Freedom Sunday

February 26 is Freedom Sunday. It’s designed to build awareness about human slavery and trafficking in local churches. Here are some Biblical-based lessons and projects for children on these issues.

• Loose Change to Loosen Chains is a student-led campaign for elementary to college students to combat modern-day slavery while learning about the reality of injustice today. Order materials from the International Justice Mission. IJM uses money donated through this program to rescue victims of slavery and other forms of oppression.

• Break the Chains: The Power of Choice – Free download lesson on human trafficking for older elementary kids. Look in the Bible Study section. This is part of the Break the Chains Initiative from the Evangelical Covenant Church.

• Childhood Lost – Free download lesson on child labor for elementary children from Stand4Kids. Look in the Bible Study section under New Children’s Curriculum.

Chiildren’s Ministry Day 2012

The fifth annual Children’s Ministry Day is February 18. Developed by WMU, Children’s Ministry Day gives kids in grades 1-6 the opportunity to participate in  local community ministry. Individual projects are designed by children’s leaders in churches and Christian schools all across North America. This year’s theme is Operation Education. The theme verse is “Do your best to please God. Be a worker who doesn’t need to be ashamed. Teach the message of truth correctly.” (2 Timothy 2:15, NIrV)

WMU created a downloadable Children’s Ministry Day Pack ($11.99). It contains a 16-page booklet with project suggestions, planning tips, and learning activities to enhance your project as well as colorful posters for promoting your event.  Other free resources like clip art, flyers, and a Powerpoint presentation overview are also available for download.

Ready to plan an education-related project that kids can carry out in your community? Make sure to invite others to assist you. If you can’t hold your event on February 18, pick a day that works for you. Here are 10 ideas to get those creative juices flowing:

• Help your kids host a used book drive and donate the books to a literacy ministry in your community.
• Make and send thank-you cards to principals at local schools. Better yet, have your kids deliver the cards personally. How many of them have ever seen the inside of the principal’s office–in a good way?
• Find out when the next school board meeting is. Help your kids prepare cookies or other snacks for the meeting. Ask if some of your kids can deliver the goodies and pray for the board members at the beginning of the meeting.
• Contact local school administrators and ask permission for your kids to help clean classrooms.
• Contact a local after-school program or a child-care facility and ask for a list of items they might need. Have your kids organize a drive in your church or school to help meet those needs.
• Prayer walk around neighborhood schools on the weekend.
• Help older kids prepare and read storybooks to preschoolers or kindergarteners at their school.
• Collect school supplies for needy children in your area. Have your kids write an encouraging let­ter on the first page of the notebooks.
• Have your kids make and send encouraging notes to GED students.
• Ask permission to host a teacher appreciation breakfast or lunch at a local school. You’ll probably need to enlist parent help for this one.

Invite your church leaders, teachers, and parents to be involved by praying for your kids and the people they will serve. And don’t forget to take lots of pictures!

World Food Day

October 16 is World Food Day. In our world today, 925 million people are undernourished (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, or FAO). This is 13.6% of the world population! Because their bodies are still developing, children are effected most by hunger. Every five seconds, a boy or girl dies from a hunger-related disease. Hunger has many facets and layers. Here are three.

Starvation: Starvation caused by famine, like the one currently threatening families in the Horn of Africa, is the most extreme form of hunger. Starvation often leads to death, especially in children.

Food insecurity: Not all hunger is caused by famine. For millions, lack of access to sufficient amounts of nutritious food is an ongoing, daily reality. Families eat the bare minimum to stay alive. Children go to bed each night, not knowing where their next meal will come from.

Hidden Hunger: In addition, two billion people exist on a limited diet. Because children eat the same thing every day rather than a variety of foods, they don’t get the vitamins and minerals needed for healthy growth and development. The resulting malnutrition has serious consequences. For example, children with Vitamin A deficiency have severe problems with eyesight and some become blind.

Here’s a map put out by the FAO. It shows that state of undernourishment in countries around the world. Did you know that there’s more than enough food to provide adequate nutrition to everyone on the planet? Here’s a simple simulation you can do with families in your church, school, or homeschooling group. It shows that hunger is more about an imbalance in food distribution than a shortage of food.

Children in Prayer-Part 3

When I was really little, I used to hang out in the garage. One item that always intrigued me was my dad’s can of Turtle Wax.  At that time, the label showed a turtle holding a can of turtle wax that had a small label of a turtle holding a can of Turtle Wax. My brain hurt from imagining how small the turtles would get if this just kept going and going.

So what does Turtle Wax have to do with children in prayer? If we introduce children to prayer warriors through stories and they take us seriously, our children will become models of prayer for others, who will become models of prayer for others. Here’s a true story of a young girl whose prayers reflect those modeled by adults around her, adults whose prayers reflect those of an earlier model, George Mueller. This is a fun story to tell and act out right before a family meal or class snack when everyone is already seated.

Children in Prayer-Part 2

Last spring, I was discouraged by a boy’s comment made during a Sunday School lesson I was teaching on Jesus’ power to heal. “God doesn’t still do things like that today” he blurted out to the group of 1st-4th graders.  This caused a flurry of other responses ending with, “Yeah, I don’t think that Jesus is as powerful today as he used to be.” I rallied with a Biblical response, but was not sure the group was buying it.

I realize it’s difficult for grade-school children to make the shift from how God worked thousands of years ago to how God works today. This got me thinking. If they really don’t see God for who he is, do children have any foundation for believing that their prayers make a difference? How can we as teachers assist? After that lesson, I made two decisions: 1) to share more of the daily miracles God works in my life with my students and 2) to find and share modern-day examples of God at work through the prayers of children. On my hunt for models of children in prayer, I found this gem: Albanian children intercede for the sick in their community during a period where it was against the law to believe in God, much less talk to him. Please share this story with those wide-eyed, wheels always turning, children in your sphere of influence.

Children in Prayer-Part 1

Ramadan, the Muslim month of prayer and fasting, is August 1-30 this year. Check out this prayer guide that can help your children pray for their peers in the Muslim world: Just for Kids: 30 Days of Prayer for the Muslim World.  But let’s take a step back. Do your kids really believe their prayers make a difference? They can see God heal a scrape on their leg or provide a job for their dad, but seeing a Muslim child in a different country begin to follow Jesus — that’s not quite as concrete. It’s up to us as teachers and parents to provide the concrete. As you invite your children to intercede for kids around the world, encourage them with plenty of examples of how God answers when boys and girls talk to him about what’s already on his heart. During the month of July, I’ll provide you with some stories you can use with your class. Here’s the first one: Hope Smith, age 9, intercedes for Mongolia.

Fabric Map Prayer Activities-Part 2

Here are three more children’s prayer activities you can do using the world fabric map.

Beanbag Toss

Materials: fabric world map, beanbag

Directions: Lay the map on the floor. Have children sit or stand around the map. Choose a child to toss the beanbag onto the map. Read the name of the country where the beanbag lands. Pray for families in that country to come to know Jesus. If the beanbag lands on a body of water, pray for families in a country that borders that body of water. Hand the beanbag to another child and continue in the same way.

Light of the World

Materials: fabric world map, flashlight, music CD and CD player

Directions: Lay the map on the floor. Have children take off their shoes and sit in a circle around the map. Turn off most of the lights. Hand the flashlight to a child. When the music begins, the children pass the flashlight around the circle. When the music stops, the child with the flashlight stands and shines the light on one country on the map. Pray for God to prepare the hearts of families in that country to understand who Jesus is. Have the child sit back down in the circle, start the music, and continue in the same way.

Missionary Photo Card Prayer

Materials: fabric world map, photo prayer cards of church missionaries

Directions: Lay the map on the floor. Have children sit around the map. Show the photo on the first missionary prayer card and read the names of the people in the family. On the map, locate the country where the missionaries serve. Choose a child to lay the photo card on the map. Pray for the missionaries using some of the prayer categories suggested below. Continue in the same way with the remaining prayer cards.

learn language          many people come to know God

Mission Websites for Kids

My church just finished our annual mission emphasis events. This year’s theme was “imissions” and teaching focused on how missionaries use technology to advance the gospel. I work with the 1st-4th graders throughout the year to keep missions in the forefront of their minds and hearts.  Because kids are so computer savvy (and because our large-group teaching space was finally wired for the internet!), we chose to focus on mission websites for children. We introduced them to six websites that help them learn about other cultures and provide ways for them to pray for their peers who have not heard about Jesus. We also showed them the “Today” video described below. Here’s the meat of the parent letter we sent home.

Caravan Friends website on peoples of South Asia from the International Mission Board. Includes many cultural and prayer activities for peoples of Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal,  Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. Plenty of stories, cultural activities, and prayer requests.

Quest for Compassion website on poverty from Compassion International. Kids design their own travel buddy and can visit the countries of Bangladesh, Brazil, El Salvador, and Ghana.

DiscipleZone is the online portion of DiscipleLand Curriculum. Use the dials to choose Grade 1, Quarter A, and Lesson 1. Scroll to the bottom of the page and click on the WorldWatch icon. You will see Part 1 of a 12-part continuing story on an unreached people group. Go back and click on Lesson 2 to see the second part of the story. Four stories (one for each quarter) are provided for each grade level. That’s 24 people groups to learn about and pray for.

SIM Kids website on missions in South America (Bolivia, Ecuador, Paraguay, and Peru); Africa (Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Kenya, Niger, Nigeria); and Asia (China, India Pakistan, and Philippines). Loads of stories, activities, and prayer requests.

Sonlight Curriculum has an online section called “My Passport to India” with video clips, family devotions, crafts, games, and recipes. Travel with Chris to India through short video segments. Then do related activities. Includes family devotions and prayer requests.

Stand4Kids website has a fun way to pray for unreached kids and children at risk around the world. Includes photos of children and prayer requests, one for every day of the month.

“Today” is a 4-minute video that will inspire you. It’s the story of God’s heart for children, challenges that children face today, and how children who trust Jesus are serving in God’s kingdom. I highly recommend this for anyone serving in children’s ministry.

Children’s Ministry Day

Each February, thousands of boys and girls in grades 1-6 participate in hands-on ministry projects in their own community on the same day — Children’s Ministry Day®. This year’s event is on February 19!  From feeding hungry people to visiting shut-ins, children across America follow God’s command to “put your love into action” (1 John 3:18). The theme of this year’s fourth annual event is Neighbor to Neighbor, based on Leviticus 19:18c, “Love your neighbor as you love yourself.” WMU (Women’s Missionary Union) provides creative ideas that help groups develop and tailor projects to meet the needs in their own communities. Although WMU is an auxiliary to the Southern Baptist Convention, the suggested activities are generic enough to be used by other churches, Christian schools, homeschooling groups, and families.

WMU offers some free resources to help you promote your event as well as an inexpensive booklet with ministry ideas, parent letters, decorating ideas for classrooms, children’s sermons and skits, and learning activities.  Need more ministry ideas? Check out what other groups have done.

Trinity Object Lessons

This summer, I taught 2nd-4th graders at Bible camp. The children asked lots of questions, some of which I’d never thought about before. “Did Adam and Eve ever get married?” “So did animals talk way back then before the fall like the serpent did?” “Will we celebrate birthdays in heaven?” Having the option to respond with “I don’t know because the Bible doesn’t tell us” was helpful. As I continued to unfold little scraps of paper with scribbled questions, I noticed a pattern emerging. Many children were confused about the Trinity. Should I tell them that adults don’t understand the Trinity either, or that we won’t fully grasp how God can be three in one until we get to heaven? Though both statements are true, and possibly useful in responding to questions about the Trinity, I decided that young children needed some concrete demonstrations as well. Here’s how I addressed two of their questions.