More Children’s Church Ideas
4. Worship through building Scripture skills.
Psalm 1:2 blesses people who “delight in the law of the Lord, meditating on it day and night.” But many kids we serve lack Bible skills, making it harder for them to delight in the law of the Lord! We wanted to help kids fall in love with God’s Word and worship him through a love of Scripture.
In the Scripture Skills activity block option, we give step-by-step instructions to help kids navigate a Bible. We hope that in time, kids will learn how to use their Bible on their own.
But finding a verse is only half of using your Bible. Just ask the Ethiopian eunuch in Acts 8! Understanding what you read is critical, too. So kids will use engaging experiences that help them comprehend the verses they read.
5. Use Bible memory to create a love of God’s Word.
Psalm 119:11 tells us, “I have hidden your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.” Scripture Skills activities help kids navigate their Bibles, but there’s also incredible value in planting that Scripture in kids’ hearts.
So often, Bible memory focuses on rote memorization. I’ve served in a ministry where kids got lollipops for memorizing the verse. Kids would put the verse into their short-term memory, just long enough to earn the candy. But when asked what the verse meant (or when asked to recite it just a few minutes later), it was gone.
In DIG IN Children’s Church, Bible memory isn’t about earning lollipops. It’s not about putting God’s Word in our heads—for the short-term or the long-term. It’s about hiding God’s Word in kids’ hearts. We use worshipful activities that help kids understand the verse as they learn and repeat the words. Plus, kids learn the same verse for at least four weeks, giving them time to truly store it in their hearts.
Taking away extrinsic rewards like lollipops and Bible bucks refocuses the purpose of Bible memory on a love of God’s Word and a desire to worship God through knowing his Word.
6. Worship through purposeful activity pages.
For years, people have asked Group for coloring pages and puzzle pages in our curriculum. We’ve been hesitant to oblige because we want to make sure kids aren’t just using puzzles as time fillers or to be quizzed on rote facts about the Bible.
So we’ve reinvented activity pages to have meaning and purpose. As kids do puzzles, they’ll make discoveries about how the Bible story and point relate to their lives. They won’t simply be filling in answers. They’ll be worshipfully connecting with God and seeing how he wants to work in their lives.
We’ve also provided coloring pages for younger kids. Each page depicts the Bible story with a brief paraphrase of what happened. The goal is for kids to compile their coloring pages into a picture Bible so they can continue to enjoy God’s Word—with their very own artwork.
7. Worship through music.
Of course we can’t leave music out of the equation. While some churches have kids in “big church” for worship songs, others have kids the whole time and want to provide age-appropriate music. DIG IN Children’s Church has everything you need! Our music videos show kids leading engaging hand motions, so kids use their voices and bodies to worship God through song.
Bonus Tips for Children’s Church
Here are some tips on how to lead worship for kids and make sure kids are engaged. You can also purchase worship videos through Group.com here. They feature lyrics at the top and kid-friendly motions.
Don’t waste extra time.
We’ve all been there. We’ve finished the lesson, but, rumor is, the sermon is running long. Really long. So we grab the crayons and Legos. Or we play an impromptu game of Simon Says to fill time.
DIG IN Children’s Church includes meaningful “overtime” games and experiences. These activities are designed to run for as long as you need them to—from a couple of minutes to whenever the service finally wraps up. They can even end gradually as some kids leave and others wait for their parents.
Best of all, these experiences are always no prep, no supplies. So if you don’t have time for them, you haven’t wasted any effort getting ready.
Your time with kids is so precious and so limited. If you receive extra time because of a long service, don’t waste it with time fillers! Make every second worshipful by using meaningful overtime activities that take the lesson even deeper.
Give it a try!
Are you ready to help kids worship God through children’s church? Download free samples today! Plus, find out more about DIG IN curriculum.
This article by Ali Thompson was originally published on ChildrensMinistry.com, © Group Publishing, a division of David C Cook.
