NEW

2020-02-26 to 28 Pictures: Charleston, South Carolina

One of the few upsides of having to cancel our Spring Break trip last March at the onset of the pandemic is that we are "stuck" with a rather large voucher from one of those discount airlines. Last autumn, Tricia and I spent a weekend in Savannah, Georgia and had a...

A John 3:16 Craft for Kids

John 3:16 is one of the most well known and reassuring verses in the Bible. For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.John 3:16 (NIV) The following is a little craft I threw...

2020-03-01 Pictures: Lyndsey’s College Signing Day

This afternoon Lyndsey made it official, signing her letter of intent to play college basketball for the Hiram College Terriers starting next year. While she made the decision and committed to Hiram before Christmas, she has been looking forward to this day since her...

2020-02-13 Pictures: Lyndsey’s 18th Birthday

I am little behind on posting photos. These are some of my favorites from a couple of weekends ago when we got a chance to celebrate Lyndsey's 18th birthday. It's hard to believe that my little girl is officially an adult. It was nice to have the family all back...

What is DOCTRINE?

Introduction I love working with kids, and I love teaching them hard concepts in ways they can understand. To that end, for years I have been working on a dictionary of theological terms for kids and teens. In sharing those definitions, there seemed no better place to...

If You Want It Done Right

In all likelihood, you know how the phrase ends: If you want it done right, DO IT YOURSELF! This is a bit of a mantra for me, and frankly, something that I struggle with daily both in leadership and in my Christian walk.  In theory, this is easy to accept. ...

What Does God Hate?

This is the little and humble post that started it all. I happened to be reading through my Bible, and this passage impacted me so much that I posted a little blurb about it on Facebook. That was July 28, 2008, and I've been writing and sharing ever since. (Maybe...

#45 – Teach From Their Level (Tips For Large Group Teaching)

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 I was 21, my best friend’s sister had a baby.  I remember going over to his house one day and walking upstairs where he was playing with the new baby.  As I walked into the room, I noticed that they were having a great time.  Having a great time, that is, until the baby turned around and noticed me.  I’m a big guy (about 6’5”), and the sight of me sent him into hysterics.  That pattern continued for several years.  When my friend’s nephew was two, he backed off a porch one day when he saw me coming.  Back then, I never would have imagined that God would have Children’s Ministry in my future.  The interesting thing was that when I was sitting down my friend’s nephew would walk right up and play with me.  You see, to him I was some sort of giant until I sat down and dealt with him on his level.

The same technique works in Children’s Ministry.  See, we look big to the kids in our ministry.  To them, we are just like all the other adults in their lives whose primary reason for existence is to tell them what to do.  In Children’s Ministry, our role is not to just give them a list of things we want them to, or not to, do but to explain that God wants to have a relationship with them and what that relationship looks like.  While they should recognize the authority we have in the classroom, when we are talking about our relationship with God we are all brothers and sisters, not teachers and students.  Sometimes it will do a great deal of good to get on their level when presenting your lesson.  Sit down or get down on the ground so that you’re looking straight into their eyes rather than looking down on them.  Physically and figuratively, we should not be in a position where we are looking down on the kids in our ministry.

Return to the Tips for Large Group Teaching in Children’s Ministry index page.

Previous

Next