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Children's Sermon

Astoundingly Simple Tips for Your Best-Ever Backpack Blessing

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Holding a backpack blessing during worship is a great way to encourage students preparing for the new school year.

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What’s a Backpack Blessing?

A backpack blessing is a moment set aside during your worship service to encourage students. Doing so celebrates with the excited, and soothes the anxious. No matter the age or how a student is feeling about the upcoming school year, a backpack blessing is a valuable ritual within a faith family.

Students bring their backpack with them to church on an assigned morning. Then, if the worship space is conducive, they head up front with their bag and receive a blessing. Often, students receive a tag to put on their backpack that reminds them of this special blessing.

Are you doing a backpack blessing at your church? We’d love to hear about it! Share in the comments down below.

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Why Do a Backpack Blessing?

Lots of feelings surround the start of a new school year. Some students are over the moon. Others are made nauseous by the thought of a new teacher, class, maybe even a new school. That was me. The thought of school starting would cause my stomach to turn immediately. And some kids don’t care all that much one way or another.

No matter where a kid is on that emotional continuum, ritual offers something for everyone. When we gather to reflect on such a moment of time, we find comfort, grounding and a sense of added significance.

Also, a chapter’s beginning is an important time to recognize God’s faithfulness and care. God walks with us always and sends the Holy Spirit to strengthen and equip us for all the steps we take in life. Don’t worry….God’s Got Your Back! 🙂

Seizing opportunities to highlight this informs our children’s and youth’s faith journeys.

Additionally, we highlight for students what a blessing education and access to it is. Gratitude is the basis for joy, so we offer our young ones a gift when we teach them to search for God’s provision.

Not only that, but we are blessed to be a blessing to others. Take the time to dream about how they might be a blessing in their school and community.

Searching for something concrete? Invest in girls’ education through The Revolutionary Underground Foundation, an organization and girls’ school started in 2006. Their mission is to provide girls and young women in Africa access to learning resources and technology, leadership training and emotional support, focusing on empowering them to become vessels for change.

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Helpful Tips for Your Backpack Blessing

  • Place backpacks up front when students arrive. As a result, they won’t have an issue in getting out of their row to go down front for the blessing during the service.
  • Ask that the students arrive a few minutes early to go over what they and their parents can expect.
  • Have the students leave their backpacks up front after the blessing. Once the service is over, invite families to retrieve their children’s backpacks.
  • Take a photo of all the students with their backpacks to share on social media. Also, it makes a significant impact to mail a print of the picture to the students with a card of encouragement.
  • Communicate with parents who may need financial assistance for purchasing their children’s backpacks. Coordinate acquiring them before the blessing so their children have a backpack there.

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Variations on the Backpack Blessing

  • Include all those connected to the education system and parents in the blessing.
  • Invite students of all ages to participate, not only children and youth.
  • If students aren’t often present in worship, meet for a backpack blessing at their schools one morning the week classes begin.
  • Host an end of summer all-church cookout and incorporate the backpack blessing there.
  • Gift teachers, administrator, janitors, bus drivers, crossing guards, etc. with a pair of scissors decorated with a tag that reads: “You’re a Cut Above the Rest!”

We hope this post has been helpful and that your backpack blessing is a wonderful time to celebrate the coming season and God’s faithfulness within it. Don’t forget to share with us what you’re doing to welcome the school year in the comments below!

And of course, if you’re still looking for a fun and creative new backpack tag to use, be sure to check out our newest “God’s Got Your Back” backpack tag! We also have last year’s tag still available, which says, “Blessed to Be a Blessing” (available in both English and Spanish). You can order your backpack tags below, and also browse through some photos from folks in our community who have used our tags!

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

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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!

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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.

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  • 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.

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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!

The Worst Children’s Moment Ever

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I’m guessing that many of you have experienced many a children’s moment during your time in churches. I’ve witnessed some that have gone on for 10-15 minutes and they felt like they would never end (I’ve probably given one or two of those myself). I’ve seen some object lessons just go horribly wrong. I’ve seen pastors who seem like they have no understanding, whatsoever, of how to relate to children. It’s true that I’ve seen some bad ones.

However, a few years ago while I was serving a church in Oregon, I experienced, perhaps, my worst children’s moment.

It was Sunday morning, and I was scrambling around before worship trying to think of what to do for the children’s moment. We had a small group of kids, so I ended up landing on the idea that I would ask the kids how to spell G-O-D, and then give them some sheets with letters on them. I had four sheets with the letters L, O, V and E. See, it was going to be tricky – there were four sheets of paper, but I asked them to spell the name of God, which has three letters. But they had to use all of their signs.

I explained to the kids what they had to do, and after awhile, I thought they had it figured out. I was standing behind the kids, and heard some chuckles from the congregation, and so I stepped down to the floor and turned around, and this is what I saw.

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God is spelled…E-V-O-L?

Say it out loud. EVOL.

God is evil. Awesome. That went JUST like I had envisioned it.

I’m sure you all have your own stories of children’s moments that have just bombed – or perhaps just some really bad ones you’ve seen done before. Share your favorite “worst” children’s moments in the comments section.