DiscipleBlog.com

Here’s a great FREE sample object lesson from our DiscipleTown curriculum that teaches kids to follow instructions.

Source: From DiscipleTown “How to Follow God’s Plan”

Letʼs Play!—Follow Instructions Game

Supplies: envelopes, two sheets of paper, one with each set of instructions printed on them.

Ask for two volunteers who are outgoing and willing to look a little silly for a prize. But mention that they must be good at reading and following directions. In this game, boys against girls works well, or you can pick one boy and one girl to start with, since you will need to pick replacements as they mess up.

When the contestants come up, give each an envelope with the following instructions inside. Explain that they are exactly the same instructions, only in a different order so that they canʼt just follow what the other is doing; also, it will be harder to tell who is winning until the end. (It is important that the first line be included in small print!)

PLAYER 1: Read these instructions all the way through; then do what they say.

1. Jump up and down ten times.

2. Run and touch the back wall, come back, and yell, “Iʼm back!”

3. Say the alphabet facing backwards.

4. Pat the leader on the head.

5. Go knock on a door.

6. Sing “Row, Row, Row your Boat” all the way through fast.

7. Turn around three times.

8. Sit on the ground and yell, “Iʼm so silly!”

9. Say “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious” three times super-loud.

10. Do only number 4; then yell, “Iʼm all done!”

PLAYER 2: Read these instructions all the way through; then do what they say.

1. Turn around three times.

2. Sing “Row, Row, Row your Boat” all the way through fast.

3. Jump up and down ten times.

4. Run and touch the back wall, come back, and yell, “Iʼm back!”

5. Sit on the ground and yell, “Iʼm so silly!”

6. Pat the leader on the head.

7. Say the alphabet facing backwards.

8. Say “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious” three times super-loud.

9. Go knock on a door.

10. Do only number 6; then yell, “Iʼm all done!”

Most kids will start out doing everything on the sheet and fail to notice the instruction “Read these instructions all the way through; and then do what they say” line. Therefore, you can let them go for a while—they may even finish—and then announce that nobody won because they did something wrong. Then choose another contestant. After a while you can start interrupting the game sooner. Eventually a kid will read it all first, do only the correct item, and win.

The Point

A lot of people have a Bible and are trying to follow it, but they are doing so in a haphazard way—so they end up making a lot of mistakes in life that could have been avoided if they had been reading the Bible carefully!

About

DiscipleTown is a downloadable children’s church curriculum for elementary-age kids. Developed by Karl Bastian, the Kidologist, and published by DiscipleLand, DiscipleTown uses a creative and adaptable town theme to teach practical “Disciple Skills” that every follower of Jesus Christ must develop in order to grow and live victoriously. The children’s church format compliments DiscipleLand and/or your other ministries to kids.

The following DiscipleTown units are currently available with more to come!

• How To Worship God

• How To Use My Bible

• How To Grow Spiritual Fruit

• How To Make Good Friends

• How To Follow God’s Plan

• How To Make Good Choices

• How To Be Faithful Workers

Rather than providing a rigid plan to follow, you can quickly and easily modify DiscipleTown to fit your ministry needs. There is more than enough material for a full length service, but you can also choose only the elements you’d like to use. By design, DiscipleTown is packed with ideas so you’ll never be left needing to supplement the lesson, but its flexibility allows you to add your own unique teaching elements.

© 2010, DiscipleLand. All rights reserved.

DiscipleBlog.com welcomes guest blogger Tony Kummer from www.ministry-to-children.com

Bible reading is one of the most important activities you can do with children. I believe that every Sunday school session, family devotion and children’s church meeting should include a time of Bible reading.

Since the Bible is God’s Word, we should do our best to listen to it.

The Big Problem: Can Kids Understand?

Children become discouraged when they don’t understand. Most kids experience a knowledge gap when the Bible is read aloud. Sometimes it’s the vocabulary, sometimes it’s the concepts, and sometimes it’s just the way the text is read.

Let’s be honest – Most children have a hard time comprehending the Bible when it is read aloud. Every week in church, many children are only learning to check out mentally while God’s Word is read.

Don’t give up. I believe that all of this can be overcome, and children can learn to appreciate the public reading of the scriptures. The benefits are much bigger than the challenges. Read the rest of this entry »

IT’S NOT EVERY DAY YOU GET A FREE BOOK!

Your Training Remedy, by Judy Wortley, a classic children’s ministry leadership resource, helps you develop a consistent and well-planned program of teacher training that motivates, encourages, and informs your volunteers.

Inspire teachers to be and do their best!

For a LIMITED TIME – through the END OF JANUARY – this downloadable book is your for FREE! It will be $9.95 in just a few days!

DON’T MISS IT!

As most biblically trained Christians know, there are a lot of subtle unbiblical elements of the Christmas story that have snuck into our culture, even into our teaching at church. Mary on the donkey, the Inn Keeper, the “Three Kings” etc. Most of these “errors” are minor or harmless, but they do reflect a tendency toward laziness when it comes to teaching the Bible. Below is a link to a video that points out a few of those errors, while at the same time honoring the Christmas story – rather than just knit-picking, as I’ve often seen done.

Retooning the Nativity (opens in new window)

Funny story – I got in a lot of heat one year for having the Wise Men in the Navity Scene of the Christmas play. It had never crossed my mind before. I was told “that is why the wise men are always placed at a distance away from the actual manger scene, they were on their way.” Duh, silly me, I had no idea they walked so slow and were two years away in all those lawn nativity scenes.

However, when I wrote Hark, from the Herald (the Christmas play in the Kidology.org store), I decided to make it accurate, so when the reporter back in time (investigating the true meaning of Christmas) finds himself by the wisemen, I had them invite him on their journey, but when Hark (from the Herald) asks them their ETA (estimated time of arrival) they explain two years, and Hark opts for the time travel machine instead, with a polite, ‘thanks, but no thanks.’ It was my attempt to include them but be biblically accurate for the first time in my ministry. (well, on that topic at least)

Interested in how others include them but keep it accurate. I don’t think it’s too critical with young children. I do have a whole kids church unit on the wise men free for members of Kidology: Wise Kids Still Seek Him
that attempts to be pretty accurate as well, if you are looking for options.

What are your thoughts on teaching Christmas accurately? Or do you let kids figure it out as they get older?

This is part 3 in a 12 part Series on D.I.S.C.I.P.L.E.S.H.I.P. – Twelve Tips to help you become a more effective discipler of children.

Scripture Memory is out of style these days. Perhaps it is because its hard and we are a culture that likes everything easy. Maybe we are just too busy to memorize. Some even try to discard it as rote repitition that is considered less effective than comprehension and perhaps even harmful. Many today contend that scripture memory is not effective because it doesn’t encourage thinking and therefore doesn’t impact the heart.

I agree! I agree that if ALL we did was rote memory, we’d be bad off! But to dismiss scripture memory on the basis that if ALL we did was rote memory is to push a beneficial spiritual discipline to its extreme and then reject it as though the extreme is all it offers.

Let me suggest three reasons I believe Scripture Memory is essential to discipleship:

1) Let’s start with the biblical basis of scripture memory. (source)

• Jesus knew the word of God and was able to drive away Satan when tempted. MT 4:1-11
• King David clearly saw that knowing the word of God was the key to purity. PS 119:9-11
• Paul says that the word is a sword in your amour against the devil’s schemes. EP 6:13-18
• God’s word in your heart keeps your feet from slipping. Ps 37:28-31

Scripture is FILLED with the benefits of God’s Word and value of knowing it deeply. Did you know that in the longest chapter in the Bible, Psalm 119, every single one of the 176 verses is about God’s Word? That ought to tell us something!

2) I can also offer personal experience. As a child, I memorized a LOT of scripture. Did I understand it all? Of course not. But it gave to such a broad and rich understanding of scripture that deepened as I got older. I have memorized hundreds of verses, many chapters and two books of the Bible and can personally attest to the way God uses that knowledge to help me walk with Him, understand His Word, prepare to teach, witness and just know how to think and reflect on God. It impacts my prayers constantly. I can’t tell you how many times when praying the Word of God just flows and helps me express my love for God and awe at who He is.

Yours, O LORD, is the greatness and the power
and the glory and the majesty and the splendor,
for everything in heaven and earth is yours.
Yours, O LORD, is the kingdom;
you are exalted as head over all.

I Chronicles 29:11

3) Lastly, I’d like to offer an explanation that I often use when people are critical of scripture memory or try to explain it away as a waste of time, or as something only for children, or even pointless for kids. I call it “The Alphabet Argument.”

I have a two year old son who is learning the alphabet. He is learning to recognize and say the letters of the alphabet. Do they have much meaning to him? No. Does he truly understand what they are and how they are to be used? Of course not. Should I not have him memorize the letters until he can truly appreciate them, understand them, and use them properly? Absolutely not! I would actually stunt his mental growth and handicap his future use of the English language and hinder his ability to creatively express himself in our language. So he learned meaningless LETTERS for now. But soon that knowledge will help him recognize and use WORDS. Those words, before I know it, will enable him to read SENTENCES and then (and I can’t wait!) he will be able to CREATE HIS OWN stories.

QUESTION: If I asked you to close your eyes and tell me the LETTERS I have been using, could you? No. You are not reading “letters.” You aren’t even reading “words” or “sentences.” You are reading THOUGHTS and the sentences, words and letters are just the vehicle to communicate them to you.

The SAME is true of God’s Word!

God’s Word is alive and active! (recognize the verse?) God’s word is not the sum of sentences, words or letters – it is the Power of God! But it is communicated via words.

You see? When kids (or adults!) memorize scripture – they are getting the “spiritual alphabet” by which they will form broader spiritual thoughts and ideas. If I only taught my little boy half of the alphabet – imagine the impact it would have on him? He needs all the letters! Imagine the impact when you only know a little of the Bible from memory? You are limited and will be spiritually frustrated just as my little boy would be if he didn’t first learn the alphabet.

All this to say – you do your disciples a disservice if you don’t lead them and encourage them to memorize scripture. Should it all be rote memory? Of course not. Try to explain and help them understand, but ultimately the Holy Spirit will do that, and a lot better than you ever could.

Scripture memory ought to be a regular part of your spiritual journey and a vital part of your discipling process. Years later these kids will be thankful to you, just as I am to Helen Reed, Margret Bramble, Charlie Hann and the other adults in my childhood who challenged and encouraged me to memorize God’s Word!

Let me ask you a few questions related to children at your church, and the Bible. After each, please pause and reflect on the answer.

RE: Children and the Bible

• Do your children bring their Bibles to church?
• Do your children USE their Bibles at church?
• Are Bibles needed by your children during your programs?
• Do you have Bibles available for children who don’t bring or have one?
• Are there a bunch of battered, torn, and coverless Bibles laying around your church?
• When is the last time you saw a child reading their Bible on their own?
• When is the last time you saw a child reading the Bible?
• Do your lower elementary children know the books of the Bible by memory?
• Can your upper elementary children look up a Bible verse without help or the table of contents?
• Do you have any children who have marked up, underlined and well worn (from use) Bibles?

RE: YOU and the Bible

• Do you read your Bible often? (outside of lesson preparation)
• Do you use a real Bible when you teach? (other than as a prop you hold up)
• Are your lessons birthed out of the Word, or out of a box or disc?
• If all Bibles in America were banned and confiscated, but any electronic version or use was still allowed, would there be any noticeable change in your lessons and/or program?
• Do you have a marked up, underlined and well worn (from use) Bible?

These questions are meant to stimulate thought, not guilt – though my asking gives away a serious concern I have with what I would call the growing Bibleless Trend in Children’s Ministry.

I travel to many churches as a guest speaker or trainer and am very often stunned by how little need there is for Bibles in most children’s ministries. I consider teaching with and out of a Bible to be the FUNDAMENTAL BASIS of my teaching. I use puppets, object lessons, media clips, illusions and you-name-it, I’ve used it, to creatively teach and engage children, but never as a replacement or substitute for teaching with and out of a Bible. ONLY THE BIBLE HAS GOD’S PROMISE OF EFFECTIVENESS. And yet, the Bible is a rare object in perhaps most children’s ministries today. This is a tragedy!

I have seen churches where none of the kids had Bibles, and when I tried to find some to pass out, or at least to use with 5-6 kids on stage for a Sword Drill – NONE COULD BE FOUND to use. Not in the well-equipped resource room, not in the library PACKED with books ABOUT the Bible, not even battered shameful looking Bibles on shelves in the back of the room. And this has happened over and over in churches around America.

Yes, the Bible is quoted in the PowerPoints, illustrated in the videos, taught through object lessons, acted out in puppet shows… but the Bible itself is mysteriously MIA in many churches! (Missing IN ACTION!)

I don’t care how attractive your ministry facility is, how innovative your program, how creative your teaching – if you are neglecting to teach kids the value of God’s Word by example (teaching with and from it) you ARE TEACHING THEM A LESSON: that the Bible really isn’t that important.

Kids learn by what they SEE – they need to see you teaching with and from an ACTUAL Bible. And the learn by what they DO – reading in and from an ACTUAL Bible.

If the only Bible they see are PowerPoint slides and cartoon re-enactments it is no wonder when they outgrow children’s ministry they outgrow the Bible too.

STEPS FOR ACTION: (If you are feeling even slightly convicted)

• Start reading your own Bible regularly, outside of lesson prep. (If you don’t already) As it impacts your own life, you will have a passion to share its wisdom and insights and power with those you teach!
• Teach with and from a Bible when you teach. You can even print your lesson plan on a half sheet and keep in the Bible so the children constantly see you picking up and looking into the Bible. Even if you are reading notes, the visual message is that the Bible is guiding your lesson.
• Encourage kids to bring their Bible to church. Reward occasionally with a treat – not every week – but occasionally so they know that bringing the Bible is important.
• HAVE KIDS USE THEIR BIBLES as part of your teaching. Don’t put every verse on the screen, just the reference or first half of the verse. Have them look it up. The awkward silence or pause in your “momentum” is worth it!
• Have kids stand up and read passages for you. Have someone there with a microphone if you have a large group.
• Do Sword Drills on the topic of your lesson. If you have a very large group, choose 8-10 kids to come on stage to participate. This not only gives them practical experience looking up verses it shows them that the Bible has a lot to say on the topic. You can give 4-5 sentence teaching moments after each verse read.
• Give Bibles to visitors or any child who doesn’t own one. Personalize it with a message from you about the importance of this book.
• Talk about things God taught you through the Word in your quiet time.
• Encourage kids to ask you questions about the Bible as they read.
• Provide reading plans or bookmarks to the children, reward progress as they read.
• Make the Bible something you and the children USE, not something you talk ABOUT.
• PRAY and ask God to give you creative ideas on how you can make the Bible more central to your teaching and programming.

If you have neglected the Bible in your passion to better reach and teach kids, don’t feel bad – but do something about it

As the rain and the snow
come down from heaven,
and do not return to it
without watering the earth
and making it bud and flourish,
so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater,

So is my word that goes out from my mouth:
It will not return to me empty,
but will accomplish what I desire
and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.

Isaiah 55:10-11

The best way to get God into the hearts of kids, is to get His Word into their hearts!

Is not my word like fire,” declares the LORD, “and like a hammer that breaks a rock in pieces? Jeremiah 23:29

If you truly wants God power in your teaching – don’t just quote His Word – USE His Word!

For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. Hebrews 4:12

We live in a day and age when there is no end to the new and innovative resources for children’s ministry (and that’s a good thing!) but it may just be the next best thing for your children’s ministry is to return to an emphasis on the Word of God – in practice – not just in word.