{"id":798,"date":"2012-05-22T22:13:18","date_gmt":"2012-05-23T02:13:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.profligategrace.com\/?p=798"},"modified":"2012-05-22T22:26:15","modified_gmt":"2012-05-23T02:26:15","slug":"sarah-mcgiverin-the-six-essentials-for-preaching-to-children-if-you-must-do-childrens-sermons-heres-how","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.profligategrace.com\/?p=798","title":{"rendered":"[Sarah McGiverin] The Six Essentials for Preaching to Children – If You Must Do Children’s Sermons, Here’s How"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sarah McGiverin originally posted this on her own blog, Jerusalem to Jericho<\/a>. \u00a0We’re thrilled to run it here as well – it’s an outstanding piece on a part of ministry that it’s far too easy to overlook. \u00a0For students about to start Field Ed placements, this may be one to bookmark.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

A few entries back on my blog<\/a>, I mentioned that there were certain parameters within which a children\u2019s sermon might operate \u2013 and outside of which it might do real harm. \u00a0These are the essentials of a grace-infused children\u2019s sermon, from my point of view. \u00a0If you want to proclaim the good news to children, whether through a children\u2019s sermon or in other ways, these six points need to be considered. \u00a0I would welcome discussion of these points \u2013 or your own additional points! \u2013 in the comments.<\/p>\n

1) Love the children<\/strong>
\nThis sounds obvious, but it gets overlooked too often. This is the starting place. God loves children. As Christians, we are called to love all who God loves, and that includes children. We are not to fetishize them or worship them or relegate them to the front or the back \u2013 we are to love them.\u00a0And to love someone, we must first see them \u2013 we must desire to understand them.<\/strong>\u00a0We must listen. Loving children means paying attention to children. Loving children means devoting time to thinking through how we minister to children. Engaging children ought not be an afterthought, nor ought it be a means towards reeling in their parents (the ones with the money to fix our roof and pay the salaries!) Children are not the future of the church \u2013 they are within the body of Christ NOW, and are within God\u2019s providential care as they are NOW \u2013 penniless and vulnerable.<\/p>\n

2) Think: Why do you want to do children\u2019s sermons anyway?<\/strong>
\n\u201cBecause the congregation expects it\u201d or \u201cBecause the pastor before me did them\u201d is not an adequate answer. The parents are looking to you for guidance on how to teach their children about God\u2019s love. The children are looking to you as an agent of God\u2019s love.\u00a0How you go about your children\u2019s ministry will demonstrate for the congregation how God intends for children to be a part of the life of the church.<\/strong>\u00a0There is a tremendous risk of false witness in this area \u2013 we do not want to suggest that children are a hassle to God, are not welcome by God, are less interesting to God, are interesting to God only as entertainment for adults, are interesting to God only as future adults, are endearingly wrong-headed about God (unlike adults, who are wise in the ways of God), etc.
\nSo ask yourself \u2013 are children\u2019s sermons the best fit for my pastoral gifts and the particular personality and needs of this congregation? Are they the best choice in this place and time as a vehicle for welcoming children, for teaching them about God\u2019s love, and for teaching adults how to love children well?<\/p>\n

3) Engage the children on their own terms \/ on their own level<\/strong>
\nThere are a few universals here \u2013 engage children\u2019s senses \u2013 not just the visual, but all of their senses. Use different types of lessons to reach children with different learning styles \u2013 use math, use storytelling, use participation, be whimsical, be practical \u2013 mix it up from week to week!\u00a0Remember yourself as a child<\/strong>, and the questions you had about worship, and set out to answer those questions. Try to remember that very few of your children\u2019s sermons should be rooted in a metaphor \u2013 generally the younger kids are not developmentally capable of understanding them, and a few of the older kids will not make the connection either.
\nBut there are also some particulars.\u00a0Get to know the kids \u2013 and what works well for them.<\/strong>\u00a0Get to know their personalities and strengths, so that you can engage different ones of them in different ways. Pay attention to the age range, the number of children, the sibling relationships (if any), etc. If you are pastor to more than one congregation, your children\u2019s sermons will end up being a little bit different at each congregation if you pay attention to the particular children you are serving.<\/p>\n

4) Do not put the children on display<\/strong>
\nBegin by finding ways to position the children so that they are not \u201con stage\u201d for the adults. \u00a0This time is about you and the children \u2013 by taking time out for them, you are demonstrating to the children that they are important to God \u2013 that God loves them, and wants them to understand what is going on in worship. \u00a0If this is for the adults in any measure, it is in order to model for them how to interact with the children in a life-giving way. \u00a0Which in the end is just another way of this time being for the children.\u00a0The grown-ups need to be made to understand that they are not the audience.<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong>
\nNobody likes to be laughed at when they make a mistake. Most people clam up in front of a crowd of people, and children are no exception \u2013 especially if they are likely to be laughed at, or have been laughed at before. Many children will feel that they are being made fun of, and it will hurt their feelings, and perhaps even discourage them from sharing \u2013 or even coming forward for children\u2019s time! \u2013 in the future.\u00a0 Find ways to train the congregation to restrain themselves \u2013 the children are not on television \u2013 they are right there, and they can hear the adults laughing, and often they do not understand why.\u00a0 Demonstrate to the children that you are their advocate with the congregation, and help interpret the laughter of the congregation for them (or, when appropriate, chide the congregation for treating the children as entertainment \u2013 but in a gentle way that will not embarrass the children, or confuse them.)
\nRev. Taylor Mills, pastor of Trinity UMC in Durham, NC, has reminded me that there are other children who seek the laughter of the congregation, and that is also something that we need to account for \/ channel in proper directions. This is a different sort of problem that results from putting the children on display (the child who desires to be on display,) \u00a0that illustrates the general rule that\u00a0we must avoid the actor\/audience dynamic that often develops between the children and the congregation.<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong>
\nThe conventional wisdom among educators has been to redirect that need for attention, giving the child opportunities to get attention for positive behavior (eg. \u2013 pre-emptively asking for their help with a task at the outset of the children\u2019s sermon, or even enlisting them as a co-conspirator in advance of the children\u2019s sermon.) \u00a0Of course, this will only work well if, at the same time, the congregation is no longer re-enforcing bad behavior (i.e. \u2013 laughing at the young comedian\u2019s antics.) \u00a0And it is important to take care that the other children are also given opportunities to help \/ serve as volunteers \u2013 or else we are sending the message to the children that public misbehavior is the only way to receive the pastor\u2019s attention \u2013 instead of the message we want the children to receive: no matter whether you can\u2019t sit still or are silent and attentive, whether you intentionally cut-up in worship or always try to do the right thing, God loves you, and the church loves and needs you.<\/p>\n

5) Be relevant<\/strong>
\nBe relevant to worship. If there is going to be a baptism, talk to the children about baptism. If there is something else special going on in worship, talk to them about that.\u00a0Give them things to listen for \/ look for later in the service.<\/strong>\u00a0This will not work, of course, if the practice is to usher them all out after the children\u2019s sermon.
\nBe relevant to children. Think about their experiences, and what they are likely to understand. For instance, when talking about sin and forgiveness one time, I shared a story about having borrowed something of my sister\u2019s WITHOUT ASKING. And then, even worse, drawing on it. Even the children without siblings knew how wrong that was, but the children with siblings were astounded \u2013 truly shocked that their pastor had ever done anything that wrong. One of them got the courage to ask if my sister had forgiven me for it, and I admitted that it took months before she did \u2013 and that I was still really sorry about it. But that God forgave me right away, even before I understood that what I did was so wrong. That story stuck with them, and gave them a sense of the immensity of God\u2019s grace \u2013 taking something of a sibling\u2019s without asking and then vandalizing it \u2013 that is the kind of sin a child understands. \u00a0It also showed them that nothing they could do was so wrong that God couldn\u2019t change their hearts \u2013 that with God\u2019s help, even such a sinner as myself had grown up to become a thoughtful and trustworthy pastor person.<\/p>\n

6) Be authentic<\/strong>
\nNever pretend to be stupider than you are, or to not know the meanings of words \u2013 never ever lie to the children. You can be silly, but be silly in the sly way that a grown-up is silly. Less than a week ago, I heard Rabbi Daniel Greyber of Beth El Synagogue in Durham, NC ask the children of the preschool there if they thought the preschool director was in the suitcase on his lap. They all laughed and squealed and shouted out, \u201cNo!\u201d They knew that the rabbi was just being silly. He never did suggest that he actually thought she was in there. \u00a0And he didn\u2019t have to in order to get their attention or their laughter. \u00a0I have seen him be silly with the children, but I have never seen him be dishonest.
\nThere are lots of books and websites and subscription services for children\u2019s stories. It is okay to use these, but\u00a0never pretend that the experience of another pastor is your own experience<\/strong>. Tailor the stories of others to your own experience \/ gifts \/ understanding of the scriptures. When you make it your own, you make it convincing \u2013 you make it true.<\/p>\n

The bottom line is that the children are your parishioners.<\/strong>\u00a0Use the same wisdom that I pray you use in the pulpit: prepare, and choose your words carefully. Speak out of the depth of your own faith and experience. Speak the truth in love. Remember that your role within the congregation is chiefly to proclaim the truth that God is Love, and that God\u2019s Love is unending and unstoppable and for everyone. Proclaim it like you mean it, because you believe it \u2013 because your very being is rooted in it. And never be afraid to model repentance when you get it wrong.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sarah McGiverin originally posted this on her own blog, Jerusalem to Jericho. \u00a0We’re thrilled to run it here as well – it’s an outstanding piece on a part of ministry that it’s far too easy to overlook. \u00a0For students about to start Field Ed placements, this may be one to bookmark. A few entries back […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[9,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-798","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-church","category-guestposts"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7EotM-cS","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.profligategrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/798","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.profligategrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.profligategrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.profligategrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.profligategrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=798"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.profligategrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/798\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":807,"href":"https:\/\/www.profligategrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/798\/revisions\/807"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.profligategrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=798"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.profligategrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=798"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.profligategrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=798"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}