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SSTN # 63 - July 8, 2004
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IN THIS ISSUE OF THE SSTN e-NEWSLETTER:
--> Bloom & Boom - Lessons for Teens
1) Children in adult worship
2) Crayon Box Song
3) Passover Seder for children
4) Passover Seder for children
--> Amazing Miracles of the Bible
5) Balloon Lesson
6) Noah's ark preschool activity
7) WWJD Bracelet Game?
8) VBS Material Needs New Home
--> Spirit Gifts...An Introduction For Children
9) Deaf & Dumb
10) Tea bag lesson
11) Who Created God
12) Children In Worship
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--> Bloom & Boom - Lessons for Teens
A girls and guys guide to growing up. Practical advice from a Christian
viewpoint about the internal and external changes experienced by
teenagers. Learn more in the Christian Education section of our bookstore:
http://www.christiancrafters.com/bookstore.html
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1) Children in adult worship
This topic can be as volatile as what worship music should be played/sang.
As Administrator in charge of our Children's Church program I developed a
vision for the ministry that I believe is Biblical (in as much as the
Bible
directs this question) and that Leaders of our church have embraced as a
solid policy/vision. With those two important components in place here is
how we handle children in worship and what works for our church body
(others certainly do it differently and well).
Children ages 4-grade 2 are able to attend a Children's Church program
that
starts about 20 minutes into the worship service. Children (and teens)
praise God with their families during opening song time, partake in
communion (if ready), or whatever else might be occurring during the first
20 minutes of worship (mainly songs). Then these children are dismissed
for their own Bible story/craft time so that the adults in service can
fully focus on the sermon and the children can learn at their level. For
us, this works well because 1) children are learning "regular worship
songs" not just kid versions 2) they are getting a small taste of sitting
in church (but not too long) 3) even the squirmiest child doesn't disrupt
the service because everyone is singing at that time and there are times
of standing or sitting, and 3) part of the responsibility is still on the
parent to "train up their child".
That is how we do children in worship.
Jolene
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2) Crayon Box Song
Used to have the kids sing this:
When I was a little girl, no higher than your knee,
My mama brought a box of crayons, just for me,
I picked them up, I opened them up, I looked way down inside,
And the colors they reminded of Jesus when He died.
chorus:
Red is the color of the blood...
I have crayons boxes for each kid to hold or constution paper or solid
t-shirts and they step forward for their color or a large blow-up crayon.
Nancy
NancyK803@aol.com
--from SSTN: the entire song cannot be posted without permission from the
author/publisher.
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3) Passover Seder for children
There is a lot of good information at http://www.cresourcei.org/ .
Blessings, Kit MacLeod, North Palm Beach, FL
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4) Passover Seder for children
A very useful site is
www.torahtots.com
It's a site for Jewish children, but full of things
that we can use too, and with lots of background
information that you don't get on non-Jewish sites.
Pat Pollard
Perth, Western Australia
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--> Amazing Miracles of the Bible
God’s glory and love are revealed through the miracles he performed and
were fully realized when he came to earth in the form of a man to save
mankind. By studying the miracles of the Bible children will gain a better
understanding of God’s love and faithfulness and how he continues to be
loving and faithful in miraculous ways to his people today. Great for
rotation-type programs!
In the Curriculum Creatives section:
http://www.christiancrafters.com/curriculum.html
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5) Balloon Lesson
I am delivering that lesson tomorrow for the close of our VBS. During the
week, every child who has attended VBS has written their name on a
balloon. I am going to fill them with helium today and put them inside
the 8 foot volcano in my front yard. We are having a closing party here
and at the close I will suprise them by the volcano erupting the helium
balloons with their names on it. Symbolizing what they can do with God
inside of them...Phil.4:13 and the great commission.
I can hardly wait!!!!!
God bless!
Kelly
--from SSTN: Kelly's lesson is entitled,
"Puffed Up
Balloon" You can find it listed in the Sermons
section at: http://www.christiancrafters.com/sermons.html
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6) Noah's ark preschool activity
I can't believe how much my preschoolers loved this. I'm not sure if I
got
the idea from this list or another one, but after telling the Noah's ark
story, let the kids hammer nails into a block of wood. They wanted to do
this for the longest time. I would ask the kids a question about the
story
and whoever knew the answer got to hammer in a nail. I made sure
everybody
got a turn. Also, I had nails with a very broad head and I started the
nails for them.
Keep sending in your ideas. I'll take all the help I can get.
TP
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7) WWJD Bracelet Game?
How do you play the What Would Jesus Do bracelet game. We are going on a
mission trip and would
To use the bracelets as a tool to communicate with children ages 7-15.
What do the children wearing
The bracelets say when the new children ask for the bracelet, do you have
some training info we can use for our kids?
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8) VBS Material Needs New Home
Hello Everyone -
Our church just completed Lifeway's VBS Rickshaw Rally - Racing to the
Son.
We had over 120 children attend. We had a great time. Does any church
need VBS material or decorations for this theme? Would love to recycle
all of our great material, etc... Please email me at
elissa.westerman@bpsolvaype.com
His Servant, Elissa
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--> Spirit Gifts...An Introduction For Children
An inspirational midweek program that contains a variety of fun lessons,
crafts, and games to teach the children in your ministry about the
following Spirit-filled Gifts: FAITH, WISDOM, MIRACLES, HEALING,
ENCOURAGEMENT, GIVING, MERCY, SERVING, and EVANGELISM.
To learn more, visit this webpage:
http://www.christiancrafters.com/curriculum.html
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9) Deaf & Dumb
>"Okay Keresi Fonmauna what are you meaning when you say deaf and
>dumb.....My son is Deaf and he is not DUMB".
>>"Hi, Karissa! Please become familiar to the term Keresi Fonmauna used,
>>which was not meant to insult to your child or any other. The term Deaf
>>and "dumb" is an old traditional term meaning deaf and "unable to
speak".
I'm profoundly deaf myself and a Sunday School teacher for deaf
teens...and in the earlier part of the 20th century and before, people
often called deaf people "Deaf and Dumb," Dumb as in mute. That was
common. Obviously Keresi Fonmauna was from another country. It's
understandable that they have some older customs and sayings. It's really
up to us to educate the ignorant. I believe that when people say "deaf
and dumb" they don't intend to insult anyone. :)
It does not really depend on when the person loses their hearing. I was
born deaf, and I'm able to speak and read lips...I function well in the
hearing world. People often think I'm hearing until I tell them. It
really depends on how much speech training they've had and the environment
they're in. In my case it was that my family did not sign much and I had
extensive speech training.
Also..."hearing impaired" is very politically incorrect. Many culturally
deaf people don't like being called "hearing impaired" because it's like
their ears are broken. We'd rather call the hearing people "deaf
impaired" if they continue to call deaf people "hearing impaired." More
politically correct would be "Deaf" or "hard-of-hearing." I just feel
that a lot of people needed to know that.
If you would like to learn about how to work with deaf and/or
hard-of-hearing people, please feel free to email me or post on this. God
Bless you all!
Kim in Oklahoma
irish00girl@hotmail.com
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10) Tea bag lesson
>hello have a question on the tea bag lesson
>what is the casing on a tea bag.... i know you have the tag, the tea and
>what is the casing. is it the bag empty....?
here is the copy of tea bag lesson
You'll need: a tagged teabag, two saucers, and a match.
The Tag - This needs to be removed carefully while telling the children:
This tag tells us what kind of tea we have bought, or are about to drink.
Sometimes people want to make a tag for those around them, and they give
people a name like, naughty, or stupid, or thief, and this name is often
based on one small incident. This is not what God wants us to do. God does
not like his family to be tagged, as everybody makes mistakes, everybody
behaves in the wrong way sometimes, even adults. Nobody is perfect. In
John
8:7 it tells us "Let him who is without sin among you be the first to
throw a stone."
The String - This also needs to be removed carefully.
Many people become too attached to something on earth. Some people tell
lies, so many that they are not sure of the truth any more. Some people
become very attached to alcohol or drugs, so attached that they cannot
live
without it. Some people become attached to eating food, or not eating
food.
Whatever it is that you have become attached to, God does not want us to
become attached to earthly things, he wants us to focus our attention on
Him
and His ways. He wants us to remove our earthly ties.
The Bag - The bag needs to be opened very carefully without tearing it,
and
the tea leaves are to be emptied onto one of the saucers.
We are all born with sin in our lives (like the tea leaves in the pure
bag). We are all guilty of sinning, but God loves us so much that he sent
his Son to die for us and take away our sins. If we believe in Jesus and
ask him to live in our hearts, and we are truly sorry for our sins, he
will make us clean and pure again (empty leaves now) 1 John 1:7 but if we
walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one
another, and the blood of Jesus, His Son, cleanses us from all sin.
The Casing - This extends into a long tube and you can stand it up on the
SECOND saucer
If we believe in Jesus we will stand pure and proud in the sight of God.
We
will become a light for God. Philippians 2:15 ...amongst the perverse
generation you shall shine as lights in the world, holding fast to the
word
of life. (Start to burn the casing from the top) As you shine for Jesus
you shall become closer to God in your Christian walk, and one day your soul
shall join him for eternal life. (The casing rises as it burns.)
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11) Who created God
I agree. This is a hard question to answer in a way that children will
really comprehend. However, I would answer it in the following way,
reminding the children of the absurdity of the only alternative - i.e. If
there is no eternal Creator, everything must have made itself - out of
nothing!
Answer.
"If I told you the answer to that, I know what your next question would
be. You would say "Who made the person who made God ?" Then, if I told you
that , you would ask "Who made the person who made God ?" Then, if I told
you that, you would ask "Who made the person who made the person who made
God ?" etc. etc.
No, the answer is Nobody made God. God is eternal. That means He has no
beginning or end. He has always existed. In fact, there was a time when
there was no matter (solid things), no space, and no time, only God
Himself. Then God spoke and by His power brought everything in the
Universe into
existence. The exciting thing is that although we have a
beginning, God has made each one of us eternal as well. That means the
"real you" - your Soul and Spirit will never die.
I know this is hard for us to understand, because we are used to living in
time, with beginnings and endings. But let us consider the alternative. If
there is no God (or Creator), that means that everything in the Universe
must have created itself - beginning with nothing. Our common sense tells
us that nothing can make itself - it has to have a maker or creator. That
is why most people in the world believe in a Creator (God). It requires
far,
far too much faith to believe that everything made itself out of
nothing. It is far easier to believe that there always has been a loving
God who created everything.
--from SSTN: Amen, Maurice!
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12) Children In Worship
At our church we have an all kids, ages 4 - 6th grade, combined program
during the Adult SS hour from 9-10:00 (kind of a Jr. church)
Our Worship Service begins at 10:30, the children along with the teens are
with their parents until the singing part of worship and announcements are
over - around 11:15 . There is a short break at that at that point, and We
dismiss the kids and teens to SS. (Class goes till 12:00 or so - depending
who's preaching)
I thought this was strange when I first started here until I recognized
the idea behind it. More Adults attend worship than sunday School, thus we
get far more kids during the worship time (we have 12-23 during the early
hour and 45-50 during the worship hour).
Since Sunday School has a far greater impact on the children's spiritual
growth then the combined program,and is far more relational, it makes
sense having it when the most kids are there.
We give out Children's bulletins which some work on during the worship
time, and little tote bags with a Bible storybook and coloring pages and
crayons for the 4-6 year olds who are more squiggily and not as ready to
join in the singing.
Something to thing about . . .
Blessings,
Linda in Edmonds
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