Preparation for the weekend is quite a process. You think of fun games, really dig into the message, pray over it and then bring it on the weekend. But once the lesson is over, you wonder: did the children get it? Did the children truly understand the truth of the message? Did the children not just hear knowledge, but did they receive the power of the gospel? Do they know that the message of the gospel will impact their life?
I have battled with these questions over and over many times. Wondering if the information of the gospel was really becoming transformational in the lives of kids that came to the 3rd and 4th grade area. Then, one day it hit me. Do we even ask them? Do we give them a chance to process the material? Do we give them an opportunity to think about the lesson for themselves?
This fall our kids are learning the foundations of the faith. This is a great series on the basic truths of the Christian faith. To help the children make the connection that this material is not just information that is nice to know, but is life-changing truths that affect their life, we had them do this activity!
It is called, “I’m Founded On”
To start, each child was given a block. The block had the words “so what?” written on one side and was blank on the other.
The volunteer leader told the children: “Today you learned about God. We learned many different truths about who He is, what He has done and more! If someone asked you what is so great about God, what would you say? Well, write that down on your block!”
Each child stared for a second wondering what to say. But the volunteers gave them time to process their thoughts. After a few minutes, and reinforcement from volunteers that there is no right or wrong answer, the truths written by the children were incredible!
As the volunteers walked around the room, they saw that the children were understanding and learning the lesson! They could visually see that God was doing something in their lives! That the information was becoming transformational.
The last part of this activity is continuing the education beyond the one-hour service. To keep the transformation going, we put those blocks together to form a solid foundation that is in the classroom for weeks to come. This allows the children to see the truths they or others wrote down weekly and be reminded of the life-changing power of the gospel and Christian faith. It was amazing to see the parents and children come to the 3rd and 4th grade space the following weekend and be transformed by the truths written by the hearts of 8 year olds.
Materials Needed:
- 1 block for every child: http://www.amazon.com/Citiblocs-Colors-Precision-Building-Blocks/dp/B003RCJXBA/ref=pd_sim_t_3
- Write “so what?” on each block
- Enough Sharpie markers for each child
- Colors: red, blue, yellow, and green
- Flat base wooden board
- Tacky glue
Directions:
During the service:
- Hand each child a block and a pen
- Ask them to answer the question, “So what is so great about (lesson/truth of the day)?”
- Collect all blocks
During the week:
- Use tacky glue to glue blocks flat on board
- Then on top of flat layer of blocks, glue the (lesson/truth of the day) word on top of the bottom layer of blocks
Stacey Davis is the Grade 3-4 Coordinator at Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, CA.
Steve Adams has been the Children’s Pastor at Saddleback Church since 2007. He has served as Children’s Pastor for over 20 years and is a leader and mentor to many children’s ministry leaders around the country and into the world. God has blessed him with a creative mind, a true pastor’s heart and a passion for serving God and others through Children’s Ministry! Steve and his wife, Stephanie, have two sons – Tyler and Matthew.
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