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.
Everything we do in Children’s Ministry should have a purpose. The introduction, the game, the lesson itself, the video – whatever you use in your lesson should all point the kids towards the same point. The time we get to spend with the kids in our ministry is limited every weekend, and we have to make the most of the time we have been given. Like other things given to us by God, we must be good stewards of the time he allows us to spend with his kids.
So, get rid of frivolous time-filling activities, and use all that extra time to teach, to preach and to disciple young followers of Christ. When you’re planning your lesson for the weekend, keep this question in mind, “Where does everything point?” If the answer to that question is anything other than Jesus, you might want to rework your lesson! Jesus must be at the center of each lesson, and everything we do should point to him. If you’re playing “Follow the Leader” to teach kids about following Jesus, that’s perfect. It you’re playing just to kill some time, that is not good stewardship. When you pick worship songs, try to pick songs which reinforce the week’s lesson. When everything points at the same goal, it’s hard for the kids not to head in that direction.
Return to the Tips for Large Group Teaching in Children’s Ministry index page.