tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-911707550436621468.post4107700953233178103..comments2023-07-18T19:52:35.156+10:00Comments on another something: kids' talks in church vs kids' talks in sunday schoolSimone R.http://www.blogger.com/profile/05248239853519762027noreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-911707550436621468.post-21576954873490453572013-07-13T15:03:10.366+10:002013-07-13T15:03:10.366+10:00For me, I always prefer to read at least one sente...For me, I always prefer to read at least one sentence word for word from the Bible (sometimes I try to simplify the language without being too interpretive). I want to be explicitly clear to the kids that the Bible is our authority. And yes, "hinges" are key, and not always easy!cjhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00417234566548082153noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-911707550436621468.post-90594633744793694632013-07-12T11:17:06.675+10:002013-07-12T11:17:06.675+10:00We are also a small church - congregation of 60-70...We are also a small church - congregation of 60-70 with 8 to 10 kids ranging in age from 3-9. The kids talk we do in church is the main 'teaching' element of our kids church program and they then do discussion and craft in smaller groups while the sermon is preached. So limited resources doesn't mean talks can't be done and done well.Melhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17110383384248359066noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-911707550436621468.post-42870769872753614432013-07-12T11:05:09.935+10:002013-07-12T11:05:09.935+10:00The worst kids talk I have ever heard was an '...The worst kids talk I have ever heard was an 'object' talk. The 'object' was cake and the ingredients that make up a cake. The 'main point' was "Church is like a cake, it has a pleasing aroma".<br /><br />(This was while we were church shopping when we first moved to NZ)Melhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17110383384248359066noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-911707550436621468.post-82706248092935800152013-07-11T22:20:20.104+10:002013-07-11T22:20:20.104+10:00http://simone1975.blogspot.com.au/2010/04/1-samuel...http://simone1975.blogspot.com.au/2010/04/1-samuel-8-9-kids-talk.html<br /><br />http://simone1975.blogspot.com.au/2010/05/1-samuel-16-kids-talk.html<br /><br />Here are a couple. I'll write a post on what I mean by 'hinges'<br /><br />simone rhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16626356778188873309noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-911707550436621468.post-87843844647509712502013-07-11T12:43:29.129+10:002013-07-11T12:43:29.129+10:00Completely agree with your thoughts on both the be...Completely agree with your thoughts on both the benefits and challenges of doing kids' talks well, Simone. In a small church, we only do kids' talks in church occasionally - eg during school holidays or at Easter or to give the adults an insight into what the kids are doing at church4kids. Given the choice, we'd rather put our limited resources into doing the kids' program well week-to-week. Hopefully it also means we can do a quality job with the kids' talks when we do them. <br /><br />For what it's worth, I think many of the challenges you mentioned with kids' talks apply equally to doing kids' songs in church too... CathyStuarthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00029429195193983812noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-911707550436621468.post-11992387861207397952013-07-11T08:57:57.341+10:002013-07-11T08:57:57.341+10:00Can you post a copy of one of your kid talks?
I&#...Can you post a copy of one of your kid talks?<br /><br />I'd like to understand the "hinges" more. Adam Gregoryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17436347193520996163noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-911707550436621468.post-33469975984556992352013-07-09T13:44:54.630+10:002013-07-09T13:44:54.630+10:00Our church used to have them every week. Now they ...Our church used to have them every week. Now they have become more of an occasional event, for example, we might have one or two over the school holidays when the kids program isn't running, so that the kids have something that is targeted towards them. <br /><br />I like it much better now we don't have them as often. It's a bit more attention grabbing because it's a novel stimulus for the little people, I think.Karenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16213944904796774622noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-911707550436621468.post-73058324134590482682013-07-08T20:17:49.083+10:002013-07-08T20:17:49.083+10:00A really good children's talk is a marvellous ...A really good children's talk is a marvellous thing. But rare. And that's basically my beef against children's talks. Most of the children's talks I've heard in the last five years have suffered from one or more of the following problems: way too long, jargon language or Christian clichés that kids wouldn't get, poor theology (thus it actually takes away from the effectiveness of the sermon later on), abstract links that the kids don't really follow, or moralizing. At the moment, we have a new minister who happens to be very good at giving children's talks. But he's a rare one too.<br /><br />The most memorable children's talk I can think of was the one about the "sword of the spirit" for which an enthusiastic young man decided to bring in his large family machete to illustrate the idea of a double-edged sword. As he waved it around, he joked that if he was naughty, his parents might come and get him with the sword. And that God's Word was a big double-edged sword so we'd better do what he says or else! We spent the car ride home undoing that one and assuring our kids God doesn't come to get us with a sword if we are naughty! The guy meant well but random 18-year old young group guys don't always get the pitch right.<br /><br />If kids are going out to Sunday School at some point, they are already getting content geared towards them. If they are staying in for the whole service, then a children's talk might be appropriate. But it's often done so poorly that I wish it wasn't done at all. My other beef is the way kids are set up to "perform" by giving the right answer. Would we like to be asked theological or Bible questions in front of a whole room full of adults who are going to giggle if we get it wrong? And do we think it does our child a great service if everyone thinks he is such a good Christian boy because he knows all the right answers? So I really hate children's talks that quiz the kids on their knowledge of spiritual things in front of a large audience.Debhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17323321295593693009noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-911707550436621468.post-63394923763583607162013-07-08T18:12:28.535+10:002013-07-08T18:12:28.535+10:00Thanks for this Simone..
Our normal sunday servic...Thanks for this Simone..<br /><br />Our normal sunday services don't have a children's talk, as they have a pretty extensive bible-teaching class (as in they go through the bible over a couple of years!) for kids which runs in parallel.<br />However, for our monthly International service, we try to incorporate either a talk or at least a song for kids, to include them - but also realising that the simplified language which kids stuff usually has is likely to be helpful for those whose English is not so good. (Preaching for ESL-ers is probably another good topic for another day!)Findohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10281123888415780336noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-911707550436621468.post-44920324110743868502013-07-08T17:03:38.588+10:002013-07-08T17:03:38.588+10:00I'm sure they *can* work, but I think they don...I'm sure they *can* work, but I think they don't work anywhere near as well as stories. They are almost necessarily abstract. But check with your kids. Ask them if they remember what yesterday's kids' talk was about. If they remember the object, do they have any idea what the point of the lesson was?simone rhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16626356778188873309noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-911707550436621468.post-57902743077658767502013-07-08T16:26:45.530+10:002013-07-08T16:26:45.530+10:00Interested about your comment about object lessons...Interested about your comment about object lessons - from memory we do them a bit, and I feel like they work? Maybe because our kids are pretty young (we regularly get 25 kids under 9 and only a handful older than that). Do you think they can ever work?Katrinahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02333791658343368824noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-911707550436621468.post-62006112321987216142013-07-08T15:14:07.038+10:002013-07-08T15:14:07.038+10:00We do kids' talks in church. Reasons we do ar...We do kids' talks in church. Reasons we do are:<br /><br />- Because is a great way of expressing the unity we have as the people of God/as the body of Christ.<br /><br />- It is also helpful for the congregation to know what the kids are learning and hopefully triggering them to talk about it with the children after the service (both parents of the kids and just other adults in the congregation).<br /><br />- Adults learn from the talks too. They are great at reinforcing the basics/main point of the passage and not getting hung up in all little details or tangents.<br /><br />- Another reason when we originally introduced kids' talks in the service was that some families wanted their kids to stay in church for the whole service so it was a way of accommodating the parent's wishes and still give the kids from those families some age appropriate teaching. (those families have now all left the church)<br /><br />I use the Kidswise material written/developed by Sandy Galea and I think she does a great job at writing talks that fulfil all the points you list for a talk to hit the mark. And she even manages for more challenging stuff including Romans! And because her material is written to follow the sermon series of the adults at their church(in general), it means we cover stuff that most general Sunday school material might skip over. For example we are currently doing a term on Judges...usually Sunday school curriculum would cover Deborah and Samson, but for example this past week we looked at Micah stealing his mum's silver and her then telling him to make an idol from it. We have found the adults without kids (ie. young adults or parents who's kids are grown up), really enjoy the talks and learn from them and it also prompts them to go home and look at the bible passage themselves (our talks don't match the sermons) as sometimes the talks bring out details that they don't remember or haven't noticed before or they haven't really looked at closely at all. Actually all the comments we get after the services from the adults about the talks aren't from any parents of the kids that are part of Sunday school but those in the category I just mentioned. And sometimes the minister/pastor jokingly laments that some of the adults remember the maint point of the kids talk better than the main point of his sermon. Which I guess is what your pitching point is all about.<br /><br />I also agree that the 'hinges' of the talk are very tricky and even well written hinges can become awkward if not delivered in the right way.<br /><br />I also agree that delivery can be tricky and not everybody is able to do it well. Which is why at our church Peter and I are permanently stuck with this job (there are a few others who are happy to teach the smaller groups we split up into after the talk). Melhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17110383384248359066noreply@blogger.com