Printable Prodigal Son Book

I haven't been posting very much.  I've been contemplating what I want to do with this blog and possibly moving in a different direction.  For now, though I wanted to share a piece of a project I have been working on.

Over the summer at church we are taking a break from Children's Church so the children will be in the worship service with the adults throughout the entire time.  We are also combining our upper and lower elementary Sunday School classes to give teachers a break and because attendance is often low in the summer.  So I've been preparing some things to keep the kids occupied in service and also activities for the Sunday School hour.  We will be mostly using lessons from an older VBS by Word Action.  However, I wanted it all to connect for the kids; worship and the Sunday School lessons.  In order to accomplish that, I wanted them to be somewhat familiar with the story we would be working on.  So, I am putting the lessons in a simple, easy to read, printable book for them to look over themselves during worship (we have worship before Sunday School).  Here is the first one:

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B1skzerVh4QaY3Y4a3R4ZlJWZXM/edit

I kept the illustrations simple on purpose.  I want the kids to fill in the details with their minds/crayons as much as possible.  I want the word of God to communicate the feelings/emotions/actions/etc rather than interpreting that for the kids.  That is why the faces are blank.  Over illustrating can cause us to fill things into the story with our minds that are not actually in scripture and it may take years for children to realize that something is not part of a bible story.

You may use this in your classrooms, homes and churches however you see fit but I ask you that you not use this book in any way for profit.  Thank you!

Just Keep Going On....

Several months back we had a lesson in our Sunday School class that actually spoke to ME probably more than it did the kids.  That does actually happen to adults every once in a while.  In fact, ideally it would happen much more often.  My co-teacher, Greg, was actually teaching this lesson (we trade of and on each week) and there wasn't anything extremely spectacular about the lesson but it was the passage itself that spoke to me.

It was a normal Sunday morning in our 4th-6th Grade classroom.  Student A was crawling under the tables again, student B rearranging tacks on the bulletin board, Student C was yelling at Student A to get up from under the table.  Student B, for some reason, in the two seconds I turned my back is grabbing student A's arm and they've gotten into some sort of tussle over who knows what.  Student D yells, "Come on, guys, cut it out!", and the noise level is escalating as Greg and I look at each other as if to say, "I guess we should start."  

We get the kids settled in their seats with much coaxing and arguing and threatening and (finally) start our Sunday School lesson.  Five minutes in.....some small, insignificant part of what one of us has said leads to a comment, a retort, a heated discussion, snide remarks....and we are completely off topic and have lost their attention.  Yup, it was a completely normal Sunday morning.  Sigh.

So we get the kids focus back for a bit.  The lessons that month had been about Paul's first missionary journey and this week we were in Acts 18.  Greg starts by describing situations on the mission field that seem hopeless and asking students what they think they would do.  We get some silly answers, some serious.  I start to wonder, myself, if this is really where God wants me.  "Oh, Lord, get us through this lesson," I pray to myself, already weary.   As we read through the passage, dodging distractions and getting fidgety students back in their seats and bibles back open here and there, we find Paul is arriving in Macedonia to preach the message of Christ and nobody is listening to him.  Hmmmmmm......Greg and I look around at our distracted crew.....then we continue on.  Paul gets upset.  He gives up. "Your blood is on your heads!" he says. I'm feeling it.  I feel Paul's frustration.  This is hopeless.  Week after week we come into this class and battle for their attention and their cooperation.  Week after week it seems as though we get 15 minutes of actual teaching done with all the interruptions and distractions.  Week after week we are exhausted, spent, frustrated, and ready to quit as we watch kids bolt from our classroom after the bell.  

Greg is getting tired and frustrated too.  I can see it.... but we read on.  Acts 18 verse 9, "And the Lord said to Paul one night in a vision, 'Do not be afraid, but go on speaking and do not be silent, for I am with you...'"  Hello!  What was that?  I don't know what happened much in class after that.  I just remember reading and re-reading that verse as I felt the words sink into my own being.  "Go on...go on."

By the end of the lesson we've exhausted their entire attention span.  I think they got some of it but I'm doubtful they will remember it very long.  I, on the other hand, got it.  I got the message loud and clear.  I look at Greg, as we realize we have completely lost their attention for good and just say, "Go on.  We just gotta keep going."

I don't remember many lessons from Sunday School when I was a kid.  I couldn't tell you how things impacted me at that age.  I have to think pretty hard sometimes to even remember who my Sunday School teachers were.   And, yet, somehow I got here.  Somehow I've heard the gospel message even to a point where I'm willing to teach it to a bunch of fidgety 4th-6th graders.  Somewhere in that forgotten mess that was my childhood discipleship, the messages got through.  I don't remember it specifically, but it got through.  

There was this saying I remember hearing at some point growing up and it still lingers some today, I think.  It went, "Let Go and Let God".   I've actually grown to cringe at that phrase.  Sure, it has it's place.  Sometimes we put too much emphasis on our own control and don't allow God to work.  But I feel it takes too much responsibility off of us.  We are still called to serve.  God still asks of us our hands and feet.  He didn't tell Paul, "Hey, man.  You really need to just let go of this and let me handle it."  Maybe it isn't as catchy but I would rephrase the saying to, "Go on and Let God."  My students may not remember the lessons Greg and I teach them week after week.  But I faithfully believe that, through all the mess and distraction of Sunday morning, they are walking away (running out the door, rather) having heard the message and that message has the power to transform their lives.  So I go on week after week, through distraction and mayhem, and let God do His thing.   I go on.  I just keep going....and let God's message keep working.

Nazarene Safe

I haven't posted in a long time.  The reason.....there are many....but mainly because I've been trying to think through what I want to say in this post and I'm still not sure.  Over a month and a half ago we instituted some policies within our church based on recommendations made by the denomination for the safety of our children.  Our Sunday School board had been discussing it for quite some time.  The recommendations come from a program called Nazarene Safe (please correct me if I mess up any information here in regards to this.  I am not an expert).

Our new policies have created quite a stir and some mild disagreement.  You see, we aren't a big church.  We don't have a ton of children walking through our doors each Sunday.  We don't even have enough young, able bodied people to work with the kids we have and these new policies ask that we have more people and more eyes on our kids.  This has been stressful.  The kids are complaining that they have to be watched all the time.  Parents are complaining that they have to watch their kids and sign their kids in and out.  We still don't have enough workers.

I've been struggling a lot with this and why safety is important from a Christian standpoint.  I know, personally, why I feel it is important here.  I have been caught in the middle of watching children who are not my own (while watching my own) before church and had accidents/issues/arguments/inappropriate behavior, and I have been the only one around to deal with these situations.  I will not dive into any details but I have observed that allowing kids to just go where ever they want before and after church has not been beneficial and is not exactly safe for the kids, let alone embodying the nature of Christ.

On the other side of the argument, I remember as a kid, we would arrive at church and my friends and I would go all over the building playing all sorts of games and doing all sorts of stuff.  We were never destructive, that I can remember, and we knew to walk (around adults anyway ;)).  It was a huge part of my growing up in church.  I knew that building like I knew my own home.  So there is a part of me that understands the distress that comes with saying this will no longer be allowed.

However, I have seen how unhealthy this practice has been for our kids.  I remember how often we talked in the school I taught at about the culture of kids today and how it is different from when we were kids and we need to grow and adapt our teaching style and even behavior management to what is effective to today's kids.  I feel the same applies to church.  The things taking  place before church were not Christ-like behaviors.  Children were tearing each other down, they were yelling, running, not paying attention to their surroundings or others creating an unsafe environment.  I'm not saying this because I think the kids are bad.  They are good kids but they need guidance on how to solve problems in a mature and Christ-like way.

I believe that more eyes on our kids will actually create a better atmosphere for them.  There will be more opportunities to influence their lives in such a way.  Think about it, we only see them for 2 hours tops A WEEK.  Everything else is outside influence.  Why shouldn't we be more intentional about making sure our kids have our undivided attention at church and that they are safe and cared for?  Why shouldn't we be available to help them in real life problem solving situations with one another so they can go out into the world and do the same?

We have some AWESOME kids!  So what if we don't have dozens upon dozens?  The few we have are really seeking to know Jesus and I'll take a few seriously seeking Christ over dozens just coming because they have to or want a special prize or just because it is "fun and exciting" any day!  And I will do anything I can to make sure they are safe and loved!

I am open to conversation about this.  It is something we are struggling to implement and would like to hear how others are working toward this as well.  

http://www.nazarenesafe.org/

What Are You Excited About?

This past week we have had an amazing time with kids from our church and our community during VBS and we had some wonderful volunteers helping out.   As we were preparing for this week I kept getting this flutter of excitement and anticipation.  At one point, while ironing heat transfers onto t-shirts for VBS volunteers, I mentioned to my husband how excited I was but that I didn't know if that was a good thing or a bad thing.  I didn't want to be all excited and then be let down.  His response, "Well, it depends upon what your excited about."

I knew what he meant and it got me to thinking.  Yes, I was excited about how much work and planning we had put into this.  Yes, I was excited about the outreach we had done to get kids to come.  Yes, I was excited about the effort the teens were putting into their skits.  Yes, I was excited about the music and decorations. And yes, I was even excited about the t-shirts I was working so hard on.  I was excited (and a little nervous) because we had put so much into those tangible things.  But as I thought about it, and REALLY prayed about it,  I was excited because I felt God was in it all and that He was going to be there all this week, present for these kids who needed to see Him.  There truly was/is a God thing going on and that is something to be excited about!
 God was there this week.  Not because we were well prepared, not because the music was great, and not because we got a ton of kids in through our door.  God was there because He is what this is all about and He wants us to know Him and the children we ministered to and will continue to minister to.  I am so thankful!  I am so excited!  I can't wait to see what God will do with these kids next!

What Do These Stones Mean?

My daughter has reached a very inquisitive stage in her development.  "Mommy, do spiders have bottoms?  Do they go pee pee out of their bottoms?", "Why is there grass on the sidewalk?", "Why did the car move like that?", "What do plants eat?", "Why do you have a sandwich?", "Can a bug eat a duck?".  I'm starting to think I need to get a smartphone just so I can have Wikipedia at my fingertips for all the random questions she asks that I have no idea how to answer.  But I'm really loving every moment of it.  I explain things as best I can for her little 3 year old mind and take pride in the fact that she is soaking up information and desiring to know.  I pray that she continues to ask questions and seek answers and know that there will be many more times where I'm just as befuddled by her question as she is.

God is a pretty smart God.  He knows kids.  I know that sounds like a pretty obvious thing to say but as I read Joshua chapter 4, I realize God understands how kids work.  In Joshua chapter 4 the Israelites have just crossed the Jordan River and the Lord commands Joshua to have 12 men take 12 stones from the middle of the Jordan and set them up saying, "In the future, when your descendants ask their fathers, 'What do these stones mean?' tell them, 'Israel crossed the Jordan on dry ground. For the Lord your God dried up the Jordan before you until you had crossed over." (Joshua 4:21-23).   I can just hear a little 3 year old Israelite voice, "Mommy, why are those stones over there?"  And then the child would be told a story....their own story...about how God took care of them.  And there would be no Wikipedia there.  The parents would know the story because they would have asked their parents and heard the story from them.  Pretty nifty teaching method there, God.  

 I started this blog because I've been working with the children at Clinton First Church for a little while now and I'm learning so much about what it means to be in children's ministry.  There are times when I don't know what I'm doing working with the kids.  Lessons go wrong, I get frustrated, things don't go as planned and I wonder what I have gotten myself into.  But I read this passage and I am inspired by so many things about it.  I have found over the past year or so that the most impact I can make with these kids doesn't always come in the form of a well planned lesson.  A lot of the changes and growth I have seen have resulted from just being a part of their lives.  There are no literal piles of stones in our church.  But we, as a church, as people in the church, tell a story with our lives.  We are living piles of stone.  Our lives should evoke the question, "What does this mean?  Why are these people here?"

Now, just because being part of their lives makes an impact doesn't exclude the fact that, when the kids ask, "What does this mean?" we are to tell the story.  Therefore, we need to know the story (God's word) which is ultimately essential to us living the story and being the stones that evoke the question.  (Hey, did we just come full circle there?  Yes, we did.)  So, I believe, children's ministry is most effective when you are learning the story and living the story.  

I am not a children's pastor.  I have no theological education or ministerial licence.  I am a lay person involved in Children's ministry and this blog is where I plan to document my thoughts, ideas, struggles, successes, questions, and anything else related to my journey as I learn how to be more effective in ministry to children.