• Twelve Flannel-Graph Tips
Twelve Flannel-Graph Tips
I do recognize that with all the technology that is available today for teaching children, that Flannel-Graph seems to be relegated to “old school.” However, you must take notice that the use of Flannel-Graph in many parts of the world is quite new. When you consider that many children’s leaders overseas would love to have these great colorful teaching visuals. To them these visuals are absolutely wonderful. Therefore, I am adding these twelve teaching tips for your files, just in case you have an opportunity to teach some leaders in other far away places how to use these great visuals. We have been taking Flannel-Graph Sets to India that we purchase from Kids Around the World. There is enough curriculum taken from the book of Luke and the book of Genesis to last two years!
These are my Twelve Flannel-Graph Tips
- You are a Bible Story Teller first, and an illustrator second. Having Flannel Graph is not a substitute for Bible Study. Message is more important than visuals. The visuals serve the Bible Story.
- Know the Bible Story First. Then practice illustrating the story with the Flannel Graph.
- Prepare your visuals so that it covers the whole story. Spread out the sequence of the visuals so that you alternate between the storytelling and the use of Flannels.
- Develop a sense of timing so that you place the Flannel Graph on the Background Board when you tell that part of the story.
- Have the Background and any overlays on the Board before beginning your story. Try to put something of the Board first that makes the child wonder what the story will be about, before you begin. (You can always take it off and put it back at the right time in the story.)
- Place the easel on the same side as you handedness. i.e., Right handed, easel on the right hand. This is so you will not turn your back to the audience with putting Flannels on Board.
- Prepare the Flannels in a stack with the first pieces on top and the last piece on the bottom, so you are not fumbling to find your correct pieces. You can make two stacks, if you need to have a special collection, if some have to put up, taken off and then put back up during the presentation.
- A good storyteller does not break-eye contact with the eyes of the children. Avoid turning your back to kids. If you do not have a plan to hold their attention, they will tend to watch something else. Your focus is the audience, not what is on the board.
- Reference the scene and what is happening in the scene as you teach the Bible Story. Point out the action of visuals by saying, “Notice what he is holding.” Or “Can you see what is happening here?” “What do you think she doing here?”
- How long does one see something before “they have seen it?” The visual works because they are an “aide.” It begins to loose its effectiveness when it accomplishes its purpose. Once the children see it, your storytelling takes over. An object in your hand might help focus attention. Be willing to animate your story. This keeps the kids focusing their eyes and maintains their interest in story.
- Practice putting the visuals up. Try to spread the visuals out during the whole story. Have a clear beginning, middle and ending to your story. The last visual should have something to do with the point, reason or outcome of the story. End strong, with a visual.
- You want to application or a response or a life change. This is purpose of the Bible Story. Exhortation to do something that’s your job, the visuals cannot do that for you. It is important to close in a prayer of commitment—a response to the Bible lesson.
• Target Audience—Fatherless
The sixth in a series that will attempt to help you deal with some of the issues you face in relating to various constituents in your children’s ministry.
#6. Focus on the Fatherless
We cannot forget the fatherless children. It is too common these days that we find children in our ministries without fathers. In my opinion, we have too many mothers raising kids without the presence of a man in the home. We need to surround these families with support systems that make provision for healthy male influence with these kids. Further, I believe that every Kidmin must be an advocate for the needs of the “fatherless” child. (See James 1:27)
So if you want to improve you focus on the fatherless child, here are my Ten Tips that help you to reach out to one-parent families.
1. Try to assess how much of an issue this Fatherless issue is in your church. It maybe that this is not much of a problem for you now, but it could be in the future.
2. Consider instituting an Adopt-A-Family program that matches families with Dads up with fatherless families.
3. When you offer Father-son activities, try to match up these children with fathers from other families
4. If warranted look into what it would take to modify the Big Brother type program in your church.
5. Establish a Father-son Program, and you will discover that a few mothers will want you to provide a surrogate dad for their son, in order to participate in the program. (See Father-son program mentioned in Unit 8-I)
6. Try to include fatherless children in your personal visitation program, so that you, as a leader, are more aware of what the “fatherless” in your ministry need.
7. Whenever you offer inter-generational programs, try to include the “fatherless” children into the mix, by adopt a family or adopt a grandparent, or adopt a man (married or single).
6. Be sure that the resources of your benevolent funds are readily available. Fatherless homes often are in greater financial need.
7. The fatherless are often latch-key kids, so any kind of an after-school program might provide some ongoing support, so these kids do not have too much unsupervised time on their hands.
8. Brainstorm with your leaders to collect ideas on how to include the needs of the fatherless children in your family models of ministry.
9. Discuss the needs of the fatherless kids with your church staff, departmental leaders and/or children’s administrative team. You must be an advocate to create options to be inclusive of their needs.
10. Try to support any family in your church that has adopted fatherless kids as their own. Their biological fathers may not be around, but these step dads might need some church support.
• Target Audience—Janitor
The fifth in a series that will attempt to help you deal with some of the issues you face in relating to various constituents in your children’s ministry.
#5. Focus on the Janitor
Having a significant relationship with the church custodian cannot really be overstated. I was a summer custodian in a very large church and it changed my perspective. I became much more sensitive about this position as a result. I noticed, no matter how good a job I did, I still had too many “bosses” who critiqued my weekly performance. It is really important for you to maintain a supportive relationship with this person. You might need favors, so be intentional about maintaining a good relationship. It will pay many dividends over time. You want this person on your team.
Here are my Ten Tips on “How To” sharpen Your Focus on the Janitor
1. Take time to appreciate the work this person does for the children’s ministry.
2. When planning events that use the spaces he cleans and sets up for you, be sure to include him in the planning early on, so he is more prepared to serve you, almost unnoticed.
3. Engage the Janitor in conversation so you have an opportunity to hear his supportive efforts and his passion to serve the Lord and the church, and in particular your children’s program.
4. Show the Janitor respect and ask for his help, don’t demand it. Be quick to notice how much he is doing for you, and slower to advise him what needs correcting or improved.
5. Create a “normal” use set-up diagram for each room used on Sunday mornings. If your facility is used as a school during the week, that set-up might need another diagram. Event planning might require another set up diagram “custom made” for the event.
6. Write out special procedures so the Janitor knows what you want him do and how often, like cleaning the preschool department. This should be very different the Children’s Church room.
7. Go out of your way to give thanks verbally and with tangible notes and gifts. A little appreciation goes a long way in maintaining the janitor’s support.
8. Supplement the Janitor’s work, by organizing a clean up crew of assist with chairs and debris pick up after an event. Pick your events here, especially the bigger events—those that especially have more impact on his job.
9. Be more mindful of late meetings and back-to-back meetings using the same facilities. Also offer help with last minute requests and events requiring longer hours to get the job done.
10. Train your CM leadership team to bring their facility issues with the Janitor to you, because you have this relationship that matters. This will mitigate his having too many bosses in your department.
• What is Scaffolding?
What is Scaffolding?
Scaffolding is a term that is used in the educational field for a reading paradigm. Teachers use this term to cover how to teach reading to the children. “A set of training wheels on a bicycle is a classic example of scaffolding. It is adjustable and temporary, providing the young rider with the support he or she needs while learning to ride a two-wheeler. Without an aid of this sort, the complex tasks of learning to pedal, balance, and steer all at one time would be extremely difficult, if not impossible, for many youngsters. This scaffold—training wheels—allows the learners to accomplish a goal, riding a bicycle successfully, and then to happily pedal his or her way into the wider world.” ~Michael F. Graves, Bonnie Graves, and Sheldon Braaten, Scaffolded Reading Experiences for Inclusive Classes.
However, the four principles have been applied to other disciplines, for our purposes, leadership training.
Here are the four scaffolding principles applied to leadership.
Level One: I Do, You Watch
You recruit new volunteers for involvement and they watch you. This is kind of a chaperone role, where little is required of the helper—just observing, or just being another person in the room.
Level Two: I Do, You Help
You gradually ask the volunteer to help you and you watch what they do. Working together to accomplish the task, taking on some level of responsibility to only help you, with crafts, help serve snacks, help with games or take attendance and handout supplies. You are clearly in charge and they would not assume any responsibility to be in charge of anything on this level. Eventually, they are willing to help and take more responsibility with your help, eventually.
Level Three: You Do, I Help
Now the volunteer is doing what you did and your role shifts to help them. Your presence is required. You don’t leave them alone. They take on some responsibility. You maintain your relationship, still working with them. This is the level where you begin to delegate tasks where they have to step up their involvement.
Level Four: You Do, I Watch
After some practice the volunteer is doing the work, you now watch and admire what they do as you trained them. This level still requires your leadership, but now they are partnering with you to share the ministry in some definite way. They are taking on some responsibility and becoming a trained leader.
Some Observations:
- Recruit for level one: involvement and then try to move them up the levels over time. Use the “Sublist.”
- Debriefing is a constant activity in every level. It is where the learning and relationship happens.
- It is seldom that you can initially recruit for level four—it skips too many steps in the process.
- These levels make a case for Master Teachers who use these levels for bringing new recruits into leadership.
- At level three and four you feel the teamwork and partnership happen.
- These levels start as indirect ways of recruiting help and training leaders. It is also slower, but better training.
• Creating A Policy Manual
Why have a Policy Manual for your Children’s Ministry? A Policy Manual is a working document that is revised and reviewed annually. It is not so much a final edition, but rather a work in progress. As your ministry grows and programs expand a Policy Manual should be revised and updated to keep pace with the way your ministry process demands.
A Policy Manual is really a collection of the ways you solve ministry problems. It tends to be a systematic presentation of your procedures—how you run your work. When new and veteran volunteers move through your ministry, it is the Policy Manual that tends to unify and clarify the standards by which you operate. It contains your bedrock children’s ministry principles that you review with all your ministry team.
I recommend that you ultimately develop two editions of a Policy Manual—one that you publish for your team and the other one, which becomes your Presentation Policy Manual. Of course, the later one has your teaching notes—that compliments the first one.
However, many who start out in the profession of Children’s Ministry do not have a Policy Manual of any kind. Many churches do not have them. Some churches that do have them do not use them. Your Policy Manual compliments your teacher-training program. We know that we can do more together than any one can do alone. Help your team.
So how does one develop one of these active, but unifying Policy Manuals?
Here are my eight general guidelines that may help you develop yours.
• Target Audience—Visitors
#5. Target Audiences: Visitors
The fifth in a series that will attempt to help you deal with some of the issues you face in relating to various constituents in your children’s ministry.
This is one of the most significant ways to grow your program and ministry to children. I became acutely aware of visitors when I was beginning my career in ministry when new interim pastor came on staff at my church. Every Sunday afternoon, after his nap, he would make phone calls to visitors to attempt to set up an appointment to visit. Some times he invited me along and I observed his methods. I watched him add to the church new converts and new members, even while we were without a Pastor. This impressed me so that I started doing it too. It began working. I was leading people to Jesus, adding new members, even got some commitments for baptism. He coached me on how to work with visitors. This is where it started.
So if you want to improve your focus on visitors, here are my Ten Tips:
• Target Aud—Young Families
Target Audiences
The third in a series that will attempt to help you deal with some of the issues you face in relating to various constituents in your children’s ministry.
#3. Focus on Families with Young Children
It is all about your preschool and your program menu to help parents. It has been researched that the fastest growing churches in the nation are churches that focus upon families with young children. It is important to build up your program for the younger children, but you must not neglect programming to meet the needs of young parents.
Some parents will tolerate the lack of meaningful ministry to them, if the needs of their children are being met. However, it may not last a long time before the parents want programming for them too. This in not just an either/or option, you need to build them together. If you have to start with one, I would concentrate on nursery and work my way up. Keep an eye on your ministry to the parents as you do, it can help you to plan for them.
Here are some tips for focusing on the families of young children:
• Target Audience—Fathers
Target Audience-Fathers
This is the second in a series that will attempt to help you deal with some of the issues you face in relating to various constituents in your children’s ministry.
#2. Focus on Fathers
I remember becoming a father and wanting input, so that I could be the best father for my children or at least a better father than my Dad. I began noticing men who used various fathering techniques. I read books, asked questions and attended classes. However, as I worked with children, I became aware of their deficiencies in behavior, which I attributed to problems at home, particularly with the influence of poor parenting, or an uninvolved Dad. This observation and concern lead me to create programs to help Dads.
So I became a Dad of four, I began watching people try to relate to my children. I noticed that I was drawn to anyone who loved my kids, even if I did not really like them myself (I mostly did like all of them). So I concluded that “if you want to get close to me, get close to my kids.” If you really want to know my kids, talk to me, I know them a lot better than you. (I concede that maybe their mother knows them better.) However, I noticed those that made no attempt to relate to me about my children and what they wanted to accomplish with them spiritually. Those that attempted such a relationship, we became partners to influence change in my children. This was really good.
I believe it is too easy to concentrate on the children and ignore the role of the Dad in the family. If we are ever to have a significant impact on the children, we must not neglect your partnership with Fathers.
How do we sharpen the focus on Fathers? Here are my Twelve Tips:
• Target Audience—Boys
Target Audiences
This will be a new series that will attempt to help you deal with some of the issues you face in relating to various constituents in your children’s ministry.
#1. Focus on Boys
It is often easier for us to favor working with the girls in our ministries because they are typically more relational and faster to respond. However, conversely it might be typical for boys to be less relational and slower to respond. So attracting and keeping boys involved in our ministries might represent your challenge. If you really want boys in your program you have to be intentional about reaching them. Rarely, do we just have a lot of boys. Without focus you can also loose them.
Here are some of my practical tips for sharpening your focus on boys in your children’s ministries:
• Add a Spoonful of Fluff
A Spoonful of Fluff
It is easy to be tempted to add some “marshmallow fluff” to our programs. Marshmallow Fluff is a real product. It has been around for almost a hundred years. It is made of marshmallows—kind of whipped into a cream. It is mostly air and sugar, not really much substance. It has very little nutritional value. But it can be a fun additive to ice cream, or even a Hersey Bar and Graham Crackers sandwich, like a Smore. You know, it’s like a topping, one of those extra things you can add—that betrays your lack of substance.
This reminds me that we might want to intentionally add to the quality and substance of our ministry to children. Instead, we add some sticky sugar, that is, just being willing to help them occupy their time, to keep the kids busy, doing the mediocre, rather than really adding something substantial, that counts. It is just too easy to add “a spoon full of fluff” for kids.
It is tempting to substitute fun, entertainment, games, silliness, trivia, and even some good humor for Bible content, life application, discussion of questions about spiritual things, prayer, using the Bible, or even good worship music. Don’t get me wrong, I am not against these things, per se, but they can be a substitute for substance and content.
This is not always easy to discern, but as you really look at your ministry are you willing to just “get by” with your ministry. Or are you willing to prayerfully evaluate what you are really doing that is substantive? Why not add something that influences the children to make changes in their lives on a weekly basis?
Hopefully, with your prayerful intervention there will be more “substance” than just “fluff.”
