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In a previous post, I described the spiritual dangers for overly religious kids. I was writing about kids who get too much church and not enough relationship with Jesus. Most of the comments from that post were supportive and agreed with my assessment. Many readers saw a connection with being over-churched and giving up on church as teenagers. That makes this issue even more urgent.
No the hard part – doing something about the problem.
In this article I will offer specific ways you can help those children overcome those dangers. This is my first attempt to dealt with this topic, so your input is important. Please leave a comment at the bottom of this page.
1. Empower Them To Teach: If they really know it all, why not let them assist you in teaching. This should be done with care, because they might not have the spiritual maturity to fly solo. But there are many ways to get them involved. It’s like Amy wrote on our Facebook Page, “The way I use kids who have heard the bible stories a hundred times over is to put them in the teaching role. One of the best Sunday’s I ever had is when a few girls who had been in church since day one of their lives explained Jesus’ death and resurrection to kids who didn’t even know who Jesus was. I was so proud of them.”
2. Teach for Heart Change: Educators call this the affective domain or emotional learning. When our teaching only targets the cognitive domain, we can miss the heart. Over-churched kids need transformational learning that can move their attitudes and values. This is at the core of effective Sunday School teaching.
3. Use Creative Storytelling: The Word of God is the most amazing document ever created. Poor storytelling can get the facts right and completely miss the soul of the story. Over-churched kids have suffered through too much of this and need creative Bible teaching. Do the extra work and make your story amazing. Here are some hints for creative Bible storytelling.
Wayne shared this idea in our forums, “If they already know the story, having them act it out, or play a game show, or something else active will be more likely to keep their interest than just telling a story.”
4. Pray for Every Child: Sometimes the deepest problems require a spiritual solution. Ask God to make a difference for those over-churched kids. It’s great when we pray for those outside the church, but don’t forget to lift up those familiar names to the Lord. Remember, effective ministry depends on prayer.
5. Teach the Bad News: According to the Bible, we are all sinners who have earned the displeasure of God. Without Jesus, we would have no hope of passing God’s judgment. Over-churched kids need to realize that they too need a Savior. They need to learn about sin. Keep teaching the 10 Commandments, but also teach what Jesus said about loving your neighbor. None of us can really meet those standards on our own.
6. Model Repentance: With over-churched kids, we can’t pretend that Christians are always the good guys. They see behind our Sundy morning smiles and know that we’re not perfect people. When we are honest about our failings, and confess our sins, it points them to the Gospel. When teaching, use examples of Christian repentance and be transparent about your own struggles. This is a key to parenting, but it’s also a great strategy for kids ministry.
7. Make It Relevant: Connecting the Bible content with real life is something we often overlook. Even kids who have heard all the stories need help connecting the dots to real life. Kristi made this point on our Facebook page, “I find those kids get more involved if you can make it relevant to what they are going through at the time.” So take a few minutes and think about relevance. Why does this Bible lesson really matter in each child’s life? How can the truth of this passage help them with the problems they are facing?
8. Go Deeper: Why not flip this challenge around and take these over-churched kids even deeper into the Bible verse. Let them struggle with the hard stories in the Bible. Show them the questions that Christians still debate. Help them integrate theology and move beyond milk. This was also something Wayne suggested on our forums, “ It seems like this would give you a great opportunity to go deeper with the stories since you don’t have to spend as much time on the basics of storytelling. I’m not sure what this would look like, especially in terms of the others (kids just learning about God), but it seems like an awesome opportunity.”
9. Get Them On Mission: The message of Christianity was not made just for hearing, God wants us to embrace the mission of Jesus and participate in the new creation now. Too much learning and not enough doing is always a problem. Find ways to get kids involved in sharing the Gospel, serving the poor, and laying down their lives for others. Help them serve in the community or get them involved in missions. Jonathan made a great point about this in his comment, “My kids are in church all the time…so I fight constantly to remind them that most of doing what the Bible says happens in our schools, on the soccer fields, and at our house.”
What Do You Think?
I’d love to hear what ideas you have about breaking through to these over-churched kids. What strategies work best? What actually drives them farther away from God? Leave a comment below to respond. Here is the link for What I said about Over Churched Children
Related posts:
- Too Much Church! 5 Dangers Facing Over-Churched Kids
- Making Un-Churched Childern & Families Feel Welcome
{ 17 comments… read them below or add one }
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Hello Tony,
Thank you for sharing this and for having others share as well. There are so many great points here and I can’t wait to implement them more in my home. Every night we choose a different Bible story to read from the children’s Bible with Timothy (2 1/2 yro) and have been doing that with him since he was born. Last night was his turn to choose a story and he started out by pointing to the pictures and telling us who was in the story and what the story was about. It was so neat to see and hear him acting it out.
Well thank you Tony and many others for all that you do. You are a wonderful blessing!
Cullen :)
This is a tough issue. As a volunteer teaching children, I had no idea how to respond to some of the overchurched kids who totally ignore you, distract others and do whatever they want.
I have left these classes crying on occasion, and eventually stopped volunteering in the childrens’ area.
On the other hand, in Bible Study Fellowship (a Bible study for women, in which even young children are also taught), the equipping is so excellent that it’s like “children’s ministry for dummies.” Everything is in 5-10 minute intervals, there is a lesson (often done with a puppet or the like), questions (for example, drawn from a jar), play time (play is related to the lesson), rest, snack (at a table, with a simple lesson-related discussion question that relates to their lives), structured clean up, etc. Discipline issues are prayed over by group leaders. Sometimes parents are brought into it. In any case, the atmosphere is loving, children actually learn, and the structure calms and assures everyone.
One small thing I became personally convicted on: “Bible stories” and “characters.” I quit using those terms b/c children think stories are fiction.
With the kids who I’ve had who ‘know everything already’, I really try to encourage them in relationships.
Church isn’t just about Sunday school and the teaching. It’s also about being together & reaching out to others & making changes in their lives.
They need to bring friends or get to know the visiting kids. They need to fellowship with others at church. They need to be challenged to apply the lessons to their life & act on it.
I also think we need to teach our kids to think in less-judgemental ways, too. It bugs me to no end when a parent complains that we shouldn’t be teaching about David because my kids already knows about him. Their child hears this & voila! The child has just learned how to be judgemental.
Honestly, I can hear lessons on the life of David and still learn new things from it. And, at age 42, I’ve probably heard it a few hundred times.
Too much church and the consequent familiarity often seems to lead to a sense of ‘I’ve done it all before’ and a critical attitude ranging from ‘it’s boring’ to all sorts of more destructive attitudes. This in turn takes the focus off following Jesus and places it firmly with an organisation full (inevitably) of flaws. In our experience it has been helpful to encourage young people to see that they are equal members of this ‘organisation’ along with all the adults and as such are totally free to have ideas and make suggestions – as long as they are also willing to be involved with and work with the outcomes. Some examples include playing in worship bands – and in time getting to choose songs etc, meeting the candidates for youth pastor and feeding back to the interview panel, helping out with children’s groups – and attending planning meetings along with the adult leaders….. Of course the aim is always to be serving Jesus and seeking his guidance – in other words, growing in practical discipleship, and not being a passive observer.
I am so pleased to see this issue addressed! I admit I have had a bad taste in my mouth about Missionaries and Preachers kids because I feel their children get overlooked or Spiritually abandoned… One on one attention and nurturing in this area is vital. Praise God for those of you who have come up with a plan to Reach these souls…. Thanks you
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