Teaching Tip of the Week

Many (most?) church nurseries are run like a babysitting program. It’s probably a combination of an idea that the children are too young to teach anything important, a lack of patience with these little bundles of energy (that I wish I had,) and a “this must be the right way to do nursery – it’s the way they’ve always done it” kind of attitude. And unless someone offers to organize and train workers for this ministry, it's not likely to change.

Here are a few things you can do to change the nursery into a time of ministry:

• Read them a Bible story or, better yet, use a visualized Bible lesson.

• Sing songs. Don’t forget that hymns are great too! Don't worry if they don’t sing along – they love to listen to you. Even the babies benefit from having someone hold them and sing “Jesus Loves Me” to them.

• Pray for the children by name. Try this either as a group (if they can handle it) or get with each child one at a time to one side of the room or a corner.