Flame: Creative Children's Ministry

Today I'm really excited to bring a  guest blog from Adam at Illustrated Children's Moments .  This is a new resource that will really help children to engage with the Bible.  There are free resources too!  Be sure to check out the website... I’ve often come to Flame Creative Kids for ideas and resources for my ministry in the past, so it’s a great honor to be here today sharing with you about Illustrated Children’s Moments. Through this new venture, I’m creating original artwork for use with children’s ministry and helping to bring the Bible to life for kids. On November 16, we are releasing four brand new products: 1) Advent materials and resources for churches, 2) engaging and interactive Advent materials for families to use at home, 3) Five Advent coloring sheets, and 4) an Advent Coloring Poster pack. I wanted to share with you about two items today that will hopefully give you an idea of what we’re all about. Illustrated Children’s Moments Children’s M...

This is a fun, visual way to pray, and illustrates God's power and desire to hear our prayers.   You will need: small pieces of tissue paper, pens, a balloon, hair or a woolly jumper! Ask children who or what they would like to pray for and then ask them to choose a colour of tissue paper to reflect that person or thing.  They can write or draw on their tissue piece if they want to.   Either in pairs or small groups, take it in turns to rub the balloon on a woolly jumper or on (their own!) hair.  This will build up some static on the balloon! Talk about giving our prayers to God and asking Him to show his power in each situation.  Children can hold their tissue prayer close to the balloon and watch as it is pulled onto the balloon and sticks there.  Pray that, as the paper sticks to the balloon, God will hold all of our prayers and that we will see his power at work.  

This is a great visual illustration for thinking about God's protection and can easily be used in a school assembly. You will need: An orange, a deep, clear container, water.  Also useful are items such as sun cream, a bike helmet and a hi-vis jacket I used the story of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego in the fiery furnace but any story involving God's protection is good- Daniel in the Lions' Den, for example. Tell the story and get the children to participate with sound effects and actions if possible! Next bring out your 'protection' items and talk about what we do and wear to keep us safe in the sun, on the road etc.  What about people who help us to feel safe?  Talk about God keeping the characters in the story safe and speak about times in your life when you ask God to keep you safe. Put an orange in the container of water and watch it bob along the surface.  Then peel off the skin and watch it sink.  The peel is what protects the orange and stop...

In this month's Messy Church we looked at the story of the sheep and the Goats in Matthew 25 and thought about what it meant to serve others and to serve God.  This involved lots of practical activities! Cafe Role Play area  Polishing the church brass  Litter picking in the church yard  Praying for refugees  Gathering leaves  building furniture (this one was strictly for the adults!)  Making biscuit boxes... ...and baking biscuits to put in them!  We also had a take-home sheet so that we could continue to think about serving and helping others during the rest of the month.   Click here to download the sheet!