Children's Sunday

CE National would like to encourage each church to have a Children’s Sunday every year to honor children’s staff and the children in their congregation.

Children are very important to Jesus and they should be to the church. Scripture says that we must all come to Christ like a little child. Children’s Sunday is an opportunity to raise the awareness of the need of ministering using their God-given abilities. This day could be a time of sharing the vision of touching children’s hearts by noticing them, sensing their presence, caring about them and helping them understand how much they matter to God. This special day can be held whenever it fits best into the church’s calendar.

Children’s Sunday materials, Tag—You’re It! and other children’s resources are made available to your church through the capable work of children’s workers in many areas of the Fellowship of Grace Brethren Churches.

CE National wants to thank Donna Yost and her staff from Wooster Grace Brethren Church in Wooster, Ohio, who develop materials each year for Children's Sunday.

Current Children's Sunday theme:

"Shout It From the Mountaintops! - Share God’s Good News
from Isaiah 52:7a

Materials
Poster (.jpg)
Picture Frame #1 (PDF)
Picture Frame #2 (PDF)

Previous Themes:

Theme: "Finding God’s Treasure - Seeing Children Through His Eyes"
From Psalm 127:3

Materials
Poster (PDF)
Suggestions (PDF)
Treasure Chest (PDF)
Hints for parents to treasure children's moments (PDF)

Theme: "GO FOR THE GOAL: Helping Kids Win the Ultimate Prize – Eternity with Jesus"
From: Philippians 3:14

Materials
Theme ideas (PDF)
Poster (PDF)

Theme: Generation Next - Handing down the Legacy of Loving Jesus to Our Children
From Deuteronomy 11:18a & 19a

Materials
Bulletin Cover (PDF)
Poster) (PDF)
Song List (PDF)

Theme: Get On Board With Children's Ministry
From Proverbs 22:6

Materials
Bulletin Cover (PDF)
Suggestions (PDF)
Poster (PDF)
Train Instructions (PDF)

Theme: "Grace Space: Connecting Kids to the Creator of the Universe"
From Philippians 2:15b & 16a
Goals

Challenge adults to be involved with helping children come to know God and His son, Jesus Christ.
Challenge kids to share about eternal life through Jesus with their friends.
Tools

Posters with an outer space theme
Ideas for decorating rooms with planets and stars
Ways for using "My Space" or "Facebook" ideas with the older kids (e.g. having kids create prayer cards for adults to use to pray for them)

Central Theme for the Day

Challenge adults to be involved with helping connect children to God and His Son, Jesus Christ.

Challenge kids to connect with their friends by sharing about eternal life through Jesus.

Ideas for Programming

Have a kids choir or ensemble sing one of the following songs during the worship service “You Are Holy,” “He’s Got the Whole World In His Hands,” “Wow, What A God You Are,” or other songs with lyrics pertaining to space, stars, galaxy or creation. (Download songs from Wooster Grace Brethren Church)

Have the pastor preach a message on the importance of connecting kids to Christ at an early age.

Show the Lou Giglio “Indescribable” video – 40 minutes (available through the CE National Lending Library at www.cenational.org/library)

Have children read scripture during the service or memorize verses and say them.

Prepare a Powerpoint presentation or video showing pictures taken in your children’s classrooms. Play “Astronaut” by FFH (download at itunes.com) while Powerpoint plays.

Give parents information on devotionals to use in connecting their kids to Christ.

Paint a spaceship on a large piece of cardboard and cut out a hole for children to look through. Take pictures of kids looking through the spaceship and hang in the hallways or include in the Powerpoint presentation.

Buy pads of paper in the shape of a star, take pictures of kids and put the picture on one of the stars to hang in hallways.

Order space themed stickers, decorations and craft items from orientaltrading.com to use in kids’ classrooms

Have kids divide into “connection groups” in their departments and talk about how they can shine for Jesus with their families, friends and at school (use the “Tag You’re It” material available from cenational.org/children)

Have open houses in your children’s classrooms on Children’s Sunday and have stars or planets on the walls leading to the classrooms or stars hanging from the ceilings.

Download the poster for Children’s Sunday and hang it on bulletin boards around the church.

Devotional Suggestions for Parents

Focus on the Family – “Fun-tastic Conversation Starters for Parents & Kids” by Robert C. Crosby, Honor Books, 2000

“Step into the Bible – 100 Bible Stories for Family Devotions” by Ruth Graham, Zondervan, 2007 (Available at amazon.com)

“One Year Book of Josh McDowell’s Family Devotions 2” By Josh McDowell, Tyndale House Publishing, 2003. (Available at amazon.com)

Sweet Dreams Princess: God’s Little Princess Bedtime Bible Stories, Devotions and Prayers by Sheila Walsh. (Available at amazon.com)

Goodnight Warrior: God’s Mighty Warrier Bedtime Bible Stories by Sheila Walsh (available at amazon.com)

Songs made available by the Grace Brethren Church in Wooster (Randy Moomaw, Minister of Worship Ministries) Songs may be used for local church use only. They cannot be uploaded to another website or sold in any way.

Files are in mp3 format. Right-click and choose to save the file to download to your computer.

Wow, What a God You are
I Can Help You
Makin' Me Strong
Come on and Love
Walkin' in the Son
Peace
Light of the World
Not Afraid
I Know