CentriKid promises to be rooted in scripture. It is a foundation of our camp program because we know that God’s infallible word is profitable for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, for training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work (2 Timothy 3: 16-17).
At CentriKid, we use scripture to debrief games and activities with a spiritual application. The Bible study material is the common thread, which we reinforce throughout the day in track times and at worship. We also always include a gospel connection. During our staff training, we focus on making spiritual applications from almost anything. It is important that staff are able to turn a meal time, or any other part of the day, into a gospel-centered conversation. We want to seize every opportunity with kids during camp. Making spiritual applications from almost anything is a skill and a discipline, but with practice, it can be easy. Here are some tips we share with our staff:
- Be in the word and know it well. If you are not in the word yourself it will be difficult to use it for spiritual applications. We actually encourage staff to use their Bibles, so do not feel like you have to have the verse memorized verbatim.
- Practice by selecting an object and describing it to a friend. It will surprise you how quickly you will find a connection to a biblical truth by just describing random objects. Try it now with the picture of the PEZ dispensers in the picture above.
- Whenever you play games with kids, ask open ended questions. After playing a game, use debrief questions such as, “What did you like about the game?”, “What were the rules?”, “How did you win?”, etc. Often times you can take answers kids give and make connections to God’s word.
- Always back up your applications with Scripture and use the Bible. You actually need to get out your physical Bible and teach from it. It is important for kids to know the truths you tell them are absolute, not because you are saying them, but because the Bible tells us so.
- Do not stretch it. I am all about connecting everything to Scripture, but do not stretch it. Your connection will fall apart quickly, and you could be in danger of unintentionally saying something biblically inaccurate.
The key is really practice, practice, practice. So click here if you want to accept the challenge.
P.S. CentriKid Staff, this is your opportunity to show your skills.