Check me out doing this all in sequence. What’s up with that?!? Usually I toss in a few random posts just to keep you guessing. Not so, this time. Let’s keep rolling. If you missed the first two, you can catch up here.
Skill #3: Dialogue with God
The environments created at home and at church will be one of the first places children and teenagers learn to pray
Talking with God is not a difficult thing to demonstrate. Actually doing it is the secret. Though mealtime prayers are a ritual in many homes; breakfast, lunch and dinner are not the only times to dialogue with God. We don’t stop talking to our kids at breakfast, do we?
Here’s a fun idea to establish a habit of prayer with your kids:
Every time the bell rings at school, just say hello to God.
It draws them back to a focus on Him and encourages an opportunity to talk with Him.
As a Christ-follower, what could serve as a constant reminder to just say hello to God?
As a parent, ministry leader/volunteer, what ideas do you have that would teach a Christ-follower the habit of dialogue with God?
I’ll leave you with this little nugget. Who could resist.
Encourage children to memorize scripture so they can remember it and apply it in everyday situations
Knowing how critical the demonstration of parents and volunteers can be, it only makes sense that we lead the way in scripture memorization. And yet I slack significantly here.
I’m inspired to 2 action steps:
Lead my kids in memorization by doing it also rather than just expecting them to do it
Lead my volunteers to memorization to increase their effectiveness/encouragement
As a parent/volunteer/mentor to kids… how would you rate yourself on personalizing scripture?
At the Orange Conference I attended a breakout session talking about 5 basic Faith Skills to build into kids to help them take ownership of their faith and make it theirs. If you are a parent and/or serve in kids ministry, you don’t want to miss the next 5 posts.
Skill #1: Navigate the Bible
Children should know how the smaller stories within the Bible work together to tell God’s Big Story. Many ministries are guilty of teaching the bible as a series of one-liners that support the main teaching point. Yet kids fail to see the bigger picture in scripture.
The Bible is a place they can go to find verses that will help them with specific questions.
God’s word is a source of Life to a believer. Read in context, it reminds us that we are part of something bigger than ourselves. Kids that learn a biblical worldview have a more solid foundation to build their life upon. We can’t expect our kids to have a biblical worldview unless the Bible plays a prominent role in our lives.
Parents, how can we better equip you to teach your kids how to navigate the Bible?
Ministry leaders, how well does your curriculum teach kids to view the Bible as a continuous story of His Glory?
