by Esther Cheng

If you’ve ever been to a flock group at Lighthouse, you’ve (hopefully) seen the flocks worksheet. There’s a question where it asks you to describe the sermon to a child in 1-2 sentences – which sounds like what we do for Sparklers! I’ve had the joy of being able to serve in the Sparklers’ ministry for the past two years, and I just wanted to share some insight as to what goes through my mind as I prepare a Sparklers’ lesson.

Just to give you some context (in case you’ve never observed a Sparklers’ class in action), all staff members are on rotation to teach and we present a 5-10 minute lesson to a group of 10+ preschool-age children.

Teach Accurately

We ought to rightly handle the Word of God. No matter the age of whom we are teaching the Word of God, we ought to prepare with care! At times, I even feel like sometimes I need to more deeply study the Word when teaching children, since it takes a thorough understanding of the passage to be able to find the right words to communicate it in simpler terms. With the Sparklers, it could be easy to think that they just want to play during lesson time, but they are listening! What they remember and their level of comprehension surprise me sometimes – and all the more, I am reminded to be aware of what I teach them.

Teach Specifically

With kids, we have to teach in a way that they can understand and would be helpful for them. For example – I could tell them all the details of the building of the tabernacle; however, with the kids’ short attention spans, it can be easy to lose sight of the forest for the trees. A good question to keep in mind would be: “What should the kids take away from the lesson?” The Bible is thorough in its descriptions, but I have to focus on what would help the children understand the character of God more. When reading passages from the Bible, there may be words and concepts that are challenging for them to grasp, so we teachers have to be thoughtful about the illustrations and the words that we use to describe and explain what the Bible says.

Teach Historically

In Sparklers, we teach lessons of things that happened in history – moments that are not just fictional stories, but actual, historical, documented events in the Bible. This is something that we’ve been trying to emphasize lately, and although it sounds simple enough, it’s something that even we as teachers must remember and reflect upon. Having grown up with Bible stories myself, it can be easy to lump Biblical narratives with your everyday bedtime story, instead of seeing each Bible lesson’s characters as real people that God worked through. With events as intense as the ten plagues, it can be easier for me to visualize the Prince of Egypt movie instead of an actual devastating plague. As I read through the Bible to prepare my lesson, I need to take time to pause and meditate on the Word to dwell on the character of God revealed through these historical events; we ought to be God-centered in what we teach. This was pretty different from what I remembered growing up, since too often were the characters in the lessons championed as the heroes (whether it be Moses, David, etc.). When I teach now, I have to remember that they were people who the Lord our God used throughout history in His sovereign plan.

No matter how well I prepare a lesson, only the Lord can work in the childrens’ hearts. I could have the most animated expressions, the best illustrations, the best vocal impressions… and even so, it is only the Lord who works in their hearts. All the more do I need to depend on God for wisdom and patience, seeing these teaching times as precious opportunities to share the Gospel with kids!