words
Lead By Example
Quite often we fail to realize that the eyes of the kids in our children’s ministry are constantly glued on us and on what we do.
For those whose parents are not saved we can be the only example they have of how a believer should act.
This raises a question that we should all be asking ourselves: am I leading by example?
There are many areas in our ministry where we can exhort our kids to do one thing, but we could be failing to live up to that exhortation.
Telling others to do something while you do the opposite is called hypocrisy. There is no other term for this and it should not be the conduct of a child of God.
“Do as I say and not as I do.” We have all heard this saying before and I am willing to bet that growing up we all saw this played out in an adult that we respected. We can remember that at the moment of seeing this hypocrisy we all felt a certain frustration or confusion. “Why is he telling me to do this when he himself does not do it?”
As believers and servants in our ministries we should examine ourselves to see if there are continual instances where we might tell our kids to do something and yet we fail to do the same. Are we being hypocrites?
A few examples of where we could be failing to lead by example.
Priorities– It is important that we schedule the unimportant events in our lives around our ministry; NOT the other way around. Do you give your churches children’s ministry priority? Or would you prefer to stay home and watch the game on t.v? We need to show our kids the importance of going to church.
Evangelism And Outreach– When was the last time that you preached the gospel to someone who is not saved? When was the last time that you invited someone to your church?
Memorization And Study Of Scripture– Superficially reading God’s Word is like going to a restaurant and walking out without eating your meal. When was the last time you spent time memorizing God’s Word? What was the last verse you memorized? When did you last study God’s Word and not just read it?
Preparation– A teacher that is unprepared is ineffective. Do you bring everything that you will need for your kids service or program? If you are going to be teaching, did you honestly spend enough time preparing yourself to teach? Do you remember to bring your Bible with you? (I hate to include this last one but it happens more than you think.)
Punctuality– What time do you arrive at church? Do you arrive early and make sure that your classroom is set up for when your kids arrive? Or are you running around like a headless chicken frantically setting things up? How can we encourage our kids to arrive on time if we are constantly arriving late?
Exhortation– Do you tell your kids to have patience and you easily get frustrated? Do you exhort your kids to love one another and yet there is a brother in your congregation who you cannot stand? Before you ask your kids to apply Scriptural truth to their lives, you should be putting it into practice in your own.
In our ministries we need to work hard to make sure we are leading our kids by example. Our words must match our actions.
Always remember that you have little pairs of eyes watching what you do and what you say.
The Tower Of Babel
Today’s post comes courtesy of Lindsey Whitney from Growing Kids Ministry. In it she tells us about a few crafts and activities you can do with your kids when studying the story of the Tower of Babel.
Lindsey Whitney is a Children’s Ministry director at East Lake Road Alliance Church, home day care provider, and blogger at Growing Kids Ministry. Lindsey lives in Pennsylvania with her husband and two kids. She loves reading books, drinking coffee and has recently taken up sewing.
Currently we’re working through the Bible with a fun new curriculum I just discovered over at Kidology called Stickers Through The Bible. This week, we covered the Tower of Babel and the kids had a heap of fun learning about this account from Genesis 11.
To begin, I showed the kids this picture of the Tower of Babel as I taught the lesson.
We talked about how Jesus is the only way to God and how the people building the tower were too focused on being famous. After the lesson time, I sent kids off to the various stations to process the story in a hands-on way. Here’s what our stations were for the day.
Sand Paper Tower
Inspired by this project from Veronica’s Blessing, the kids made their own tower of Babel.
However, instead of using regular brown paper, we used sandpaper in order to make the “building of the tower” a more tactile experience.
For this craft, you’ll need about 1/2 sheet of large sand paper for each child. If you have younger kids, you might want to cut out various lengths ahead of time. For older kids, have them cut their strips as they go. Have kids glue the sandpaper to construction paper.
Building a Tower
Inspired by this picture from Froggy Friends blog, I laid out some cups for the kids to create their own tower of Babel.
Little did I know what a ruckus activity this would turn out to be. The kids loved it! They quickly set up various building corners and began to compete for highest tower.
They began with the single stack. But, they soon began getting more creative with their building techniques.
Easy does it!
Careful!
We actually had to send a innocent bystander outside the classroom to the kitchen for more cups because those towers keep getting more and more complex.
Coloring Pages
We also had a few different coloring pages for those less active kids.
I found a few on BibleWise and Suite101.
In the end, I think it was a great lesson and hopefully one the kids will remember!
For more ideas on the Tower of Babel, check out Lindsey’s Genesis Pinterest Board!
Lindsey Whitney is a Children’s Ministry director at East Lake Road Alliance Church, home day care provider, and blogger at Growing Kids Ministry. Lindsey lives in Pennsylvania with her husband and two kids. She loves reading books, drinking coffee and has recently taken up sewing.
Crafting The Word Of God 
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