  I guarantee the best teachers have stayed with you…and the worst.

I didn’t have a steady attendance at Sunday School because my father was a lay preacher.  He would preach in the chapel on our rural property or in the homes of other people.  But I vividly remember the handful of occasions I attended the Presbyterian Church in town and that’s because of the teacher, Mrs. Blackwell.   I can’t hear the hymns ‘Jesus Bids Us Shine’ or ‘All Things Bright and Beautiful’ without recalling her kind and patient face and even the sound of her thin, clear singing voice.  I don’t recollect any particular lesson but I do remember how Mrs. Blackwell made me feel.  And even as a little girl I could see how important it was to her that I understood how much Jesus loved me.  That was my takeaway from 6 or 7 attendances.

What Will Children Takeaway from Your Kid’s Church?

Will a visit to your Kid’s Church have such a long lasting, positive impact?  Will children see the love of Jesus radiating from you?  We can all experience a less than ideal ministry morning whether it’s because of family circumstances or something the kids are going through, or the weather!  But it’s good to revisit why you’re teaching, and what may need tweaking, to make you and your Kid’s Church memorable…for the right reasons.

• Do you remember why you’re teaching? It’s a command and a calling.
• Are you giving enough time in your program to build relationships with the children?
• Do you or your team need a refresher in behaviour management? No volunteer wants to experience the frustration or crankiness dealing with bad behaviour can produce.
• Do the children feel like they are welcome and in a place where they belong? Are you friendly?  Notice them and ask questions.
• Take a step back and look at your space. Does it need decluttering or some TLC?
• Do you need to re-evaluate your curriculum? Is it still working for you and the ages of the children?  Is it engaging?
• How is your relationship with God? Are you spending time in His presence?  Are you teaching out of the overflow from personal prayer time and Bible study?  Are you able to be taught and ministered to in home group or another service for adults?
• Remember the qualities of being childlike: trusting, transparent, carefree, insistent, spontaneous, imaginative, and joyful.
• It’s those qualities that will help you to laugh and have fun!

So let’s not get tired of doing what is good.  At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up.  Therefore, whenever we have the opportunity, we should do good to everyone – especially to those in the family of faith.  Galatians 6:9&10

Top 5 Super Sundays

There’s nothing like a Super Sunday to break the Kid’s Church routine and provide awesome opportunities for relationship building time with the children.  Here’s the Top 5 downloaded from the Cooee Kid’s Ministry website.

1.  Boomerang:  The Australian boomerang is like God’s Word.  He sends out His powerful Word and it will do exactly what He wants it to do!  There’s a Memory Verse chant to learn (Isaiah 55:11) and a game of Kangaroo Tag.  Children make their own boomerang from cardboard.  Visit:  https://cooeekidsministry.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Boomerang.pdf
2. Dino Day:  Play Dinosaur Balloon Stomp to find the Memory Verse from 2 Timothy 3:16.  Read aloud from a picture book from Creation Research.  Create a Dinosaur Obstacle Course for children to navigate…which includes a dinosaur graveyard!  Make dinosaur masks and end the morning with an Arctic Dino Dig (small plastic dinosaurs frozen in water or cordial).  Visit:  https://cooeekidsministry.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Dino-Day.pdf
3. Lego Day:  The true story of Lego lost at sea tied to the story of the Lost Coin.  Larry the beachcomber visits to find the Memory Verse gold coins.  Play the Lego memory game, enjoy free Lego play so you can sit with the kids and build relationships as well as a car, house, ship…etc.  Or make a Surfie coin purse that can hold treasure.  Visit:  https://cooeekidsministry.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Lego-Day-1.pdf
4. Country and Western Day:  Everyone comes dressed in their best cowboy or cowgirl outfit.  There’s a narrated play, ‘The Great Feast’ that allows your volunteers and children to be part of the action.  Why not try some line dancing?   Or the Jesus Hokey Pokey?  Play ‘Throw the Snake’, ‘Lasso a Horse’ and ‘Conk a Cow’.  Make a huge wanted poster for a photo booth and create a Chuck Wagon for morning tea.  Paint a cardboard horse and give it pegs for legs and end the morning with a Sausage Sizzle.  Visit:  https://cooeekidsministry.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Country-and-Western-Day.pdf
5. Samson’s Bumpy Ride:  Create a sideshow alley.  The story of Samson teaches children that life can be bumpy and scary sometimes but you have to ‘ride it out’ even when you are in a spin!  Hoop the Memory Verse from Philippians 1:6.  Try popcorn, fairy floss or strawberry sundae’s for Morning Tea.  Have a Colouring Competition and hand out your own Showbags.  Visit:  https://cooeekidsministry.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Samsons-Bumpy-Ride.pdf

I doubt Mrs. Blackwell had any idea of the impact she made on a little girl who grew up to become a Children’s Church teacher.  I’m looking forward to meeting her in Heaven one day.  She’ll be sitting with my Grandma who will no doubt have told her the story about Miss Lemon.

God bless you,

Deb Wassenberg