While the Sunday morning experience isn’t the only aspect of your kids’ ministry, it certainly is an important part of it. In most churches, you have an hour with kids every Sunday to instill lessons and truths that will help them know God, love Jesus, and grow as Spirit-filled disciples.

As a result, many kids’ ministry leaders struggle with questions like …

● How do I make sure the experience is engaging and amazing?

● What kind of experience can I create to help kids grow spiritually? What elements should the service include?

● How do I make sure the small group experience is just as impactful and not overshadowed by the large group?

Many kids’ ministry leaders spend hours each week trying to overcome these issues and plan a lesson that kids are both interested in and challenged by.

This week we’ll unpack some of the different ways you can plan an effective kids’ ministry lesson. But before we start, I believe it’s important to set a framework for evaluating your curriculum and planning your lesson each week.

Two Things to Keep in Mind When Preparing Your Kidmin Lessons

Here are two ways you can ensure the kids’ ministry lessons each week are making a tangible impact in the lives of the children you’re trying to reach:

1. Maintain a Practical Point of View. No one knows your kids’ ministry better than you. As you plan your lesson based on the curriculum each week, it’s important to keep your ministry in mind. Will certain ideas or activities work? Is your format conducive to helping kids go deeper? Do your small group leaders know how to use the curriculum and apply what they know about your kids into how they teach? Getting the most out of your curriculum requires maintaining a practical point of view to maximize each lesson.

2. Don’t Neglect the Spiritual Point of View. As you think through the lessons each week, it’s always important to keep in mind that you can’t teach what you don’t know (or haven’t experienced). It’s very difficult to teach kids the value of having a personal walk with God if you or your small group leaders don’t practice it. The lesson is going to come across a lot differently if you live it out. We might not be perfect, but we should strive to live out the lessons we’re teaching kids each week—even if it requires us to be transparent and vulnerable.

Practicality is essential for creating kids’ ministry lessons that stick. At the same time, we should always look for ways to tie the gospel into every lesson. Learning how to balance both is one of the most valuable things we can do as kids’ ministry leaders.

What are some ways you maintain these two perspectives as your plan your kids’ ministry lesson each week?