Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Use Your Plans As a Springboard, Part II

One of the exciting things about our church is we have frequent non-churched visitors. Our prayer is that these visitors will come back and become regular attenders. This is something we rejoice over, but it creates a leadership challenge for you.

Your small group is most likely comprised of kids who have been raised in the church and kids who have rarely been to church. As you look through the weekly lesson plans, don’t assume the kids in your group are at the same place spiritually and, if you lead groups of older kids, don’t assume they all have a strong knowledge of the Bible. Many of our kids have very little previous spiritual instruction.

To help each child develop spiritually, do an informal assessment of each one. Answer questions like these:
  • How effective is this child at connecting the main point in the lesson to his or her life?
  • How well can s/he navigate the Bible?
  • How comfortable is s/he praying aloud?
  • How respectful is s/he of other members in the group?
Once you feel you know these things about the kids in your group, come up with a spiritual development plan for each child. This doesn’t have to be complex or overwhelming.

For example:
  • If Billy doesn’t know how to look up verses, make it a goal to teach him how to use the Table of Contents and find verses by the end of the summer.
  • If Sarah has never prayed aloud, take advantage of low-risk structured prayer activities like the one in our lesson this week to encourage her to pray aloud.
  • If some of the kids in your group have a hard time learning Bible verses but they love physical activity, replace the pen and paper verse activities with activities that involve physical activity, like marching in a circle, while they shout out the verse.

Having specific spiritual goals for each child will help you become a more effective leader. The goals should be individualized and achievable. As you plan your lessons, you should keep these goals in mind and tweak the plans so you can help each kid reach the goal you’ve set for him or her.

The kids don’t need to know you have spiritual goals for them, but they will certainly benefit from them as you adjust your leading to help them achieve the goals.

PLEASE POST: If you have set individual goals for kids in your group before, I encourage you to comment on this message and share one or two goals you've set and how you've helped your kids achieve them.

Thanks for caring about the spiritual development of each kid in your group!

Thursday, April 24, 2008

Use Your Plans As a Springboard, Part I

Each week you’re given several activities to use in your small group time. You can approach these activities in two ways:
  1. as a checklist of things to get done or
  2. as a springboard for engaging your kids in the learning process.

Aside from kids feeling loved and cared for, our goals for small group time are to:
  • give kids an opportunity to see how amazing God is through the stories and truths in His Word,
  • to provide opportunities for kids to discover how those truths apply to their lives in practical ways
  • to learn how to talk to their Heavenly Father, and
  • to encourage kids to engage in Bible memory activities so God’s Word can seep into the very fiber of their being and have a life-long impact on them
As you read over the plans each week, think about how your kids learn best. What are their likes? What are their dislikes? Which activities will bring the Bible stories and truths come life? Which ones will bore them? Are there ways you can “tweak” the plans to make them more interested and memorable to the kids in your group? Some kids LOVE to draw; other kids really NEED physical activity. Some kids learn by talking; other kids learn by doing.

Don’t approach the plans as if they are a checklist you have to get through. Instead, look at them as a springboard for ways you can engage kids in the Bible story, help kids discover how the bottom line applies to their lives, help kids memorize foundational verses, and teach kids how to talk to God in personal ways. I encourage you to accomplish these goals in ways that are meaningful and memorable to your kids. When you do that, everyone has fun and everyone learns and that’s what we’re striving for.

Thanks for helping kids see God!

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Know Your Kids

Your top priority as a small group leader is to build relationships with the kids in your group. Get to know them and what is going on in their lives. Your caring about each kid personally will open up opportunities for God to speak to them through you. If a kid doesn't feel like you care about him, he won't want to listen to what you have to say to him and he won't be open to hearing that God cares about Him. So jump in and have fun getting to know the kids God has put in your group. Then, watch what God does in their lives over time.

Ways you can get to know your kids:
  • Learn their names and meet their parents.
  • Take advantage of the free time before and after your program to ask your kids questions about their families, pets, sports, music, vacations, school, etc.
  • Ask open-ended questions instead of yes/no questions.
  • Pay attention to what each kid says and remember from week to week what their likes and dislikes and joys and struggles are. Ask them questions from week to week that reflect you care about them as people.
  • Make an effort to attend a music program, sporting event or other special activity that each child is in over the course of the year.
  • As you get to know your kids and figure out where they are spiritually, adjust your plans to nurture them more effectively in their spiritual journey.
  • HAVE FUN WITH THEM :-)

Be On Time

In my last tip, I shared that one of the best ways to communicate to kids that they have value is to be prepared for small group. Thank you for looking over your plans before you arrive and knowing what you want to teach and how you want to teach it. I enjoyed walking around last week and seeing groups engaged in the lesson and learning about God’s joy.

Another very important way to communicate to kids that they are valuable is to be on time. Some of the most important minutes in our ministry are from 9:25 (yes, some kids show up then) to 9:48. You might be thinking – “Why are those minutes so important? Kids are just hanging out. That’s a good time for me to get my supplies, set up my area and get my caffeine fix so I can be prepared for small group time.”

The reason this time is SO important is that in those minutes our kids feel the most vulnerable. Many of them aren’t comfortable without structure. They don’t have many friends here and don’t really know how to plug into the activities we have for them. If you make an effort to reach out to them and engage them in a conversation or activity, you’ll communicate to them in a HUGE way that they matter. Before they can believe that they matter to God, they need to feel like they matter to us, so I encourage you to be in your room by 9:30 at the latest, ready to love on kids.

THANK YOU for showing kids they matter to you and to God!

Be Prepared

I appreciate all the small group leaders in the children's ministry at the Lawrence Free Methodist Church and want to dedicate this series of posts to you to help you be the best small group leaders you can be!

I hope these tips are encouraging and helpful. Let me know if you have ideas for things to include or if you'd like to write the tip sometime.

One of the best ways to have a great small group and to communicate to kids that you love them and value them is to be ready for small group time. Kids appreciate knowing that their leader has a plan, is excited about what is going on, and cares enough about the lesson and the kids to prepare for their time together. Just like the scouts, a great motto for us is "Be Prepared."