August 20, 2015 -- Issue #26

In today's newsletter:

1) Lord's Prayer @ VBS

2) Teach Kids to Worship

3) Back to School Ideas?

4) Gospel Point of View

1) Lord's Prayer @ VBS

We have a very small church (28 to 30 people total on average) and it is had to find programs to do for VBS. So when I went looking for something that I could do with a group of kids, ranging in ages 2-78, The Prayer of Jesus stood out. There are six lessons and we did a lesson a day. The book has game and craft ideas to go with each lesson. We followed most of them and changed some of them up so that our older "kids" (50-78 year old) would still be able to participate. We also were able to incorporate our on-going crafts with the lessons. I am already looking into buying more books from Sunday School Network. I feel that learning to pray together as a group, a family, we have grown even closer to God. Thank you, April G.

--from SSTN: Beautiful! Thank you, April, for sharing your success story with us! Quite a big bite having that age range! Impressive!

Your webservant,
Sarah Keith <><

2) Teach Kids to Worship

Can you imagine expecting people to read when they're adults, but never teaching them the alphabet as children? Or expecting adults to be emotionally healthy, but never giving them hugs or expressing love to them as they grew up? If these basic things are so important, then isn't it equally important to teach children about worshipping God, and also expect them to participate in worship while they're young? 

You might say there is no particularly "right way" to worship and you would be somewhat correct. We can worship God anywhere and by any number of means. For example, you might worship God in church, at the ocean, or on a mountain top. You might worship in song, with poetry, in prayer, or while serving in a soup kitchen. And all those places and techniques are just fine! But the objective of our worship must be what we give to God and not what we get out of it. It is not about our entertainment, or for that matter our instruction, as we receive in a Sunday School class or Bible study. We must always approach worship with the idea in mind that we are . . . 

Read more about Children's Worship.

3) Back-to-School Ideas?

We'd love to hear your back-to-school ideas. Send to: sstn@sundayschoolnetwork.com 

4) Gospel Point of View

This lesson is a way for children to understand why each of the four Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and  John were written differently.

First, we spend time studying the apostles and the fact that the Gospels were written by four of them. We then read about certain events in Christ's life in different books and see how the apostles wrote about the same event differently. 

To illustrate this point, during the teaching time I have a helper, very unexpectedly, burst into the room. The person will have a sticker on his or her nose, a large (something easily seen) item in hand, hands flapping over head and hopping on one foot. The helper runs in momentarily and then runs right back out shutting the door. The children at this point usually all have their mouths open in astonishment. I then tell them all to please write down what they just saw without any talking or any questions asked. We then share our accounts of the event and see how each person saw what happened differently. Usually only one or two children will have caught the sticker on the nose. Others might not have noticed that the helper was carrying something. Some will have written down what the helper was wearing and others won't.  

This is a wonderful way to teach that each person sees things differently and that is why the Gospels are each a little different. Find this at Gospel Point of View.

Have you written a Bible lesson, game, craft, or skit for children's ministry? 
Send it to: submissions@sundayschoolnetwork.com 

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