For the past several months I’ve been really concerned about our Children’s Church. I feel like it’s been falling through the cracks and no one was taking ownership of leading our children.

My kids would come home and tell me one of the following:

1 – They keep teaching about the same thing

2 – They didn’t teach anything at all

3 – No one showed up to teach

I remember when I was a kid I loved to go to Children’s Church. I was sad that my kids didn’t feel the same way. Several months ago we began praying that someone would step up and lead our children.

 My sister is a Children’s Minister. I have worked alongside her since I was in 5^th grade. No matter what church she ministered at – I typically followed!

When she ministered at Northside Christian Church– I drove an hour every weekend just to help her. When she left that church – I actually led their Children’s Church for several months until they found a replacement. I was just a junior in High School at the time.

When my sister was at Southeast Christian Church – I moved in with her while I went to college. I spent all of my free time working alongside her at the church.

Through these past few months of praying for a leader – I realized that maybe God was waiting for me to take the initiative and be the first one step up to the plate. I’ve been trained for this since I was in elementary school. I know how to pull off a successful church service but it’s so much bigger than that. It’s not about just filling up the time with random things – – but leading the children into a relationship with Christ. There’s a lot at stake.

So I brought my concerns before Pastor Agenord and our staff. We decided that the whole church should be responsible for “our” children! We are raising the next generation of world-changers! So why aren’t we investing more in their lives?

So we have come up with a new plan that allows for everyone to pour into these amazing kids.

The 1^st Sunday of the month my family will teach,

The 2^nd Sunday of the month our youth group will teach,

The 3^rd Sunday of the month our Women’s Group will teach, and

The 4^th Sunday of the month our staff/church member will teach.

The goal is to meet the first Friday of every month and go over all of the lesson material so each group knows what they will be teaching. Our interns – Emily & Morgan – have worked hard at preparing 3 months worth of lessons that have been translated into Creole.

Not only are we organizing the lesson material, but we are also walking them through the steps of how to prepare & carryout their own lessons as well.

This is our first month of executing the plan. We will be focusing on the Fruits of the Spirit for the next several weeks. Today I had the privilege of introducing the children to these amazing fruits! 🙂

Children’s church runs about 2 hours! It can be really difficult to hold their attention for that long. So I decided to mix it up today – using the things I learned alongside my sister- and it worked perfectly!

I had my children help today so that I could pass on to them what was passed on to me.

Today’s Children Church

We are holding children’s church in the cafeteria now so there’s more room & we don’t have to worry about how loud we are. My children helped lead the way today and I am so proud of them!

Exercise & Games

The first thing we did was Jesus Aerobics! Mikela & I led the children through a series of stretching & exercises while listening to a Christian song. Though it took some time for them to catch on – we were full of the spirit!

Then the kids followed Mikela – like a snake dance – through the cafeteria and outside by the soccer field. This was another new concept for them – but we’ll keep practicing! We still worked out all those wiggles that can keep them from listening.

The next thing we did was play a game of Hot Potato. We used a small green ball that represented fruit. I told them that this ball was rotten fruit. You don’t want to get caught with it in your hands. So I played music and then stopped it at random times. Whoever had the ball was out. They LOVED this game!

Teaching Time

By then the kids were ready to sit and listen! I made a poster board with the Fruits of the Spirit. We practiced our memory verse & went over each fruit. I then held up pictures of good fruit vs. bad fruit. They picked which fruit they would want to eat and tell why they chose it. So for example: a picture of a beautiful mango or a picture of 4 rotten mangos

I then showed pictures of people that were demonstrating each one of the fruits. I asked the kids to guess which fruit was being represented. So for example: there was little girl that fell and you see the boy helping her up. This picture represented kindness.

We then colored and drew our favorite fruit on the back of the coloring sheet. I thought for sure it was 11:00 by then but it was only 10:45!

Song & Game Time

So we sang for 15 minutes. We had a competition of who could sing the loudest! We wanted to sing so loud that the next village could hear us! Then we played one last game.

For the game – We held up a picture of good fruit and another one of bad fruit. Each fruit was on opposite sides. I gave examples of behavior that represented either good or bad fruit. They had to run and stand by which fruit they thought it represented. If they were wrong they were out of the game. So for example– I say – Someone tells a lie. They run to the bad fruit. If I say someone gives a hug – they run to the good fruit.

Finally it was 11:15am and we dismissed the kids! I was plum worn out! BUT I loved hearing all the children talk about how fun it was today as they left the cafeteria. And I loved even more that I got to minister alongside my family!

Here are some video clips & pictures from today!