All posts tagged Kidmin

Don’t You Want to Be Part of this Story? {Chris Brown, The Gathering}

By | May 9, 2012 | Ministry Ideas | 1 Comment
This Way to Story Road

Amazing story telling.  That’s how Chris Brown starts out his general session.   Details pour out as the story comes together and I realize he is telling the story of Jesus sending the demons to the herd of pigs, found in Mark 5.    Perhaps you’re familiar with the story, after the pigs run over the side of the cliff, people grow angry with Jesus and tell him to leave.   Jesus doesn’t protest.  Instead, he gets into the boat and rows away.  The scariest part of this story is not the demons.  It is that Jesus will give you exactly what you want, even if that includes doing ministry without Him.

Is that what we want?   To do things “our way”, even if it means pushing Jesus out of the picture?

Chris tells story after story from this chapter in Jesus’ ministry, drawing out the emotions of the people involved….the parents, the ones suffering, the sick, and the people surrounding them.  The desperation of Jairus, watching his young daughter get sicker and sicker.  The humiliation of the woman who has been bleeding for 12 years.  The surprise Jesus must feel when the power has left him.

Think again of the woman. Imagine how she feels.  The woman who has been medically mistreated at her own expense and now she is exposed once again.  Imagine the crowd’s response when she touched Jesus, the healer, and made him unclean.   Mark 5:33 says, “When the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet and, trembling with fear, told him the whole truth.”

Trembling with fear.

What would Jesus do?  What would He say?

Surely the crowd would be calling out slander towards her, calling her terrible names.

What did Jesus do?

He says, “My Daughter….”

For those of you who have a daughter, you know all the implications that word entails.   Such love.  Such protection.  Such grace.    He gives her dignity, not only with this beloved name, but also with this statement, “…your faith has made you well”.

Imagine this woman telling her story.  Telling her part in the Big God Story.

What a beautiful story.

But what about Jairus?

Jesus continues the journey with Jairus when a servant meets them and says that his daughter has died (Mark 5:35).

Can you imagine?

Died.  Dead.

What would Jairus have done?  Would he have fallen to the ground, sobbing?  Continued walking in disbelief?

I’ll tell you what Jesus did.

He ignored what they said and continued on.

When they finally reached the house, Jesus sent everyone away except his three closest disciples.  The little girl’s mother and father stood nearby, probably wondering…”What could Jesus possibly do?”

He took her hand, spoke to her, and she came back to life.

Can you imagine?

Really. Stop for a minute and imagine.

Utter despair and then amazement.  Absolute amazement.

Chris paints a possible picture of  the neighborhood after Jesus came through town.  A woman, who perhaps couldn’t sleep, because she’s suddenly free to sit and walk and talk without restriction.  Perhaps the man, newly freed from a legion of demons, gathered around long lost family and friends, catching up on stories.  Perhaps Jairus’ daughter, completely healed of her sickness, running through the house at 3 AM, too excited to lay down.

THESE STORIES ARE AMAZING.

And these are all from ONE chapter in Mark.

Don’t you want to be part of that story?

* This post is part of  series of live blogging posts from David C. Cook’s “The Gathering” conference in Costa Mesa, CA *

Be sure to check out the other live bloggers:

Amy Dolan @ Lemon Lime Kids

Jonathon Cliff

Greg Baird @ Kidmin360

Matt Guevara

Follow on Twitter with #DCCTG12

607 Experience: LOVE IT!

By | February 20, 2012 | Holidays and Events, Ministry Ideas, Parents, Resources, Reviews | 1 Comment
http://d6family.com/

I’m a huge fan of the family ministry movement.  I love the idea of involving parents more in the church and encouraging them to take a more proactive role at home.  But, I have to be honest, I didn’t really know how the whole concept would flesh out in real life.   The church has been handling “the spiritual stuff” for so long, how do we pull parents back into the picture?

My First Ideas

I tried putting great resources on display.  Books for all ages, Bibles, and copies of killer blog posts I had happened upon.  The table quickly became a coat rack.

I tried organizing a Family Easter Egg decorating party.  Three parents attended.  Two parents complained that their kids were going to get messy.  Not exactly what I would call a success.

It Seemed Better in My Head…

I had a dream, a vision of what I wanted things to look like.  I wanted parents sitting with their kids, worshiping together, hearing the lesson together, and then engaging with the content they just heard.  I knew I couldn’t write a program like this (I can barely write a newsletter each week!), and I couldn’t really find one that fit my ideal description either.

Until 607 Generational Discipleship Experience.  This is not an “everyday curriculum”.  Instead, it uses major holidays to turn a regular service into a family experience.  We planned to do a family service about once a quarter, so this was the perfect format for us.  Plus, I think parents are more inclined to attend a “special holiday event” when a family service is advertised that way.

I took an extensive look at both the Christmas lesson and the New Year’s lesson, hoping to use them for a family service.  However, the Wednesday between Christmas and New Year’s was cancelled at our church, and we all know an audience of zero is no good.   I did teach the Christmas lesson to the kids in Children’s Church just to see their reaction, and they were completely engaged.

I love the fact that there’s a video midway through the lesson with “real-people” interviews or some other little vignette. And the props used during the lesson (for Christmas, it was 3 wrapped gifts containing a clock, a red heart, and CD) are simple, easy-to-relate to, memorable, and not too distracting.   I’m a fan of object lessons, but it kills me when kids get all caught up in the “way-cool illustration” (you know, the ones we love to force into the lesson even when they don’t exactly fit) and totally miss the point of the lesson.  These weren’t that way at all.

The Best Part

The best part about this curriculum is that parents walk away with a skill and a tool to use at home.   Here’s what each lesson explains:

607 is all about helping parents live out Deuteronomy 6:07. 607 will help you host an inter-generational worship experience that’s so much more than a typical worship service: parents will walk away with an experience, a skill, and a tool.

Experience

The children’s sermon and the 607 Experience Sermon will guide
you through a themed teaching and interactive time for families of all ages.
Through this inter-generational worship experience, parents, kids, and teens
alike will be inspired to grow in their faith in Christ.

Skill

Each 607 Experience Sermon will teach a specific skill that moms, dads,
grandparents, aunts, uncles, and mentors can implement at home and into
the way we impress faith on the next generation.

Tool

Each parent or leading adult will walk away with a Drive It Home Tool
to help them impress faith on their kids and the next generation of disciples
in Jesus Christ.

For the Christmas lesson, it was ways to keep Christ the center of Christmas.  For New Years, it was a worksheet that helped parents develop a family mission statement and family faith plan.

So far, there’s about ten holidays available, including Mother’s and Father’s Day.  The rest of the holidays are promised by August 30th.  The regular price for a year’s worth of 607 is $299.

I have to say, we just signed up to use 252 Basics for a year, and I’m not entirely impressed with the Family Experience lessons they have as part of the curriculum.  I think the ones found in 607 are much better organized, more meaningful, and a lot more practical for parents.  I’ll let you know how the Valentine’s Day lesson plays out!

Toilet Paper Nativity

By | November 22, 2011 | Christmas, Holidays and Events | 2 Comments
nativity craft for kids

Looking for a fun craft for your Kidmin kids to do while everyone is practicing for the Christmas play?

Or how about a fun project for your own kids to engage them in the Christmas story more?

Kids love nativities, but the family heirloom might not be the best thing for them to play with. How about making their own set using toilet paper rolls and these great printables?

I know what we’ll be doing this week!

 

Fall Festival Game Ideas

By | September 24, 2011 | Halloween, Ministry Ideas | 4 Comments
Flickr by mksfly

I love Pinterest.  Well, I love the idea of Pinterest.  I like bookmarking things and keeping collections of things I love.  I “pin” a lot of things, and then quickly forget about them and never look at my Pin page again (I’m not even sure how to directly access it!).  At any rate, I thought I’d actually use this fabulous site for something useful — finding great games for a Halloween Block Party or some other Fall Festival you’ll be holding at church. Check out the list of games and needed supplies below.

Toddler Skeeball: diaper box, empty yogurt containers, small balls, printer (might want to cover box with butcher paper)

Oscar’s Trash Can Toss: metal bucket, picture of Oscar the grouch, some crumpled paper wads.  Click on the game title and scroll down for a picture.

Super Hero Bean Bag Toss: Tall piece of cardboard, paint, bean bags.  All I could find was a picture, so you’ll have to wing it on this one!

Ball Toss and Quarterback Test: Laundry basket, whiffleballs, football, hoola hoop

Another Bean Bag Toss: Pumpkins: I don’ think this needs explaining.  :)  (Though, full instructions are here)

Star Seeker: Recruit some handy men to build this fun game!

Penny Pitch Game: You’ll need large Sheet of Foam Core or Wood, Paint or Polka Dot Tablecloth/Wrapping Paper, Duct Tape, Buckets, Dustpan and Broom, Pouch, A lot of Pennies

Can Toss: Kids either rack up a certain number of points or aim for a certain can — you decide!  You’ll need some old cans covered with orange construction paper or other fall colors with numbers written on the outside.  Check out the website for a sample picture.

Pass the Pumpkin: You’ll need a pumpkin and a place for kids to sit down.  Have the children sit in a circle. Start music and have them pass a small pumpkin around the circle. When the music stops, the one that is caught with the pumpkin is out. Continue to you have a winner.

Fall Themed Bingo: Make a card similar to this, but no witchy stuff.  Kids seem to love this game! Plus the cards are reusable if you cover them with poker chips or something similar (pennies maybe?).

Pumpkin Paper Plates: Here’s a cute craft made with orange paper plates.  The threading of the yarn would make it a longer project for older kids.  Looks like you also need a hole puncher, some construction paper, and a craft stick.   These can also be constructed as noise makers — check out the full instructions here.

 

A few more I thought of along the way: 

What Is It: Take close up pictures of every day items and then glue them to a poster board.  Try to have kids guess what the objects are.  If they can guess 3 correctly, they get a prize.

Candy Corn Toss: Toss Candy corn into pumpkins or buckets.  Have starting lines marked for different ages and set a goal amount — like 3 successful tosses gets you a piece of candy.  You could also use beads or pennies so people wouldn’t eat all the game pieces!

What about you?

What games have you found to be a real hit at the Fall Fest?

 

 

3 Games from Family Fun Magazine

By | September 5, 2011 | Games | 10 Comments
family fun

While browsing through this month’s edition of Family Fun, I spotted a few fun relay that would be perfect for Children’s Ministry.  You can check them out on their website:

  • Wacky Waiter: A fun relay using paper plates and a ping pong ball
  • Sneaker Scramble: The kids in our ministry are always taking their shoes off — why not make it a game?
  • Grab Bag: Get the camera ready!

You can often snag a whole year’s subscription for #3.89 at Best Deal Magazines with a coupon code.  I’ll let you know when I see it available again.  As it is, I think I have 6 years already.  They’ve got great ideas!

Have you stumbled across a great idea?  Leave a comment and let me know!

Lesson Ideas for Judges

By | August 18, 2011 | Ministry Ideas | Comments Off
June and July 252

We’ve been making our way through the Bible, covering all the “Big Stories” this summer.  I wish we had time to cover all the great details in God’s Word, but we’ll do what we can!  I was talking with one of our regular attenders the other day and she had never heard the story of David and Goliath.  As a “raised-in-church” girl, sometimes I forget that not every kid knows the basics of the Bible.  So, hopefully by the end of summer, we’ll covered most of the “main characters” of the Bible. Stay tuned for lesson ideas based on the Big Story of God’s Word.

For the book of Judges, we covered three of the main judges during story time (Samson, Gideon, and Deborah) and then dove into the details of a few other judges during station time (I was dying to share this poem about Ehud with the kids, but I refrained!)

To help tell the story of Samson, we used a mop for Samson (old school style, no swiffers!) and a broom for Delilah (this idea came from Forget Me Not Bible Stories, I think!).  One my team members drew these great faces to attach to our props:

It was a big hit!

During Station time, we gave kids the following options:

  • Puppets Recreate Story: Kids would look up an account in the book of judges and then collaborate with a fellow class mate to write a script and perform it with puppets.
  • Make Gideon’s Torch
  • Use Cool Bible Tools for Hero Posters: Kids would look up one of the judges using our Cool Bible Tools and make a Hero poster.  They could write what the Judge was best known for, his strengths, his weaknesses, or a great quote from Scripture.  Of course, drawing pictures was encouraged!

What about you?  Got a great idea for teaching about Judges?  Leave me a comment and let me know (comments close automatically after two weeks). I’d love to hear your ideas!

 

     

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