Christian Eduaitioii Looking Ahead In Christian Ed
e d it e d b y M a r g a r e t d a e o b a e n , .W..1, Associate professor of Christian Education, Biola Bible College
are very fair, and if a very small one has a hard time, the children will rally ’round and vote for that one giving him self confidence.) The one that wins is eligible to enter the next contest. Have two or three contests in the same session. The winner re ceives nothing but the honor of win ning. Try saying, “Now I’m going to ask someone to answer a few questions.” And before you have ended the state ment, you’ll have a dozen hands. Children seem to like being put on the spot. Typical questions are: Why do we have church? What does the pastor do? Why do we send mission aries to other countries? What does a missionary do? Why do we pray? Why do we sing in church? What happens to the money we give in church? Audience Participation Select two different ushers each week from among the children. Use different children to distribute re freshments each week, if your group serves them. Ask another boy or girl to pray. Favorite choruses create enthusi asm. Get the children to suggest what they would like to sing. A rhythm band is sometimes en joyed by a group of youngsters. Try having a different leader each week. Have one of the children bring his favorite children’s record and player the following week. Visitors Usually the fewer the visitors, the better the discipline. Visiting musi cal soloists will contribute much to the program. Visiting missionaries are always welcome in junior church and make definite impressions on the children. Also different Bible teachers and children’s workers in the church can be called in to give special Bible lessons, etc. Change the program every week. Use the children as much as possible. Talk to them as though they were adults. Never be surprised at some of their answers and ideas. Explain big words. Pray all week, and as they raise their hands for salvation, deal with each one separately. END.
a practical plan for JUNIOR CHURCH
Woolnough
By Nancy
A re you having trouble with your junior church? These sugges tions may be helpful in this im portant work with boys and girls each Sunday morning. Worship Service This should include opening pray er by one of the children. Then lead the group in the Lord’s Prayer. Fol low with a hymn of praise or wor ship, Scripture reading and the of fering. Then give the Bible story and close with a benediction. An important part of the program is the review and sharing time. Have someone review the last week’s Bible story. Ask for personal testimonies and have a child tell what Jesus has done for him. Let them give ac counts of how they were saved. If some of them have been sick or had operations, let them describe the experience. Be sure to tie in how God cares for those who need His healing strength. Discipline Quiet chair is explained by the leader. He will be watching the chairs. The most quiet chair at the end of the period will receive a small award. From week to week explain the proper care of books in the church. Bibles should not be dropped or hap hazardly scattered about the room. Proper care should be taken of the church hymnal. Never fold the pages or place books on the floor. In our conduct toward older peo ple we should show respect and kind ness. It is not good manners to be pushing or running in the halls. Many times boys and girls, and
grownups too, are careless about their speech also. Waste paper about the church can quickly spoil its appearance. Bulle tins were meant to be read—not flown about the building by junior pilots. Presenting the Lesson Use illustrations. A different idea is to give each child a piece of pa per and crayon. Tell him to draw, for example, a branch of a tree, a caterpillar, a cocoon and a butterfly. Then tell the story, by selecting the best drawing and pointing to the dif ferent objects. You may present the story of life from death as illustrated in the life of a butterfly. Draw the parallel between Christ’s death and resurrection and the new life a Chris tian has. Stories play a large part in junior church work. They can be told with the aid of a blackboard, object les sons or flannelgraph. But sometimes one can hold his listener’s attention better by telling the story without these aids. You can include Bible stories, missionary stories, and stories with a moral. Finger Fun, Question and Answers The children catch on to this quite readily. There are several good books about “ finger fun” in Bible book stores that explain the art of telling simple stories with the action of fin gers, thus keeping children occupied. You may want to have a contest with the finger fun idea. Select three children that you want to do a par ticular story in finger fun. Have each do it. Then have the other children vote by clapping on the one they think did the best. (By the way they
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THE KING'S BUSINESS
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