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.
Technically this should be part of preparing your lesson, but it is important enough to warrant its own entry. Pray about every aspect of your teaching. Pray that God will work through you to reach unreached kids and disciple his youngest followers. Pray that the kids in your classroom would be receptive to the words you speak. Pray that the Holy Spirit would enable you to come up with the most relevant and best examples that will speak to the kids’ hearts. Pray for God’s guidance on what you should teach and how you should teach it. Pray that more and more kids would come to church every week. Pray that God would give you the appropriate words to speak. I like to pray that God will bring so many kids that our biggest problem is what we are going to do with them all! Pray that God will help you to connect with the kids in your room. Pray for each child individually and by name. Pray for wisdom and pray that you would be faithful to the Word of God.
But, don’t just pray for God’s help and guidance – make sure you also take time to thank him! Thank him for calling you to work with his children and entrusting their spiritual development to you. Thank him that his Good News, so profound and inexplicable, is simple enough for a child to understand it. Thank him for guiding you in your own spiritual development. Thank him for the blessing that is the kids in your church. Thank him for teaching you through your service to his kids. Thanks him for his Word that enables us to teach truth.
The Bible says to be constant in prayer. I read somewhere a suggestion that you should spend at least as much time praying about your lesson and the kids in your classroom as you do physically preparing the lesson. I don’t know about you, but I found this idea really convicting! What would your children’s ministry look like if we followed this guidance? What type of generation of Christ followers could we raise up if we all followed this advice?
Return to the Tips for Large Group Teaching in Children’s Ministry index page.