May. 16, 2008 - Being the Best Sheperd You Can Be

Being the Best Shepherd you can be

 by: Karen Diamond

To be all what we want to be, the Scripture tells us to “know well the condition of your flocks, and pay attention to your herds…” As a Children’s Director/ Pastor, it is important to stay informed of what other Christians are saying and doing in their ministries. One of the ways of staying informed is by magazines. There are several magazines that would be beneficial to have. They are REV by Group; Christianity Today, and Ministries Today by Charisma Life.

As leaders of the next generation, we need to run the race, strive to do our best. When it comes to teaching that week’s lessons, we should desire for our students to retain everything that we teach. However, research suggests that an average child's attention span (in minutes) is about as long as the age of the child. Therefore, if you are teaching preschool children, ages 3-5, their attention span would be 3-5 minutes. If your allotted teaching time is 45 minutes, it is best to allow 15-20 minutes for an altar call (explained later).  With the same preschool kids, then you need to make sure you have at least 5 to 8 different object lessons ready to fulfill your time. Each object lesson should tie into your main theme for the day.

With the various object lessons that you will need, you can use drama, skits, puppets and even demonstration by the children. When the children have a hands on experience they are more apt to remember what the message is about.

Object lessons coupled with motivation will help to increase your children’s retention of the lesson at hand. To help your students retain the information is by being motivated. This motivation will shine through and will be passed onto your students. When the teacher is motivated the students will become motivated. Just as with anything, when the teacher sees importance in a task or truly understands what it all means, those in the class will see it to. Make sure that your passion for Jesus is expressed when you are teaching as you are doing more then just relaying information. You are helping to mold the future of our world, which is a very important job.

The children are so eager to be involved in what God is doing. They want to participate! This is discipleship at basic core. The children run to the altar to get saved week after week because that is the only thing they are being offered. I challenge you today to ask the children if they want to be baptized with the Holy Spirit, speak in tongues, lay hands on the sick, or to feel the Presence of the Living God. The children will charge the stage! Why? Because they want to be involved!

Benjamin Franklin once said, "Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.”  It is important that you get the children involved as much as possible.

As mentioned earlier, we should allow 15 to 20 minutes for altar calls because this is more important than anything else you will do during your service. The altar call is not always about salvation, you can use this is the time to get with the Lord. Set an atmosphere for God’s presence by dimming the lights a little and putting on worship music in the background.  

A couple more thoughts….

It is important to get the kids under the anointing as much as possible. Encourage the Church leaders to lay hands on the children and prophesy over them. It would be great to ask any guest speakers to pray and prophesy over the children as well. By doing this, you are letting the children know they are important, they have dignity and they have value as an individual but also as a Church Member.

Ask the Head Pastor if he will allow the children to minister to the congregation once a month. The children need to train their Spirits. They need to exercise their gifts that God has given to them rather it be prophesy, evangelism, healing, etc…