Three strikes to an awful Children's Sermon

Over the years, we have all given and heard children's sermons that were just not on the mark. Sometimes you can put your finger on it, other times, you can't quite figure it out, but something was just wrong.

So here, I offer my big 3. The "no-nos" for writing (0r delivering) a children's sermon. I have made all of these blunders, but hope sincerely that in naming them, I will do my best to avoid them in the future, and perhaps others will too!

So here they are, in no particular order. . .


1) Preaching the "It looks like a monkey, but I know it is supposed to be Jesus" children's sermon
The wife of a former pastor I worked with, told me this great story about a children's sermon where the enthusiastic worship leader held up a stuffed monkey and asked the children what it was, and the response was (as I'm sure you can guess) "Well, it looks like a monkey, but I know it is supposed to be Jesus". So the warning we can get from this little story is --be creative with object lessons (and I might also add, use them sparingly). I think object lessons are great. Visuals--GOOD! Analogies--GOOD! Concrete examples that bring the scripture to an accessible place--GOOD!!! Jesus always being the monkey (or the box, or flower, or heart) BAD. When your kids can predict how your children's message will end each week, you need some new material. )As I write this, I cringe. I don't have a lot of Jesus monkeys, but do my sermons get old?? I should find a sounding board in my congregation to be sure) .

2) It's all about ME!
We all use stories from our lives for children's sermons--and most of the time, they help our kids see our humanity and our struggles, and to see that our faith is something that we are constantly thinking about. But. . . whenever we use ourselves or our stories in our sermons, we need to remember our goals and keep our message focused towards God. As I type this, it sounds so simple that I am thinking about deleting it, but I can think of so many times when I have read a sermon as I was searching for ideas and seen the "Its all about ME!" flaw, so I leave it in.

3) Kids say the darndest things!
A profound moment in my ministry was hearing this idea expressed at an APCE conference (I apologize that I cannot remember when, or who shared this wise thought),
"Do we give Children's Messages to help our children grow in their faith and understanding, or do we give Children's messages to be amused by their antics?"

Talk about a wow moment.

We have all been in this sanctuary--The worship leader asks an innocent question, a kid gives a funny answer and the congregation erupts in laughter. One of two things happens to that kid--
a)(S)he is mortified that his/her very sincere comment has been laughed at, and feels like a fool.
b)(S)he hears the laughter, thinks, "I am the next Jerry Seinfeld" and from that day forward works to find a response to give that will elicit the peals of laughter from the "audience" as often as possible.

We need to be aware of the answers that our questions might elicit. More importantly, I think, we need to ask ourselves why we ask questions. Do we really want to hear the answers, or do we want the answer that we have in our head. Sometimes, it is good to be interactive--to let the kids show you that they do in fact know what church season we are in, or the name of the short man who couldn't see Jesus. But other times, I wonder why we ask questions. I often make it a habit not to ask open ended questions. Most weeks I have at least 70 kids up front at children's message time. It would be choas to say the least if I had to listen to every kid share what they think. I do still do it from time to time, yet every time I do, I find myself feeling bad about having to stop a kid in the middle of a story that is too long, or not call on an earnest face waving his or her arm in front of me.

I used to start my children's sermons by saying "Good Morning!". One wonderful litle boy got into the habit of replying "Good morning Becky" in a very sing-song-y manner. After a few weeks other kids joined in, and in a month or so, it sounded like how you would imagine a classroom of third graders would greet their teachers in a cheesy movie set in the 1950s. So, out went the good morning, and we were able to come back to a more worshipful feel to the children's message. That is our goal, right?