 Okay, good morning everyone. Good to see each one of you and welcome back to class. Would somebody lead us in prayer before we begin please? Can somebody lead us in prayer? Even if I would like to welcome you, thank you for today for this class. Please be with us and please speak with us about understanding the Catholic and non-Nikro Jesus. Amen. Thank you, Dave. So in yesterday's class we saw that ministering to children was a priority for Jesus. The disciples did not think that it was a priority but Jesus went ahead and took the time to minister to children and we see that ministering to children should be also a high priority for us as a church because Jesus took the time to minister to children. It was a priority for him and hence ministering to children should also be a high priority for us as a church. We also went ahead and looked at a few more reasons why ministering to children is important. Today we look at the real essentials in Christian ministry and then move on to chapter 2 where we look at the developmental needs of children. So we'll look at what are the real essentials in children's ministry which is the last part of chapter 1 and then we'll move on to chapter 2 where we look at the developmental needs of children. Now there are four essential foundations for all church-based ministry to children and these ideas have taken from the free training at the children's desiring God curriculum. So we look at the four essential foundations for all church-based ministry to children. The first one is children's ministry must be God-centered. Children's ministry must be God-centered. That means that our teaching we must emphasize the greatness of God. We need to emphasize the character, the nature, the attributes of God when teaching children. Yes, the story or the narrative that we are telling the children will be about a specific character in the Bible. It can be about David. It could be about Joseph. It could be about one of the prophets or the kings or the judges like Samson, Deborah. But we need to draw them back or we need to draw all of those lessons to God. It should be God-centered. That means it should emphasize the greatness of God. So children are able to see how great, strong, big, faithful, loving, majestic and wonderful our God is and the wonders that he does, the miracles that he does, also what are his laws, his commandments, the teachings and what pleases God, what displeases him, why he did this to such a person. Why did this situation turn around like this? Why did he punish them? So all of what we are narrating or teaching children, even though it's a narrative or a parable from the Bible, it all needs to be God-centered, which means that it needs to emphasize who God is basically, who God is and what he does. That means God's nature, his attributes and all of his works. Sam 34-8. Can somebody read that please? Sam 34-8. Sam chapter 34 verse 8. Can somebody read that? Okay, it says, O taste and see that the Lord is good, blessed is a man who takes refuge in him. Okay, so the children will not be able to experience God in a personal way unless we guide them or unless we teach them about who God is and what he does. And that's when they will put their faith in trust. That's when they will experience God. They will come to a realization of who God is, what he can do for them. So children should experience God in such a way as to develop a lifelong desire for him, a lifelong relationship, a lifelong of trust and putting their faith and trust in him so that when they go through times of trouble, they'll be able to take refuge in him or they can run to him, they can seek his help, they can seek his guidance just like the Psalmist says in Psalm chapter 34 verse 8. So the first essential foundation for all church-based ministry or children's church-based ministry is that children's ministry must be God-centered. The second foundation is that children's ministry must be Bible-saturated. Children's ministry must be Bible-saturated. This means that God's word must flood everything that we do, not just our teaching but also every activity that we do should be Bible-based, whether it's a quiz, whether it's a skit or whether it is some activity or some competition that you're having, it should all be Bible-based. Now what do I mean by it should all be Bible-based? I'll just give you a couple of examples of what we do at APC Children's Church. For our Christmas programs, we just don't have a Christmas party but we use it as an opportunity for children to learn something from God's word or it can be an opportunity where they are ministering to someone else. So for example, we had one year, we had them go through the genealogy of Jesus that is given in Matthew chapter 1 and choose one character. So each class had to choose one character and they had to portray a scene or enact a scene regarding that character and there should not be any dialogues, they're just enacting it and the other children who are watching them should guess the character. So this way, the children will also know who are the people in the genealogy of Jesus and also they will learn something about that character even as they portray it. Other children that are watching them enact will also learn something specific about that character and will learn something about the genealogy of Jesus. Another Christmas program when we had, we got the children to enact the whole salvation part from Genesis to the birth of Jesus and what Jesus did and what he accomplished on the cross, even his crucifixion and so they enacted the entire scenes of the Garden of Eden, how Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden and Jesus' birth, the whole Christmas narrative and also his death on the cross and why he died on the cross. And that specific Christmas program we had invited children from the slums, we had invited children from the TB colony, also the children had invited their maids children to attend and so we had a good around 150 children attended and our children enacted this whole skit right from salvation till the crucifixion and the death of Jesus and why he died for us. So we can get children to engage in such activities which just helps them not only just listen to what has been taught during the classes but also for them to experience, for them to have a better understanding even as they act, even as they say the dialogues, even as they enact those skits just to make it more personal to have a more personal relationship with God and also to understand the Bible and what is sin, what is salvation, why Jesus came to the earth. So everything that we do or everything that we teach and all the activities should be centered around God's word and Paul's telling Timothy in 2 Timothy chapter 3 verse 15, Paul reminds Timothy that from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. So we see here that children need the Bible because it's only God's word that can change their hearts and also we see that Paul's writing this to Timothy because he's in a situation where he knows that he's going to die soon and he's writing this letter of 2 Timothy and the churches at Ephesus to encourage Timothy and he's telling Timothy you know he might not be there around to encourage him to strengthen him to help him you know handle this huge responsibility of the churches at Ephesus and also the areas, the seven churches surrounding Ephesus and you know kind of dealing with all the false prophets, the false teachers, the false doctrines he says you know you can hold on to scripture it's God's word you know which you were taught from your very childhood that is going to give you the wisdom for salvation it's giving you the wisdom for salvation it's also going to give you the wisdom to save you from different situations to help you to guide you and to lead you. So children's ministry must be Bible saturated where we're teaching them God's word it's God's word that will strengthen, help, encourage, guide them, lead them give them the solutions for their problems and also build them up in their faith and give them the strength to journey through their different stages in life. The third foundation is that children's ministry must be gospel driven. Okay we must be intentional in proclaiming the gospel to children and the families the good news of Jesus about salvation never lose an opportunity to share about salvation share about what Jesus has done you know and get them to have a personal experience with their Lord and their savior Romans chapter 1 verse 16 can somebody read that please? Romans chapter 1 verse 16 I have complete confidence in the gospel it is God's power to save all who believe first the Jewish and also the Gentiles Thank you so here we see that you know it's Paul is saying that he's not ashamed of the gospel because it's the power of God for salvation for everyone who believes okay so it's the word of God that will save children not only from sin and bring them into a relationship with Jesus but will also save them you know from every temptation that they will face from every sin that they will face as they journey through their life and every difficult situation and we see that this is also a command of Jesus in Mark chapter 16 verse 15 we read this yesterday can somebody read it please? Mark chapter 16 verse 15 Mark chapter 16 verse 15 can somebody read it? You say to them go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation Thank you so we need to you know preach we need to preach the gospel to the whole creation okay so that is the third foundation that children's ministry must be gospel driven everything that we do whether in our teaching or worship time you know the activities that we do the outreaches that we plan for children everything should be gospel driven get them to go and share the gospel also with other children that is what we do at the APC Children's Church you know for the last few Christmas outreaches we've taken them to you know old age homes we've taken them to orphanages we've taken them to an orphanage where they had a special children and our children minister to them you know through through worship to skate to their giving and also you know just praying for each child so what we do is you know we go ahead we go before to the the specific places we get the list of all the children and we ask the caretakers there you know what is the challenges that each child is facing what are their problems what are their difficulties and then we assign you know children in our children's church who will be ministering to each child in the orphanage and you know a month ahead we give them prayer points the name of the child that they'll be praying for the challenges or the needs the difficulties that child is facing in that orphanage we ask them to pray and then when we take them for the outreach you know just before Christmas the child who is or the children who are assigned to that specific child in the orphanage they go and they pray for that child and they minister to them and so this is a way where children you know not only just experience salvation but they're also able to share the good news with others and they're creating opportunities for them to go and share the good news to minister to other children to minister to the elderly we do the same when we take we took them to you know old age home home for elderly citizens and they just minister there and children enjoy this whole experience gives them more confidence it helps them to know how to pray how to minister and so a children's ministry must be gospel driven whatever we do should be to share the gospel with them and also for give them opportunities to share the gospel with others the fourth foundation is that you know children's ministry must minister to the whole family children's ministry must minister to the whole family we know that you know God has called parents to be the primary faith nurturers of children of their own children they are accountable to God for the spiritual upbringing and the spiritual nurture of their children therefore you know children's ministry must partner with the parents in assisting them to fulfill their God given responsibility and role and fulfill their calling this means that you know we the children's church must also serve not only the children but also their parents and you know what we do at APC children's churches we have a parent teacher meeting you know before we start the new academic year that is in June we have a meeting where all the parents when they come we share with them you know what we taught the children in the previous academic year what we plan to teach them this academic year what are the programs we have lined up and what is how they can contribute so basically we tell them you know that in our curriculum we have a student workbook so each of the children will bring back home a student workbook in the student workbook for each lesson there is a memory verse so please help your children learn the memory verse each week and also you know when we finish class there is an application that they have to apply throughout the week so ensure that you and help your children and encourage them to you know apply it during the week and on Saturday we in their student workbooks they have a small section where they have to write down how they applied what they learnt so the parents can help them see that they have finished this you know finished writing it just remind them to do it also you know if you're having Bible quiz we get the parents involved to encourage their children to learn their Bible portions and you know each class we have two children's church ministers or in other words they are called teachers but we call them children's church ministers who teach each class and we if said there are about four children in each class then each of these teachers are assigned to two children and they are to mentor these children and in the process of mentoring they also meet the two children assigned to them they meet their parents they basically tell them that you know we are mentoring your children so is there any specific prayer needs that you have any challenges that you are facing with your child or the child is facing any difficulties anything that they can work along with them help them pray and also we assure them that you know whatever they are sharing is going to be confidential so this way mentoring also you know it helps us in mentoring the children helps the children's church ministers in mentoring the children it also gives an assurance to the parents that you know that the children's church ministers are more involved in their children's life praying for them trying to help them you know to help their children overcome the challenges or their behavioural problems that they are having the difficulties they are facing you know the last couple of years we've also had WhatsApp groups for each class and after every Sunday you know the CC ministers they just share in brief what lesson was taught what is the application remind the parents that this is a memory verse the child has to learn and help them to apply this what they have learned throughout the week so you know just involving the parents even as we are nurturing the children in their spiritual upbringing and also getting their parents involved in their spiritual growth and upbringing okay the fifth foundation is that children's ministry is about serving kids okay children's ministry is about serving kids okay so you will say that it's quite obvious children's ministry is all about ministering to children but what I really mean here is you know putting the children's spiritual needs ahead of our own okay our work is to put their ultimate spiritual needs ahead of our own which means that you know we need to be very diligent and sincere in planning the children's ministry not just doing things randomly on a Sunday morning but you know planning everything a year ahead planning for the entire year you know having the curriculum ready for the entire year and you know the teachers who are given the children's church ministers who are given the lessons not just you know looking at it on Saturday evening but you know preparing it from Monday to Saturday just going through those lessons running it through their minds using so that they can think about creative ways and methods to teach their lesson also you know organizing activities and programs that would help build them in the word of God and in their faith and their relationship with God also just plan that you know children's church is not just having fun with children showing them some videos having some games and coloring and some puzzles but it's about teaching them deeper truths in God's word mentoring children also praying for the children that you know God has entrusted to you a sheep under your care just praying for them if they don't come one Sunday calling up and finding out what happened you know if they're having tests or exams calling them and praying for them over the phone so it's not just you know one hour on a Sunday where we are ministering to them but it's all about serving them throughout you know the year just ministering to them praying for them and seeing you know they grow in their spiritual walk with God so children's ministry is all about serving children okay so these are the foundations the five foundations that are essential for all church based ministry to children any doubts any questions no doubts okay okay then we'll move on to the developmental needs of children now you might be thinking why do we need to look at a developmental needs of children when we are ministering to them in children's church well you know we know that God has built into children a pattern for development so we need to understand you know what's typical of each age and stage of development that the children go through so even as we minister to them you know on every Sunday we will as children's church ministers as Sunday school teachers we'll have a better understanding of the needs of the children in that specific age group now suppose you're going to be teaching or ministering to children in grade eight or in grade five or grade six or grade four grade one you need to know what is the intellectual, the physical, the spiritual needs, social, emotional needs of the children in that specific age group why is it important because when we have a better understanding of their developmental needs of the children in that specific age group we will know what, how to narrate you know a narrative from the Bible story from the Bible you know how to, what are the games that we need to use, what are the activities we can use, how we need to explain to them the theological concepts or the truths in God's word, what activities will best fit them in the specific age group so it'll just basically help those who are ministering to that specific age group to prepare their lessons well and the activities accordingly okay now before we look at the development needs of children in different age groups let's look at the developmental needs that are common to all children okay so we look at a few developmental needs that are common to all children again the first one is the need for physical activity okay the need for physical activity children need to exercise and develop their growing bodies through physical activities that develop both their large muscles and their small muscles and their motor skills okay now what is the large motor skills it concerns the development of their larger muscles that is their hands and their legs okay so these large motor skills concern the development of large muscle movements that are responsible for running, jumping, throwing, hopping, you know balancing on one foot etc okay now small motor skills are responsible for you know grasping, holding, either a pen, pencil, crayons, cutting, you know doing some craft activity with their hands with their fingers that is all about their small motor skills so we need to ensure that you know our lessons that we are doing will cater to their physical activity not just having children sit down there and you know just you teaching them and their listening is not going to really help children so how do we you know cater to this developmental need it's you know during worship time have them stand up clap dance do the actions then you know have a game not every week we just we plan you know after every worship session on one Sunday in a month we have a game time for all the children where we divide them into groups and have a fun game or an activity where they learn something and then even in classes you know for every lesson we have a attention getter or we have an object lesson when we are learning how to create a lesson plan I will explain what an attention getter is or an object lesson is attention getter is basically anything that will get catch their attention for the topic that you're going to teach them it can be a short game a quick game it can be an object lesson it can be a small skit or it can be a small quiz or anything and you know just involving children moving their hands their legs moving around so and also having some craft activity for them coloring you know just writing something I know coloring smaller children in small age groups would like it but craft activity you know the older kids we like it I always assume that the children in 8, 9, 10, 10th grade don't like craft activity but it's quite a maze to see when we have our kids conference that they really enjoy you know their craft time they look forward for it and they get so involved in doing it and they're quite excited so just having an activity for them or you know having a collage or anything that they can do or enacting a small skit just involving their movements of their large muscles or their smaller muscles will just help them learn better okay the second developmental need that is common to all children is the need for the need for competence and achievement okay now it's common for many children specially for teenagers those in you know 6th to 10th grade where they become very self conscious and and also as they're growing and there's a lot of changes that are happening physically mentally emotionally they're quite unsure about you know their self value their self image they're also unsure about their talents and their abilities so we need to even this can be for the younger kids of course they're quite excited and they want to try out everything and involve themselves in everything possible but we need to create opportunities for children where they can explore a wide variety of experiences and interests to use their talents they need opportunities to demonstrate also their talents what they're good at their skills to others so that you know just builds up a lot of self confidence a self good self value and a good healthy self image about what they can do well so at APC children's church we create opportunities for children to use their talents and we provide them opportunities to even explore their talents so let me give you a couple of examples how we do that now when we have a general time that all the children are gathered during the worship time we have our children leading worship sometimes some of them sing a vocalist in the worship team some of them play instruments of course we have you know we hold sessions for them and you know where we help them to learn they also a part of the worship team where they come early and they practice along with the worship leaders some of them have even led worship so you know we just give them these opportunities to build their talents for them to show their talents also it will encourage other children that you know they can also learn to play different musical instruments to also sing to be part of the worship team then some of them you know we get them to pray for the offering to make the declaration some of them help us in projecting the power point during worship team you know a few kids the older kids help us in pack up after children's church packing up all the equipment of course we have to do that in our church because we don't have our own facility where we meet and we also you know get them to pray for others minister to others of course children are shy to minister in a in a larger setting in a larger gathering so in their own classes we get them to pray for each other you know pray for their needs lay hands on others who are sick so just creating opportunities where they are learning we also for couple of years had this new initiative that we are introduced called the Kingdom Builders Club and we had these you know different activities like art and craft singing choreography ministering healing and deliverance memorizing and oratory skills we had children choose and of course evangelism which all the children had to take that was one thing that if all the children were included in evangelism but the these other clubs they had to choose whichever they like whichever they would be interested in and we would teach them the specifics in that specific club like singing train them to sing you know well it's choreography dance steps dance movements ministering healing and deliverance we took them through that book you know pastor's book on how to minister healing and deliverance and memorizing scripture and speaking so getting them ready to preach now children chose their specific clubs but it was not just something that is skill based but through these different clubs you know we got them to hear you know what God is speaking to them ministering to them through this and how they can you know through the help of the Holy Spirit minister prophetically as well so art and craft if we get them teach them how to draw and paint well but also we tell them that when you are painting you know just ask the Holy Spirit to tell you who to what to paint who this painting should go to who they should hand over this painting to and what is the prophetic word they need to release to that to the painting okay so even if it's singing that you know they're not just singing harmoniously but even as they're singing you know they're praying that God even as they're singing the song that you know the people that they're singing to should be ministered or delivered from from fear or anxiety or worry or somebody who's going through financial problems should be blessed those who are you know going through relationship problems they'll find the peace and the strength of God those who need encouragement so just singing over the people so you know it just more prophetically releasing prophetic words ministering prophetically through these clubs okay another thing that we do is you know skits we have skits and I told you we had you know the skits on genealogy of Jesus where they had to choose and they all had to enact we also have Bible quiz where you know they're put into different teams and you know they they get the confidence to answer to learn Bible match kids conference we have different talent competitions singing playing instruments art and craft you know speaking something about what they have learned oratory speeches so we have these various competitions and children find their talents or they are given the opportunity to use their talents and also not just use it so that others know and for them to build a self confidence but how through these talents and to the skills that God has given them they can minister prophetically they can minister healing they can give a word of knowledge they can give a word of wisdom and you know they can just minister to people okay so it's good that you use and create such activities and programs for them to you know enhance their talents and also for them to know their areas of skill and expertise that God has and the talents that God has blessed them in how they can use it for God's kingdom to build God's kingdom okay the next developmental need that is common for all age groups is that you know the need for self definition okay children all children are growing and they need lots of opportunity to explore who and what they are becoming and how they relate to the world around them so you know it's important that they build their identity not on the things of the world not on what social media is telling them but they're building their identity on God's word and what God's spoken about them or who they are in Christ they're finding their identity in Christ so we teach children this course on who they are in Christ we also you know have teen sessions for children in seventh grade or even from sixth grade onwards to tenth grade these teen sessions handles various topics and challenges that teenagers face like self image self value peer pressure media it's influence on them you know temptation and you know all of those things so it's important that you know we are we just not giving them teaching them or narrating to them stories from God's word but also get them to build their identity on who they are in Christ and look for their identity in God's word and strengthen their self image and self value by building it on God's word and taking them through various sessions that would help them okay the next developmental need which is common for all age groups is the need for creative expression so as children bodies and minds grow and change they become more involved in the world that is beyond their home and family so we need to create creative opportunities for them to creatively express you know what they are going through they express their talents opportunities to help children develop and understand and acceptance of themselves even as they speak right sing dance you know enacts kids you know just to express their feelings their interest their thoughts their talents and their abilities okay so you know I've given you a lot of examples that we do at APC Children's Church time basically giving you examples from APC Children's Church because I'm involved there you can talk about that I'm sure you have you know you're part of your own churches where they have all of these creative activities and programs where you know they want children to help them to you know to grow deeper in God's word and to express their talents as well okay the fifth one is sorry the fifth one is the need for positive social interaction you know although the families of primary importance to children they all need increasing opportunities to express positive relationship with their friends and their mentors or adults you know outside their family and these relationships that they build will can provide for them comfort support and security as they experience new ideas views values and feelings so in our Children's Church we ensure that you know children are friends with each other in their class they relate to each other they form friendship bonds with each other they're not just in their own cliques you know when somebody new comes to make them feel loved accepted be friendly with them and also you know we have these mentoring sessions which I mentioned to you that the CC Ministers or the Children's Church teachers you know mentoring each child in their class where they're personally involved in what they're going through in their struggles you know praying for them giving them you know encouraging them giving them solutions to the problems that they're going through so children are able to you know build relationships with adults and with others their peers their friends where they're able to find comfort support and security in their times of need and the times of difficulties this is away from their family okay the next one is that the need for structure and clear limits the need for structure and clear limits now in Children's Church we need to also you know have some kind of do's and don'ts you know place clear structures and clear limits that children have or a framework in which they need to you know the framework in which they have how they can behave what they need to do what is acceptable behavior what is not also you know give them clear structure and clear limits to have them develop their skills such as their you know what they are responsible for what is their responsibility you know how they can express their creativeness in them and how they can show forth as being trustworthy and dependable now you know so we give them certain responsibilities that they can do to show that you know they are they can be dependent on they can prove themselves to be trustworthy like learning memory verses we give them scripture portions throughout the week which they can learn and come back to class and share one or two things that they have learned to the scripture passages another thing is you know even as we teach them and give them certain things that they can apply or they choose how they are going to apply what they have learned for that class you know to enact upon it or to act upon it and come back the next Sunday and share how they have applied what they learned last week so you know we need to keep all of these structures and you know spell it out for them so that they know what is required of them so they can act responsible and they can show themselves to be dependable and trustworthy okay the seventh one and the last developmental need that is common to all children is a strong attachment with positive adults okay so it's important that we in children's church Sunday school that we you know build stronger bonds of relationships where we're sharing each other's life sharing the lives of our children sharing our lives with them they sharing their lives with us and sharing our lives with each other so that we can pray for each other we can support each other we can just help each other and also maintaining confidentiality like you know if the child is sharing something and doesn't want their parents to know about it or that you know there has been some behavioral problem in the in that class or something that they have done you know just helping and through those behavioral problems and if they don't want their parents to know about it then just helping them through it you know just maintaining that kind of trust with the child so that the child knows yes you know there is a teacher there is an adult that I can go back to who love me accept me in spite of what wrong that I have done and will help me through this and you know I can trust him or her by sharing what I have done so it can be a place where we can get them into a stronger relationship with their maker and their saviour and their god and also we can build a strong relationship with them okay so these are the developmental needs that are common to any age group okay we don't have time to look at the developmental needs of children ages 3 to 4 okay maybe we can look at that in the next class any questions any doubts any questions any doubts anyone has clear okay anyone has any questions anything you would like to ask any clarifications yes success hello good morning good morning my lecture good morning good morning is it possible for us to have the yeah actually I enter the lecture late because of my time shift in Nigeria is it possible for you also get the presentation is it possible can you say that again please yeah the presentation yes the presentation is it possible for us to get it yeah sure I'll I'll put it up on your on the classroom page or the stream page and you can access it there alright thank you so much thank you but all of these you know what I presented all of these are there in your notes okay everything is there in the notes just for you know for us to follow through in a better way I have just put up the points but all of the content is there in your notes alright even if you don't have this presentation you can look at your notes everything is there that's all right thank you so much I'm great yeah okay there's no questions then we'll stop class here thank you everyone for joining have a blessed day and I'll see you next class thank you poster thank you thank you