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You are here: Home / Archives for Curriculum

Curriculum

Giving Children’s Sermons: Crush It with These 6 Astoundingly Simple Tips

Alissa Ellett 2 Comments

I have a confession. I never loved giving children’s sermons. If you’re like me, you’ve seen (and probably even given) too many boring, fluffy or confusing ones. When I was still working in church ministry I advocated for doing away with them. But, I knew there had to be a better way to give children’s sermons. And there is! If you’re already using our super easy, low-prep Illustrated Children’s Moments you know the power of simply inviting children into the narrative of scripture. And maybe now you’re looking for a way to step up your game, feel more confident and have more fun while giving children’s sermons. So, we’ve put together a list of six tips that will help you do just that!

Children's Sermons 2

Would you like a free Illustrated Children’s Moment from us CLICK HERE to download a FREE PDF that includes one of our Illustrated Children’s Moments. If you’d like to use it and try it out in worship, the children’s moment illustration is based on the RCL Hebrew Scripture passage for January 21, 2018.

Easy Prep for Amazing Children’s Sermons

One of my professors in seminary used to advise us against using steering wheel curricula. You know, the kind you can just open for the first time and read on your steering wheel while driving to church? So, let’s be clear. Low-prep doesn’t mean it doesn’t matter if you prepare. We’re all busy. But putting time and intention into your children’s sermons will make you feel more confident and deliver more to the children. So, how might you do this?

  • Read the lesson three days ahead. This is the only way to let your mind work on the lesson. First, it allows you time to become connected to the topic. Second, you give space for the Spirit to bring experiences into focus that may relate to the lesson. Third, if you’ll be printing your materials to use in your children’s sermon, do it now. Alternatively, if you’ll be using a device, be sure materials are downloaded and can be brought up without any glitch.

Children's sermons 5

  • Read the scripture before Sunday morning. It isn’t required that you read the scripture if you use our Illustrated Children’s Moments materials. However, your delivery of the lesson will only be improved if you have read and understood the scripture you’re teaching about. First, a few days before, read the scripture. Next, learn what was happening at the time when the community of faith would have been hearing this text.
  • Meditate and make associations of your own. So, you’ve read the scripture and understand some of its context. Now, ask yourself what stands out to you and what questions you have. This allows you to connect authentically to the text as well as to the process of discovery into which you’re inviting the children.
  • Invite other adults to get involved. A great way to engage the children’s attention is to rotate adults who give children’s sermons in worship. Additionally, this fosters intergenerational relationships within a faith community. And it offers you time for other demands and/or a break so you can remain excited about doing this part of your job.

Children's sermons 4

Considering the Children During Children’s Sermons

Giving children’s sermons can feel like an obligation to fulfill every Sunday morning. But, they don’t have to. They can provide a great opportunity to connect with children and teach them about God. In order to do that, we need to know them and their needs. And we must see them as an integral part of our faith community.

  • Target an age group. The fact is you aren’t going to be able to reach every child at their developmental level every week. This is partially because there simply isn’t much time. So, as you prepare, decide what age you’ll aim to connect to that Sunday. Incorporate specific examples and use language that will be relevant to that age group. In effect, you’ll meet each age group more effectively during your children’s sermons this way than trying to reach them all.
  • Avoid putting the children on display. Placing children on display up in front of the church is one more way we make them an accessory to the community. However, they are the community of faith just as we all are. How might we rethink this? For the children’s sermons, try inviting the kids to sit in the first couple of pews facing forward rather than on the floor or stage facing the congregation. Additionally, invite adult participation. Ask the congregation questions, for example. Get creative. Lastly, not only does this show respect to the children, it’s often helpful in quelling some of the performance impulse children may have being up in front of the congregation.

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You’re in a unique role that allows you the distinct opportunity to dig your fingers into the soil of children’s lives and plant seeds of God’s love. These seeds grow almost imperceptively, adding over the course of a lifetime beauty, meaning, rootedness and depth to the lives of the young ones whom you serve. Blessings of joy and vision as you do this invaluable work.

We hope these tips help you prepare for amazing children’s sermons. And if you’ve got tips of your own, don’t forget to share them with the ICM community in the comments section!

Community Spotlight: An Illustrated Compassion VBS at St. John in the Wilderness Episcopal Church

Alissa Ellett 1 Comment

St John VBS Illustrated Compassion

We have put together a concise summary of St. John in the Wilderness Episcopal Church’s experience using An Illustrated Compassion for their Vacation Bible School. If you are looking for something that would be easy to print out and take to a staff or committee meeting, you can download the free PDF here.

Summertime is the season for VBS, and we are so excited to share with you how St. John in the Wilderness Episcopal Church used An Illustrated Compassion curriculum for their VBS program! We recently caught up with Rona Pasch, Director of Children’s Ministry at St. John’s, and she gave us the skinny on how it all went.

The Search for VBS Curriculum

Rona, before we get into Illustrated Compassion specifically, have you typically come up with your VBS program?
I am relatively new to children’s ministry (my background is in elementary and early childhood education). So, this will be the second VBS I have planned. I used a free curriculum last year as a base and molded it to fit the abilities and personality of our church.

What are your thoughts on the standard VBS curricula out there in the children’s ministry marketplace?
I think all models of VBS can be good. It all depends on the size of the church and what the demographics are. We are a medium sized church, so I probably have more creative wiggle room than I would otherwise. It means I have many options and don’t necessarily have to use a boxed VBS.

Choosing An Illustrated Compassion

Illustrated-Compassion-VBSWhat made you think about using ICM’s Illustrated Compassion curriculum?
First, I loved the broad theme of compassion. Like it says in the ICM description, no matter where you are on the theological or political spectrum, it’s clear our world needs more compassion. I was also drawn to the creative side to the curriculum. We have used the coloring posters in the past, and they work for all age groups. Additionally, this curriculum allows for a lot of flexibility. I could tweak it to fit our church’s personality, which I’m a big fan of. I also love that it includes the music, which was a major selling point for our music director. We even sang both of the songs during our worship service and hung up the coloring posters the Sunday after VBS.

St John VBS Illustrated Compassion

Making It Their Own

How did you use ICM’s curriculum?
We used An Illustrated Compassion’s Module 3 to create a 4-day VBS, using each day as a different Bible story/verse. What I found most adaptable was the Compassion in Action portion. I used local resources whenever possible for those activities.

For example, I’d already discussed doing blessing bags with our priest. So, when I saw the idea for Compassion Packs in the curriculum, it was perfect! We got donations from the congregation, and the kids packed the bags during VBS. Then, they handed them out the following Sunday. We also have a garden of veggies we grow to donate to the local food shelf. So, we spent time weeding and picking produce. I worked with another local organization to write “welcome home” letters to people transitioning out of homelessness.


What did you add or change to make ICM’s curriculum usable as your VBS program?
First off, I added a creative arts portion that included painting, recreating stories using Lego, etc. This was also a time used for coloring the posters. Also, we colored kindness cards that lined the walkway up to our church and were sent home with the children to hand out or sneak into library books. Additionally, there’s a great selection of picture books about showing compassion. So, I created a small reading area with those books available during down times. Lastly, I added a time for a physical activity. Since the theme was compassion, we did team building games. There weren’t specific winners; instead, team members encourage each other along the way.

Hopes for the VBS Curriculum

What did you hope your church community would get out of An Illustrated Compassion curriculum?
I hoped to educate the kids and adult volunteers about what the Bible teaches about showing compassion to one another. In addition to that, I hoped we’d discover how easy it is to do so. And by tying in local resources and organizations, I dreamed that this would inspire our church and families to support our local community and to build on what we’re already doing.

Takeaways from the Experience

St John VBS Illustrated Compassion
Why do you think it works well?
Well, first, it has a great layout and includes fabulous ideas for telling the stories. It also has follow-up questions and ideas for activities and projects, which are great. I know many other colleagues are already using resources and products from Illustrated Ministry in their churches, and it lines up with our theology very well. I could feel confident that the kids will not only be learning specific Bible stories and verses, but also how to use those in their everyday lives to show compassion to others.

Would you recommend ICM curriculum for VBS to your friends and colleagues?
Yes, absolutely! I would definitely encourage other churches to use this curriculum.


We loved hearing Rona’s story about how they used An Illustrated Compassion for their Vacation Bible School program. If you are thinking of using it for your VBS program, or you want to think of other ways your church could use it, I’d recommend downloading our free summary page of this blog post. Our free summary highlights what Rona’s church appreciated about An Illustrated Compassion, and how they were able to customize it to their ministry context. You can download that PDF here.

Announcing the Illustrated Ministry Video Contest

Adam Walker Cleaveland Leave a Comment

Illustrated Ministry Video Contest

Today, we are excited to announce the Illustrated Ministry Video Contest!

Over 145 people have purchased our Illustrated Earth curriculum, and over 175 orders came in for our Illustrated Earth posters. We’ve seen some of the photos you’ve all been sharing, and we are so excited that both the posters and the curriculum have been received so well. But we know there are many others out there who have yet to share about their experiences with our products, whether they are using our new Illustrated Earth resources, or they used something from Lent or Advent.

We are also interested in creating some Illustrated Ministry videos through crowdsourcing, and we thought it might make it more fun to turn it into a video contest. And here’s where you come in!

Make a Video!

This is some seriously legit coloring! A great job done by Melissa Poole from Ekklesia Church in Raleigh.
This is some seriously legit coloring! A great job done by Melissa Poole from Ekklesia Church in Raleigh.

We are asking churches (or camps or campus ministries or anyone, really) to submit a short video (no longer than two minutes) showing how they have used (or are using) materials from Illustrated Ministry in their communities and talking about the experience. This means we want to see photos or videos of children/youth/adults, whether they’re coloring or using the curriculum or connecting with our materials in another way.

And we’d like people – whether that’s your pastor(s), Christian Education director, parents or kids – to talk about how they’ve enjoyed using the materials or to share any fun experiences that have come out of using our products. More specific details are below – but that’s about it. We’re asking for a video that’s two minutes (no longer) and shows us how you’re using our materials and what you think about them.

If you think this sounds like fun, but you don’t have any experience putting videos together, please do not worry. I bet there are a couple junior high or high school students who could help you complete a project like this in an afternoon.

If you think this sounds like fun, but you don’t have any professional video equipment, please do not worry. High-quality videos can easily be shot on an iPhone (I made this video with just my iPhone 5S and a tripod). All you need is an iPhone and some decent lighting.

All entries need to be submitted by July 31st, and we’ll announce a winner a week later, after we’ve had a chance to go through the entries.

We’ll put together a compilation video of all the entries after we’ve announced the winner and share the video with everyone as well.

But wait…what will I win?

We will pick 1 (ONE) winner for the most creative video, and then we will pick 2 (TWO) runners up. The winner of the Illustrated Ministry Video Contest will receive a FREE set of our coloring posters for Advent this year (no we haven’t shared what we’re making for Advent yet – but trust us – you’ll love them!). When you consider the cost of shipping the posters, this giveaway is worth almost $100, and so we hope you’ll consider taking part in it. The two runners up will receive promo codes for 25% off our Advent materials for this year.

If you have any specific questions, please leave a comment below, but make sure to read all of the details below.

Help us continue to get the word out about Illustrated Ministry and have fun creating something at the same time! Now get out there and start filming!


Important Details

  • Videos will be accepted from today until July 31.
  • Videos should be HD quality (minimum 720p) – iPhones work fine
  • Videos should be shot in LANDSCAPE orientation – not portrait. So make sure to hold your phone horizontally to get a video that will fill up the whole screen. If you don’t know what I mean, please check out this article: An Important PSA On Why You Should Never Shoot Videos Vertically.
  • Videos must be uploaded to YouTube and have the hashtag #illustratedcm in the TITLE of the video (this is how we will search YouTube for the videos).
  • Fill out the form below to make sure that we see your video.
  • We will make a compilation video of many of your submitted videos, so please make sure that you have the permission of people in the video.
  • Your videos will never be sold by Illustrated Ministry in any way to anyone.

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