Gospel Talks for Kids: Series A

This collection of children’s messages is based on the weekly Gospel readings. The lessons in this volume follow the three-year pericopes for Series A, beginning with the First Sunday in Advent. While some of the lessons intentionally build on preceding ones, each can be used on its own in the event that a children’s message is not included in that week’s worship services. Since most children this age are preoperational thinkers, they benefit from seeing or using concrete objects. These objects give children a focal point as the message begins. Usually the objects are common and easy to find. Whenever possible, pastors are encouraged to bring their own personal items and life experiences into play.

 

The Gospel talks teach one point. It is good practice to engage young children in repeating that idea to focus their thinking. Also, as the presentation unfolds, the leader circles back to the key teaching, so when the children walk away, they hold in their minds the Gospel nugget.

 

Each lesson consists of
• the Church calendar Sunday and title;
• Scripture basis from the Series A periscope;
• the main point of the lesson;
• the object(s) used;
• an introduction, main body of the message, and a closing prayer; and
• directions/suggestions for the pastor/worship leader in bold italics within the lesson.

 

This collection also includes an optional handout, beginning with week 10 (Epiphany 2) and continuing over the course of twenty-one lessons. It requires little additional preparation, which youth or parents can provide, and is useful for teaching children the various roles and titles of Jesus. It can also be used to begin familiarizing children with the liturgical colors throughout the Church Year.

 

 

 SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS: Windows XP, Windows Vista, or later; Mac OS X 10.4 or later, 256 MB RAM; 100 MB free hard disk space; a CD-ROM drive; a word-processing program that supports editing and viewing .rtf files (such as Microsoft Word).