[QueenAngie]

Children's Sermons.

Thought I should bring up this topic and ask about your local
church services.

Does your weekly church service include a short children's sermon?
Usually it is a Bible story or Bible lesson, a short Bible verse,
and a repeated prayer mainly for small children.

Does your church use this method of teaching children?

What do you think are the impacts on the youngsters
as well as the adults hearing this message?

[MJ7]

Our church has Children's Church for the kids where they are divided by age or grade. The middle schoolers are together though as are the high schoolers each in their own groups. This gives the children an opportunity to do lessons and hear stories at age appropriate levels and skill levels for projects. It also keeps the class sizes smaller for more one on one support from class helpers.

I don't think my children would make it through an adult sermon though. Not only would some of it be far over their heads but it would be boring. As it stands learning about Christ and the bible is really fun for them and they're retaining what they learn.

[twobytwo]

I am the Director of Preschool Ministries at our church and we have Childrens Chapel for preschoolers, & Kids Church for elementary for the first 45 minutes of the church service. Then the children are brought over to "big church" to partake in communion with their family. We have been following the lectionary so the children and their parents are hearing the same Gospel message. We also included verses for memorization and close with prayer where each child adds to the prayer. At the end of chapel each child leaves with a "Table Blessings" sheet that has the Bible passage we learned about along with some questions to talk about around the table. We are encouraging our parents to disciple their children at home and this is just one of the tools that we've started using.

[QueenAngie]

Welcome to the board, Twobytwo!

Sounds like your church is very active and are meeting
the needs of all ages. I particularly like the "Table Blessings"
sheet so that families can discuss the same topics over dinner.
That really reinforces the Bible passages for that Sunday.

So glad you've joined!

[mcmama]

The Episcopal church I used to attend has done this on Christmas and Easter, and sometimes for baptisms. But not regularly. The kids are in Sunday school and come in for communion. There is very little follow through.

I've been attending a local methodist church recently where they have childrens sermons as part of the routine. It is very nice. The kids do a bible class before church.

One of the nicest childrens sermons I saw was at Maranatha Baptist Church, in Plains GA, the home of Jimmy Carter. The pastor there really has a gift for preaching, and for connecting with the children. There are so many strangers there every Sunday, who just come to hear President Carter teach a Sunday School class for adults, and I am sure that the childrens sermon with the pastor takes people by surprise. I don;t know if they do this all the time, but when we were there it really was refreshing.