I don’t know anything about Kenda Dean, other than she does youth ministry in S. Africa, and is blessed with some great insights.

My own ”Top 10″ would have been “The Top Ten Things I’d Do Dfferently in my youth groups if I could do it all over again.”

Here are some of my thoughts on that…

My #1 “Thing I’d Do Differently” would be to do much more one-on-one pastoring and “2 or 3″ small group pastoring. I’d spend less time on “group” ministry.

My #2 “Thing I’d Do Differently” would be to spend less time OVERALL on youth ministry, –and more time ministering to specific adults who have come back to the church at some stage in their life.  When I look back on all my years in youth ministry, I now realize how I OVER-SPENT my staff time on youth ministry and didn’t spend enough time on ministering to individuals who were “taking a run” at the church. Sometimes that individual was a young adult, or a middle-age person, or senior who had for some reason have decided to give the church a second chance.  As I look back, I see the faces of so many who crossed my path, and I didn’t have the time to connect with them at a deeper level, because sometimes I was spending too much time on cajoling some youth who were not receptive or ready to connect.

This is not to denigrate the importance of youth ministry. Rather, it simply recognizes that we have a finite amount of time. It also recognizes that “there is a time and season” when someone is ready for faith, and ready for greater involvement in the church, and we often MISS these people when its their time because we’re over-spent on those not ready. In some cases, they were kids who floated through “youth groups past” and are now taking another run at the church years later.

If you’re focused on youth ministry this surely sounds like heresy. But looking back through my several decades of youth ministry, I realize that I came in contact with so many ”second runners” that I didn’t take time for because my job description and focus didn’t understand the opportunity and importance.  I wish ”Now Neil” could go back in time and talk to “Then Neil”.  But would he listen?

I’ve written some other things about youth ministry in this blog, including “Confessions of an Old Youth Minister” http://sundayresources.net/neil/2010/02/18/confessions-of-a-youth-minister/ You can see more of my thoughts on CE here at http://sundayresources.net/neil/category/christian-education-ideas-and-advice/

<>< Neil

In my software ministry, I made a fun game about the reasons why we should worship and go to church, and the excuses we use to avoid connecting! www.sundaysoftware.com/zombies

Here are my notes on the subject.

The New Year’s Ritual of Tashlikh

“Tashlikh” is the Hebrew word for “throwing away”. It is a tradition in which we throw away our sins at the start of the new year, to make a fresh new beginning.

Tashlikh seems to have begun in Medieval times, as a practice in Jewish communities where after prayer, stones were thrown in a natural body of water on the afternoon of “Rosh Hashanah“–the Jewish New Year (which occurred in the fall for them, see note below). After prayer, participants would also shake their clothing to symbolically shake sins which have clung to them. Rabbis insisted the water be a natural body, preferably running, and contain fish.

It was described in the Mishnah, and based on Micah 7:19, “God will cover our sins, God will hurl all our sins into the depth of the sea.”

It also seems previewed in Ecclesiastes 3:5… “a time to scatter stones.”

Coincidentally, in the Letter to the Hebrews we read, “Since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us throw off every weight that slows us down, and the sin that clings to us, and run the race with endurance that is set before us.”

Rosh Hashanah, following the Jewish calendar, takes place in the fall. As part of the celebration, worshippers dip apples into honey and recite a blessing, “Shana Tova Umetukah” –which is Hebrew for “A Good and Sweet Year.” (שנה טובה ומתוקה)

The date of New Years Day has varied widely throughout history. Some ancient cultures placed it in the Spring, others in the Fall. Many, like the Romans placed it after the winter solstice…which in the Julian and Gregorian calendars became January 1st. By the 17th Century most of Europe had followed suit.

The dating of New Years is rather irrelevant. The important thread is that God has given us time and ritual to remind us of what’s important.

-Neil

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A fun game about the reasons why we should worship and go to church.

Adding God’s Memory to our Episodic Memory

The ability to remember HOW to do things based on past experience is called “Episodic Memory.”  It’s a distinct type of memory we have and begins to develop around age 4.  How we live our lives and solve problems and plan ahead is worked out in the brain by including past memories.

When we believe, we begin the process of incorporating God’s story into our own, and letting Godly memories inform our decisions.  It’s as simple as that. Paul said it this way in Philippians 2:5:  “Have the same mind as Christ Jesus….”

Pastors Have Become Priests

Somewhere along the line for pastors, WORSHIP eclipsed the teaching of God’s Word. I know pastors who rarely teach outside of the pulpit. They are more comfortable in a black robe or hospital room than in a classroom.

Yet one only has to look at the ministry of Jesus to see God’s thoughts on that subject. Jesus spent MOST of his ministry TEACHING, not leading worship, or going to worship. Indeed, Jesus was often referred to as “Rabboni” –”teacher.”

Would that more pastors would  imitate Jesus –and devote as much time to helping believers incorporate God’s Word into their memories as Jesus did.  Yet pastors and parishoners have become “WORSHIP” focused for a lot of reasons too numerous to mention here.  One wonders, however, how our worthy our Worship could truly be, if more people owned God’s story in their hearts and memories.

Food for foresight!

<>< Neil

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First, the problem….

“The Emperor Has No Clothes”

1. We’ve done a disservice to most of our teens by herding them into traditional discussion-oriented classes on Sunday morning. Reason being: the research, stats, and decades of experience says it’s not producing adult disciples. (To put it mildly: where are all those kids that used to be in our classes?

2. And we’ve done an especially big disservice by putting Jr. Highs together in the same room with each other, -where their primary biological imperative at that point is to not look stupid or uncool in front of their peers. The result: they clam up, and allow the “behaviorally challenged” to rule the roost. Jr. Highs in the same room together would give JESUS a hard time. Such an environment sets the stage for diminished returns in High School. (For their own sake, 7th and 8th graders need to spend LESS time with each other! I’d say “LOL” if it weren’t so true.)

One of the reasons we are captive of the HERD model: Enthusiastic young, do-gooding youth leaders and Sunday School teachers who believe they relate well to teens, and believe that “if they can just talk to the kids they can get through to them.”
Another reason we are captive of SOME “talking head” leaders is that they enjoy the pulpit which the classroom gives them. What we often get then is a mild Bible class that gives the young people a tolerable place to go. But if you asked them, they’d tell you they’d rather be somewhere else, …and in a few years THEY WILL BE. (Indeed, where are all the high schoolers who used to fill our classes?)

3. We have ALSO herded teens into classes because talk is cheap, and it is easier to program teenagers as a group than it is to deal with them more effectively as individuals.

At a time when their individuality and individual needs are at a critical point, and at a time in their life when they are most susceptible to peer pressure, what do we do? …we sit them down in groups and ask them to open up in front of peers who they may not even know or like.

The results speak for themselves. Even in apparently “successful” youth classes, ask the kids what they think. They’ll tell you it’s “better than sitting in worship,” but not by much. Or, “as long as I have to come, it’s ‘okay’.” And even in classes that are better than most, (such as all the youth classes I ever taught…hahaha) the long-term effect of such classes is in serious question.

Note: Some youth classes are well attended NOT because the class itself is attractive, but because either (A) The adult classes are great and the parents are committed, or (B) The youth classes are held during worship and provide an alternative to sitting in a pew and listening to the sermon.

And BTW: The idea of herding teenagers out of worship to attend a peer group discussion, when many of them have joined the church through Confirmation, and in a few short years will be off to college, …well, it’s one of the stupidest things churches do. When do we expect them to become comfortable and in worship? Statistically speaking, we might as well tell them to stay home, and save ourselves the time and trouble.

Truth be told:

A. Many of teens who come through our Sunday School classes drop off by their Junior year and rarely darken the door of the church thereafter.

B. Many of the teens who grow up in the church and seems to have a growing faith, are doing so IN SPITE OF the teen Sunday School Class. Or at least, it is not as critical to their growth as we suppose. Instead, we can point to their family, their interest in worship, youth group, mission work, and ONE ON ONE relationship with a faith mentor (such as a Sunday School teacher or youth leader!) which is more important and formative than a class.

C. Many teens need another less threatening way of learning & relating their faith than sitting in our classes STIFLED by their apathetic peers.

Indeed, some of the most faithful teens I’ve ever worked with do not like hanging out with their peers because they do not like to be with them.

I say these things as a three-decade veteran of youth Sunday School, veteran youth minister, and as somebody who was probably better than most at relating to teens and “talking to them.” And I say these things looking back on the many HUNDREDS of youth I’ve pastored to in classes, as confirmands, youth groups, on mission trips, and individually. Indeed, some of the the most successful stories I have been involved with were with kids who for one reason or another found themselves on the outside of their own Sunday School class and peer group, either figuratively or literally, or both.

So with apologies to Ecclesiastes 3…

IT IS TIME TO BLOW IT UP

And I’m not talking about “changing the curriculum” or “finding a better teacher” or “painting the youthroom.” Tinkering ain’t the answer anymore. Rather, I’m talking about moving away from the herd towards a ministry that TREATS TEENS AS INDIVIDUALS instead of a group or class.

And with regard to Sunday Morning… I’m talking about this:
Turning more of our teens into Teaching Assistants and Worship leaders.
Yes, there are some practical considerations, especially if you have an abundance of teens. But I’m willing to be IMPRACTICAL in some respects -in order to do ministry that produces disciples instead of just classes. The devil is in the details, but it can be done in most churches.

I’ll get to the details in a moment.
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Why it’s a much better idea:

The idea of having the TEENS work with the Adults and Children, rather than herding them into their own repressive peer group, is based on how most people, but especially young people, come to their faith, and feel connected in the church, –by getting involved.

As any parent or experienced teacher can tell you, teens learn better and really listen through EXPERIENCE and EXAMPLE. Sitting around and listening to an adult talking-head is way down the list. (Many young adult youth leaders don’t know this because they haven’t yet raised teens, and don’t spend enough years in ministry to see the lack of results which the talking-heads get.)

Turning teens into teachers and having them work with younger children also addresses the needs of many teens.
Teens crave attention, being needed and being loved. Most respond to responsibility. The last thing they need is YET ANOTHER CLASS like they get five days a week., –thrown in with kids who they don’t necessarily know that well, if at all, –and who arrive with varying levels of commitment and self-discipline. Even among peers who they DO know, such a peer group can be an oppressive environment for those inclined to thoughtful discussion.

By having them work with the children, the peer issue largely disappears from the experience. They can drop their guard. And AS teachers they will learn both the content of the lesson and its heart by helping lead Sunday School classes for the children.

Did I mention that the younger kids will idolize them? It can be a real self-esteem booster at a time in their life when they need all they can. This is one of my favorite “side effects” of teaching with teens, –the quirky awkward ones shine among the little kids.
Inviting teens to teach with you also gives ADULTS a new way of relating to teens at a deeper shared level. As I look back at 30 years of youth ministry and Sunday School, inviting teens to teach with me has been one of the most rewarding personal experiences for me.

Now let’s look at the details of “HOW”…

If you have just a few teens, the “how” is easy. If you have “many”, it gets more complicated. I’ll address that in a moment. But suffice to say, that the AVERAGE church has “few”, and will eventually have less if they don’t do something different and more meaningful. And YES, this will take more time and preparation, but it will also get better results. (And I personally believe that anybody who doesn’t have the time to do it right shouldn’t be doing it at all.)

Since 1990 I have been inviting teens to come help me teach in my computer labs. Not only are teens ENAMORED of technology, they are good at using it! And the moment you put them next to children, most teens drop their fascade and begin to open up. It’s a wonderful thing to watch. It is not a stretch to say that one of the reasons I was intrigued with computers in Christian education in the first place. I saw a wonderful opportunity to get my teens involved.

In fact, I have often told people that my “secret #1 reason to start a computer lab“ was to give the teens a place to help teach.

Many churches have asked me if they should schedule their Youth classes into the lab, and I’ve been honest with them. I’ve said, “Six Jr Highs in that lab will all try to work against you and the computers for two reasons: to show how cool they are with computers, and to show you they are Jr. Highs.” But work with them to become computer lab assistants to the 1st and 2nd graders, and they will blossom.

I must admit, I didn’t come to this conclusion in a brainstorm, but by roundabout and long-term experience. In the middle of running some “great” teen Sunday School classes, I was also experimenting with what we ended up calling the “Workshop Rotation Model” for Sunday School. We had a computer lab in our rotation of workshops and and I NEEDED BODIES.

Back in the early 90′s, most adults didn’t know how to work with a computer, but many of my TEENAGERS DID. So I started recruiting them to help me teach with me in our computer workshop, and they were wonderful.

Then we got some of our artistic teens involved helping in the Art Workshop, then the Games Workshop (they were great at being team leaders). Then we pulled some of our theater-oriented teens into our Theater Workshop to help the children do skits about the Bible lesson.

In other words, our Sunday School design NEEDED extra helpers. That’s an important concept. We didn’t just dump our teens into a bunch of sedentary younger kids’ classes. The children’s workshops NEEDED the help because the learning in those workshops was active and up-out-of-your-chair.

To learn more about the Workshop model, go to www.sundaysoftware.com/rotation.htm and read my articles.

You don’t have to be doing the Workshop Rotation Model. You can create slots for teens in traditional classes as well (though perhaps not as many as in the Rotation model) . And you could just create one or two special “workshop style” or “active” classes where the teachers and lesson plans have been PRIMED to include teen helpers.
.=.

Other Venues:
Some churches have a pre-class “assembly” or children’s worship time. This is a perfect project for teens and adult leaders to work on together. You can have two groups of teens in rotation helping lead: One group prepares on week 1, and presents on week 2, –while the other group is presenting on week 1 and preparing on week 2 of your schedule. In this way you can mix traditional classwork with active helping.

Advertisement!

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Thoughts on Managing the Helpers:

Ideally, your teens would be SCHEDULED ahead of time so they knew what workshop or class they were working with. Ideally, they would establish a relationship with a teacher or two, and a group of the children. Working with teens requires a lot of communication and reminders. Be prepared to text message and Facebook!

Not every teen is cut out to be a teaching assistant.Some teens will prefer to sit with mom or dad in adult Bible study, and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that! A few teens could go the sanctuary to help prepare for worship leadership (perhaps not that same week, but to prepare for the next week with a special “Teens in Worship” coordinator who works with the pastor). Others can be assigned to help out the ushers or greeters or etc. Teens like being asked, and like being recognized. Just don’t thrown them out there on their own.

Make sure your adult leaders have been PRIMED to work with teens. In other words, make it a ministry.In larger churches that have larger youth classes, you can offer teaching and helping positions as an organized alternative to going to an established class. In other words, GIVE YOUTH A CHOICE, and then actively recruit your “class” students to join in becoming helpers, rather than hiding-out in the youth class. In the long-run, it will help them feel connected to the church and to their budding faith.

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A HERETICAL OPINION:

I’d rather work with 3 or 4 interested teens to become faithful teachers in our program than herd 7 or 8 teens a week into a “talking head class” only to watch most of them SLIDE OUT THE BACK DOOR in a year or two. 

I used to run teen classes with 15 and 25 kids a Sunday! …and in retrospect, it was the kids I involved in teaching and helping around the church who seemed to really “GET” what the church was all about. As a minister, it was some of the most satisfying ministry I did.

Of course, with any great idea you’ll also have naysayers. Most parents and adults seem oblivious to the connection between herding teens into a mediocre class, and their exit through the backdoor years later. Honestly, I’d rather watch a disagreeable family leave the church than CAVE IN to the parent’s belief that a Sunday School class for their teen is in the teen’s best long-term interest, -especially if that class is during worship. ESPECIALLY. 

We have a lot of work to do, including reprogramming our parents along the line of “what really works.“ 

LAST BUT NOT LEAST…..

Youth Sunday School Class during Worship is an abomination, or at least ”awful”

Teens should be IN WORSHIP when it’s Worship Time, and that means that they should NOT also be pulled out of Worship to go to class or help with Sunday School on more than an occasional basis.

Teens need to learn how to become comfortable in Worship. One of the biggest problems the church faces is with people who don’t understand our language and practice, …who don’t know how to participate, or pray, or sing a hymn, or listen to a sermon. We need to START THEM YOUNG, and not cave in to the few malcontent teens (and their parents) who think teens will somehow magically reappear at the doorstep of the church ten years later. Statistically speaking, that Emperor doesn’t have any clothes either.

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I hope this article has stimulated some of your thoughts, and invite you to leave a comment below.

I must admit, I didn’t come to this conclusion in a brainstorm. Rather, it began by accident. And it was this “accident” that also had the answer to the “HOW TO”. It is one thing to have three or four teens to volunteer each Sunday rather than sticking them in a class. But it is a whole different level of practicality if you have a dozen teens each week to deal with. The problem is that each teen still has the same needs regardless of how big your program is. So maybe your PROGRAM needs to evolve to create places for individuals to serve. Read how I did that accident…

In the middle of running some “great” teen Sunday School classes, I was also inventing something called the “Workshop Rotation Model” for Sunday School, and experimenting with computers in some of those classes. AND I NEEDED BODIES. . Back in the early 90′s, most adults didn’t know how to work with a computer, but many of my TEENAGERS DID. So I started recruiting them to help me teach with me in our computer workshop. Then we got some of our artistic teens involved helping in the Art Workshop, then the Games Workshop (they were great at being team leaders). Then we pulled some of my theater-teens into our Theater Workshop.

What I’m saying is that we CREATED ways and places for our teens to get involved. We didn’t just dump them into the children’s classes. The children’s workshops NEEDED the help because the learning in those workshops was active and up-out-of-your-chair, (–NOT talking heads with children as is so often the misguided model in traditional Sunday School).

<>< Neil MacQueen
www.sundayresources.net/neil
www.sundaysoftware.com

You may be interested in my other articles about church stats, new ministry ideas and my experiments with a new form of youth group. If so… go to the Christian Education Ideas & ADVICE category on this site and scroll down through my posts.

http://sundayresources.net/neil/category/christian-education-ideas-and-advice/

Malcolm Gladwell’s latest bestselling book “BLINK” is about “why we behave the way we do.” It offers up a treasure trove of scientific case studies and experiments that describe how the brain makes decisions both consciously and sub-consciously.  [Note to preachers: Every chapter has a sermon waiting to be unearthed in it.]

• Marriage  …the surprising research into warning signs of failing marriage
• Racism and Age-ism  …research into how we can be conditioned
• How We Make Snap Decisions -the science of how the brain does it (“thin slicing”)
• Priming people for certain behaviors
• Why we prefer “tall, dark and handsome”
• The Wrong Way to ask people what they want
• Mind Reading
• Listening with your eyes

These are just a few of the subjects explored in the book.

Now on to the point of this post….

For better or worse, our students are being ”primed” about coming to church or staying home, joining and not, pursuing an active faith or being agnostic. Everything we do primes them in on direction or another. We are not alone in this priming, but we in the church also cannot afford to be part of the negative priming.

In his chapter: “The Secret Life of Snap Decisions”, Gladwell offers up NUMEROUS research findings into how people “thin slice” –his word for how the brain makes quick decisions (reacts) consciously and sub-consciously. Within that chapter he quotes several scientific studies into a process called “PRIMING”.

Priming is how the brain can be prepared in advance to make certain type of decisions and behave in certain predictable ways.

(The numerous experiments) “…suggest that what we define as ‘free will’ is largely an illusion…. that much of the time we are on auto-pilot, …and the way we think and act, and how well we think and act on the spur of the moment,  are a lot more susceptible to outside influence than we realize.”  (Blink, Ch 2, page 58)

The research points out just how IMPORTANT LANGUAGE IS in PRIMING THE SUB-CONSCIOUS.

In several famous experiments described in Blink, groups of college students were primed with a written pre-test. One group’s test was full of positive & kind words, the second was full of negative & aggressive words.  Then the students were individually presented with a situation after the test and their reactions recorded.  Those who’s pre-test primed them to be polite were 82% more likely to be polite in the interpersonal situation presented to them (without their knowledge) following the test.   82%.

Numerous similar research projects found that priming works to create all sorts of impressions in the participants, including their feelings about race and age. “Conditioning” or “brainwashing” are extreme examples of priming. Priming, however, is often more subtle…  and has been used by teachers and parents for eons to shape student behavior and thinking.

Importantly, the research is showing us that PRIMING is the WAY the brain works. It’s not an aberration. Everyone is subject to priming and conditioning.  Put bluntly, the science suggests that “faith” and faithful behaviors are something we can be primed for, just as easily as we can be primed in the direction of being agnostic or athiestic. 

Of course, we’ve always sort of known about priming, but that fact that the brain works this way should cause us to consider how we can do it BETTER.

The scientific understanding of “priming” also explains why we have different types of churches… we acclimate ourselves and our children to different styles, language and circumstances. And some people respond better to certain types of priming than others.  Take for example, a child with conservative parents and a conservative church. They reinforce each other.

THE BRAIN LIKES PRIMING, …and is built to do it, …and we can harness the power of priming for good. In fact, you cannot NOT prime.  And equally important: we can negatively prime people too, and this brief posting will mention that as well!

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Over the years I’ve been asked to “define Sunday School”, or asked “why do we have them?” The science of priming gives us an important behavior answer:  Sunday School and Youth Groups EXIST TO PRIME OUR CHILDREN in the way we hope they will go, behave, speak, and think.

What we say, how we say it, the words we choose, the feelings we impart, the atmosphere we create,  –they all prime our children’s sub-conscious and conscious decision making processes. Yet in so many churches, we get the kids in and begin to negatively reinforce their decision-making about God and church.  Indeed, we almost DARE some children (and adults) to come back -in spite of our lame-ness.

(I’m using “lame” here in the slang sense. “Weak” or “mediocrity” can also be substituted.  John the Elder might have added, “lukewarm.”)

Over time lame churches and teachers and Sunday Schools continue to do things that reinforce people’s opinion of the church’s “lameness.” (And remember, this opinion is often sub-conscious).

Lame churches PRIME their members to expect lameness through a series of subtle messages, such as, peeling paint, unclean nursery floors, unprepared leaders, crappy sermons, mediocre pastors, boring atmosphere, lack of quality control (etc etc).  PRIMING can happen by onslaught, or by a steady drip, drip, drip. (Not one to complain without offering help, I’ve addressed solutions in other posts in this blog.)

As we learned with the youth group movement of the 70′s and 80′s, being “friendly and fun” wasn’t enough. PRIMING is not just about creative positive associations. It’s not about running a happy active youth group. It’s about priming them to think about the church as their home, rather than something to do. It’s about priming young people to want to be fed rather than just snacked.

Priming is about creating EXPECTATIONS.

If all we do is make them happy, then they will eventually find more-happy elsewhere. This is the lesson all those fellowship youth groups taught us. If it’s just about hanging out, fun & games, and doesn’t connect/prime them to a higher power, then we’ve only primed them to think of the church as “one more social choice.” …and as “just another social activity,” we can’t compete.

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The scriptures are not mute on this concept….

Deuteronomy 11:19-21 offers suggestions about how to prime and priming’s desired result :

“Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates,   —so that your days and the days of your children may be many in the land that the LORD swore to give your forefathers, as many as the days that the heavens are above the earth.”

Psalm 119: 9-16 could easily be the goal statement and measure for children and youth ministry:

⁹ How can a young person stay on the path of purity?
By living according to your word.
¹⁰ I seek you with all my heart;
do not let me stray from your commands.
¹¹ I have hidden your word in my heart
that I might not sin against you.
¹² Praise be to you, LORD;
teach me your decrees.
¹³ With my lips I recount
all the laws that come from your mouth.
¹⁴ I rejoice in following your statutes
as one rejoices in great riches.
¹⁵ I meditate on your precepts
and consider your ways.
¹⁶ I delight in your decrees;
I will not neglect your word.

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Final Thoughts….

Decades ago parents thought it would help their kids if they stopped making them dress up to go to church. So kids stopped dressing up, and their attendance continued to decline. And we let them sit in Sunday School while mom and dad worshipped. Guess what? They decided not to sit in worship as adults too.

We  need to stop the negative priming of our children and youth.

I speak from personal experience on that.  I have experienced being very connected in a congregation while other family members were DISCONNECTING. They were being negatively primed by certain church experiences which I didn’t take notice of until it was too late. If you read my “Neil on the Lam” category of posts, you’ll get an idea about those experiences. (http://sundayresources.net/neil/category/lam/)

Unfortunately, older children and young teens are very susceptible to allowing negative experiences with the church to become DETERMINING experiences. More on that someday in another post.

For more on what the brain research is saying to church leaders, go to

http://sundayresources.net/neil/2011/01/12/good-stories-really-do-get-inside-your-head/

http://sundayresources.net/neil/2009/08/17/its-not-hype-the-brain-research-behind-multimedia/

http://sundayresources.net/neil/2010/02/11/reinforcing-peoples-memories-in-preaching/

And The Statistical Benefits of Church Membership…  http://sundaysoftware.com/stats.htm

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Our software teaches Bible stories in an exciting way.
We’re “priming” both their love of scripture, and enjoyment of your church!

Guess what…  The neural activity of the HEARERS started to look like the neural activity of the storyteller.

Even more remarkable, the listener’s brain activity started to LIGHT UP as their anticipation grew during the story. “Key brain regions  lit up before her words even came out, suggesting anticipation of what she would say next.” Said Silbert, it appears that “the more you anticipate someone, the more you’re able to enter their space.”

Of course, those of us who love a good story, intuitively knew about this. What this research does is HIGHLIGHT THE IMPORTANCE of “telling stories” in our teaching and preaching, -rather than lecturing, …because that’s the way God built us, – for story.

Dr. Silberts research helps explain the power of story-telling multimedia, as well.  “Telling the story” is a principle I apply in my software design, as well as, in my sermons and teaching opportunities. (Yet many preachers are ‘boring’ because they just talk, talk talk, –instead of taking us on a journey. Such a waste.)

For example, during the design of our new Faith Through the Roof CD, I created a story video that turns on in the middle of the 3d style game where you are trying to carry the man up on the roof to see Jesus. I also created a video song (a story in lyrics) at the end of the game.  Rather than add more “gamey-ness” at these two critical points in the teaching, I wanted to engage the kid’s brains with story, audio and visuals. I wanted them to sit back from the game and engage at the LISTENING and LOOKING level. So rather than keep having the player carry the man to see Jesus,  Peter takes over the game for about 3 minutes to complete the telling story of the man let down through the roof.  (www.sundaysoftware.com/faith). 

After the man is healed, Jesus calls you to jump down and speak to him. How’s that for anticipation! Games and good software do this. They create a sense of “what’s next!”

The story of the man let down through the roof is a classic example of how JESUS HIMSELF utilized the tool of anticipation with his audience. He sees that the crowd is dismayed at the interuption and idea of forgiving the man’s unforgiveable sins, and then sets them up with anticipation:  “which is easy to say, your sins are forgiven? or Rise Up and Walk?”   You can almost hear the room come to a halt. Then he delivers the punch line: “Rise up and Walk.”

While we were creating the narration and images for the story video that pops up in the game, I decided to add a musical score to the story. MOST good movies and dramas utilize music to set the mood and heighten the listener’s emotional and anticipatory experience. We do that in a lot of our software too.  It’s not filler. It’s about helping the student’s brain get into that memorable focal state. (Doing sound effects in storytelling and preaching can operate the same way.)

In preaching, it means telling more stories, and better stories, in more dramatic fashion (not over-wrought drama, but “well-told” dramatic). 

In our teaching it means reading from the Bible with excitement, rather than flatness, and stopping at key points to ask “What do you think will happen next?”   ie… create anticipation. It means sometimes coming into your classed dressed as a disciple, and having quickie costumes for your readers. It means getting out of your chairs and adding a little acting to the scripture reading with the kids.

When you teach and preach like that, and when you use media that does it too, you’re helping your listeners connect, learn, and remember. 

…And you’re also imitating the Great Teacher himself.

Happy New Year everybody!

<>< Neil

This was the intriguing conclusion from Barna Research’s 2009 poll of church/unchurched Americans.  

“… the study shows that most American adults recall frequent faith activity when they were growing up. Moreover, it provides clarity that the odds of one sticking with faith over a lifetime are enhanced in a positive direction by spiritual activity under the age of 18. And it raises the intriguing possibility that being involved at least a few times a month is correlated with nearly the same sticking power as weekly involvement – especially among teenagers.” 

The #1 indicator of the likelihood of a young person becoming a church-going adult remains HOW OFTEN they attended religious training (such as, Sunday School/youth groups) as a child and a teen. The Barna poll clearly shows the correlation between “how often” they attend and “how likely” they are to remain connected as adults.

Link to the Barna report

This is a “BIG DUH” to those of us involved in Christian Education. However, it also serves as  GREAT INCENTIVE to get us to look at OTHER WAYS we can provide “religious training” experiences to those we are NOT reaching, i.e., “the other” kids.

Monolithic approaches to religious education do not serve the greater goal, –which is to raise up children in the way they should go. And yet, many churches operate programs with an “all or nothing proposition.”  They have Sunday School at one time a week, regardless of some families/children’s ability to attend that one hour. And they have one form of youth involvement, -the traditional youth group. This creates two groups: those who are “in” and “the other” kids who receive less and less attention from the church as they grow older (except for that last ditch effort called “Confirmation” which usually doesn’t work to “church” the kids).

GOD FORBID the child who:

• has parents that work weekends or nights, or are divorced
• has an athletic talent that pulls them away on many Sundays
• does not do well in groups

Here are two approaches to solving this dilema:

1. The Alternative Program Solution:

A series of “other” events and “points of contact” geared for those who cannot regularly attend. It is important to note that “other events” does not mean “the same old group at a different time.” Unfortunately, when a teen is not part of a Sunday School class or youth group, they will usually not attend those group offerings even when the event is at a time when they can attend. Why? Because they do not feel part of “that” group, and some children don’t feel comfortable in groups.   

Instead, the smart minister will create unique, personal, and small NON-youth group associated opportunities for youth to be part of something important.  It could be something as simple as the pastor calling the teen to help with a mission project, or be a lay reader once a month, or assist helping with the younger children from time to time.

2.  The Anti-Program Solution:
Rather than a “one program fits all” mentality, churches would do well to sit down with the families of those who need another solution –and craft a form of religious training & church involvement that works for them.   

Many teens are reticent to be part of a group, but like to help on special occasions.

Examples:

  Inviting a teen to read “Jesus Freaks” (the teen book) over the Winter with you and then inviting them discuss it at the DQ one evening with two or three other students who have also been reading it.  (In many churches, you wouldn’t do this for a group because not enough kids would be interested. But this approach assumes you have a “wherever two or three are gathered” mindset.)  If your student is an athlete, –find out who leads the local chapter of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes and introducing them to your student.  Invite that athletic student to be a game leader in your children’s fellowship during their off season (which invariably brings them into the lesson time for those youngsters). If your student likes computer gaming or is addicted to their cellphone, share a Bible game with them  or a Bible app that gives them scripture readings on their iphone (don’t under-estimate the attraction of games and apps!). Additionally, invite these students to connect to your Facebook page (perhaps you create one just for such contacts, and make sure it is not an advertisement for your group).

Logistically, pulling off “alternatives” is hard for leaders who are already hard-pressed to pull off the “main” program. Thus, the minister would be wise to recruit OTHER people to tackle these “alternative” solutions.  And indeed, there are many young adults and parents who themselves need alternative ways to minister to youth other than the Sunday morning/evening approach. Thus, it’s a win-win solution.

The time to begin these alternative solutions is not when the child become a teenager, but BEFORE.  Jr. Highs are by definition the MOST LIKELY TO SAY NO.  Patterns of attendance are usually set prior to that age, and thus, our outreach to those “certain” kids and their families should begin when habits are easier to set.  This is why Confirmation is usually a HUGE FAILURE in most churches –if it’s goal is to produce church-going faithful teens. It’s like trying to close the barn door after the horse is gone.

The Barna Research tells us HOW IMPORTANT THIS IS to our kids’ long-term faith journey. Your ministry from this point forward will demonstrate how serious you are about ”the other” kids in your church.

- – - – -

For a related concept, read “The Tribe13 Experiment” –a description & report on my attempts to change the way we did our children and youth group.  http://www.sundaysoftware.com/articles/tribe13/  The Tribe13 concept doesn’t specifically address “the other kids”, rather, it was designed to try and work around scheduling problems, honor what the kids were doing outside of the church, and deepen the religious experience of the ones who could come.

For another related article, read my article quoting the research on the “Lifelong Benefits of Church Attendance” at www.sundaysoftware.com/stats.htm

<>< Neil MacQueen

Some people might assume I’m a pessimist about the church. I’m not. I’m a “contrarian.”

I’m reading a book right now that reminds me of my contrarian approach to looking at the world, the Church, and Christian education, which is:

• Things aren’t always what they seem (and thus you need to seek out alternate points of view).
• The reason “why” things aren’t working (or are) may not be what you think (and our “why” is often self-serving).
• Many popular explanations and opinions and practices are wrong (and we are so comfortable with them that they have made us dumb).
• The problem may be “you,”  and not “them.”  OR, it may indeed be ”them”,  (contrarians dare to look in the mirror).

The book is titled “God’s Battalions” …a myth-busting look at the Crusades. (Rodney Stark, Harper Collins) It’s conclusion grates against the apologetic ”guilt” many westerners have about the Islamic (ie “Arab”) world. The book attempts to set the HISTORICAL record straight and put the Crusades in the proper context by carefully describing the history leading up to the Crusades and examining the source materials on both sides of the history. 

One conclusions of this mythbusting is that the Christian world (ie “western”) doesn’t need to apologize to the Islamic world for the Crusades, and that it is counter-productive to view current history through false interpretations of the Crusades, or by the ethics and belief systems of the modern world. That in fact, due to the history preceding the Crusades and the accepted practices of the time, the Crusades were a logical response to the political, military, and religious needs of the day. (Which isn’t to say they were good or righteous by today’s standards, or a good idea.)

Aside: Had I not gone into the ministry I would have likely become a history teacher. Love the stuff and read a lot of it. My interest in the Crusades began years ago when some very deep family research revealed an ancestral line that went back to the Crusades (and further), and included the builders of Castle Shobak on the eastern shore of the Dead Sea. This large fortress was known as “Mount Royal” or “Montreal” and was featured in the film “Kingdom of Heaven.” Pretty cool, but I digress.

The Crusades were in large part a pious (by standards of the day) and real political response to militant Islam’s takeover of century old “Christian” kingdoms in the Middle East. Byzantium was under constant attack by Islamic forces, and were making military encroachments into Europe. (Islamic forces were stopped 150 miles south of Paris).   The book also points out that the Crusades were mostly about TAKING BACK the Holy Land, not conquering it, for indeed, Palestine, Syria, Lebanon, parts of North Africa, and most of Asia Minor HAD BEEN part of the Byzantine Empire (ie, “Christian”).

And yet, this point of view is rarely taught in the western world.

The book does not excuse the violence and plundering that went on during the Crusades. It re-balances the discussion, noting that Islamic armies were just as likely to massacre civilians and plunder populations as were Christian armies, and that in terms of what’s happening today between east & west, popular history needs to be challenged.

Contrarians, like Myth-busters, don’t take your word for it.

They don’t accept the standard institutional explanations.

Contrarians AUTOMATICALLY assume there is another way to look at something (even if it is wrong), because they know that it is IN THE LOOKING, and IN THE CONSIDERING of ALTERNATE OPINIONS, that myths can be discovered and busted, that they will learn some new things, and may even stumble upon new solutions.

 ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^

I’m a contrarian by nature. The minute someone says “tomato,” I wonder, “Are you sure it’s not tomahto?”    If you tell me “it has to be this way,” I immediately assume that COULD BE wrong.  And if you tell me, “well it isn’t working because of X,” I immediately assume it may also not be working because of Y & Z.

The Church and most local congregations are in great need of myth-busting.

Put simply…

We need to question what we’ve been told about the church.

We need to question the conventional wisdom about:

• how we operate
• who’s needs we are meeting
• the vested interested of those in charge
• what our needs are, as opposed to what’s easy to do
• is our worship as moving and helpful as we think it is?
• are we really as friendly as we think?
• is our programming really as good as our publicity thinks it is?
• how much of church office work is necessary?
• is paying a minister to spend 15 hours a week writing a sermon a good investment?
• do we have the right leaders?
• are we creating a shallow, warm-fuzzy congregation that can’t withstand a crisis (and are only going to find this out when it’s too late)?
• etc. etc. etc.

One of the ways I’m a contrarian in the church is to simply ask: 

What’s not that great about our congregation and what are the long-term effects of continuing on this way?

And…  If the long-term effects are bad, then we need to change, even if it makes the short-term difficult.

^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^

More about Neil the contrarian, and about being a contrarian…

The theological term for this contrarian nature is “iconoclast.”  Many years ago I was called this by a church executive and I had to go look it up to see if it was an insult. (LOL)  An iconoclast is someone who “smashes idols.”  An “idol” is something people falsely worship as true.  An iconoclast is also someone who doesn’t sit idoly by.

Where did this point of view come from?  It was helped by a variety of books I’ve read over the years.

One of the first pieces of contrarian literature I remember reading as a boy was titled, “The Good Ol’ Days: They were terrible.”   It dismantled the myth of an idyllic 19th Century and Victorian age.  Another seminal book in my early life was  the classic, “Your God is Too Small“.  In seminary I remember reading ”Reflections of a Contrarian” by church change guru Lyle Schaller, in which he challenged the deathgrip of conventional thinking in many churches.  And I continue to read books that challenge my thinking. 

My contrarian nature has brought about many of the major changes in my life:

• “Churches will never be able to give up the traditional Sunday School model.” –So I helped create the Rotation Model for Sunday School.
• “Churches will never be able to afford computers in Sunday School.” – And yet now many find computers really easy to find or purchase for their kids.
• “Leaving your nice parish job to start a Christian software company is a bad idea.” –Sunday Software Inc. is now in its 14th year.

Along the way I’ve been told by some publishers that rotation and software were “the devil” …or “a fad”.  In 1996, I rejected the offer of Presbyterian Publishing to come work for them and bring my rotation and software work with me. The then V.P.’s parting shot was, “we’ll be doing this in another 2 or 3 years and will overtake you.”

In my personal life, I’ve gone against the grain of conventional thinking many times. Most recently, this included leaving the beige vinyl of suburbia and moving my family to the island of St Croix for a few years to challenge our lifestyle, pursue some new goals, and experience a different culture.

Throughout this Blog you’ll see many of my ideas & articles about doing things differently. I’ve found that BEING DIFFERENT doesn’t always solve the problem, but it often leads you to new revelations about yourself, gives you a new way of looking at the problem. 

Important Final Note:

Being a “contrarian” is not the same as being a naysayer or pessimist.  I’m a happy, positive, optimistic person. I believe we/me/you/the church CAN change for the better. My own life is proof of this to me.  But some people will interpret you this way. I’ve learned this the hard way and still have trouble with it at time. Some people don’t like argument and assume that debate is personal. It’s the way they were raised, I suppose. So HOW you state your contrarian ideas is as important as the ideas themselves.

Some people think that being a contrarian is about “thinking you are right”.  Far from it.

• It’s about taking a step back to look at the big picture and consider other possibilities.
• It’s about CHALLENGING YOUR OWN THINKING before anyone else’s.  
• It’s about injecting humility into the decision making process, …the assumption that what you, or someone. or everyone thinks could be wrong, and that there’s something here that we could be missing.
• Just because somebody is wrong, doesn’t mean you are right.

So back to the Crusades…. 

After reading God’s Battallions, I immediately started looking for opinions and reviews of the book that challenged the author’s point of view.

I originally started experimenting with software in my Sunday School back in 1990 when my church created what has become known as The Workshop Rotation Model for Sunday School.  (www.rotation.org)

Computers were brand new to education back then and there was very little Christian software in existence, –but we couldn’t ignore the dramatic increase in ATTENTION our kids were experiencing in our early computer lab. Begun with two donated 386 IBM PCs, we used some simple quiz programs, Bible trivia games and some of the early software Bibles on floppy discs!  (Pictured right: two of my students in that original computer lab circa 1992 with the 386 computer).

 The Workshop Rotation Model (WoRM) is a natural for incorporating computers into Sunday School. Why? Because in the WoRM, the kids go to a different workshop each week for four to five weeks –while the teachers stay put. And all the grades are working on the same story in each workshop each week for four or five weeks in a row. This means your computer  lab teacher sees a different grade group each week. (Workshops include: art, drama, bible games, computer, a-v, music. Each teaches the Bible story through their unique medium).

 ”Rotating” your students is something you should do with your computer lab whether you’re using the Rotation model or a more traditional model.

The benefits of rotating different kids each week into your computer lab (or other workshop) include:

1. You don’t have to have new software each week, rather, you can keep using the same program each week for a while because the kids change each week.
2. You can reuse software because each grade only comes in every month or so and don’t get bored with going back to familiar software.
3. After the first week of a “rotation” the computer lab teacher really knows the software and is already improving their lesson plan.
4. As the kids rotate through different workshops, their story proficiency grows — making the reflection and quiz content in the software more valuable and productive. 
5. As kids rotate, they don’t get bored with any one teacher or medium. They come to you “fresh” each week.
6. They anticipate coming into the computer lab with great excitement.

Read more of my articles about the Rotation Model at:

http://sundaysoftware.com/rotation/articles4rotation.htm

You can also order the Workshop Rotation Book at www.sundaysoftware.com/order.htm

Look for it at the end of the online order form.

 Neil MacQueen

I’ve been leading youth groups in one way or another for over 30 years. Started when I was 17 helping out with the Jr. High group in my church.

For many years, I thought I knew what I was doing, –mostly because I was doing what most OTHER youth pastors were doing, …and what the hippy-dippy youth seminars told me to do. Had the great attendance, did cool stuff, taught the Bible studies, did the mission trips, took the long walks, had the long talks,  had a lot of fun.  Stoopid me.

One of the good things about getting older is you get to see “how things turn out.” I now have former youth group members RECONNECTING with me through the internet and the blessing of FACEBOOK.  ….It has been wonderful, …and a humbling eye-opener.

Down below I tell the stories of two kids from my former youth groups.

One of things that TIME has taught me is that FAR TOO MANY kids who came up through the church have grown away from the church. Those who have contacted me often bring it up. They apologize and make promises. And I’ve met many other “old” youth pastors who have similar stories.

If you are young and reading this, you’re probably thinking, “What did HE do wrong? He must have done something wrong!”

The problem with this kind of thinking is that it assumes that the youth minister is the difference maker in most of our kids’ lives.  Many young youth leaders and pastors believe that, “all I have to do is X, Y, Z and most of my youth group kids will grow up strong in faith and connected to the church.” Indeed, many young youth pastors believe that they can ‘save’ or ‘bind’ a kid to Christ and the church BY THE FORCE OF THEIR OWN CHARISMATIC PERSONALITY and awesome programming.    Sorry to say, it doesn’t work that way.

Back in the day….I was one of those young “somewhat charismatic”  youth pastors who could get the kids to turn out. Taught great lessons, told the compelling stories, challenged them with the Word, played all the games, did the mission trips, held the hands, dragged them to the soup kitchens, etc. etc, … the kids loved me and I loved them. But the years have taught me that, while that approach seemed to “work” at the time, makes YOU look good at your job, and certainly makes the church and parents and kids happy,  it’s wasn’t, and isn’t enough.

Long-term it’s only PART of what we should have been doing.  I have come to believe that the only measuring stick for “success” is WHERE those kids ARE 10 or 20 years later in their faith and church life.

I don’t have a program to sell you, but I do tell young youth pastors that the BEST thing they can do is not “youth programming” …but “family ministry.” The dynamics of family –the relationship between parent and child and siblings and the faith that can be nurtured there (or crushed)  is a FAR MORE POWERFUL FORCE than your Sunday meetings, game nights, awesome lesson talks, campfire sing-a-longs, soup-kitchen visits, and “walk & talks” in the woods.

Okay…it’s not either or. I’m just saying, “re-balance” and don’t make the same mistake most youth pastors have made over the past 40 years. ‘

Youth ministry which does not have as its goal LASTING faith and participation in the life of a congregation, is not only wrong, it’s an exercise in the leader’s VANITY.

Of course, the question is, “what makes for lasting faith and participation?” Over the years, several studies have come out which lean heavily towards family ministry, and personal individual mentorship/evangelism, –not Sunday night meetings. After a couple of stories, I’m going to parse this out a little more below. But I’ve also quoted the research and written about it elsewhere (beginning at www.sundaysoftware.com/stats.htm).

I want to share the stories of  three of my former youth group kids to illustrate the importance of what this “old” youth minister has figured out…

“Jean” reconnected with me last year over the internet. She had been active in a former youth group I had led for many years back in the early 90′s. I remembered Jean as a sweetie, –polite, quiet, smiling Jean. Her parents were active in the church. Indeed, I thought she had a great home life. But in fact, Jean says her youth was troubled, her father distant, her mother overbearing, and she wandered for 10-12 years after leaving home at the age of 18 (a year after I left that congregation).   I never knew ANY of this backstory until she told me this past year. She finally married a Christian man whom she says “saved her life.”  Her parents are still distant.

Jean told me I had a great impact on her young life –which was wonderful to hear and a bit surprising. She thanked me for the messages I shared with her, for my spirit. Problem was, I never knew her well enough to see the signs of trouble.  I was too busy doing all the hundred things youth ministers do –dealing with all the kids and events and leaders. I was too busy and distracted by other kids with more “obvious” need –to get close enough to Jean and discover what was going on behind her smiling face.   Yet in retrospect, I remember there was a sense of nervousness about her, which at the time I assumed was run-of-the-mill teenage angst. Stoopid me.

- – - – - – - –

Anne was a star student athlete, a state running champ, and regular Sunday morning worship attender. For years I tried to get her to come to Sunday School and Sunday night meetings.  She and I were always friendly with each other, but eventually I could see that  her AVOIDING me on Sunday mornings as she came in for worship with her folks. One Sunday afternoon I called her to invite her to attend that night’s meeting, and she got choked up, almost crying as she apologized for not being able to come. I got off the phone and realized what a jerk I had been.  From there on in, I decided never to “recruit” her again, but rather, to ask about her life, and take an interest in what she was doing.

She went off to college the next year, and came to worship at every break. A year after she graduated from college, her mother told me one Sunday, “Anne is getting married.”  Two years after that, Anne came to have her baby baptized and was back worshipping on a nearly weekly basis with her folks. A few years after I left for another position, I noticed Anne’s name in their newsletter as a newly elected Deacon.

- – - – - – - –

I had “Bob” in my Sunday School classes and children’s groups for several years. He was an awesome kid, well-liked, funny, and came to everything we did at the church.  He was a believer, and came of his own accord. By the time he was in the 10th grade, stories about Bob’s drinking and “recreational” drug use were becoming well known. He was open about it with me, and expressed tremendous regret. I had counseled kids with such problems before, and did so with Bob. The family received counseling, but I could see the anger Bob lived with underneath his joking extroverted exterior.  And so could most of his friends.

What I didn’t know, until it was too late, was that his parents were more messed up than Bob. A mess which ended in divorce and sent Bob over the edge the same year I left that congregation for another position. Bob’s sister and youth group friends tried to help him, and occasionally kept me informed.  But 4 years later I got the phonecall. Bob had overdosed, choked on his own vomit, and was dead.

I realize that nothing I did, or could have done, may have changed the outcome, but once again, I realize that my traditional “successful” style of youth ministry hadn’t left time to go deeper with a kid like Bob and Jean. It didn’t leave time to “seek and save the lost” in a way that might have made a difference. The hard part is that I will never know.  But I did change the way I did youth ministry in my next opportunity. Read on…

Eventually, the youth pastor/worker leaves, and if you were good, it’s really hard on the kids.  I was told by Bob’s sister and Jean herself, and many other kids in that church, that “my leaving” hit many of those kids hard. They missed me.  “It was never the same afterwards,” they said. It was like they went into mourning. I saw the other side of this in one church where I came in as ”the new guy.” The older kids spent a year avoiding me.

That’s the dirty downside of great youth ministry… the inevitable “leaving”. You HOPE the church will find someone to fill your shoes, but that’s impossible, no matter how good “that” person is. With kids and youth, it takes years to build that trust and relationship. And by the time “the new person” is no longer “the new person” –many kids are lost to the youth group, moved on to other things, or graduated and gone off to college.

Read this previous paragraph again. This is why I believe the “best” youth ministry is family ministry. YOU the youth pastor won’t be there forever. You the awesome youth minister don’t spend a tenth of the time with your kids that their parents and siblings do. Traditional youth ministry tries to get peers to care for each other, and that’s good, but peers change, and come college-time, none of the peers you worked with are there for each other.  We need to teach kids and parents and siblings how to love and minister to each other (and in the case of Anne, celebrate it).

It’s the siblings and parents (for better or worse) who will ”BE THERE” over the years. NOT US.

We also need to conduct a youth ministry that gets behind the fascades which kids and parents present…. to identify the family dynamics and danger signs and have the time to respond. As much as Jean and Bob loved me, hung around me, and liked my teaching, they needed more than great meetings, mission trips and walk & talks in the woods.

We also need to do a MUCH better job of preparing our youth for young-adult and adult life. We need to prepare them for “picking spouses” and “how their relationships can and will change with their parents and siblings” as they get older. I think we spend too much time in youth ministry on “being a teenager.”  We spend too much time worrying about premarital sex, and not enough on how to pick the right spouse, how to have a healthy relationship with a signficant other.

We also need to integrate youth  into the normal life of congregation, instead of separating them. Eventually we want them to join a congregation wherever they land after High School.  But many find the “adult” church to be a foreign land because we kept them away from it for many years. (This is why I absolutely HATE the idea of Sunday School during worship time.)   The problem is that they are comparing every congregation to their happy-crazy youth group experience and youth worship experience and youth pastor experience.  And most churches fall short of that.  We do them a disservice by not doing family ministry,  and by sequestering them in the make-believe world of youth ministry.

I can’t tell you how many former members of my youth groups cite this as a problem…. they “never found a group or church as good as our youth group.”  They “never found a minister like you, ____ (the youth pastor).   And so they end up going nowhere.

And we need to recognize, celebrate and connect with the youth who DO NOT fit into our “Sunday night” program. Some of them are lost and need us not to be their “leader” but their pastor. And like Anne, some of them are quite found!  …and don’t need us sending the wrong message.

If you’ve read this far and feel my concern about youth ministry, read my article about the TRIBE13 Experiment.

Tribe13 was a new kind of children’s and youth group experience that I helped create –in response to a lot of my concerns and experiences.  It was moving in the direction which Jean and Bob could have really benefitted from -had I been smart enough to implement it so many years ago for them.  http://www.sundaysoftware.com/articles/tribe13/tribe13.htm

You may also enoy my other articles about the State of Children’s and Youth Ministry, and what to do about it!  You can find a menu to those articles here.

Let those who have ears, hear.

<>< Neil

Advertisement:

Software is great for Sunday School!   ...and its something that young adults love too.

an article by Neil MacQueen originally posted at www.sundaysoftware.com
with implications for teachers and preachers

This article summarized the book “Brain Rules” by Dr. John Medina, a developmental molecular biologist (and guy with the brain over his head here). Brain Rules is itself an entertaining summary of the latest brain research especially for leaders and teachers. It’s also a NYT Bestseller.

It’s more than “just hype.”

There is now an extensive body of peer-reviewed brain science supporting the reasons why interactive multimedia should be part of our teaching and learning.

Interactive computer software attracts the learner’s attention and promotes better retention of content because it delivers content the way the brain is WIRED to learn and love it. And as new research continues to unlock the secrets of how the brain learns and remembers, the case for multimedia-based learning only gets stronger.

Thus for teachers, the only question is this: how can we take advantage of this tremendous opportunity?  This is the question I encountered when I first began teaching with software in 1990. I could see that the kids (and adults) were fascinated. In each version of my book, Teaching with Computers in Christian Education and numerous articles and teaching guides at this website -I have continued to refine my insights based on classroom experience and the research. This article is about some of the latest research.

Some of the latest Brain research is summarized in an easy-to-read entertaining book by Dr. John Medina titled:

“Brain Rules: 12 Principles for Surviving and Thriving at Work, Home and School.”

It could have been titled: “12 things you need to know about how the Brain really works.”

Dr. Medina, is a developmental molecular biologist, University of Washington professor, and award winning brain researcher, with a special interest in explaining and applying the brain research to benefit teachers, students, and parents. His website, www.brainrules.net, is also very informativeand graphically rich.

Outline of this Article

1. First, I want to mention how as a minister I got interested in Brain research, and how it has affected my ministry.

2. Second, I will summarize the 12 Brain Rules and highlight the insights for Sunday School teachers and those who teach with multimedia software.

1.  How a minister got interested in Brain Research

I first got interested in how brain science informs and enhances our teaching and preaching while serving as a pastor for Christian education at a Chicago area church in the early 90′s. The Chicago Tribune ran a series of articles on the early brain research coming out of the the University of Chicago, …much of it being funded by Alzheimer’s research. Like many teachers, I intuitively knew that creative teaching wasn’t just “entertainment,” it was essential, and the research was beginning to put good science behind it. I was particularly interested in how our memories work –mostly because I was tired of my students forgetting half of what I taught them!  But also because I was interested in how we remember things like sermons and Bible passages.

While at that Chicago church, I designed a new model for Sunday School called The Workshop Rotation Model.  The Rotation Model is a multimedia informed re-design of the traditional program, which also addresses how teachers can get better at their teaching. At about the same time I read about Harvard University professor Howard Gardner’s groundbreaking work in the theory of “multiple intelligences.”  Gardner’s insights and research into how we learn provided the scientific basis for our leap into the Rotation Model. In that model, one story is taught through a series of different media over several lessons in several different rooms with several different teachers. The Model has now spread to thousands of churches. (to learn more go to www.sundaysoftware.com/rotation.htm or www.rotation.org)

Then in 1996 I started a company to help churches learn how to teach with computers and software. Some churches DIDN’T CARE “why” or “how” –they just wanted to see the kids “happy.” But “happy” wasn’t good enough for me. I wanted to know “why” they couldn’t leave the computer alone, and how we could better harness the computer’s attention grabbing power to improve our  teaching. So I continued to read the research, and I began to examine more closely my own software teaching experiences.

In 2000, I began designing a whole new kind of Christian education software, –applying what I knew from experience and from the research. And that quest continues. I also continue to write. (Text and the spoken word are not dead. They simply aren’t the only way our brains are wired to learn.)

2.  So what DOES the research say?

Brain Rules summarizes what the research is telling us about how the brain works, learns and remembers. Much of the research is very recent due to the advent of new brain scanning technology and increased funding (due, in large part to Alzheimer’s Research). And there is a lot of it. Dr. Medina’s 12 Brain Rules are not the conclusions of one study, but of many.

Some of the conclusions are surprising, but… others only confirm what creative teachers have known for years and can now say “told you so.”  But rather than only say that, we also should be using the research to improve our methods, as well as, using the research to address critics in the church who think some of our creative methods are superfluous “entertainment.”

So here’s a short summary of the 12 “Brain Rules”. You can see them creatively presented at www.brainrules.net. The following are excerpts, and I have modified some of the wording in order to condense or explain them here in this short format. The book is much more expressive and full of stories and examples which illustrate the points.

My own comments are in BLUE.

The 12 “Brain Rules”
…what the body of research says -so far

Brain Rule #1:  To improve your thinking you must move. Our brain organ evolved for a walking animal not a sedentary one. Exercise is required to bring your brain the large amounts of glucose it needs, and the oxygen it requires to soak up toxic electrons. Exercise also stimulates the proteins that keep neurons connecting to one another. Aerobic exercise twice a week cuts the risk of Alzheimers by 60 percent.

Getting the kids moving in the morning is a good thing. The case for active learning and for recreational breaks continues to grow. Sitting and listening to someone talk is not what the brain likes to do.

Brain Rule #2:   We have three brains in our head, not one, and each has a distinct structure, with rather distinct functions. And each competes to a certain extent with the other. The “lizard brain” handles automatic functions, such as breathing. The “mammalian brain” handles the four  “human needs” ::: feeding, fighting, fleeing, and reproduction. This second brain includes the amygdala and hippocampus which are critical processing centers, especially for memories and emotions. The Cortex is the third brain –where logical, creative and symbolic thinking happens. All three parts of the brain have evolved to help us survive in a complex world.

Smart teaching recognizes the total student. When we lead a class, each student is processing the experience at many different levels, -with different parts of their brain recording and reacting. Traditional approaches have over-emphasized cognitive-cortex learning, and underestimated the degree to which other parts of our students’ brains were ALSO forming opinions.

As a child, my mammalian brain wanted to flee Sunday School. As a youth minister, I saw the tug-o-war between between my students’ brains cortex and their reproductive hormones. It made me a much more sympathetic teacher.

A great lesson plan in a bad smelling room or threatening environment doesn’t work.

Brain Rule #3:   Every brain is wired differently. Even twin’s brains. What we do and experience and learn constantly changes how are brains are wired. The various regions within the brain develop at different rates in different people. No two people’s brains store the same information in the same way or in the same place in the brain. We have a great number of ways of being intelligent (more than even Gardner’s 7 intelligences), many of which don’t show up on IQ tests.

The current educational system is founded on a series of expectations that certain learning goals should be achieved by a certain age. Yet there is no reason to suspect that the brain pays attention to those expectations. Students of the same age show a great deal of intellectual variability. pg 67

These ‘variations’ are why I’m a proponent of the Rotation Model…where we teach the same story several weeks in a row but through different media each week, and with a different teacher. This provides our students with multiple ways to connect over an extended period of time, rather than shoving one lesson into one time period with one teacher with a limited number of activities.

It’s also why I like smaller class sizes, and as many teachers and helpers as we can put in a computer lab –to work with “individuals” and not just groups. 

Rule #3 also points up the folly of “8th Grade Confirmation Class.”  No way they are all ready or at the same place.

It’s one of the reasons I like software too… students can work in groups at their own pace. There’s some individuality to it, and differences the way a program presents its material appeals to various parts of each learner’s brain. Some response to the interactivity while others pick up on the music or animation a little better.

Brain Rule #4:  We don’t pay attention to boring things. Emotional arousal helps the brain learn. Audiences check-out after about 10 minutes, and you must grab them back by telling stories and creating events rich in emotion. Emotional content gets our attention very quickly. The brain is better at seeing patterns, changes, and abstracting the meaning of an event -than it is at recording details. The  brain is built to grasp the meaning of story more quickly and memorably than the details of the story. And with regard to multi-tasking and distractions… the brain can only pay attention to one thing at a time. Studies continue to show that the brain cannot multi-task and is easily distracted from content -if the content isn’t engrossing.

What we pay attention to is profoundly influenced by memory. We use previous experience to predict where we should pay attention. Different environments create different expectations. pg 75

A person who is interrupted takes 50% longer to accomplish a task. pg 87

The brain needs a break. (We have a) need for timed interruptions. pg. 88

It’s key that the instructor explains the lecture plan at the beginning of the class, with liberal repetitions of “where we are” sprinkled throughout the hour. pg 90

Every ten minutes in my lecture I give my audience breaks from the firehose of information and sent them a “hook” (a story or joke)  pg 91

When a student is focusing on content, we need to make sure we are reducing distractions from other students, other activities in the room, or other computers.

Software is certainly “fun” …but it’s more than just that. Sometimes people ask us why we make some of our software using 3D game engines, or drop mini-games into the middle of content (like Bongo slinging bananas at “surf mummies” in Bongo Loves the Bible, or Super Kenz flinging donuts in Attack of the Sunday School Zombies). These playful game elements break up content and give the brain a mini-break, -which rather than interrupting learning, refreshes the mind.

You’ll notice that most of our software programs are broken into smaller lesson pieces, rather than one long presentation. And the pieces are varied in terms of how they look and how the students interact with them,  After seeing a story presentation, they may find a quiz or a set of pop-up study questions, or a game about content.

Text can actually be quite attractive IF certain conditions are present:

1. The reader has a compelling interest in the subject. Take for example, your favorite novel.
2. Or in lieu of “compelling interest,” the text is presented in an interesting way, such as, the kind of text you often see in a TV commercial or in a piece of software.

Text is a great way of conveying a lot of information very efficiently, but it can fatigue the brain if overdone. The wonderful exception to this is “story” …which is the text painting pictures for the brain.

Brain Rule #5:  Short-term Memory: Repeat to Remember. Our brain has many types of memory systems. Your ability to remember something grows the more often you retrieve the memory. A memory is stronger if the event was meaningful, elaborate (rich in detail) and the context of learning was rich. Memories are more easily retrieved if the context of the original memory is recreated.

The majority of forgetting happens within the first few hours after class. pg 100

The more elaborate we encode information at the moment of learning, the stronger the memory. …especially if we personalize it. pg 110

Making something more elaborate or complicated should be more taxing to the memory system, …but in fact, complexity means greater learning.” pg 111

Recreating original context is helpful. Learn something when you are sad, and you will better be able to remember it at retrieval if you are sad.   pg 113

Information is best remembered when it is elaborate, meaningful, and contextual (learned in a rich environment). pg 114

The more a learner focuses on the meaning of the presented information, the more elaborately the encoding (into memory) is processed. pg 114

Introductions are everything. pg 116

Yes, we’re trying to grab their attention…because that’s what the brain needs in order to learn. Many of our programs have eye-catching introductions, elaborate openings, music, key animations at the beginning. You’ll also see us “salting in” extra content at key points in a story. The pop-up study notes in Jonah or in the Creation Story (Awesome Bible Stories CD) ADD/elaborate on content.

The complexity of some of the software environments…the navigation and hunting for things on the screen… these help create that emotional connection (I wanna do this, I wanna win this!)

We need to train parents to “go over what happened” in Sunday School that day. Such rituals are important to memory storage.

I make software for your kids' brains.

Brain Rule #6:  Remember to Repeat:   Most memories disappear within minutes unless they are complex or have emotional content. Memories which survive this fragile early period of time strengthen over time if they are recalled. Long term memories are formed by the conversation between the hippocampus and cortex as the memories are periodically recalled, and can take years to become “fixed.” This periodic recollection at regular intervals is essential to long term memory development. Memory is dynamic: our brains reinvent/rewire past memories each time they are recalled or mixed with new knowledge. Memorization for the long-term requires recall  spaced at periodic intervals, rather than ‘studied’ in one short period.

A great deal of research shows that thinking or talking about an event immediately after it has occurred enhances memory for that event.  pg 131

The probability of confusion is increased when content is delivered in unstoppable waves poured into students as if they were wooden forms. pg 132

You must deliberately expose yourself to the information (again) in fixed, spaced intervals, if you want to retrieve it later. pg 133

So apparently all that testing and quizzing when we were kids was very important. It is important to remember specific information. But what’s also true, is that information SHAPES our brain much like waves shape a beach, though the individual waves may not be remembered in detail.  In other words, we are the sum of our experiences even if we can’t remember every experience or bit of information that shaped us. As Medina points out, the brain is better at concepts than details. But concepts are shaped by details.

Details are important. And now you know why many of our programs have quizzes, and why we often recommend “going back” to your previously taught-with software… because the kids need to have this information in their brains to shape their concepts. And they will gladly “do it again” on the computer, and it’s VERY important to their long-term memories. If you’re only teaching things ONCE, then it’s not important enough to teach at all because the odds a very much against your students remembering such.  Not that I think remembering every specific bit of detail or answer is important, but rather, –we strive to let this information stick “enough” to help shape their thoughts and experiences. 

It’s like the sage once said, “I don’t remember every sermon any more than I remember every meal, but I’m sure that I was nourished by all of them.”

Brain Rule #7:  Sleep well, think well.  Numerous and extensive sleep studies show that sleep loss negatively affects: attention, executive functions, working memory, moods, quantitative skills, logical reasoning, and motor dexterity. Sleep appears to be the brain clearing and organizing itself. People vary in how much sleep they need, but there is a universal biological drive for taking an afternoon nap. 20 to 30 minute naps (and no more) significantly improve post-nap higher brain functions. It’s not just a matter of “getting rest” …it’s about giving your brain a chance to rest and clear itself. This process does not happen if you are awake and just resting.

Two things that don’t help our kids’ learning: Kids having late-night sleepovers on Saturday, and Sunday School that’s too early on Sunday morning.

Brain Rule #8:  Stressed brains don’t learn the same way as non-stressed brains. Stressful events are not conducive to learning because the brain goes into a stress mode. The presence of adrenaline in the bloodstream inhibits certain types of memory and learning functions. Chronic stress, such as hostility at home, deregulates the brain’s system which has evolved only to deal with short-term stress through the release of adrenaline and cortisol.  Chronic stress scars blood vessels which can lead to plaque build-up.  The regular release of cortisol (a stress chemical) damages cells in the hippocampus which can cripple learning and memory. This is why the testimony of witnesses to a stressful event is often considered unreliable. This is why children having trouble at home most often have trouble in school.

A student coming into your classroom who is under pressure, unhappy, experiencing (or expecting) peer problems, having separation anxiety, and other such stressful problems, will not be able to participate, learn and remember lessons nearly as well as those who are happy to be there.

Students who create stress for others in the classroom bring everyone down.
Yeah, we knew this…but here’s the research!

These are some of the reasons why computers are such great teaching tools:
The kids want to be there and use them. The computer gets them looking at a screen, rather than feeling like others are looking at them. The intense focus on the computer helps them to forget some of their problems for a while. i.e. it removes distractions.

Brain Rule #9:  To Improve learning, Stimulate more of the senses. Our senses are not separate, but rather, they have evolved to work together. Vision for example is influenced by hearing. Smells have an unusual power to bring back memories because they bypass the thalmus and tie into the supervisor of emotions called the amygdala. Past experiences affect how we perceive current sensory information so that two people can perceive the same event quite differently.

Groups in multisensory environments always do better than groups in a unisensory environments. pg 208.

When touch is combined with visual information, recognition learning leaps forward by almost 30 percent. Simply put, multisensory presentations are the way to go. pg 208

Cognitive psychologist Richard Mayer’s rules for multimedia presentations: pg. 210

1. Students learn better when words and pictures are combined, rather than just words alone.

2. Students learn better when words and pictures are presented at the same time (like a movie with subtitles), rather than successively (like in an old silent movie).

3. Students learn better when words and pictures are presented near to each other rather than apart from each other on the page or screen.

4. Students learn better when extraneous/unnecessary visual and auditory material is excluded rather than included.

5. Students learn better from animation and narration, rather than just animation with text.

The brain connects associates smell with emotional memories. This is known as the “Proust Effect.” pg 211

Brain Rule #9  is a commercial for why interactive multimedia software WORKS better than sitting around a table listening to the teacher talk. It also stresses the important of the learning environment. How well do we learn in a MUSTY BEIGE Sunday School room?

Brain Rule #10:  Vision trumps all other senses.  Vision takes up over half the brain’s resources. Study after study shows that we learn and remember best through pictures and not written or spoken words.

If information is presented orally, people remember about 10 percent when tested 72 hours after exposure. That figure goes up to 65 percent if you add a picture. pg 234

Reading creates a bottleneck of pictures,….choking our cortex. This happens not because text is not enough like pictures, but because text is too much like pictures! To our cortex, there is no such thing as “words,” or “text” versus pictures. (Text is just another form set visuals which the brain must interpret).  pg 234

This is why especially to many young learners, reading is NOT as helpful to their understanding of a Bible story as “seeing” it. When we ask them to struggle with Bible text, especially text not written at their reading level, their cortex is focused on trying to read, rather than trying to comprehend what they are reading. And to those who are stressed by having to read in front of others, we know from Brain Rule #8 that the stress of reading in front of others releases brain hormones that can dampen learning and memory. What they will remember will be the stress.

Simple two-dimensional pictures are quite adequate; studies show that if the drawings are too complex or lifelike, they can distract from the transfer of information. pg 238

Pictures are a more efficient way to glue information to a neuron. pg 239

And now you know why we like to create rich visual environments in our software.

#10 also explains the attraction of cartoon characters. Animated Bible characters get “glued” in our memories because they are not “just like” every other person we see throughout the day.

Brain Rule #11:  Male and Female Brains are different structurally and biochemically, but the jury is still out on the significance of these differences. Men, for example, process serotonin faster. Men and women process acute stress differently. Under stress women activate the left hemisphere’s amygdala (the seat of emotions) and remember the emotional content of events more vividly. The research suggests that both nature and nurture are at work in the differences.

There is on-going research into the need and results of same-sex learning environments. Girls appear to perform better in math, for example, when taught in an all-girl setting.

Is there an application of some of these preliminary findings for Sunday School? Perhaps. What Sunday School teacher hasn’t noticed the difference between how boys and girls interact in the classroom. Some of it is nature, some nurture, but regardless, the differences need to be addressed by our teaching methods and environments.

Brain Rule #12:  The Human Brain has evolved to make us powerful and natural explorers -from birth. Babies are the model for how we learn throughout our lives:  actively testing our environment and relationships by observation, hypothesis, experimentation and conclusion. Some parts of our adult brains stay as malleable as a baby’s brain, so we can create neurons and learn new things throughout our lives.

Many of our software programs function like explorations…or what I have called scavenger hunts. Clicking on an object to make something happen helps feed our need to explore and manipulate environments to see what happens. When we do this: the brain focuses and remembers. Flying over the Galilee terrain in Galilee Flyer or Exodus Adventures, or meeting Pharaoh in Joseph’s Story CD (pictured)  i.e. … trying to discover how to make things happen, how to open up things… these things can frustrate a teacher who has limited prep time, but they EXCITE the EXPLORER’s mind.

Rule #12 also points out the importance of having high quality infant and toddler care at the church. The children ARE learning whether the church is good place to be, -or not.

Summary for Teachers:

Bring more:
Atmosphere
Multimedia
Low Stress
Interactivity
Creative variety
Mini-breaks
More individualized instruction
Repetition during the lesson, and afterwards at spaced intervals for long-term memory.

As an occasional preacher, here are my  thoughts on the book and research’s  “Implications for Preachers”

Create compelling introductions. That’s what bring the listener’s brain on-board. I’m particular aware of how fresh a sermon introduction comes across when the minister walks out front to introduce the sermon, often segwaying into scripture and then heading into the sermon.

Stories! …because they speak with images and emotion.

Don’t be afraid of eliciting emotional responses in your listeners. Emotions help them remember content.

Be visually interesting as a speaker. MOVE! (the eye and mind is built to pay attention to whatever moves)

Emphasize meaning over details. Details are harder to remember and have a limited shelf-life. You want to leave your hearers with a strong impression. Like many good speeches, we don’t remember all that was said, but we remember being moved in a certain direction.

Break up your sermon into more digestible parts for the brain. According to numerous studies, the brain seems “wired to wander” after ten minutes. It needs a cognitive break, moment of refreshment, a change up to bring it back on line. Dr. Medina spends quite a bit of time in his book describing how he structures his lectures to reflect this basic wiring. His advice: Remember to bring the brain back on track with a fresh compelling content “restart” at least every 10 minutes. Sermonizers should plan for pauses to let the brain ponder and have a break.

Craft sermons that reinforce the main point, rather than meander through a shopping list of un-reinforced, unrepeated points. The brain is wired to better remember repeated content, rather than single unrepeated instances of content. Repeat, repeat, REPEAT.

Check out my software!  www.sundaysoftware.com

Refer to important points in previously preached sermons in order to force the brain’s memory functions to recall and recement the memory of your content more deeply.

Get plenty of sleep before preaching, it will sharpen your mind and delivery. Same goes for the listeners.  Becareful not to put their bodies back to sleep with a room that’s too warm, or a stretch in the service where they have gotten a little too comfortable or sedentary.

Last but not least, get re-trained if need be. The “preaching” as it is taught in many seminaries, is more about writing than delivering.

 As mentioned, the www.brainrules.net site has a lot of this info presented quite visually.

Here, for example, is a good summary for PRESENTERS….

Attendance is a habit easily broken, and difficult to create or fix.

———-Break for a quick advertisement!————–

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7 Tips to Better Children’s Sermons

an article for Children’s Sermon Leaders by (Rev) Neil MacQueen, www.sundaysoftware.com

Thank you for being willing to deliver the children’s sermon at your church. Jesus welcomed children and said their wide-eyed child-like qualities were the gold-standard in the Kingdom of Heaven (Matthew 19:14). Your participation with them in worship is not only a blessing with lifelong consequences for them, -but can be a blessing to your spiritual journey as well. You’ve probably seen a lot of children’s sermons in your life and already have a sense of what passes for “good.” And you’ve probably winced at a few bad ones over the years too. What’s the difference between “good” and “wince”? I’ve delivered plenty of both! So let me suggest these 7 Tips to Better Children’s Sermons… all of which could be placed under the category of “Children First, Sermon Second.”

1. When you step forward to invite the children, make them feel invited!

Greet them as they come to you. Wait for the late-arriver to sit down. Make eye-contact. This will help YOU settle down too. Introduce yourself, and say things like, “I’m Jacob’s mom” and “Isn’t it fun to be up here on the steps at God’s house.” And smile! …some children have a fear of being in front of others, especially when there’s an unfamiliar adult up there. You’d think this would be obvious, but sometimes the pastor or adult leaders is UNaware of just how intimidating they can appear to a timid child.  Familiarity will help, but so will your body language, and what you’re doing when they come forward. I would often have a prop or papersack with me to make them more interested than afraid.

Sit or Stand? Some people sit down on the steps and let the children come forward, but I recommend staying on your feet AS they come forward -and sitting down later if the content permits. That way you can greet them, and you can step to the side- or bend to your knee if you see a timid one coming up, or begin to tap “helpers” if you’re going to do a demonstration. Each child is different. Some kids will balk at sitting near you if they see you on the steps waiting for them. Others will try to sit in your lap. If I sat down, I would also often get up to do something, and in particular, reach out to the kids who weren’t seated near me. Being primed to be playful and unpredictable is part of what makes the experience memorable. Nobody was ever quite sure what I was going to do, and that created and air of anticipation.

A long time ago a parent told me that her daughter was “scared of the man in the black robe”… which just happened to be me. Didn’t matter if I was standing or sitting. Funny thing was, she was the playmate of one of my kids and knew me well! Fair to assume other kids might have the same misgivings. I solved the problem by paying attention to who seemed a little bit intimidated about coming up front and giving them a little space as they approached. Then I did a number of things to put them at ease, including sweeping my robe’s billowy sleeves over their heads as they walked up, or tossing the end of my stoll at them. I’d often hold one of my story props as they approached which took the focus off me. At times, I would approach them ahead of time while they were with mom and dad and ask them to help me or bring the prop up to me when they came forward.   See #6 below.

“Invitation” goes beyond how you greet them. Invitation is also about the WARMTH of your presence and presentation. Some leaders are so focused on (or nervous about) what to say and do, that they forget to relate to the kids. One simple but effective way to structure this into your sermon is to take the time to ask questions, and then remember to deal tenderly with your response to their answers!  For example, when asking a question -to which a child has eagerly raised their hand but not gotten the ‘right’ answer, don’t just say, “no” and move on to the next hand. Take a moment to affirm the child. After the children’s sermon is over, give out a few high-fives, and make a point to acknowledge them in the cookie line after church.

2. Remember they are children when you speak.

If you use words that have more than 3 syllables or aren’t used in everyday language, then your words probably won’t be understood. If you use “church words,” such as “Grace” or “Forgiveness”, you need to unpack those words -or you might as well not use them. When using church words like “grace” …make sure you define what grace is either by an aside comment, by asking them to tell you, or by making such important words the point of your sermon. If you’re not good at speaking to children at their level, write out your children’s sermon -then force simplify your vocabulary, grammar, and concepts.

Once upon a time, children’s sermons included upper elementary age kids. But in many churches these days, they top out at around 2nd grade, and therefore your presentation must also. The younger they are, -the more you need to simplify your language concepts. See #4 below for more. 

3. Take your time and don’t rush.

If you rush you are wasting their time and yours. And keep it concise. Practice this discipline: write out your children’s sermon and then summarize it in one sentence. I knew a pastor who was so afraid of forgetting his summary sentence that he taped it to the top inside of the paper bag he always brought with him to hold his props. If you can’t summarize your children’s sermon in 15 seconds, then you probably can’t get it right in 3 minutes either. 
 

4. Avoid metaphors and object lessons.

Object lessons are easily identified by their “like” statements, as in, “I brought in this rock today to illustrate the point that God is like a rock in our lives.” The problem is that to a Kindergartner who thinks “concretely” -you have just taught them that God is a hard piece of stone and looks grey. Their minds cannot make the mental leap with you in the short time provided. Instead, use objects for what they are, -and avoid attaching symbolic meaning to them. (Use objects as PROPS to help tell a story. See #6 for more about this.) You can’t completely avoid metaphors (“like” comparisons) so stick to metaphors they understand: “God is like a good parent, a teacher, a coach” -but make sure you explain the metaphors.

A lot of wasted time and missed-opportunity has been disguised as OBTUSE object-lessons and CONVULUTED demonstrations. Some demonstrations are really just fun distractions. I love magic tricks and occasionally used them to illustrate what I thought was the point. “God makes the sin disappear!” But really, all I was demonstrating to the 6 years olds was “The pastor made a coin disappear from his hand, I wonder where it went?” (everybody loves these demonstrations, but they don’t teach the lesson to the younger kids). Use demonstrations sparingly and be sure to focus on “the point of it.”  Make sure the demonstration (or illustration) is focused on the point of the children’s sermon, and not some ancillary or obscure point. And make sure you slow down and explain this point!  (Better yet, tell a story…)

5. Tell stories.

If you want to describe faith or forgiveness, tell a story about it. Stories stick in the brain and the story can continue to teach its meaning after you’re gone. And practically speaking, storytelling grabs their attention quicker, keeps it longer, and it keeps you from groping for what to say next. See #6 and 7 for more about this. And make sure your stories are kid-friendly. Instead of a story about a man who went to work with his briefcase, tell a story about a boy who went to school. Note: you can make up your own stories! But… if the day’s scripture has a story in it, re-tell it.

Avoid stories from books, unless they are an overtly Christian story. Hearing a cute story about how a boy took care of a bunny is not a good illustration for the way God takes care of us. The point of children’s sermons is not to teach good morals, it’s to preach the word of God.

6. Use props in your story!

Props focus their attention. Their eyes will even track the prop as you move it. Props also put the storyteller at ease. But remember, a rock is just a rock to a 5 year old. They can’t quite understand that it is “the weight of sin weighing us down.”

Prop Suggestions: If you’re telling a story about when you were a little boy, bring a ballcap and toy. Involve the kids in your story by assigning roles and distributing props. For example, iIf you’re telling the story of the man let down through the roof, have one of the kids lay down on a blanket and put a bandage around their leg. Assign someone to be Jesus. And when it gets time to “lower” the man through the roof, you grab the blanket by the boy’s head (for safety) and let the kids grab the rest of the blanket and drag him a few feet towards Jesus. If you are telling the story of Moses talking to God on Mt. Sinai, throw a GIANT robe over the smallest girl and have her be Moses. If you’re telling the story of the disciples in the boat, have your oldest child lay down on a pillow you brought (and tell them not to wake up until you specifically ask them to) and during the story cue all the kids to shout “wake up Jesus.” And when it comes time for the waves to crash over the boat, don’t forget to sprinkle a little bit of water out of the squirt bottle you’ve secretly brought.

The secret to many successful storytellers and children’s sermon presenters is their props. Over the months and years, I would vary my delivery, and sometimes bring a big brown bag full of story props, which the kids eagerly awaited. There was a famous series of children’s sermon books called “Brown Bag Children’s Sermons” based on the idea of showing up with a bag of props which you revealed one at a time during the story. That bag sure got the kids attention. One Sunday, we told the story of Jesus and the 10 Lepers pulling 10 Barbie Dolls out of the bag (Ken was Jesus, of course), and made several of the boys hold them much to the giggles and grimmaces of the children. Years later in a Confirmation class, one of my students said it was one of his favorite stories because of that children’s sermon.Speaking of props…. YOU are a prop. Don’t stand or sit there stiff. Be animated. Especially with younger children (but also with all of us) our focus naturally goes to whatever moves. It’s a great way to keep their attention, especially when you’re trying to make your point. Props focus them. Your hands and facial expressions and where you move to will focus them too.

7. Last but certainly not least, make sure your message is God-centered, and not merely teaching some general moral or good piece of advice.

Ask this question about your children’s sermon: what is the Gospel in it? …what is the “good news about God” in it? In my experience watching other pastors and volunteers lead children’s sermons, this GOD-POINT is one of the things they most often leave out, or leave for the last moment of their children’s sermon. It happens because they run out of time, or didn’t think of the ‘point’ ahead of time. Children’s Sermons are not just sermons about “being good.”

HUGE TIP:  One of the ways I’ve “cured” myself of this teaching faux pas is to tell the kids the God-Point FIRST, -right at the beginning of my children’s sermon or Sunday School lesson (try it, it works!). And then reiterate it at the conclusion (and as often as you can during the presentation as well!).

The best way to make SURE that you’re God-centered is to always base your children sermon on one of the scripture readings from the day. This discipline of always basing your children’s sermon on one of the day’s Bible passages will also take the guesswork out of planning “what to teach.”  For more of my thoughts on children and youth ministry, look at my CE articles at www.sundaysoftware.com/articles

Copyright 2007. Updated 2010. Neil MacQueen, www.sundaysoftware.com
All rights reserved. Reprint permission granted for local church and non-profit teacher training use.

 Neil MacQueen is a Presbyterian minister, veteran of “the steps up front,” Children and Youth ministry writer and consultant,
and developer of interactive Bible software for children and youth.

 This article has been updated at www.sundaysoftware.com/articles/chsermon.htm

Use the  ”Leviticus 25 Hack” -the Levitical “7th Year of Radical Sabbatical,” to revitalize the process and design of your CE program. After all, it TOO is one of the commandments…

…it could be the solution to your church (and personal) rut.  

Leviticus 25:  Most people only remember the “Forgive debts every 7 years” part of Jubilee… which explains why almost nobody talks about it. Read Leviticus 25 at  http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Leviticus%2025%20;&version=65;

There’s a 7th year Jubilee and a 50th. Both have a lot of GREAT IDEAS in them for your church.

In particular, I want to focus on THIS part of the Jubilee: setting the prisonsers free.

 
At Pentecost, the Holy Spirit had a problem. The disciples were couped up safe and sound in their familiar upperroom. The Spirit blew the doors off that place, and kicked the disciples OUT of their comfort zone. Sabbath and Jubilee do the same thing. It rearranges where you are, what you’re doing, and who you’re doing it with. It forces you to consider the foreigners on the outside of your program. It gives you the gift of speaking in a new language. And from there on in the church grew.

As I type this, I’ve got a Dan Rather Reports special on the tube. Brain scientists are talking about retraining stroke victims. The researcher has said such ‘retraining’ is good for “healthy” patients as well. “We’ve found that simply tieing a right-handed person’s right hand behind their back and having them go through their day with only their left hand, shows significant changes in the way the brain processes information throughout the day.

He’s basically saying that to set the prisoner free we occasionally have to bind up something else. Flash: According to neuro scientists Old Dogs Can Learn New Tricks. A Year of Jubilee can be as Robert Frost once described “the road less travelled,” -a path less trodden that diverges in the wood, and whose end is obscured by the growth around it. You bend down to see where it leads, and can’t be sure. But it can make all the difference. Make next year a seventh year, a Year of Jubilee in your thinking, programming and practice. And pick your metaphor: Kick YOURSELF out of your comfort zone. Take a road less travelled. There’s a time to build up, and a time to tear down. A time to bind in order to be unbound.