It is imperative that we teach children the Bible. When I was a kid growing in the 60s and 70s, we had Sunday School, Christian Endeavour, Boy’s Brigade, Youth Group, Navigators and so on. There was a constant stream of Bible teaching which has obviously stayed with me for life. Kids today are neglected. Even today, many of those children who are brought to church by their parents each week seem woefully ignorant of the stories from God’s Word. No wonder we are losing so many kids to the world.
We MUST teach our young people the Bible. It is not an option. We run into problems because kids, in this day and age of miniscule attention span, get bored easily. Many Sunday School teachers find it difficult to connect with kids. We need to use whatever resources we can to effectively convey the truths of God’s Word to our youngsters.
I am in favour, and use all year long, both old and new methods of visuals. It’s amazing how exciting a chalk talk can be. It’s not hard to learn. Keith Thompson has authored a great book on learning to illustrate by hand.
http://www.amazon.com/Sketching-Telling-Stories-Children-Thompson/dp/0310364019
Surprisingly, flannelgraphs are so old fashioned that they actually work. I don’t use them myself, but some churches still do, to good effect. From memory, Betty Lukens is the standard resource.
OHP (over head projectors) ended with Noah. (Presumably he ran out of extension cord on the ark.) Powerpoint, although technologically old, is still a very effective way of using visuals to assist a Bible message. The possibilities are endless. I came across this site recently, and plan to buy some of their professional graphics for a try out.
Object lessons always work well. Simple objects well explained make for great teaching aids. A straight edged ruler well describes the 10 commandments, showing us how crooked we really are. A tiny amount of dirt added to a clean glass of water shows us how even a “tiny” sin defiles the whole. A broom can be used when recounting the story of the woman who lost her silver coin, and so on. Use your imagination; your kids do!
Remember, you may have the fanciest graphics, but you still have to tell the story. This is where preparation, practice and prayer come into play. If we rush through our preparation, we know it. So too does our audience of kids or teens. They are worth us doing our very best, and of course, Jesus deserves it too.
FRESH BREAD DAILY 