Thanks to Andrew VanDerLinden from Organized KidsMin for this shared article – this contains great principles for keeping kids attention and communicating well during a large group lesson with children.
Do you want to be a better communicator? Do you want to help your volunteers be more captivating when they share in kid’s church?
Communication is an art and must be developed. These 10 tips will help you and your team better connect with your kids in your kids church.
10 simple things you can do to be a better communicator in your kid’s ministry.
- Use stories not just facts.
Jesus was a master storyteller. We should follow his example. Kids love stories. Kids love to hear about times we made mistakes. Just make sure to bring it back to God’s truth.
- Change the volume and inflection in your tone.
Don’t speak in a monotone voice. Use inflection and change the pitch. Speak faster and slower. Get louder and softer. Whisper and shout. Don’t forget to smile. When you smile it changes your tone and helps you connect better with the kids.
- During the Bible Story use your Bible.
There are a lot of great tools to help us teach the Bible to kids. Make sure when you’re talking about the Bible you have a Bible in your hand. Make sure the kids know that what you are sharing is from the Bible.
- Don’t use a script or notes.
Take some time and internalize what you want to say. Make as much eye contact as possible. Notice I didn’t say memorize what you want to say. Feel confident enough in the material to talk about it. The kids don’t know what is written on the notes. Study and then share, the rest is up to God.
- Apply what you’re teaching to your life.
You can’t teach something you don’t know and are not practicing in your life. Kids see right through that. When you prepare to teach kids, evaluate how the truth is lived out in your life and look for ways to apply it. You might even be able to share some stories from your effort to apply the spiritual truth.
- Avoid using the baby talk voice.
Also known as the presenter’s tone. Don’t talk down to kids.
- Be full of energy.
Get out of your comfort zone. A great rule, if you’re comfortable you’re probably not energetic enough. If you’re not energetic the kids won’t be either. Raise the level of your energy.
- Use technology to set the tone.
We have so many tools at our disposal. Look for music and videos to help illustrate the theme. Always ask, what could I do to make this lesson better?
- Use relevant and up to date examples.
Know what’s going on in child culture and look for opportunities to weave it into your talks. Watch what kids are watching, know what kids are into. Choose to stay relevant and up to date.
- When speaking to a group of varied ages aim for the oldest in the room.
Target the older boy in your group. The rest will come along. If you capture the older boy he will set the example for the others to follow. If your target audience is younger the older boy will spoil it for the rest of the group.
Do you want to be a better communicator? Good communication takes effort and practice. Coach your team and share these ideas with them.
As a team, ask what can we do to get better? Come up with your own list of tips for great communication in kids church. When the communicator gets better everything gets better.
