Category Archives: Children's Church Sermons

Easter Series – 3 Lessons

Posted on March 19, 2012 | 1 Comment

Here are links to a series of three lessons for the two weeks leading up to Easter and Easter Sunday. I hope these are helpful to you.

This Sunday (3/25/12):

The Resurrection and the Life Part 1: Lazarus Rises From the Dead

The Resurrection and the Life Part 2: Lazarus Rises From the Dead

Palm Sunday (4/1/12):

Palm Sunday Part 1: Jesus Enters Jerusalem

Palm Sunday Part 2: Jesus Enters Jerusalem

Easter Sunday (4/8/12):

Easter Game and Skit Part 1

Easter Object Lesson Part 2

Easter Life Application Story Part 3

Easter Message Part 4

These lessons and other Holiday Lessons are available in Holiday Lessons at this link.

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Posted in Children's Church Sermons, Children's Church, Easter, Games, Holidays, Memory Verse Activities, Object Lessons

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St. Patrick’s Day

Posted on March 7, 2012 | 3 Comments

St. Patrick’s Day, March 17th, is a day everyone loves to celebrate by wearing green and having parades. But most don’t know the spiritual significance of the man named Patrick. The story of St. Patrick would be a great story to tell the children in your ministry. You could use the story for a missions or evangelism emphasis.

Patrick was born in Kilpatrick, Scotland in the year, 387. His parents were Romans living in Britain. At the age of fourteen, Patrick was captured by a raiding party and taken to Ireland to herd sheep. Ireland, at that time, was populated by pagans and druids. Patrick, during his captivity, learned the language and culture of Ireland. He also used his captivity to grow closer to God.

Six years later, at the age of twenty, Patrick had a dream from God to leave Ireland. In the dream, he was told to escape to the coast. When he arrived at the coast, a ship from Britain was waiting for him. He returned home to his family.

Later Patrick studied for the priesthood, became a bishop, and returned to Ireland as a missionary. Patrick preached the Gospel throughout Ireland, and many were converted. He died on March 17th, 461.

The reason the shamrock is used to represent St. Patrick is because he used the shamrock to illustrate the trinity. Since the shamrock is green, that color is also used to represent Ireland and St. Patrick’s Day.

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Posted in Children's Church Sermons, Children's Church, Holidays, Missions, St. Patrick's Day, Uncategorized

Thanksgiving Lesson

Posted on November 16, 2011 | Leave a comment

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Here’s some ideas you can use for a lesson on Thanksgiving.

Verse: Psalms 136:1(NLT) Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good! His faithful love endures forever.

This verse not only tells us to give thanks to God, it tells us why. He is good and His love endures forever. Talk to the children about reasons we should thank God. There are other reasons listed in Psalm 136.

Beanbag of Thanksgiving:

One way to have the children thank God is to have a beanbag of thanksgiving. Throw the beanbag to different children. Any child who catches it must tell something he thanks God for. Remind children that this is a time for thanksgiving not prayer requests. If a child has a hard time thinking of something, remind him or her of the reasons listed in the memory verse.

Thank God For Children: At the end of the Beanbag of Thanksgiving, thank God out loud for the children under your care. You can say something like this. “Scripture says children are a reward from the Lord, and blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them. So I thank God for all of you. You are my reward from God.” This not only shows the children you’re thankfulness, but it gives them the assurance that God considers them a blessing when the world sometimes considers children a curse.

Bible Lesson: (Luke 17:11-19)

Ten lepers came to Jesus to be healed. Jesus healed them all. But only one leper came back to thank him. Jesus told that leper his faith has made him whole. God blesses those who have a thankful heart.

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History of the Pilgrims

Posted on November 14, 2011 | 1 Comment

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Thanksgiving is coming soon, and most children’s pastors have special Thanksgiving services planned. One thing I have always done on Thanksgiving is to teach the children about America’s spiritual heritage ingrained in the Pilgrims and Puritans. These are some of the facts that children are not taught in school.

Most children are taught that pilgrims came to America to flee religious persecution. That’s not exactly true. Pilgrims and Puritans were persecuted for believing that Christians could have a personal relationship with Jesus separate from the Church of England. But they traveled to Holland to flee the persecution, not America.

So why did they travel to America? There were many reasons, but the main reason is they felt compelled by God to come to America and establish a colony of people that honored God. Many called this colony, New Jerusalem, believing that God had established this new land to spread the gospel to the world. William Bradford wrote in his journal that the motivation came from “a great hope for advancing the kingdom of Christ.”

Pilgrims and Puritans were not the same. Pilgrims were separatists who believed they should separate themselves for the Church of England and the world systems. Puritans believed in working within the system. When they came to America, Puritans wished to set up the government so that religious freedom of expression would be established. Pilgrims wanted freedom of religion so they were free to worship without fear of persecution. Both Pilgrims and Puritans wanted freedom of religion to protect the church from the government, not to protect the government from the church.

Many schools teach that Thanksgiving was a secular celebration. But letters written by the Pilgrims tell a different story. God was such a part of their everyday life that they included God in everything. One such letter states that Thanksgiving was a celebration called so that “God be praised” for what He had brought them through.

John Winthrop called New England a City on a Hill in one of his sermon. He, as well as many other Puritans and Pilgrims, believed they had made a covenant with God to be a new nation that was a model of Christianity to the world. William Bradford believed that America was called to spread the gospel to the world. Since the Pilgrims and Puritans came to America, the United States of America has sent missionaries to more nations and more remote places in the world than any other nation on Earth. Could it be they were right?

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Posted in Children's Church Sermons, Children's Church, Holidays, Thanksgiving

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Ideas For Children’s Ministry to Remember September 11, 2001

Posted on September 4, 2011 | 2 Comments

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This Sunday is the tenth anniversary for September 11th, 2001 when terrorists attacked our nation.

While it affected every one of us and we all remember where we were and what we were doing on that fateful day, most of the children in your children’s ministry weren’t born yet. Those who had been born, were too young to remember the event. This generation we are ministering to thinks of 9/11 as something that happened a long time ago.

But even though they don’t remember, they need to learn the lessons we learned on 9/11. Here’s some ideas for remembering the day in children’s church.

Give your testimony: Tell how you learned about the terrorist attacks and how you felt. Talk about how God saw you through and how God can see them through any problems they face.

Pray for Our Country: On 9/11/2001, most people prayed for the United States. We should still pray for our country’s safety and leaders today. Spend time talking about how to pray for our country.

Heroes Help Others: There are a lot of stories about heroes that helped others on 9/11. Share some stories about those people and talk about how we can help others in need.

God Is With Us: Talk about the fear people felt on 9/11/2001 and how God is with us even when we’re fearful.

Missions To Arab Countries: Spend some time talking about how God loves everyone, even the terrorists. Spend some time teaching about missionaries in Arab countries and how they risk their lives to share the Gospel. Have the children pray for the missionaries and maybe write encouraging cards and letters.

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Posted in Children's Church Sermons, Children's Church, Holidays, Missions

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