CentriKid

Object Lesson

How to Point Everything Back to Scripture

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At CentriKid one of our main promises to the churches who come is that we will always root everything in Scripture. We believe it is important to tie everything back to God’s Word because there is no better place to turn. From Recreation and Bible Study in the morning to Track Times and Worship in the afternoon and evening, everything we do at CentriKid truly points campers back to the gospel and Scripture. We strive to give our activities a purpose, instead of just creating time fillers or fun things to do.Your kids ministry should seek to do this as well.

Plan it out
The best way to make sure you connect all activities back to Scripture is to plan for it. Plan to relate each activity to our relationship with God. In your preparation, whether it be for a regular Sunday morning or once a year event, schedule time to relate the activities you are doing to the Bible, and plan exactly how you will make the connection. This is an active, practical step to making sure you fit it in smoothly and without forcing it. One of our favorite ways to do this at CentriKid is to “debrief” the activity/game.

Debriefing
A “debrief” is a time where we bring the kids together to explain how the activity/game relates back to the Bible and our relationship with Jesus. Here are some tips for debriefing:
–Remove distractions (face the kids away from potential distractions: TVs, other kids playing games, windows they can see out of)
–Be one level removed (if the kids are sitting, you kneel; if they are kneeling, you stand)
–Use objects and personal stories (kids are concrete learners. So, applying spiritual concepts to concrete examples, like objects, helps create a strong connection in the mind of a child)
–Root it in Scripture (read from the Bible… that helps them know it is truth from the Word)
–Make eye contact (if you are outside, remove sunglasses)

I fully believe that fun games and the Bible can go hand-in-hand. So this week, plan out how you are going to relate each of your activities back to the gospel and God’s Word.

Christmas Games for your Ministry

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Amidst all the Christmas parties you are attending, planning, and skipping, you are inevitably charged with creating Christmas fun in your kids ministry. These Christmas games are fun, but they are built in a way to create a spiritual application. Your Christmas party will be a success with lots of fun and lessons will be taught through these games.

  • Candy Wrap Relay: open kisses using oven mitts in a relay fashion.
    • Prepare: Set of oven mitts and bowl of Hersey Kiss© for teams of 4-5 kids .
    • Share: Although opening a Hersey Kiss© with oven mitts on is difficult it can be done. In the same way before Christmas and before Jesus came to the Earth it was still possible but difficult for people to have a relationship with God. Unfortunately, it was very difficult. Jews had to practice the law, sacrifice animals for their sins, and worship God in very specific ways. However, Jesus coming to Earth, living a perfect life, dying for our sins, and resurrecting from the grave made having a relationship with God more accessible like taking off your mitts. Jesus did the work, Jesus made a clear way for us to have a relationship, and his life on earth began at Christmas in a manager.
  • Santa’s Beard: this is a stage game option. One kid gets petroleum jelly put on their face and another kid tries to throw cotton balls on their partner’s face to make a beard.
    • Prepare: Petroleum jelly and bag of cotton balls for each pair. Create lines of stage of where they have to stand. A good distance could be 5 feet away.
    • Share: Putting Santa’s beard on someone can make them look like a man. Jesus himself would have had a beard as a Jewish man. In fact it was key to our salvation that Jesus would come to the earth as a man. We needed him to be able to die as sacrifice for our sins. His birth on earth, which is celebrate at Christmas, is a huge part of our salvation plan.
  • Frozen: melt an ice cube fastest without throwing it on the ground.
    • Prepare: Ice trays with enough ice cubes for every kid to get a cube of ice. Consider freezing a item for kids to have to retrieve.
    • Share: When Christ came to earth most people, especially His people, had very hard cold hearts just like our ice cube. But God had already promised to those who would believe, “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you. I will remove your heart of stone, and give you a heart of flesh” (Ezekiel 36:26). Although some people would continue to have hard hearts, Jesus would melt away the heart of others and warm them to himself through a relationship.

We love the celebration of Christmas, and even more we love to use it as a teachable moment in our kids ministry. Take the next step whenever planning your Christmas fun and make a connection to biblical truths your kids need to hear.

Object Lesson: Filled with Christ

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Object lessons can be a great tool to connect the Gospel to kids. At CentriKid, giving kids concrete examples that help them see the glory of God in a more powerful way is something that we are always striving to do. This can also be a great tool to utilize in your children’s ministry!

Try this:
Showing kids the power of God in our lives can sometimes be tough because it is not always tangible. When we follow Christ, we are filled with His power and become part of His plan. Sometimes it can look like people are following Christ, they go to church, they are nice to people, and sometimes they even have really good prayers. So what is the difference between someone who is following God and someone who is just a good person?

Get 2 identical balloons and fill one of them with helium and the other with regular air. Hold them in a way that no one can tell a difference between the balloons. Have the kids describe the 2 balloons. What color are they? Are they the same size? They look the same on the outside!

What happens when something happens and life gets a little crazy? When you release the balloons, one of them will float to the ceiling but the other will fall to the ground. Even though they both looked the same on the outside, the 2 balloons reacted to change very differently. It is the same for people who are walking with Christ versus those who aren’t. Life can look great, but as soon as the something happens that is out of our control, that is when you see a difference. When we are filled with the joy of the Lord, we know that He is always taking care of us. No matter what happens, there is nothing that can take us out of God’s hand and because of that, we are able to rise above any problem that comes up. When someone does not have that relationship with God, they do not have the hope that He gives through His grace and mercy. God has the power to pull us out of any situation and it is never too late to start following Him. When we are filled with His power, we can always know that God is in control.

Romans 8:38-39 is one of my favorite verses because it tells us that there is NOTHING than can take us out of our Father’s hand. When life seems hard, I can have hope to rise above the situation because I know that God is always in control.

How to Make A Spiritual Application from Almost Anything

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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.

God Uses Object Lessons

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Stop and read the object lesson in Jonah chapter 4. It is only eleven quick verses. Jonah begrudgingly preached to the Ninevites. It was clear from the beginning of the book, Jonah did not share God’s compassion for the people of Nineveh. By chapter 4, Jonah is displeased with God’s reaction to the Ninevites’ repentance.

God creates a teachable moment for Jonah by providing him a plant for shelter from the sun and wind. Jonah is pleased with the plant as he waits to see what God will do with the Ninevites. However, God appoints a worm to eat the plant, and Jonah succumbs to despair. He would rather die than endure the sun and scorching wind without the plant.

After setting up the scene, God asks Jonah “Is it right for you to be angry about the plant?” To which Jonah retorts, “yes.” God reveals Jonah’s heart towards the Ninevites. Jonah cares more about a plant’s life than the life of people. God created both Jonah’s plant and the people of Nineveh, and he ultimately controls their existence. As a follower of God, Jonah should reflect God’s compassion for all people, but his radical and sinful ethnocentrism has been exposed. It is outrageous that Jonah would care more for a plant than human life. Jonah is left to consider his judgement of the Ninevites in context of the death of the plant.

Object lessons are powerful tools to teach. In the past we have posted about different object lessons. In fact check out our posts!

It’s encouraging to see God use of object lessons in scripture. Something resonates with us whenever objects are related to spiritual truths. Object lessons can be particularly useful if a subject is difficult to understand. There are few spiritual truths that kids are too young to understand. Often times it just takes preparation and incorporation of activities or object lessons to teach effectively. God uses an object lesson to teach Jonah about compassion. Challenge yourself to incorporate object lessons in your ministry.