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Hey everyone, welcome to Kids Ministry Answers. My name is Linda
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and my name is Jason and this is the podcast where we help you answer all of
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your kids ministry questions. Yes, we’re so excited to dive into
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another question with you. And even if we don’t know all of the answers, we are
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happy to research it and come alongside you and help you find those answers. So
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that’s why we’re here. hear a question from one of you. So, let’s listen to
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this question together. Hey, what’s up? My name is Jonathan. I
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am a kids coordinator out of Southwest Michigan. And I was wondering, how do
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you keep kids engaged, especially when their parents are serving, so they end
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up staying for multiple services? How do you keep them from checking out and
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becoming a distraction for the other kids?
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Whoa. Jonathan Bailey with the fire question today.
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Yes. Hi Jonathan. Thank you so much for your question and thank you so much for
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all of the layers that comes with that questions because as kids ministry
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directors, we are definitely concerned about engagement. Um but yes, there are
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different reasons why it is hard to kind of prolong the engagement, right?
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Keeping a kid’s attention is just getting harder and harder I feel like as
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the days go by. And any number of you, all of you in kids industry have
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probably asked a question like this or something similar
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every week. Yeah. Yeah. Right. And it’s easy to tell when
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kids are having fun, right? Like they’re laughing, they’re giggling, they’re
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running around. Um, but it’s harder to know that if they’re really learning
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anything or if what you’re teaching them is actually like sticking. And the hard
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part is you won’t even know because they’re not going to come and be like, I
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really remember what you taught me. Right.
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Right. So that’s why let’s tackle this question
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of how to keep kids engaged in what you are teaching them. Not just entertained,
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not just occupying their time, but really fully engaging and interacting
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with what they’re learning. So Jason, we’re going to walk through three steps
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to help us move beyond just giving a lesson, but really keeping our kids
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engaged. So where would you start? Okay, so step one, start with a structure.
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Here’s the thing. No matter how fun, how deep, how creative our message is, if
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it’s not organized well, it’s just not going to connect with kids. And that’s
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why we recommend at Grow that you build your teaching time around three key
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questions. What is the first question? What are we talking about today? So
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what? Why does it matter to God? Why does it matter to us? And then the now
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what question and that is like what should we do about what we just learned?
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And what this structure does is it really helps kids move from simply
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hearing this content that you’re saying to actually being able to apply it in
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their lives. So it gives and it also gives you a framework to build lessons
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that can actually make an impact on kids.
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Yeah. Yeah. I love this three-part structure. or the what, so what, now
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what is a really great framework I use in my ministry, we use in our curriculum
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and it really is such a wonderful throughline for us to take one idea and
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not just be like here it is, absorb it, but actually like fold it in different
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ways to help them really make it personal and that’s really only how it
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sticks. Right. Right. Right. Right.
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Um what’s a time when you’ve used this in your ministry and you’ve seen it be
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really impactful or successful? Right. It’s yeah so all of these are
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important right like the the what so what the now what
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but I think the biggest thing for me has been the now what section because it’s
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actually it’s a gamecher in terms of impact and I think it’s one that can be
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just kind of glazed over it’s it’s the last part so you’re just kind of you
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might be hurting for time this and that and uh the lesson that I was giving I
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remember was something to around like god being close to us when we’re far
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from home and what we had kids do that day was
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they did artwork for refugees that are in the Kansas City area. And we were
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going to put that artwork that they made into care packages. And as they were
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working, I just watched, you know, as the kids are relating this kind of hard
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message for them to get of the Israelites being in exile, being far
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from where they’re at home, and how that’s actually
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going on in the world around them now. Like they saw that as they were making
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this artwork. And then also putting together like how God is close to us
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when we feel lonely, when we feel alone. And we can be a part of how God gives
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comfort in those moments. And as they were working on that artwork in the now
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what section, they’re kind of putting that all together. And so I think that
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part can be really cool. And all the parts, all the so what, now what, the
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what section are all big part of putting it together. But that last part I’ve
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seen make a big pack impact on kids. Yeah, that’s an incredible point because
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I think there’s a certain level of like
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detachment and dissociation that comes from a Bible story. And
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not because it’s not interesting or they’re not interested, but because we
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elevate the people from the Bible or the time like Bible times to like, you know,
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we like chalk it up to that was a different time, that was a different
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era. So a lot of what we are reading, a lot of what we’re teaching, kids can
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automatically feel like, well, that doesn’t apply to me now, right? Like
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that was then, this is now. but integrating that into this now what
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section and to help kids really experience that hey like you know Jesus
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Christ is the same right yesterday today and forever and so like this is the way
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that we really show kids that the Bible is living and active and we are taking
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the things that we’re learning from the Bible and seeing that happen in real
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time and that is just a wonderful way to help it stick for sure
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exactly so yeah thank you for that so we start
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with a structure where would you go from there
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okay so step two is to add variety. Kids don’t learn best. We all know this.
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By just sitting and listening to us talk. Sometimes we wish they would.
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If only. If only. Yeah. But that is not the way they
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learn. So, here are some methods that you can kind of build into your teaching
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time that will really help you keep keep variety in your teaching. Scripture
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reading is a big one. Let volunteers or kids actually read simple verses out
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loud. There’s really cool ways to do that. questions and polls is another way
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and this invites fun. It invites them to think, get started on thoughtful answers
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about these fun questions that you might ask them. There’s personal stories which
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is a cool way to do it. It it gets kids involved like emotionally and and helps
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them to see like you were talking about how real life faith examples of this
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stuff actually going on in our world today.
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Yes. um images, videos, music. We all know using visual and auditory tools
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really does keep kids attention. Shout out to Callie. We both love Cali and
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Callie’s world. Yes.
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Object lessons is another big one. Like using props, using visuals. If it’s
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tactile, that’s also good. Something they can touch, something they can feel.
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Um activities. So, this is like your games, your crafts, anything you do with
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your environment. It’s always fun and gets them thinking about what we’re
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going to talk about. Um, reflections moving, right?
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Gets them moving, gets the wiggles out. Exactly. Uh, reflection moments is
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actually a big one. And this just gives kids a moment to stop, to sit quietly,
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to pray or draw and just process the thoughts that are going through their
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mind. Um, there’s response opportunities. So,
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this let this lets them take action. It’s like what I just talked about with
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the art for KC refugees. It’s something that they can do, something they can get
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involved in, or something they can do like writing a prayer, make something
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that they can take home. These are all great ways they can respond. Prayer is
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obviously a big one. And a big part of this is is helping kids to understand
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that they can talk to God in their own words. They don’t have to have fancy
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words. They can talk to them to God just like they always talk. And discussion.
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So, use simple open-ended questions. It’s always cool for kids to hear from
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their peers and and get different ideas from what the other kids are thinking
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about. The reason why we want to do this is because every kid is different and so
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mixing up the methods, the variety you have in your teaching will really help
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all the kids stay engaged right where they’re at.
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Yes. And this really speaks to Jonathan’s question about how do we keep
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them engaged, especially when the days are so long and kids are just ready to
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check out. And honestly, even some of your volunteers are checking out
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because, you know, they’re like, “We’ve taught this before. Maybe this isn’t
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even your first service of the day.” So, it’s like, “Okay, we just did this an
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hour ago.” And so, how can we keep everything fresh and just keep kids
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expectant? And so, having this variety really helps keep people on their toes,
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oo, what’s next? Right? It’s like listening to a good song and and like
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when there’s that, you know, that chord that’s not resolved, you’re like, I need
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to keep listening because this chord is not resolved and I feel tension in me.
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And so having like building it out in that way to help kids be like
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waiting for like, okay, what’s next? What do we do now? And not like, when is
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this over so I can go play with my iPad. Right. Exactly. Um, so you’ve I know
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you’ve had experience with all of these different kind of of modules like we
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call them in curriculum like you’ve tried all these different things. Are
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there is there anything that you’ve found worked really well or something
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that surprised you as you were teaching them?
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Yeah. So two of these methods that always surprise me when I use them.
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Number one is scripture reading, which I know when you just hear it, you’re like,
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“Okay, that cannot be engaging for kids. You’re you’re you’re
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reading scripture, but uh it seems like it could be boring.” But what I’ve done
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is we use the sign language videos that are offered through Grow.
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And this provides a time where we actually take the video and we slow it
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down first and then we kind of slowly speed it up. Yeah.
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So, the kids are engaging with the scripture. They’re reading scripture,
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memorizing scripture, but they’re also learning these this sign language, and
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they absolutely love it. Like, they can’t wait for it every week. And what
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we’re doing is we’re reading scripture. So, I’ve I’ve really had that work
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really well. And the second one that doesn’t seem
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like it would work, but it does, is reflection moments. And I know when we
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think of kids like sitting down, being quiet, yeah, how are how is this
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going to work? Um, one thing we’ve done as big- time Cali fans is we frame these
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reflection times and with I wonder questions. I wonder about this, I wonder
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about that. And get them thinking about that and
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then also pair it with some kind of thing like drawing
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that actually kids can sit down, they can think about these I wonder questions
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and see how it plays out through their artwork, through their drawing, through
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their writing. And it’s always cool to hear the kids’ thoughts after that, the
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stuff that they’re thinking about and you’re like, “Wow, reflection moments
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really can work for kids.” Yes, absolutely. And and pairing that
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with discussion as well is also really helpful because the way that I grew up
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in Sunday school, I don’t know if this is something that you’ve experienced as
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well, Jason, but a lot of it was wrote memorization. Like just memorize chunks
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of scripture. Just read it and memorize it. Like what else do you want? and also
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just like here are the questions and here are the answers that I’m I’m
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expecting to hear from you. So there was always this pressure of like I have to
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have all the knowledge and you know like I I did because I was a nerd and I
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wanted to know all the answers and show off. But you know, the way that we
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engage kids is not to just like quiz them and be like, “How much do you
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know?” But to really come alongside them and like give them space to wonder and
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get curious and entertain their questions, even if it feels a little
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tangential sometimes, but really showing them not only am I engaging you with
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this material, but I’m like really caring about you as a person because I
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want to hear what you have to say. And that furthers engagement as well. Right.
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Exactly. Yeah. I think when we used to memorize the way we used to is like they
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were just words, you know, but when we get them involved with this kind of
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interactive scripture reading or reflection moments, it’s actually
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getting kids to take it beyond like these are just words to what do I
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actually think about these words? What do these words actually mean to me as a
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kid? So yeah, it’s super cool.
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Love that. So we start with a structure and then we add variety. What would you
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do next? Okay. So, step three is build a rhythm. So, create something that your
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kids can expect and trust. So, at Grow, what we like to do is we build our
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teaching time around three movements. So, the first is group engagement.
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Start with something fun. This is your game. This is your interactive activity.
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And then the second movement is teaching time. This is when you have your short
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message that’s built around the three questions. What, so what? And now what?
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And then small groups. So use guided conversations, activities, questions to
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help kids, like what we’ve talked about, personal personalize personalize what
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they’ve just learned. And so this rhythm, what it does is it helps kids
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know what to expect when they come into the kids’ room. Uh it gives your
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teaching more structure and I think most importantly, it gives it a flow. like
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you talked about through line like this gives it a flow that kids can recognize,
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understand and start to engage with. Yeah, this is actually crucial because
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if we we stop at step two with adding variety, then that can get chaotic super
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fast, right? Like, all right, we’re going to keep you engaged by just
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throwing all these different things at you, right? But then that actually not
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only creates chaos and unpredictability, but it really helps kids disengage
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because they’re like, “I don’t know what’s going on here, and I don’t know
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what’s going to be next. I’m a little scared of it.” And so they might detach
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themselves from it. But when you build these healthy rhythms, when you have
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these like routines maybe even or like just kind of repetition and kids know
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that this is what we’re going to be doing from week to week even though the
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actual activity itself might change and they know that this rhythm is in place
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from week to week, it will help them feel safe. It will help them feel like,
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oh, this is a place I recognize. I can open up. I can put my guard down. And so
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this is a really key point that you brought up. What is your experience with
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rhythms in your ministry? Yeah, I think first I’ll say like this
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can seem counter to step two. Like, you know, we want them to have variety but
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then have a rhythm. And I think it it’s on us to put that variety inside of the
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rhythm that they understand and they expect and they trust.
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So for for our kids in my context, they always know we’re going to start with a
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game because in our context, the kids are in adult church to start off the
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service. So, they definitely have some wiggles that they need to get out when
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they get in there so they can expect that we’re always going to do that. They
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know we’re going to walk through scripture together. They’re not going to
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just sit there and hear it. They’re going to there’s going to be some back
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and forth. They’re going to be asked to say stuff. They’re going to get out of
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their seat. They’re going to move around and they know that we’re most likely
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going to see Callie or we’re going to see the Grow TV crew. Um, so they can
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expect that. And then they know that we’re going to color or create as we
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discuss what we’ve learned. And that’s kind of the way that we’re going to wrap
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up our time together. And what I’ve seen over time is having this structure, this
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rhythm, it helps them to really take ownership of the time. And I see how
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expecting and trusting this, it helps put them in a headsp space where they
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can really process these big ideas that we’re throwing at them each week.
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Yeah. I mean, and we think that it would only work for like a certain age group,
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but these rhythms are going to be really helpful to maybe if you have like a a
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larger environment with mixed ages, those rhythms are going to really like
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unify that group, right? Cuz they know what to expect. It’s going to really
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help your volunteers to know like where they are and like, okay, now we’re
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transitioning to this movement, as you called it earlier. And I mean, from my
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experience, like I have high schoolers in our ministry. We’re we’re a K-
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through2 ministry because we’re a small church. And I was concerned at the
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beginning that my high schoolers were like tuning out and they were just like,
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“This is so kitty.” But they came to expect a certain rhythm every week and
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that they didn’t question it. And I’m not saying questions are bad, but they
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didn’t like protest against it. They didn’t take out their phones and just
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like they were actually like engaging with what the kids were doing. And
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actually my biggest the biggest fans at our church of Callie’s World are
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preschool videos are my high schoolers, right?
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They love Cali so much. Same. And so that’s what having that variety
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within a rhythm can help with that engagement. Yeah.
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And it’s not a bad thing when like something you don’t do and they’re like,
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“Hey, why didn’t we do that?” like that lets you know that they’re
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like they’re taking ownership of this and they’ve learned to expect and trust
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the things that you’re doing and they like the rhythm that you’ve created for
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them. So, I think that’s very important. Yes. And sometimes they’re like our
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little reminders. If we forgot something, we’re like, “Oh, yeah. Sorry.
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Let me do that.” Yeah. Okay. So, great. We talked about three
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steps to help kids stay engaged during our teaching time and our ministry time
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together. We said we’re going to one start with a structure. Two, we’re going
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to add variety. And three, we’re going to build a rhythm.
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Yes. And yeah, remember this is not about entertaining. We hope they have
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fun, but it’s about more than that. It’s about helping kids listen, reflect, and
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respond to who God is and who God is creating them to be.
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Yes, that’s so beautiful. And listeners, if you’re not already a Grow user, as
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we’ve alluded to throughout our conversation, we both do help create
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Grow Curriculum. And so, if you’d like to see how this looks like in a week’s
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teaching or in a month’s teaching, try out a Grow series for free. You can find
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us at growcurriculum.org. And so before we go, Jason, um, let’s
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ask something that we always ask each other during our meetings and also on
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these podcasts. What are you into? Oh, man. Okay. What am I into? I’m
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always into what my kids are into. So, it tends to be like kid things. Lately,
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we have been going back to the classics on Disney and just watching. So, I think
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Moana 2 has been the one that we go back to over and over again.
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It’s been a surprising hit among kids. Yeah. And Rya,
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what a great movie that was. Rya’s so good.
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Aquafina as that dragon is just So, we’re going back to the classics in in
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my house. Okay. That’s funny because when you say
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classics, I’m thinking like Snow White, Cinderella.
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Okay. Yeah. Yeah. No. Yeah. Wow. That is interesting. Yeah. We don’t go back to
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those classics. My kids would be like, “No, no, no. That stuff is too old.” But
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they will watch the classics in terms of like Moana and Rya and stuff like that.
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Oh, that’s so interesting. Um, I remember first showing the Moana film to
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my kids when they were younger and of all the things in the film, they were
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scared of the coconuts and I’m like, “Not the lava monster. You’re scared of
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the little coconuts.” So interesting.
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You never know. You never know. Um, our kids have been fully embracing
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their Star Wars identity. Okay.
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And so they are coercing me to watch the Clone Wars animated series. So that’s
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what we’re into right now. And I’m learning a lot of Star Wars lore that I
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didn’t know previously. So that is that has been an interesting journey.
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Yeah. I I’m trying to get my kids into Star Wars as well. We have a book about
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it that we read at nighttime. And I have an incredible Yoda voice.
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Oh, so that
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you want to you want to sample that for us, don’t you?
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I don’t know if I should cuz I’m sure I’m going to mess it up if I try to do a
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live. Disney might slap us with a lawsuit, so
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maybe not. Yeah, maybe we shouldn’t do it. But man,
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I think if you heard it, you would agree.
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Okay. Well, Jason Yoda, thank you for hanging out with me and answering this
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question together. Thank you, Jonathan, for submitting your question. Listeners,
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if you’d like to hear your question on this podcast, make sure you submit your
21:22
questions at the link in our show notes and you could be on here and we could be
21:27
answering your question together. Um, so before we wrap this up, let’s leave you
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with one question of from us to you, which is how are you keeping your kids
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engaged in your ministry? And what are some of the engagement strategies that
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we talked about that you are looking forward to trying in your own ministry?
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Until next time, can’t wait to talk about your question together with you,
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Jason. And so, hope you all have a blessed day. Bye. Bye.
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Bye.