What happens during Sunday School.

Today I want to share with you how I manage a group children of many ages in Sunday School in our little church:

Each Sunday, the kids and I meet together like a family: around a table, drinking (and spilling) cocoa, munching on cookies that were donated by "the Ladies of the Church," and talking about our lives. We start our visit by talking about our week. There is always someone who can't wait to start! (chuckle--you know who you are!) Even the shyest follow suit because they know it's okay. I love them. They can't say anything "wrong" in this class.

The kids and I practice things like taking turns while talking, not talking with our mouths full (I sometimes need to be reminded!), and treating each other with charity when it comes to disagreements.

Next, I bring the discussion around to the Bible story for the day. Lately, because we don't have a curriculum, I have been taking the Gospel reading, researching it, and making information into a lesson appropriate for our kids.

When the gospel reading is too complicated or advanced for this age group, I substitute something that is similar. Next, I take the lesson and think of it in terms of a craft, recipe, song, skit, or game. We really have about enough time for one of those things, so I try to mix it up.

We read the scripture (after a friendly race to find the verses in the Bible), start the craft or activity, and then we talk about the scripture while we work. It usually goes pretty smoothly, except for the mornings where I have overlooked just how messy cooking can be or how hyper kids can get after a big mug of hot chocolate! But, you know, what I am going for is to get kids used to discussing really important matters while doing really normal activities.

If a little argument breaks out, we use that experience to talk about how to handle disagreements. If someone says something inappropriate, we talk about why some things make people uncomfortable and how our words matter. I treat them as though they are God’s own children. Oh wait! They are!

Near closing time, we review our main lesson. For me, this entails finding out the most important part of the lesson and speaking it clearly in as few words as possible. For example, last week, our story was about the “sermon on the mount” and the Beatitudes. I narrowed the message down to something like “when things go bad, God’s not punishing us;  in fact, He loves us even more then!” I try to remind them (and myself) that there are folks in our lives who don’t know that message yet! People sometimes think that God is punishing them or that He hates them for the wrong things they’ve done, but it is our job as followers of Jesus to tell them that God loves them unconditionally and forever, and He will forgive them if they only ask! Some of my kids are young, 5 year olds, in fact, but they get this message. You know, breaking it down to the simplest terms is helpful for them, but it helps all of us. These are big ideas we are trying to teach and understand. I know that I easily forget complicated and mystifying truths, even if they are life-changing! So, for myself, for the older kids, for the adults they may tell later, and yes, for the littlest ones, I say, “simplify the message!”

Now before we end our time together, we take offerings, wish happy birthday, and make any announcements that are important to the whole group at this time.

We like to end our Sunday School session with “the Wave Prayer.” We stand in a circle, hold hands, and I usually start us by saying, “Dear God, we are so thankful today! I am really thankful for …” (the kids here, today, or that the weather is so nice, or that I got to see my mom last weekend…etc.). I then “do the wave” (lift my neighbor’s hand) and it’s their turn. They say they are thankful for their mom and dad or for cookies or basketball or the Seahawks or everything and everyone. You know, kid stuff.  Then they lift their neighbor’s hand. If someone does not want to speak, they may just lift their neighbor’s hand. When the lifted arm gets back around to me, we say the Lord’s Prayer in unison. I should mention that we like to do the Wave Prayer Circle out in our fellowship hall so that we can join the adult class and anyone else we can rope into our circle. It’s more fun to pray as a big group!  After our circle prayer, we drop hands, clap, and say goodbye.