Ministry-To-Children.com » Sunday School Ideas

8 Ways to Rediscover Your Passion for Ministry

Tony Kummer — Mon, 27 Dec 2010 05:50:47 +0000

The weeks after Christmas are some of the toughest in your ministry year. Long winters bring discouragement and dull the passion of even the most devoted.

Let me share a few ways I am preparing my heart to make it through discouragement in the ministry this winter. Feel free to comment and add to the list.

1. Focus on the long term vision
Short term setbacks can really kill my morale. I get discouraged when my teaching falls flat or when I lose a busy volunteer. Ask yourself, “What am I trying to accomplish in the lives of these children 20 years from now?” Stay faithful to the vision and do the little things well. Then trust God to work things out in the long term.

2. Be thankful for past success
Take the time to step back and see how much has been accomplished this year. Write down five ways that God has touched lives through your children’s ministry. Give thanks to God and trust him to continue his work next year.

3. Pray
Nothing energized me for ministry like getting close to God. Very few real gains have ever come without prayer. Fight discouragement by seeking direct support from your Heavenly Father.

4. Remember that kids matter to Jesus
When God was calling me to work in children’s ministry I was amazed to discover all the Bible verses that spell out God’s love for children. Always remember that his passion to reach the little ones will always exceed your own. All you have to do is get in line with his purpose.

5. Encourage others
One of the best ways to get over discouragement is to become an encouragement to someone else. Look a Sunday school teacher in the eyes and say, “Your work matters to God and is making a difference.” Do this every week.

6. Spend more time with hurting children
Sometimes I forget the pain that many of these children are facing in their own lives. Take time to connect with a child who is suffering from a rocky home life.

7. Visit unchurched families
Few things energize me for ministry like getting into the “rough” homes of some of our kids. Remember, only the Gospel can break the cycles of sin that destroy so many families.

8. Love the unlovable
Identify the child that causes you the most stress, the one that you may have written off as a trouble maker. Then make it your personal project to love that child and become the presence of Christ in their lives. If you succeed, you will never forget it.

Editor’s Note: This post was first published in 2007. We’ve updated it to help you start 2011 off right. Click here to leave your comments.

Sunday School Lesson “Created For a Purpose”

Kelly Henderson — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 15:14:02 +0000

Print off this free Sunday School lesson based on the book of Esther. It was first prepared for an older elementary Sunday School class. With some modification, you could also use it for a Children’s Church lesson or with younger students. Following the lesson are additional activities that can be helpful for your individual class’s needs.

Bible Story: God’s Purpose For Esther
Scripture: Esther
Target Age Group: Age 9 – 12 (U.S. 3rd – 6th Grade)
Learning Context: Sunday School
Printer Friendly Bible Lesson: Note: There is a print link embedded within this post, please visit this post to print it. this lesson plan
You Can Help: Please leave your feedback and suggestions for this lesson plan. Others will benefit from your ideas. Click here to respond

This lesson is based on the whole of Esther 1-10. In preparation for class your should familiarize yourself with the Book of Esther. As you teach the lesson you can pull out key verses from the Book to teach the points you want to convey to the class.

Arrival Activities: Choose a few activities for your students to take part in as they arrive in the classroom. (Additional resources can be found at the end of this lesson.) It’s good to have choices that meet the particular needs of your students. Some students enjoy quietly coloring (even older students do this sometimes), working a word puzzle or even reading a Christian picture book. Have an active activity for the students who learn by doing. Floor puzzles, putting a Bible verse in order, or a memory game (Older children like memory games too. You can use index cards and put Biblical characters on one card and a fact about what that character did on another (this can be used as a review game at the end of teaching a series)). Activities should help the students to focus on the Lord and prepare them for the Bible lesson. Also keep in mind that the activities are an opportunity for the teacher to visit with the student and find out how their week went. This time is an opportunity for the Lord to give you insight to the needs of your students. On that note, it’s important to have your room set up in advance and if that’s not possible, choose simple activities that can be put out quickly so you can spend this time with your students.

Lesson Objective(s): Students will learn:

Each person has great value to God.
The purpose for every follower of Jesus is to be used by God and to be a Godly influence in the lives of others.
God has given His children gifts to help others to see that He exists and He wants them to be a member of His family.
We are to trust and obey God even when we don’t understand our circumstances.

Memory Verse: Esther 4:14b (NIV) “And who knows but that you have come to royal position for such a time as this.”

An activity for the students: Use a puzzle (floor size would be best). Give each student a piece of puzzle. Let them look at their individual piece. As you teach the verse talk about how with just our one piece of puzzle we can’t see what the whole puzzle will look like when put together. We can see bits and pieces of what might be the picture from our piece but as each of us begin to assemble the puzzle with our piece we see the bigger picture. This puzzle is like God’s plan for each of our lives. We only know such a small piece of God’s bigger plan. When we are obedient and faithful to what God has asked us to do, He uses us to be a part of His bigger picture.

Bible Lesson: God Created You For A Purpose.

This is just a guide to help you as you prepare to teach your class. Provide Bibles for students who did not bring one. In our class we have Bibles that had never been claimed from the lost and found. We use a readable version for the students so if they choose to volunteer to read a verse it is understandable to them.

Introduction:

God created you and me. He tells us in His Word that He knit us together while we were inside our mother’s wombs. Psalm 139:13-15 He knows every little detail about us. He knows how many hairs we have on our heads. Matthew 10:30 He knows what we like and what we don’t like. He made each of unique and there is no one created exactly like us in the whole world.

We live in a world that sometimes makes us think that we aren’t special because we are not popular, pretty, athletic, or as smart as others. Our value to God isn’t based on any of those things. He loves us because He created us and placed us in this world for a purpose. His purpose for placing each one of us on this earth is to glorify Him and enjoy Him forever. We glorify God when we live a life that pleases Him and points others to Him. When we live that kind of life we will enjoy God and all the blessings that come from Him.

Because God’s purpose is for each of us to glorify Him and enjoy Him forever, He has given us gifts or talents that we can use to help others see that God exists and wants them to be a part of His family too.

Sometimes we know clearly what our gifts/talents are and how God wants to use us in this life. Other times we may not know what our gift and purpose is in this life. (If possible take a gift-wrapped box out of a bag and set on your lap.) Our lives are like this unopened present. We have received a present but we don’t know exactly what is inside until we take the wrapping paper off the present. As each of us walk with God by faith day by day, obeying His Word He begins to prepare us for what is inside that present. In God’s perfect time He allows the wrapping on the gift we have to come off and He allows us to see what the talent/ability for serving Him will be. Whether we know what gift God has given us or not, we are to live a faithful and obedient life that pleases God. Because even though we might not feel like we have a purpose and are not useful to God, He sees all that is going on around us. He knows how your life will affect the people around you.

We all influence the lives of others around us. Whether it’s your brother/sister or your classmates there is someone who is affected by the way you live your life. The question we need to think about this morning is: are you influencing people to want to know God and live for Him, or are you influencing people to disobey and rebel against God?

Bible Teaching

Let’s get right into the Bible story for today. It is found in the Book of Esther. Esther is found to the left of the Book of Psalms in the Old Testament.

Esther 2:6-7 (Have volunteer read these verses.) From these verses what do we learn about woman named Esther? Did anyone see what her other name she was known by? (Hadassah). We learn from this passage that Esther is a young Jewish woman. When we say Jewish what does that mean? (A person who is a descendant of Abraham, also known as an Israelite or Hebrew.) What happened to Esther’s parents? (They died.) Who raised Esther as his own daughter? (her cousin Mordecai)

These verses don’t tell us how Esther felt about her life. Did she feel like her life was valuable to God? Did she understand that God had a plan for her life that would influence the lives of many? We don’t know how she felt about these things. As we look at her life we will learn that God had great plans for Esther whether she realized it or not.

Mordecai, Esther’s older cousin was a Jewish man who was taken as a prisoner by King Nebuchadnezzar when he invaded and attacked Jerusalem. We have learned about some other Jewish people who were taken from their home in Jerusalem to Babylon. Do you remember who those people were? (Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego)

These verses don’t tell us a lot of how Mordecai felt either. We do know that he took care of Esther and raised her as if she were his own daughter. Because of things we will see as we travel through the Book of Esther we can see that Mordecai was a Jewish man who loved and obeyed the One True God. Since he loved and obeyed the One True God he must have taught Esther to love and obey God. We don’t know how Mordecai felt about his life and if he understood that God had a purpose for him either.

Mordecai simply obeyed His God and trusted Him. It doesn’t matter whether he understood God’s plan for his life. It is the same with us. Whether we understand God’s purpose or not, He values our lives and uses us exactly where He places us. Our job isn’t to fully understand what God’s purpose is. Our job is to trust God, obey His Word and walk with Him every day.

Esther 1 The king over the country Persia at this time was named Xerxes. He was a very rich king and had very fancy parties that lasted for days and days. One night King Xerxes commanded that his wife Queen Vashti come and show herself to all his men friends. Queen Vashti refused to do what the King commanded. This made Xerxes furious that his wife didn’t come and do what he commanded. The king’s helpers said, “This woman must go! We can’t have her setting a bad example for the other wives in your kingdom!” Xerxes followed their advice and did not allow Vashti to be queen anymore.

Esther 2 Xerxes must have felt better that he had punished the queen for her disobedience but soon after she left his palace he began to miss having a wife. King Xerxes’ helpers saw that Xerxes might be missing his wife Vashti. They came up with an idea. They told the king that he should bring all the beautiful young, pure women who have never been married to the city of Shushan and have a beauty contest. The woman who the king would choose would be the new queen.

The king thought this was a great idea. He had the beautiful young women from the cities in his kingdom brought to the city of Shushan so they could prepare for this beauty contest.

Esther the young Jewish woman lived in Shushan. Esther 2:7 says this about Esther: “Esther was lovely in form and features.” This means that Esther was physically attractive. She was chosen to be taken with the other young women to take part in the contest to become queen. This may not have been something that Esther wanted anything to do with. Maybe the thought of being Xerxes wife was not something she wanted to do at all. Not knowing what Esther’s feelings on this were we know that she obeyed and went where she was asked to go. She may not have understood but she chose to obey. God has a plan for His children and He places them exactly where He wants them so He can use them for His plan. Acts 17:24-28

After all the women went before the King, he liked Esther best of all. He chose her to be his Queen. It must have been scary for Esther. King Xerxes didn’t always behave in a nice way. She must have heard stories of his parties and how Queen Vashti was fired. What kind of husband would Xerxes be? Even though Esther may not have understood why she was chosen to be queen, God did. He had a plan and as we listen we will see how God uses Esther for His plan.

Before Esther became Queen. Mordecai told her it was important to not tell anyone that she was a Jew. The Bible doesn’t tell us why Mordecai asked this of her, but he did. Esther obeyed Mordecai because he was like a father to her and she knew that God would want her to honor and obey the man who was as a father to her.

Mordecai loved Esther very much and he sat at the king’s gate to be near to where Esther lived. One time while he was sitting by the gate he overheard two men planning to kill King Xerxes. He passed this information along to Ether and she told the King. The two men were put to death and Mordecai’s information about this plot was written down in the King’s history books.

The king had a helper who was wicked and cruel. He thought he was a very important man because he worked for the king. His name was Haman. King Xerxes promoted Haman to a position higher than the other officials in his kingdom. The king made a command that everyone should kneel and honor Haman when he was present.

Esther 3:5 One day as he walked by Mordecai he expected to bow down and honor him. Mordecai knew it was against God’s commandments to bow down to anyone but Him. He would not bow down to honor Haman. This angered Haman and caused him to hate Mordecai. He knew that Mordecai was a Jew so that made Haman hate all Jews.

Because Haman hated all the Jews he went to King Xerxes and asked the king to make a law that all the Jews to be killed. When he asked the king he didn’t mention the Jews by name but said, “There are certain people who live in your land who do not obey the king’s laws. The king listened to Haman and made a law that in the month of Adar all the Jews, men, women, and children would be destroyed. Esther 3:12-14

Boys and girls this was terrible news! God’s people the Jews were going to be destroyed because of wicked Haman’s plan. Haman was having every Jew killed because he hated them so much.

God loves His children and protects them from evil. He does not want His children destroyed. Esther 4:1-2 Mordecai found out about this terrible news that the Jews were going to be destroyed. The news broke his heart and caused him to cry out with loud cries and wailing. He put on sackcloth and ashes to show that he was mourning this horrible plot to destroy God’s people. He had messengers go and tell Esther that she had to do something to stop this wicked plan.

When Esther heard this news she was afraid. She knew that if she went to the king without being invited she could be killed right on the spot. Only people who were invited by the king could come and stand before his throne. Esther 4:12-13 Mordecai encouraged Esther and told her that it was for this time in her life that God had a plan to use her for His purposes. If she didn’t do something, God would use someone else to save His people.

Even though Esther might die, she decided that she would have others pray and fast with her. She would go to the king and tell him of this wicked plan to destroy her people. Even if it meant she might die doing it.

This took courage. God gave courage to Esther to go before the king. God gives courage to His children so that they can do the work He has for them.

After Esther and her people prayed and fasted for three days she went before the king. As she stood in the outer courts and King Xerxes saw her, she must have trembled on the inside. When she looked up at the king she saw a smile on his face and him holding out his scepter for her to touch. This was what a king did to show a person it was ok to come into the room where he was.

Queen Esther was trusting God to show her what to do so when the King asked her what she wanted, she invited him and Haman to a banquet. At the banquet she invited the king and Haman to attend another banquet the next night.

Because Esther trusted God and His timing she didn’t rush to tell Xerxes about Haman’s wicked plan. Because she waited and acted only when the time was right, God was able to work in other events that would bring together His plan for this situation.

Haman was so proud of himself that he had been the only one invited to attend the King and Queen’s banquet that he left the banquet very happy. As he walked by Mordecai on his way home he was furious that he would not kneel and honor him. When he arrived at home he boasted to his family about the events of the day and about his invitation to eat at the banquet with the king and queen. He also told his family about how much he despised Mordecai. Haman’s wife and his friends influenced him in a negative way. They told him that he should build a gallows so that Mordecai could be hung on it. Haman loved this idea and he had the gallows built.

Meanwhile the night before Esther’s banquet, the king could not sleep. God is control over all things. It is not an accident that the king could not sleep. Since Xerxes was unable to sleep he asked his servant to bring him a history book for him to read. It wasn’t an accident which history book was brought for him to read. As he read in this book he reads about the account of Mordecai overhearing the plot to have him killed. King Xerxes realized that Mordecai had not been honored and rewarded for saving his life so as he was planning how he could reward Mordecai, Haman is coming to his palace to request that he might be allowed to hang Mordecai on the gallows he has made.

As Haman enters the King’s presence the king asks him, “What should be done for the man the king delights to honor?”

Pride is an ugly thing. Pride blinds us to the true sinful person that we are. Haman was blinded by pride. He assumed the king wanted to honor him so he came up with the best way he would want to be honored. Imagine his horror when King Xerxes tells him to go and do to Mordecai all that he said about how to be honored!

It was now time for the banquet. Esther knew it was God’s time to tell the King that she and her people were going to be killed. Esther 7:5-8 She told the king that she was a Jew and there was a law that her people were going to be killed. The king was furious! “Who would dare to think about killing you?” The king loved his wife and the thought of her being killed made him angry. Esther pointed at Haman and said the enemy who wants to destroy the Jews is this wicked Haman!”

King Xerxes had Haman put to death on the gallows he had built for Mordecai as his punishment for his wicked plan.

God had used Mordecai and Esther to save His people from destruction. Esther went to Xerxes and pleaded with him to write a new law that would save her people. He agreed and made a new law that said on the day that the Jews were to be attacked that they could protect themselves from those who were going to attack them.

The Jews lives were saved because Esther was faithful and obeyed in the circumstance she was in. Many lives were positively affected because of her influence.

We have been placed on this earth at this time in history for God’s plans and purposes. He knows all that is going on around us and He will use us to be a Godly influence in the lives of others around us if we choose to follow and obey Him.

Maybe this morning you realize that you are not being a good influence in other’s lives. No matter how hard you try you still do things you know you shouldn’t. It may be that you have never been saved. When a person understands that they are a sinner and the only way that their sin can be forgiven is by believing that Jesus died on the Cross for their sins, was buried and rose again on the third day. When a person believes in Jesus, the Holy Spirit comes inside his/her heart and gives them the power to live a life that pleases God. It is only when the Holy Spirit lives inside of your heart that you can be a good influence in other’s lives. Today you can be saved. Please talk to one of us and we will show you from the Bible and pray with you how you can do that today.

If you have been saved you have all that you need to be a good influence in the lives of others. You have God’s Word. You must read it daily. You have the privilege to pray, you can pray and ask God to help you. You have the Holy Spirit to give you power to do what is right. You have other believers that you can ask to pray for you if you are having a difficult time being a good influence.

Close in prayer.

Review Questions:

Who has a plan for each of His children?
Who was Mordecai?
Why did the King have a beauty contest?
Who hated the Jews and made a plan to have them destroyed?
Why was Mordecai crying in the streets?
Why should we follow God’s instructions and trust Him for His timing in our circumstances?
How did God use Esther to save His people?
How can God use you in your circumstances to be a positive influence?

Additional Resources:

Need More Help? Then check out our kids church lessons or find a Children’s games for Sunday School to supplement this lesson plan.

Do You Get Discouraged In Children’s Ministry?

Tony Kummer — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 13:06:12 +0000

I want to make a confession, sometimes I feel discouraged about our children’s ministry. From an outsiders perspective it is anything but glamorous and sometimes it just feels like a Christian job. There are constant discouragements and I’ve wondered how people serve in children’s ministry decades after decade. For example:

Many of my friends from are serving in larger churches and they reach more kids than will ever attend our church.
I’m not the senior pastor and my influence on the direction of our church is feels limited
Our Baptist church has declined over the past three years, mostly due to pastoral turnover and changing ministry paradigms and sermon style.
I’ve seen many children come through our ministry only to go a radically different direction when they reach the youth ministry. It’s always hard to see when a child loses her way.
Even our best child evangelism programs suffer from limited volunteers and resources
At the end of the day, there is always more I wish I could have done to help our church reach the community

Your Ministry Can Change A Child’s Life

If you’ve ever felt this way, let me offer you some children’s minsitry encouragement. You may not be able to change the whole world, but you can change a life. Every child has infinite value in the eyes of God. In children’s ministry, it’s essential to see victory in the small wins. No church can reach every child, but every church can reach some. It takes rural and urban ministries, small and big churches. Success in this ministry must be measured one kid at a time.

Yes, I respect my friends for their larger churches, but I know that God wants me here. I love seeing the faith of these kids grow with each year.
The most strategic way to influence the God’s kingdom is to shape it’s future leaders. So, even if I’m not the lead pastor, the impact of my ministry can be much larger through training the next generation of church leaders.
Even while our church has lost some members, we’ve seen real spiritual growth in many families. I’ve seen children learn to worship Jesus and receive him as personal savior.
Even though some kids have lost their way, I know we have shown God’s love and taught them the plan of salvation.
Even when resources get stretched, we can take comfort in knowing that we’re giving 100% of our best efforts.
At the end of the day, I know that God will continue his work even when I’m unable to do more.

Maybe you are a Sunday school teacher who is feeling burnt out. Maybe you serve in the church nursery or preschool ministry and constantly miss the sermon. Maybe you are discouraged because kids are not interested in your Bible stories or activities. Maybe you teach children’s church and wonder if all your lessons are making a difference.

Children’s Ministry Matters To God

Don’t be discouraged if your church is small and there are not as many kids as you wish. Consider every child as a sacred trust and do your best with what God has given you. Ministry is not a game or a job, it’s a calling.

I hope these ideas have been an encouragement for your ministry to children. You can add your own thoughts by filling out the comment form below. I look forward to reading your feedback.

What Is The Average Salary For Children’s Ministers?

Tony Kummer — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 03:29:04 +0000

I just found this very interesting report on the Children’s Ministry Magazine website. It gives the salary breakdown for children’s ministry jobs and even lets you calculate and compare your salary based on very fine tuned demographics.

NOTE: That tool is no longer available since they updated their website. You can read their 1995 survey that listed the average salary at 31,668.

View this survey from Trinity Lutheran College
View the survey from Abilene Christian University
Read this article about getting a ministry pay raise.

As you might guess, there is a big gap based on church size and gender. But I was surprised that years at present church didn’t make a big difference. If you are trying to work with your church to establish a fair pay rate, this salary survey for children’s ministry staff is a great resource to have available.

It still looks like children’s ministers are paid lower salaries than pastors and youth ministers. But just remember that our real treasure is in heaven, where the last shall be first. That’s my retirement plan for now.

The reality is that most of us do this job because of God’s calling and a passion to minister to children. But if you’re like me, supporting your family is also a part of the package. So, keep these average salary figures in mind if you’re looking for a children’s ministry job.

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Share Your Tips For Sunday School Growth

Tony Kummer — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 01:07:32 +0000

With kids back in school, the Fall Sunday School bump has started. But this is also a great time to get new families to start attending.

This post is an open forum for you to share your best tips and advice for getting more kids in Sunday School.

Sunday School Bulletin Board Ideas

Tony Kummer — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 16:44:26 +0000

I have always struggled to find good ideas for my church’s Sunday school bulletin board. The default mode is to post the latest crafts, but a well-decorated bulletin board can be a good way to keep your children’s ministry area interesting. Here are a few web resources that offer free Sunday school bulletin board ideas.

Bulletin Board Ideas for Sunday School

Kid’s Sunday School Place offers 11 free bulletin board ideas (14 more in the members only area). Each one has an example picture and material lists. Bulletin Board Ideas for Sunday School Class that you can easily create. A great visual teaching aid for children’s church. Easy to follow instructions and picture sample.

Apostolic Faith Church has a large set of photos on their website of their bulletin board projects. There are no instruction, but you should be able to get the idea from the pictures. You can even email them a picture of your designs and they will add it to their list. This is a great place to start when you are creating a church bulletin board.

Danielle’s Place presents several Sunday school bulletin board designs on this free page. Some of these ideas are really fun, some even include frogs. My favorite is the “Fruit of the Spirit” bulletin board display. Danielle’s place has many more designs in their paid membership only area.

DLTK website lists church bulletin boards by month & season. This helps you find the right ideas all through the sunday school calender. Examples have pictures and instructions for using them in Sunday school which include relevant Bible verses. These bulletin boards could work in several different settings including homeschooling.

Teacher Help has a large collection of bulletin boards decorating ideas, many of these are in PDF format or link to other websites. Their website is a little difficult to navigate, but they have a large selection of ideas for your bulletin boards. You will need to scroll down to see the links.

Sunday School Lessons & Bad Interpretation

Tony Kummer — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 04:52:15 +0000

Have you ever had to modify a lesson plan because it didn’t line up with the Bible story it was supposed to be teaching?

Children’s ministry workers and Sunday school teachers should always be careful when teaching from a Sunday school curriculum. Most publishers have a statement of faith and editorial reviews to ensure sound doctrine.

But sometimes individual lessons can miss the meaning of the passage. The result can be misleading children when teaching the Bible story. Dr. John Walton has just posted on this topic on the Zondervan blog. His article is titled Hermeneutics and Children’s Curriculum and looks at five common ways that Sunday school lessons can fail in this area.

Promotion of the Trivial
Illegitimate extrapolation
Reading Between the Lines
Missing important nuance:
Focus on people rather than God

This is one reason why I’ve been writing my own lesson plans for Children’s church. I also try to be very selective on which free Sunday school lessons I’ll link on this blog.

I encourage you to go and check out Dr. Walton’s article. It might make you read your Sunday school lesson more carefully this weekend.

KJV Curriculum that’s FUN and Baptist: What do you suggest?

Tony Kummer — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 10:31:14 +0000

I just got this great question from a reader and thought someone else might be able to help:

I can’t tell you how many countless hours I’ve spent searching for new Sunday School, Children’s Church and midweek curriculum for our church and it’s like finding a needle in a haystack when trying to find a curriculum that’s FUN, KJV and has a similar statement of faith to the Baptist church.

I’ve posted some links to KJV Vacation Bible School Curriculum, but I don’t know where to start when it comes to midweek and Sunday school curriculum. Translation is not an issue in my church, but we do look into the publishers statement of faith.

Any KJV curriculum suggestions?

Just leave a comment below, and thanks in advance for your help.

Children’s Church Games

Tony Kummer — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 02:24:17 +0000

You’ve worked hard on your Kids Church lesson, but you still need to find one more fun activity to round out the hour. If you have served in children’s ministry for long, then you know that down time is the enemy. One great strategy is to always have additional learning activities or games.

Also check out our listing of free Sunday School games for kids.

This page points to hundreds of free church game ideas that can help. Please leave a comment below if you know of more resources like this

Video Demonstations

Encouragement Game: This is a simple game I’ve used to teach the kids about building up others. I first used it to help some of my foster children to use positive words – a great need!
Object Freeze Tag Game: This is a fun spin on classic tag. With a few simple items you can make it work in your VBS or children’s ministry.
Captain Midnight Game for Kids Ministry: This is a large group game that works best if you have a gym or outside area.
“That’s Impossible” Game for Children’s Church: This basketball inspired game will teach kids they need Jesus’ help to obey the Bible.

More Children’s Church Games

9 Classic Group Games for Kids: You don’t need to start from scratch with every game. Try one of the classics and add your own twist. With a little creative thinking, these could be tied in with your teaching.
Kid’s Sunday School Place lists 20+ game ideas for children’s church, plus many more in their membership areas. Some of these games will require you to plan ahead. I recommend having several games always on standby for when you need them. This website is a solid resource and very user friendly.
eBibleTeacher has several pages of learning activities that features several helpful review games for children’s church lessons. These are more on the educational side rather than the energy-burning sort of games.
Children’s Church Games is a whole website dedicated to games for children’s ministry. Unfortunately the selection is somewhat limited. But if you check it out you will find several good ideas.
Children’s Church Ministry lists several games for children’s church. The selection is small, but I’m linking it just in case you need more ideas.

More Games for Children’s Church?

I hope this list of web resources was helpful. If you find another site that offers free Sunday school games, please leave a comment below to let other readers know about it.

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Free Lesson Plan: Jesus Is Greater Than Sickness (Matthew 8:1-17)

Tony Kummer — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 15:54:57 +0000

Here is another free lesson plan for children’s church (or Sunday school). It’s based on the Bible story from Matthew 8:1-7 where Jesus heals the sick.

Children’s Church Bible Lesson: Jesus Heals The Sick from Matthew 8:1-17

You can also download my other Bible Story Lesson Plans for Children Church

Children’s Church Lesson: Jesus Is Greater Than Sickness
Text: Matthew 8:1-17

Learning Objectives: After this lesson, children will demonstrate knowledge of the healing ministry of Jesus … by recalling the three miracles of healing in this story from memory.

Target Age: Kindergarten – 5^th

Items Needed:

Marked Bible for this passage. Prepare the copy in advance by highlighting the significant points to emphasize. Underlining words or ideas that will need additional explanation. I typically make small notes in the margin.
Optional: Centurion coloring pages or Jesus coloring pages

Explanation: There are several major themes in this passage. The summary verse is Matthew 8:17 which explains that all this proves Jesus is the Promised Messiah. You should note how Jesus welcomed the faith of the Roman centurion. Remind the children that the Romans soldiers will be the ones who nail Jesus to the cross. Jesus proves his authority over sickness and disease. This carries on the theme of authority from Matthew 7:29, the immediate context preceding this story. Jesus gives a brief description of the Kingdom of heaven in verses 10-12. This is more than just going to heaven. This is the new creation where Jesus is King, and all things are made right.

One Page Teaching Plan

Hook
Tell a story about a time when you were sick. Tell the children that even the strongest adults can become very weak when they get sick. Disease and sickness are very strong. But in our story today we will see that Jesus is much greater than sickness.

Book
Active Listening: Ask the children to listen carefully for the three people Jesus heals in this passage. Tell them you will ask them to tell the story back when you are done.

Read (and summarize) Matthew 8:1-17. (Read with emotion and pause often to engage the children with the reading.)

Ask for reports: What three miracles did Jesus do in this passage?

Jesus healed a leaper by touching him.
Jesus healed a centurion’s servant from the other side of town, just by saying he was healed.
Jesus healed Peter’s mother-in-law by touching her hand.

Yes or No: Ask the children to stand up if these were things Jesus did in this story. If they are not in the story the children should stay seated with arms crossed.

Did he fight against the temptations of the Devil?
Did Jesus heal Peter’s mother-in-law?
Did Jesus heal a soldier’s servant from the other side of the city?
Did Jesus turn water into wine?
Did Jesus heal a leaper in this story?
Did Jesus clear the moneychangers out of the Temple?

Look:
How can it help us to know that Jesus is greater than sickness?

Possible answers:

We can trust him more when we pray.
We can look forward to the Kingdom of heaven.
We don’t have to be afraid, because Jesus is in charge.

Took:

How can you show your faith that Jesus is greater than sickness?