Welcome to a continuing series of tips on working with large groups of children. I hope that you will find these tips useful and be able to implement them in your dealings with large groups of kids. If you do, please leave a comment and let us know. For a complete list of posts in this series, please see the index page. So, without further introduction, here is today’s installment.
When you’re working with a large group of kids, there will inevitability be distractions which will try to still your attention and your focus. Little Billy will absolutely need to tell you about his soccer game yesterday, and he’ll need to tell you right now! Little Suzy will have to go to the bathroom immediately or risk a pending disaster. Little Johnny will get distracted and start picking the paint off the wall (and maybe even begin to eat it). The DVD player will break right as you’re about to cut to the critical video to support your teaching for the day. The batteries in the microphone will go dead right as you’re in the middle of the gospel presentation. All of these (with just a little bit of embellishment) have happened to me in the last six months alone.
These, along with countless other types of distractions that you haven’t even thought of yet will work against you staying on track on any given weekend. It is easy to get distracted. It is easy to go off point. As the large group leader and teacher, it is your job to make sure that things stay on track and not get distracted by unforeseen events. Let your other leaders deal with disruptions and other issues that come up so you can remain focused on what’s really important – speaking the Word of God into the hearts of children.
Return to the Tips for Large Group Teaching in Children’s Ministry index page.