Grade 10 and up 10:0 – 11:00
Grade 7-9 11:00-11:45
Elementary grades are 11:45 to the end of church
People were even bringing their babies to Jesus. When the disciples saw it, they began to discourage those who brought them. But Jesus called over the kids, saying, “Let the little children come to me and do not try to stop them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. I tell you the truth, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child will never enter it.”
Luke 18:15-17 paraphrased from the NET version
The kingdom of God doesn’t look like much from the outside, like a canola seed, but when the rain comes and the sun shines, it grows into a strong plant where a bird can safely land and make a home in its branches. Here is God’s Kingdom, and God is acting all the time, all around us. Jesus’ invitation was to jump into the Kingdom. It is not surprising that Jesus used the example of the trusting way kids just go and try something. They jump in a mud puddle to see what happens or they try a sport, just because. They haven’t developed a shield of fear or a second face to hide behind to manage their persona. They are marvelously presumptuous and enter into life enthusiastically, confident that of course, they are welcome and the people around them are trustworthy.
Jesus’ voice was clear, “let the children come to me.” Our kids come into the world in mint condition. When they entered, the heavens had a huge celebration with much fanfare, music, confetti and cake! The heavenly hosts were in agreement with Jesus, “Now you, it is a very good thing you have arrived on Earth, it is your turn. We were waiting for this moment.”
It is with this imagery in mind that the two objectives for children’s Sunday school are placed.
The first objective is that the students know that God really loves them and even likes them. That Jesus asks, “What do you want me to do for you?” and hears their answer (Matthew 20:32). That Jesus gives full attention to the child who stands in front of Him, regardless of who they are or where they are from.
The second objective is to get to know Jesus in human history and see if He has the best information on how to live life. Does Jesus answer the real-life questions of “How do I…?” We learn that we can love God in all the aspects of our lives. We learn Jesus offers to us the greatest opportunity going, we can be his students and learn how to become good people through training with the smartest person that ever lived. We can grow in power, character and wisdom. Jesus teaches us how.
We do this through lessons in logic, memory work, discussing ideas, working on vocabulary, reading the historical biographies of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, skits, hearing each other and questions of the week.
We have a healthy amount of hot chocolate, tea, s’mores, kitchen experiments, and competition.
There is no question that can offend, and the difficult questions are often the best ones.
Cheryl Siemens