Tag Archive for: Children’s Church

Children’s Church: Jesus the Vine

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The message Jesus is giving in his ‘I Am’ statements carry a clear similarity. If we hunger to feel life, He is the bread that feeds us. If we feel unsure in the dark, He is the light that guides us. If we feel afraid and alone, He is the shepherd who protects us. If we feel lost in life, He is the way, the truth, and the life. The common theme is that we need Jesus and we need Him so that we can experience what life really is.

This Sunday we looked at the last ‘I Am’ statement for the term and the message is the same. He is the vine, we are the branches, and we can only bear fruit in life if we have Jesus.

Our Part
We read through John 15 as Jesus teaches how, just as a branch needs the vine to find nourishment in order to live, thrive and bear fruit, so we need Jesus to live as God created us to live. We explored each part of Jesus’ analogy: the vine, the branch the fruit. We discussed how important He is to us and how much we need Him (which has been the common message this term).

Some groups had fun in our craft creating a tree out of a brown bag while others used balloons to make the vine.

Your Part
Read John 15 with your children. Count how many times Jesus says “abide/remain in me” and how many times he says “bear fruit”. Emphasise the importance of what Jesus is saying and how we can respond. Lead your children in learning to abide in the vine: read scripture with them, speak to Jesus with them, be a part of the church community with them.

We end the term next week by looking at who we are to Jesus. We can’t wait.

– The Children’s Church team

Children’s Church: I Am The Way, The Truth, The Life

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This past Sunday we looked at one of the most important ‘I Am’ statements made by Jesus. In John 14:6 Jesus says that He is the way, the truth and the life, and no one can come to the Father except through Him. We had fun this Sunday in trying to help our children understand what Jesus means in this verse.

Our Part
We sent our children treasure hunting. We confidently told them several times where the treasure could be found. Sadly, despite the supposed honesty of our instructions, our children were misled and the treasure proved harder to find. We also asked our children to guide a blindfolded partner through a tricky obstacle course. The problem here was to discern your partner’s voice from the many others shouting out directions and instructions.

Our children are being told many “truths” day after day. Life Orientation teaches some values, parents teach too, whilst television and media can teach other values. Some of these are great truths but too many “directions” from other sources can be misleading, as our games emphasised. Our belief in what can lead us to salvation – good works, money to the church, church attendance – can also be wrong. Jesus’ statement then brings all the surety we need. Jesus alone is the way, He alone is the truth, and He alone is the life. He is the only way to the Father. We need Jesus.

Your Part
Spend this week exploring John 14:6 with your children. Discuss with them some of the other ways or truths that our children may think of following. Then, talk about Jesus. Talk about what Jesus did, and how He proved to be our way and truth and life. In the future, keep this verse on hand to remind our children when they feel lost or unsure that Jesus alone is our answer.

BIG WEEKEND LESOTHO

Our team returned from the Big Weekend in Lesotho and have incredible stories to share of all the things God did with the leaders and children there. Thank you for your prayers. Check out a video of our time there below.

– The Children’s Church team

Children’s Church: Jesus, the Resurrection

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Continuing with our ‘I AM’ series, this weekend we looked at Jesus declaring that He is the Resurrection. Can you even imagine making such a statement? How could people take you seriously if you declare that you are the Resurrection? What does that even mean exactly? Well, we unpacked this statement a little bit this weekend.

Our Part
There are many things that people turn to as a ‘lifesaver’. We discussed how money, family, medicine, even our talents can be turned to as a giver of life. These things have value, but they cannot save us.

We then looked at the resurrection of Lazarus. Jesus waited four days after Lazarus’ death to display his authority and prove His statement that He is the Resurrection. Jesus proved this again when He did resurrect from the dead. Jesus proved that He is the Resurrection. Jesus alone is our giver of life to the life and He truly is our only lifesaver.

Your Part
Explain the term “resurrection” to your children and how Jesus is our resurrection. Our hope is that our children are growing to see the incredible person Jesus is, the promises he makes, and the life we now have because of him. How is the reading plan going? We would love feedback from you how this term is going.

– The Children’s Church team

Who Should our Children Listen to?

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There are so many voices in our lives today that are trying to lead us: our voice, the world’s voice, our friend’s voice, the enemy’s voice, and God’s voice – to name a few. It must be so difficult for our children to try and determine the truth for life now and their future. Who should our children listen to? Who should they trust?

Jesus says that He is the gate for the sheep (John 10:9). Continuing with last week’s lesson on Jesus being our shepherd, we continued to unpack this metaphor who is Jesus is to us, and how, because of who He is, we can trust His voice above all others.

Our Part
We looked at three stories this Sunday: Jesus healing Jarius’s daughter, Jesus calming the storm, and Jesus freeing the man with evil spirits. In all three stories, as soon as Jesus speaks, what he commands happens: the daughter comes back to life, the storm stops, and the man is freed of the evil spirits. Jesus’ voice has such authority that storms, death, and evil will obey Jesus. We can trust His voice. His voice speaks truth. We can follow Jesus.

Our craft and games this Sunday aimed to show how we need to learn to hear Jesus’ voice. We aimed to show that Jesus alone is our way to God, our Father.

Your Part
This picture Jesus gives of himself is so practical to understand. We showed a video of how sheep would only listen to their shepherd’s voice. Help your children with meeting Jesus, with getting to know Jesus, and learning how to hear His voice. Again, reading scripture is key for this. Pray with your children. Show them what it means to trust Jesus.

We continue with the next ‘I AM’ statement next week.

– The Children’s Church team

Children’s Church: The Good Shepherd

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If your child is not sure of a future career path, we may have swayed them to consider being a shepherd. We apologise if that worries you. This past Sunday we looked at what Jesus meant when he said that He is the Good Shepherd. Once again, Jesus caused some dispute with those listening to Him. How can a carpenter claim to be a shepherd, one who will lay down his life for his sheep? We had a wonderful time exploring what Jesus meant when He said that He is the shepherd and we are His sheep.

Our Part

Our memory verse this week was, “I am the good shepherd. I know my own sheep and they know me” (John 10:14). Across the sites some teachers tried to dress like fake shepherds. There were even some wolves trying to act like sheep. The children had to identify that only Jesus is the good shepherd.

We then looked at characteristics of sheep and of shepherds leading us to discuss why Jesus would compare himself to a shepherd. We learnt that Jesus desires to lead us, to protect us, to search for us when we are lost and even lay down His life to save ours. The incredible truth is that this is exactly what he did: Jesus died for us so that we can live. He truly is the only good shepherd.

Your Part

The challenge to the children is that we need to want to be Jesus’ sheep. We need to want to follow Him and not wander our own way. We need to learn to identify His voice, discerning His voice in the midst of many voices. You can help your children in learning to trust Jesus, to choosing to follow Him and in learning to hear His voice. Reading the Bible is so vital for this. Spend some time reading with your children and learn to hear the voice of the Good Shepherd.

If your children are put off lamb for a while, we apologise for this too. 🙂

– The Children’s Church team

Children’s Church: The Bread of Life

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In John 6 we read how Jesus feeds 5,000 people and performs many miracles that amaze them. He soon has many followers who are ready to crown him as their king, but Jesus sees their heart in why they are following him. Most of them simply want more miracles and more food. They want their bellies to be filled with more bread. That is why Jesus says He is the bread of life and if any want life to the full, they need to eat of Him.

That sounds both confusing and challenging. Therefore many of His followers abandon Him after that. Jesus’ statement “I am the bread” led the people from wanting to crown Him king to rejecting Him in a moment.

Our Part
We looked at what Jesus meant when He said “I am the bread of life” (John 6:35). As much as we long for food every day to fill us, we must desire Jesus even more. We wanted our children to see that there can wrong motives for “following” Jesus: forced by family, wanting blessing etc. We wanted them to hear how Jesus promises that He is all we need for a full life: He is the bread of life. With Him in our lives, we will never hunger or feel lacking in life.

To help the lesson, some sites baked some bread which was both creatively made and tasted delicious.

We also gave each child a reading plan for the next few weeks. To know Jesus more they need to read about Him. Please support and join them in this reading plan.

Your Part
Look at the curriculum and re-emphasise what the lesson taught. Read the story again in John 6. Ask your children why the want to follow Jesus.

We have a Lesotho Big Weekend coming up in September. Please pray with your children for this time.

We are looking forward to the next “I Am” statement from Jesus.

– The Children’s Church team

I AM: Knowing Jesus at Children’s Church

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This past weekend we began the third term of 2017. This term we are looking at the ‘I AM’ statements made by Jesus as seen in the Gospels. As a church, we really desire to magnify Jesus and make much of Him in our lives. We are so excited to get to point to Jesus and get to know Him better in the coming ten weeks.

Our Part
This Sunday we began by explaining what “I AM” means. Our children found it fascinating that God would speak to Moses through a burning bush (that did not burn up). We read in that engagement how God reveals to Moses that Moses must say, “I AM has sent me”. It is here we first read of the title ‘I AM’. Exodus 3:14-15 says “I AM who I AM… This is my name forever”. This name speaks of God’s sovereignty; His eternal existence; His many characteristics and abilities. He is our all-powerful God.

Over the next few weeks, we will learn how Jesus reveals his divinity by teaching us who he is through his ‘I AM’ statements.

Your Part
As we said, we want to fix our eyes on Jesus and draw nearer to him. We want to see who He wants to be to us and how we should respond to Him. Please feel free to download the curriculum and spend each week revealing more of Jesus to your children.

We feel so convicted by our children’s education, their health, their future security, their choices, their abilities etc. We need to sense the greatest gift we can impart to our children and that is teaching about Jesus and praying they fall in love with him.

– The Children’s Church team

Telling Others about Jesus

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Over the course of this term, we’ve aimed to answer big questions about who Jesus is. Every week a new question was asked and the truth to that question discovered. What we hope to have done is teach our children more about how wonderful Jesus is and the need for them to keep seeking him and growing in knowing him. But there is more. Our focus this week is that because Jesus is so incredible, we cannot keep him for ourselves. We need to tell others about him too.

Our Part

As a church, we have a proclamation that says: To know Christ and to make Him known. We discussed this with our children. We looked at what Jesus said at the Great Commission. We looked at the instructions he gave the disciples: to wait for the Holy Spirit to anoint them to reach the world and share the good news of what Jesus did for all. This Sunday we encouraged our children to desire to tell others about Jesus. To help explore this practice, we used candles and sweets (not together) to help emphasise the need to share this wonderful news.

Your Part

Help your children think of ways to share the gospel. Children don’t fear offending people like we adults do. They would be happy to tell others about Jesus. Help them to meet people (be it family or friends), help them pray for the unsaved, help them with their testimony and how they can share it. Remind your children often of the Great Commission. And be the example as always. We long to see great evangelists birthed in our children.

– The Children’s Church team

How do you know if a biscuit or a cupcake is delicious?

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How do you know if a biscuit or a cupcake is delicious? Even though it may look delicious, that doesn’t mean that it is delicious. It could have rotten ingredients inside. The only way to know if it is delicious is to taste it.

We used this idea in learning more about our relationship with Jesus. We need to taste and see that the Lord is good (Psalm 33:8). This week we chose to look at how we can know God’s goodness and glory by tasting Him.

Our part
The emphasis of our lesson was on our need to experience God. If we want to know more about Him we need to experience Him. The truth is that when we do experience God we realise how wonderful He is. We get to see how great He is and experience His goodness and from that we long to have more of Him. It is like a good slice of cake. When you have tasted it, and taste that it is good, you want more and more.

We also looked at Paul. He had so many credible attributes to his name, but after experiencing Jesus, he said that he counted all of his achievements as rubbish in comparison to God. He experienced Jesus and realised that nothing compares to His goodness.

Your part
Help your children in experiencing God. Spend time praying together, reading the Bible together, worshipping together. Tell them what you think of Jesus. If you make Him big, they too will want to make Him big in their life.

Please remember that this coming Sunday we will break bread with the children. Please join us if you feel your child is ready to break bread. There is no pressure in this. If you are unsure please chat to one of our teachers.

–  The Children’s Church Team

Stand Up!

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There is a popular quote that says, “For evil to flourish, it only requires good men to do nothing” (Simon Wiesenthal). The world today needs good people to stand up – in fact, to be more accurate, not just good people, but it needs the Church to stand up. In Acts 26:16 God says, “Stand up! I have chosen you to be my servant.” This was our memory verse this weekend as we encouraged our children to stand up and be led by God to be used for His Kingdom and cause.

Our Part
We looked at some common scenarios seen today where we need people to stand up – like standing up against gossiping, bullying, cheating. God tells us what is right and He gives us courage and confidence to stand up for what is right. We encouraged our children to stand up against what’s wrong and ask God to help us fight for what is right.

We looked at the story of Esther in the Bible. In the face of wickedness, and at the risk of losing her life, led by God she chose to stand up for what was right. She chose to speak to the king, to fight for what was right and good. God used her and gave her courage to save her people. We pray that God will use our children like he used Esther. We pray that they will be boys and girls of courage, faith and confidence in God to stand up for God’s Kingdom.

Your Part
Always be the example. Are you willing to stand up for what is right? There are so many causes in society today, and some are really good, but the central cause we ought to fight for and give our lives to is seeing God’s Kingdom advance.

Go over the story of Esther again with your children. Ask them what things happen at school that they know are not good and need to be challenged. Perhaps your child is part of a group that chooses to gossip or tease or bully. Help them see how that isn’t good and needs to be addressed. Explain how Esther did it, how God led her, and equally how God will lead us to stand for good.

We truly pray for a generation of courageous boys and girls to be found in our children. But it requires response. Will we listen to God? Will we seek His anointing? Will we stand?

– Children’s Church team