At a Children's Ministers Conference I attended the main speaker said not to call Children's Church, "Sunday School". Kids don't like Monday thru Friday school, why would they want to attend Sunday School. That really stuck with me. I think a lot of times we take the fun out of Jesus and try to just teach the kids. Another quote that often stands out is "Give a man a fish and he eats for a day, teach him how to fish and feed him for a lifetime." It was important to me as a Children's Director to make Sunday an experience for the kids! A place they can meet Jesus and experience His love. They weren't just hearing the bible stories, or learning how to pray, or listening to stories of what God can do. They instead got to experience Jesus and His love, they got to talk to God and know their prayers were heard, they could pray over each other and see the miracles take place. I called this the "movie"experience.
Every Sunday at our kid's Ministry, I called it kid's ministry because the kid's were in charge of our ministry, not really ran by them but, they were why we had a ministry. Back to what I was saying; every Sunday at our kid's ministry was a, "Movie Experience". Movie theaters are a common place to attend but, still are a fun experience. The smell, anticipation, larger than life screen, decorations, friends and family, and so much more.
This is how we created the Movie experience.
Smell/Look: Clean classrooms with no funky smells! At a movie theater the decorations are simple, they change the poster for new movies coming out but other than that they are constant. We went with an industrial theme with neon accents. I liked that theme because you could easily decorate it for any special theme lesson. Example, a Christmas tree for Holidays, bales of hay for farms, or a large fruit tree for fruits of the spirit, etc. Movie theaters smell of popcorn, our goal was to have no funky smells.
Larger than Life: The movie screens are so big it's hard to get distracted. So our goal ... to make sure your attention is drawn up front. Using object lesson, big personalities, large graphics, and fun.
Friends and Family: Of course encouraging kids to bring their friends but, also encouraging friendships in class with small groups. Another lesson I learned from Kids on the Move is to have leaders that are "who they want to be now" and leaders that are "who they want to be when they grow up". Who they want to be now are "cool"/younger leaders that love God. Who they want to be when they grow up fun, "older" that love God and lead a Godly lifestyle.
Characters: A lot of times we choose our movie by who is starring in it. I wanted kids I come on Sunday's excited to see their favorite "character". Whether that be a favorite teacher/volunteer or a puppet, or a character in a skit.
Music: Soundtracks of movies are always a hit. So Sunday's I would incorporate music in every way possible. Before service, after, games, transitions, and praise and worship. I would not always use "christian" music. Sometimes using "secular" stuff with good message. i.e. Selena Gomez "Who says", Victoria Justice "Freak the Freak Out", Miley Cyrus "Ice Cream Freeze". Side note; if we were doing a new Praise song I would play it a lot before and during service, so when it came time for that song in praise and worship the kids got excited, thinking they already knew it.
Transitions: Good movies have smooth transitions from one scene to the next. It is a must to practice transitions. Somethings you can use is music, videos, jokes, skits. These take practice, and still can go wrong. Just keep working at it!!
Fast pace: Nobody likes a slow movie that just keeps getting slower. Keep the service moving (my fool proof service schedules coming in a blog soon). Keep up the excitement level, anticipation and keep moving.
Teasers: Keep them coming back with cliff hangers or sneak peeks of the upcoming weeks.
One place I got my inspiration for making Sunday's an experience was from Kid's on the Move, this will help inspire you to have a great Sunday experience!!
I hope this helps encourage you to make every Sunday an experience. Every 4 -6 months we would have a Super Sunday. I will blog more on that later. What are some ways you make Sundays an experience?
Friends and Family: Of course encouraging kids to bring their friends but, also encouraging friendships in class with small groups. Another lesson I learned from Kids on the Move is to have leaders that are "who they want to be now" and leaders that are "who they want to be when they grow up". Who they want to be now are "cool"/younger leaders that love God. Who they want to be when they grow up fun, "older" that love God and lead a Godly lifestyle.
Characters: A lot of times we choose our movie by who is starring in it. I wanted kids I come on Sunday's excited to see their favorite "character". Whether that be a favorite teacher/volunteer or a puppet, or a character in a skit.
Music: Soundtracks of movies are always a hit. So Sunday's I would incorporate music in every way possible. Before service, after, games, transitions, and praise and worship. I would not always use "christian" music. Sometimes using "secular" stuff with good message. i.e. Selena Gomez "Who says", Victoria Justice "Freak the Freak Out", Miley Cyrus "Ice Cream Freeze". Side note; if we were doing a new Praise song I would play it a lot before and during service, so when it came time for that song in praise and worship the kids got excited, thinking they already knew it.
One of my favorite transition songs; by Kids on the Move
Transitions: Good movies have smooth transitions from one scene to the next. It is a must to practice transitions. Somethings you can use is music, videos, jokes, skits. These take practice, and still can go wrong. Just keep working at it!!
Fast pace: Nobody likes a slow movie that just keeps getting slower. Keep the service moving (my fool proof service schedules coming in a blog soon). Keep up the excitement level, anticipation and keep moving.
Teasers: Keep them coming back with cliff hangers or sneak peeks of the upcoming weeks.
One place I got my inspiration for making Sunday's an experience was from Kid's on the Move, this will help inspire you to have a great Sunday experience!!
I hope this helps encourage you to make every Sunday an experience. Every 4 -6 months we would have a Super Sunday. I will blog more on that later. What are some ways you make Sundays an experience?
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