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SSTN # 33 - May 14, 2007
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IN THIS ISSUE OF THE SSTN e-NEWSLETTER:
1) Jesus...yesterday, today and forever.
2) Clarification?
3) Bad News Bears
4) Baseball curriculum
5) Pastor Appreciation Month
6) VBS grand prize
Featured Item of the Week: "It's All About Jesus!"
7) Honoring Children
8) Children's Staff Included?
9) Nothing to add at this time
10) Honoring children
11) Snack Ideas VBS?
12) Super Heroes Skits?
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1) Jesus...yesterday, today and forever.
Hi Agi
The VBS was divided into 3 days. Each day carries one theme. Generally we
start of with worship and singing in the main hall. Our theme song is
Jesus the same .. but each day we sing it differently. Frist day was a
slow, normal rendition. 2nd day, we rapped it and the 3rd day we sang it
like a choir in heaven. Then the kids are divided into 3 groups according
to age. After worship they each go to different centres i.e. craft, games
and story-telling. After finishing each centre they go to the next etc. We
end with a quick finish at the main hall.
1st day - Jesus the same YESTERDAY. We decorated the main story-telling
room with trees, leaves etc and the story/message for that day was a
multi-media presentation of the creation and a short session for quiz. The
craft was a cardboard with 3-d trees, animals etc. The games would also be
something to do with creation (can't remember). Snack for the day
was baked potato and water.
2nd day - Jesus the same TODAY. Story telling room was decorated with tall
buildings, cars etc. Story was a skit done by our youths on the 3 talents
(modern version). A quick session for quiz. Craft was T-shirt hand
painting. Games & snack (was french fries and nuggets) to reflect current
interest.
3rd day - Jesus the same FOREVER. Room was decorated with bits of 1st &
2nd day deco + clouds, gold leaves, colourful streamers etc. Story was a
skit played out by the kids themselves about a judge who paid the price
for the thief (evangelistic in nature). A quick session of quiz. Craft was
book of life (cereal cartoon made to look like a book). Games & snack
(can't remember what exactly).
We ended with certs + photos for the kids to take home. Parents was
invited for the closing and we showed a video presentation of what
happened the 3 days. The parents were really pleased to see the faces of
their excited kids playing games, getting messy with art and laughing at
the story/skit. Parents and kids were treated to a lunch and fellowship.
Hope this helps.
Jane
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2) Clarification?
I haave been delighted with some of trhe material available as free loads
- ice breakers etc - Ido haave some that I havae adaptged which I intend
poting to you all The material available under the 3 dollar offer is
ezxtremely good. In India, we have a complicated method of ssenidn
donations - Dollar 1 and dollar 3 are very reasonable amounts - but we
need to fill in a lot of forms for sending money abroad and subscriptions
and donations are restrictined to a certain number per annum! I would love
to send you a one off cash donation of 10 dollars which I can afford in
one year - will that make me eligible to use selectively, certain of yr on
offer material?
When you mean use does this mean copying to me hard disk and adapting it
to my cultural situation?
Would appreciate yr reply and praying ths msg gets thru! Love and God
bless - Dolly
--from SSTN: Got your mesage. Please see the following page to answer your
questions regarding how to send support:
http://www.sundayschoolnetwork.com/ministry_support.html
As to using materials, you may save them and adapt them for your cultural
situation.
Your sister in Jesus,
Sarah Keith
http://www.SundaySchoolNetwork.com
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3) Bad News Bears
I agree, this is a terrible movie with horrible morals. The
coach is an alcoholic and drinks alcohol throughout the movie. He tells a
child lie to his parents. And bad language is used throughout the movie.
I
can't think of one part of the movie that would be good to show to
children. It is a very bad example of how we should be living out lives.
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4) Baseball curriculum
I just want to quickly clarify my suggestion of showing baseball clips. I
have never seen either of the Bad News Bears movies. I heard the most
recent one was raunchy and we chose not to see it. It is PG 13 and I
would never advocate showing PG 13 movies to young children. I never saw
the original one either, but I think it was also questionable. What I was
referring to was a TV show that was on in the 70s that I watched as a
kid. I honestly haven't seen it in many years but I remember it as sweet
and funny. They came to mind as I was trying to think of baseball media.
The movie clips we showed in our class were mostly rated G (a few PG) and
were carefully selected to contain no vulgarity or bad language. I believe
media can be a very effective way to teach. For example, you say
"perseverance" to a first grader and it goes right over his head. But if
you give them a visual of that, (for example a young girl who's the worst
player on her softball team, but she keeps trying and trying and doesn't
give up and finally she hits that ball) and then they get it. Then you
tie that in to your Bible lesson- talk about how Jesus perservered all the
way to the cross. I agree you have to be very careful in what you show
kids. That being said, it is very difficult to find quality Christian
movies out there. Veggie Tales are great and there are lots of things for
preschoolers, but when you get to elementary, there's just not a lot out
there. We found that including a video element in our teaching broke
through to a lot of kids. Because of the shortage of useful media out
there, we began producing our own series and God has really used it. Media
is just one of many useful teaching methods. I have been following the
debate about entertainment in church. I don't think we should strive
to entertain but to ENGAGE kids. Are kids hanging on your words, are they
thrilled by the Bible story, do they want to know more, and are they able
to apply it to their lives. Kids need to participate in the lesson,
become a part of it so that their minds and bodies are engaged. We need
to have activities that appeal to all different kinds of learners
(auditory, visual, kinesthetic). It has to go beyond head knowledge to
heart knowledge. Kids need to know that what you are teaching matters to
them today, it's not just a story about something that happened a long
time ago. We need to regularly give them the chance to choose to follow
Jesus.
God has given me a passion for his word and for teaching it to kids. We
need to keep our teaching Bible centered and make God's word fresh and
alive to his children. Most of us know the statistic that the majority of
people who are Christians, made a commitment to follow Jesus between the
ages of 4 and 14. What we are doing is critical! If you are in a
position of teaching children or youth, never underestimate the reason why
God has placed you there. He has chosen you! Ask Him to empower you to
do His work! Thank you Sarah for running this site and letting God use
you to support other workers in the field. The harvest is plentiful.
Dawn in KY
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5) Pastor Appreciation Month
Pastor Appreciation Sunday is typically the 3rd Sunday in October (also
the same Sunday as Ministry Appreciation Sunday). National Children's Day
is the 2nd Sunday in October.
June Eschenmann
Director of Preschool Ministries
Simpson Creek Baptist Church
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6) VBS grand prize
For our VBS grand prize, we simply put every child's name in the hat that
had perfect attendance for our every Wednesday night VBS in the Park.
We had weekly prizes drawn and the kids got to pick out a prize (mostly
from Dollar stores)...don't remember how many kids names got picked
weekly.
Our grand prizes (which were announced each week to keep the interest
going)were awarded on the last night of VBS, so the kids knew what was
going to happen. We had motorized scooters (like skateboards) and even a
couple of small bikes....now, we did have someone who was a good bargain
shopper find these prizes....we also had the smaller weekly prize drawn
after the grand prizes were awarded....
Our aim was mostly to be teaching these unchurched children to be faithful
in their attendance - it seemed to work.
Each year for the past 4-5 years, we have presented our VBS in a local
park
from 7 to 8:15 each Wednesday night in June and July (except if July 4th
is on a Wed.)...we find it to be great outreach to reach children for
Christ....we take Everything we need to the park: decorations; treats
(water & a cookie);
karaoke machine for music; a small Puppet stage; old
blankets to sit on, for the crafts, I bring the lids from ice-cream
buckets for the kids to use as a work surface....everything is carried
in....a week before, we put flyers at every house - and even do a bulk
mailing......we have a very small group of volunteers
(maybe 10-12) who are very dedicated.
Blessings!
Nancy in Illinois
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7) Honoring Children
This is response to Melba, that was telling how her children's ministry
wants to honor them for reading the entire bible. First of all, my
congratulations to your students and the teachers! Unfortunately, I
personally have not read the entire Bible. This is a GREAT thing. I say go
all out, have the celebration "banquet style". Have them dress up in ties
and dresses give out certificates and awards, maybe have a powerpoint
presentation.
Congratulations Again!!
-Taneshia S.
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8) Children's Staff Included?
What would be the charge to be able to have my Sunday School teachers
access the information? Is there a yearly charge and how does that work
for them to be able to access the information. I have had a couple
teachers say that they have found websites that have helpful information
with extra ideas they can use with their Sunday School curriculum and
asked if I could pay a fee that would allow them to access information. I
have asked them to provide me with the websites they have found so I can
evaluate and determine one that would be the most helpful as they plan
lessons. I have found your site to be very helpful so I thought I would
check to see how I could make it available to my volunteers if this site
seems to be more helpful than ones I receive from them. Thanks for your
help!
--from SSTN:
Most of the 1300 + pages are free to use whether you support the site or
not. However, there are a few pages which require support partner status
to gain access to them. You can read more about this at:
http://www.sundayschoolnetwork.com/ministry_support.html
And, if you become a support partner for your church, then that would
cover all of your teaching staff.
Your webservant,
Sarah Keith <><
http://www.SundaySchoolNetwork.com
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9) Nothing to add at this time
Dear Sunday School Network Co-ordinator,
Thank you for your mail. I am a scripture teacher (school age of
children 8-9 years) in a small country village in New South Wales
Australia. My need for your web site is slight and spasmodic as all
material and outlines are supplied to us. But looking at the creativity
of others in reaching children for Christ is wonderful and inspirational
and those sharing their ideas are to be commended and blessed. I wish
to continue visiting if at all possible, but really have nothing to
contribute.
Blessings in Jesus
Denyse
--from SSTN: quite ok not to contribute. If SSTN inspires you,
then at sometime in the future I'm sure you'll have ideas to share too.
Many blessings,
Sarah Keith
http://www.SundaySchoolNetwork.com
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10) Honoring children
> Our church wants to honor them in some way. Have any of
> you accomplished a similar goal and have ideas.
Hi Melba.......God Bless you for honouring Him this way and what wonderful
'good news' these children have been given........how about giving them
'bible tabs'.....they know the Bible better and yet these can give them a
quick way to find the book they are looking for..........there are a
variety to choose from and unique too!
ysic, Randi Gobbato +
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11) Snack Ideas VBS?
We are Using a packaged Vbs program this summer but I am not happy with
their snack choices. Unfortuntately, neither can I come up with ideas of
my own! I'm hoping that there are some others who can share ideas they've
used for these three Bible stories: Elijah and the Prophets of Baal (the
primary focus here seems to be more on the alter). Jesus calms the storm,
and Jesus cooks for the Disciples on the Beach. I've tried doing a search
through the archives and on google but am coming up empty handed. I'm
looking forward to the ideas! Thanks in advance -
Vivian Thiele vivianthiele@hotmail.com
--from SSTN: make sure you check the Yummy Devotions section in the
F-R-E-E Stuff section at:
http://www.SundaySchoolNetwork.com
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12) Super Heroes Skits?
We have decided to use the SuperHeroes of the Bible material for our VBS
this year. However we will need more activities to go along with them.
Would anyone have any live skits or puppet The heroes lessons we will
probably use are: 1.Abraham, Sarah & Issac 2. Moses, Miriam & Aaron 3.
Joshua & Rahab 4. Ruth, Naomi & Boaz 5. Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael &
Azarich. I think also each evening we will have a Red Thread Story that
is based on a miracle or parable of Jesus so that the kids will hear about
Him every night also.
Thanks, Teresa in Indiana
--from SSTN: for those who don't know about this program, the following
link will take you to a sample skit from the series:
http://www.sundayschoolnetwork.com/skit_joshua_rahab.html
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