Special: Last Sunday of Appointment
Scripture Focus: 1 John 4:7a
Object: Maps and a marker
Preparation: You will need to print out from the Internet a state map and/or county map. You may want to print more than one so that you can reinforce the point.
Note: Most United Methodist children can tell you, pastors move. No matter if the move is a blessing or a bittersweet departure, finding a special way to say goodbye to the children of the church is an important part of leaving. Little People Big Word wants to help pastors say goodbye to children in a healthy and uplifting manner that leaves them with a lasting sense that goodbye does not mean we stop loving each other.
Hello everybody! Today I’ve brought some maps with me. The first one is a county map. It shows our town right here (point out your church’s town). Let’s draw the town lines so that we can all see them very clearly (using your marker, draw a rough estimate of the town lines). That’s about right. Those lines show where the town limits are. So, if you’re inside the lines, then you live in our town, but if you’re outside the lines, then you’re in a different town all together. Our town only stretches so far before it ends. That means people can move out of town.
This map shows our state. Let’s draw the state lines (using your marker, trace over the state lines). You see, our state is here (point to inside the state lines) but it ends when it gets to these points because new states begin. Our state is a lot bigger than our town, but it still ends. That means people can move out of the state.
But, there is one thing that doesn’t have borders or lines or ever end. It’s love. And that means people never stop loving each other no matter where they go. Today is my last Sunday as your pastor. Next week (name the new pastor) will be your new pastor. But that doesn’t mean I will stop loving you. Because love doesn’t end. You can’t even find the boundaries of love on a map because they don’t exist! So remember, no matter where we go in life, we can always love each other because love has no boundaries or limits.
Let’s pray: We give you thanks God for the gift of love that has no boundaries or limits. Help us to always love each other as you have loved us. Amen.
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Special: First Sunday of Appointment
Scripture Focus: John 20:19b
Object: None
Preparation: The goal of this sermon is to introduce yourself to the children, but you also have the opportunity to do two things in the process. You will need to prepare by thinking through these two points. First, it’s a great time to establish how you would like the children to address you. For instance, do you want to be called Brother/Sister Name or Pastor Name or something else? Second, you can opt to teach the children a fun greeting to use whenever you see each other, like a fist bump or a high five. As pastors, it is important to be mindful of safe interactions with kids and that hugging is not always appropriate. This way, you have established a fun and healthy alternative greeting.
Note: United Methodist pastors move - a lot. For most adults, changing pastors is part and parcel of being United Methodists, but to many children this means losing the only pastor they can remember. Little People Big Word wants to help with this transition with a kid-friendly introduction to the new pastor.
Good morning everyone! My name is (clearly tell the children your name just as you want them to call you) and I’m your new pastor. I am so excited to be here. And I just wanted to take this time to say a special hello to you guys. Sooo… hello (be sure to smile!).
You know, there are all kinds of ways to say hello to people. In the south we/they say “Hey Y’all!” If you’re a business person, you might shake hands like this… (pick a child to shake hands with…) mind if I shake your hand? In our Bible story, Jesus says hello to the disciples in a really special way. He says “Peace be with you.” And we do that in the church, too, whenever we Pass the Peace. We say hello to one another by hugging or shaking hands and saying “Peace of Christ.” There are so many different ways to say hello!
I thought it would be cool if we had our very own special way to greet each other. Just something special we can do when we see each other. Let’s do this (reveal your special way of greeting: fist bump or high five or whatever). Let’s practice that(pick a child to practice with), will you practice with me? (let the child answer) Great! What’s your name? (let the child tell you his/her name) So, whenever we see each other, I’ll say, “Hi Name” and you’ll say “Hi Title Name” and we will (fist bump or high five or whatever). Now we have our very own special way to say hello! I can’t wait to learn all your names and get to know you better. I’m really glad to be your new pastor.
Let’s pray: Thank you God for bringing us together. Help us become good friends. Amen.
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Special: Bullying
Scripture Focus: 2 Timothy 4:16-18
Object: None
Note: Bullying is a huge problem in our society and sadly many, if not all, children experience bulling in one form or another. Little People Big Word wants to help children know that bullying is against the teachings of Jesus Christ and that they are never alone during these difficult times.
Today’s Bible story talks about something really important. It’s about being bullied. You see, Paul was trying to be a good follower of Jesus and spread the Good News to everyone he met, but others didn’t like that. So they teased him and hurt him. Paul was bullied by all kinds of folks who didn’t like him talking about Jesus. They bullied him because he was different than they were. But, Paul didn’t let those people get him down. He didn’t let their bullying stop him. And do you know why? Because Paul knew that God was on his side. He knew that through all this bad stuff, through all the hurt and bullying that God was right there with him. He didn’t have to face those mean people alone. God was there! And God helped Paul get through those hurtful times and live to enjoy many, many days of celebrating and praise with people who loved Paul and his message about Jesus.
And I want us all to remember that God will do the same for us. If you are teased or hurt or bullied by others, I want you to remember that you are not alone. God is with you. And God will help you get through those bad times. I also want you to remember that all these people (point to everyone in the congregation) love you, too. So, if someone is mean to you for whatever reason, I want you to remember you’re not alone and you are loved! And if you are being bullied, don’t forget to tell an adult because we want to help.
Let’s pray: Thank you God for always being on our side. Help us remember your love even in the bad times.
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Little People Big Word has written children’s sermons based on the five practices presented in the book Five Practices of Fruitful Congregation.
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Practice: Radical Hospitality
Object: Paper Cross
Preparation: You will need an 8.5×11 piece of paper and scissors. Fold the top left corner down to meet the opposite edge. Second, fold the top right corner down to the left side. Third, fold the paper left to right. Then, about 1.5” from the folded edge, cut from the bottom to top; discard. Finally, open the remaining folded paper to reveal a cross.
(Begin making the paper cross) I don’t know about you, but I love to invite my friends to do stuff. Because they’re my best buds and I like to hang out with them. So, I invite them to my birthday party, to sleep over my house, to a cookout in the backyard, maybe even to swim! (keep this line of inviting places going until you’re ready to reveal the paper cross)
But you know, the most important place we can invite our friends is to church (reveal cross) because that’s one of the places where we meet Jesus. And you know what, Jesus wants every one to come to church. And it’s our job to invite them. That’s called Hospitality. Sometimes, it’s as simple as asking a friend who doesn’t go to church anywhere to come with you on Sunday and they do. But sometimes, it doesn’t work out that easy. Sometimes, you got to keep inviting them each week. Because you never know when they will say yes! Just remember: We need to show hospitality by inviting others to church because church is a great place to meet and learn about Jesus!
Let’s pray: God, please help us invite others to church so that everyone can get to know Jesus better. Amen.
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Practice: Passionate Worship
Object: None
Good morning boys and girls. You are just the folks I need to help me with the sermon this morning. We are going to Call the Hogs this morning, just like at a Razorback game! Are you ready? Are you really ready? Okay, let’s go for it… 1… 2… 3…
Woooooooo. Pig. Sooie!
Woooooooo. Pig. Sooie!
Woooooooo. Pig. Sooie!
Razorbacks!
That was amazing! And loud! You guys did a great job. I could really feel the excitement. But you know what I really wish? I wish we could get that excited about what we do in worship! Like when we sing together. It would be so AMAZING if every person sang instead of just standing there. Or when we pray. Instead of just reading the words, what if we really, really, really prayed! We’ve got to bring some enthusiasm to worship! We’ve got to get excited about singing songs about God and praying to God. I can’t imagine anyone more important than God, can you?! So, why not show how much we love God by getting excited in worship just like we do when we Call the Hogs.
Let’s pray: Thank you God for bringing us together every week to worship you. Help us to remember that worship doesn’t have to be dull and boring. We can get excited and should get excited about sining and praying and worshiping you! Amen.
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Practice: Intentional Faith Development
Object: A Dusty Bible
Preparation: You can make a dusty Bible by sprinkling a Bible with flour — don’t worry, it easily washes off.
Good morning boys and girls! Today I’ve brought my Bible with me (careful show the kids your Bible). Ohhh… I guess it’s been awhile since I got it out and read it, it’s really dusty. I meant to read it every day, but I just got so busy with other stuff like watching TV, and hanging out with friends, and playing games, that I forgot. And look what happened. It’s covered in dust!
That’s no good. I’m going to change this right now (blow the dust off…)! I’m going to decide right now that I’m going to read my Bible a little bit every day. That’s called being “Intentional.” You know, when you do something on purpose because you want to and don’t let other things, like TV and games, get in the way. I want to be intentional about reading my Bible every single day.
Because that’s the only way that I’m going to learn all the great stuff that’s inside! And the Bible has a lot to teach us about God and Jesus and our faith. But, you won’t learn it unless you pick it up and read it. I think we’ve all got to be intentional about reading the Bible because we don’t want to have dusty Bibles… that’s bad news.
Let’s pray: God, thank you for giving us the Bible to teach us about you and Jesus and what we believe. Help us to be intentional about reading it every single day. Don’t let us get too busy with other stuff so that we forget about the Bible. Amen.
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Practice: Risk-Taking Mission and Service
Object: A Rubber Band and a Rubber Band Guitar
Preparation: To make a rubber band guitar, you will need an empty tissue box, several stretchy rubber bands, tape, and a stick. First, remove all plastic from the empty tissue box. Then, stretch as many rubber bands around the box as you would like. Tape the stick to the back of the tissue box (the side without the hole) to be the arm of the guitar. Play your guitar by strumming and plucking the rubber bands that cover the hole.
Hey everyone! I’ve got something pretty simple with me this morning. It’s a rubber band. But you can do all kinds of cool stuff with it. You can use a rubber band to hold a bunch of stuff together. You can shoot them at people… but that’s probably not very nice (be sure to shake your head at this point). You can even make a rubber band guitar (reveal the guitar and play for the kids)!
A simple rubber band can do a lot of cool stuff! All because they can do this (stretch the rubber band). Rubber bands stretch! And guess what, we need to stretch too! God wants us to stretch and try new things. Even things that are risky and maybe other people thing are too hard. God may ask us to do that stuff. And we’ll need to stretch, just like a rubber band, to do what God asks. Because that’s how we show other people God’s love.
Let’s pray: Thank you God for reminding us that simple things can do amazing things when they just stretch a little. Help us stretch to do what you ask and show others your love. Amen.
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Practice: Extravagant Generosity
Object: Big Bag of DumDums and One Blow Pop
This morning I want to give each of you a dumdum lollipop. This isn’t too hard because I have this gigantic bag of dumdums that I got yesterday at the store. See, even though I’ve given each of you one, I still have a ton leftover for myself to enjoy. But, what about this (reveal the one blow pop)? I only have one blow pop. I want to give this one blow pop away to (name an adult nearby or another pastor). And when I give this to her, that means that I won’t have a blow pop for myself. So, do you think it is harder to give away a bunch of dumdums or this one and only blow pop?
Well, of course it is harder to give away my one and only blow pop! Because when I do that means that I won’t have any for myself. Even though I gave away a lot of dumdums, I still had this huge back leftover. But, giving away my one and only blow pop is a big deal. In fact, we can say it was a big sacrifice. “Sacrifice” is a fancy word for giving away something that we have.
And the Bible teaches us that God is happy when we make sacrifices. That’s because God wants us to share what we have with other people, even if we only have very little. I want you to remember that it isn’t about the amount you give away, but how big the sacrifice is. God is happy when people make big sacrifices. So, giving away dumdums when you’ve got a whole bunch isn’t a big deal. But, when I gave (name an adult nearby or another pastor) my one and only blow pop I made a sacrifice and that pleases God.
Let’s pray: God help us to remember that it isn’t about how much we have but how much we are willing to sacrifice and share with others. Help us be willing to make big sacrifices like you ask. Amen.
