Easter: About Jesus Or Bunnies?

When your children's ministry moves into the Easter season, how do you keep the focus off of Bunnies and Eggs and on Jesus? When dealing with secular kids, and those whose families are not very involved in their spiritual training, this can be quite an issue.

A couple of weeks ago I was planning our Logos Easter program with my 2nd and 3rd graders this week and they kept mentioning easter eggs and bunnies (they're not from my church). I decided that instead of telling them "No we don't do bunnies and eggs" I'd explain why. One of the kids is a champion speller so I said (in a much more elaborate way), "What if you won the national spelling bee and the town had a big celebration to honor you. But when you got there no one even said 'Hi' to you or mentioned your accomplishment instead they had all brought their dogs and they had turned it into a dog show. How would you like that?" (they didn't) so then I explained that Easter is when we celebrate Jesus dieing on the cross for us and then rising from the dead. "How do you think Jesus likes it when we ignore Him and just talk about bunnies and eggs?" I asked. They got the point, and loved it so much that they decided, totally on their own, that they wanted to turn that story into a play and teach that concept to the adults at the easter program.

I have written the story out as a narrated skit and my 2nd ans 3rd graders are practicing it right now.

Click here to read the skit.
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This post was originally posted Mar 13, 2008

Homeschool Illegal?

A court in California recently ruled that homeschooling is illegal unless either the parent is a fully state certified teacher or he/she hired a fully state certified private tooter! This egregious ruling is obviously not based on a desire to improve education for kids since homeschool has been proven to give the highest test scores nation wide. It comes from a belief that the government has the right and duty to decide how best to raise kids and then enforce their beliefs on parents.

When I heard this news I was surprised by the bluntness of this statement. While California has, by far, the worst situation, Nebraska (my state) is dealing with a senator who wants the state to micromanage homeschooling and has put forth a bill, LB1141, to do just that.

The issue is whether or not the state (government) is more qualified to raise kids than the parents. There is a disturbing trend among politicians (even high level ones) and judges to think the state is the best suited and the highest authority in kid’s lives.

Here is a excerpt from my conversation with DiAnna Schimek, the Nebraska state senator who put forth LB1141, "It may be 'the state of Nebraska's responsibility to provide education for all children in the state' [that was her claim] but it is not NE's responsibility to control it. In America we have proven that, although sometimes risky, freedom and limited government encourage people to strive for excellence. The more freedom people are given to make educational choices for their children the more effort they will expend in doing so. That translates into a more valued and valuable education for kids with much more involved parents. I realize that freedom naturally allows for some to violate the trust, but the benefits of freedom far outweigh the risks."

There is no evidence that homeschoolers are getting an inferior education. In fact, nation wide, homeschoolers consistently beat out public and private schooled kids in test scores. I would say that the only reason the government should be looking in on homeschool families would be to discover their secret of success and try to implement that into the public school system to get its scores up!

Pray that we will retain the freedom to choose the world view we instill in our children; then speak out when people try to take the freedom away!

It's time to take action. Even if you're not a homeschooling family this issue affects you since it is just a first step in the ideology that kids are the property of the state not parents.

ACTION STEPS

Sign the petition: HSLDA's depublishing petition (this is not just for Californians, it's for everyone!)

Get informed:

Check out the "Legislative Watch" section of the Home School Legal Defense Assotiations's website www.hslda.org.

Read this article from Citizenlink

Great Kids Blog.

One of the inspirations behind me starting this blog was another blog by Tony Kummer. He is living my dream of someday becoming a kid's ministry pastor.

He has put together an excellent website and has the only email newsletter that I regularly read in its entirety.

One of the best features of his blog is his discussion on safety procedures for church based children's ministry. http://ministry-to-children.com/sunday-school/sunday-school-safety-security/

It's definitely worth a look see. http://ministry-to-children.com/

Our Mission, KIDS!

I recently Preached a sermon in my churches on the topic of training our kids with a Christian World View. Here's the handout:

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Click here to listen to this Sermon

A family learns a new culture and language to share Jesus with other lands, we call them missionaries. A group of young people travels abroad to build churches and lead out in VBSs, we call them missionaries. A doctor leaves her successful American practice to extend the healing touch of Jesus through free medical help to those in need of it, we call her a missionary. A translator gives of his time and abilities to make sure people around him have God's Word in their own tongue, we call him a missionary. A teacher gets up in front of an American classroom and teaches the Three R's and so much more through a Christian Worldview, we call him/her a missionary—or at least we should! Our kids are the most fertile mission field on the planet!

Mark 10:13-16—Although kids are often overlooked when it comes to Spiritual things, this is not the attitude that Jesus showed. Over and over He said that the kingdom of heaven is for kids and people who have faith like them. Childhood is when kids are learning to understand life and making lifelong decisions.

Proverbs 1:1-7—We're not just after raising kids who will show up in church once a week. God's concern is for the whole character, which is shaped by worldview. Worldview is the lens through which we view everything that happens in the world. I believe that one of the greatest reasons why we loose our youth is because we allow the public school system, media and society to decide our kid's worldview. The good news is that there are many tools at our disposal for helping our kids gain a healthier, Christian worldview that encompasses every aspect of their life.



Psalm 111:10—Many people see education and their faith as two different things. In their view each has its place, but neither should interfere with the other. But these things cannot really be separated. To be truly wise you must understand the spiritual framework in which our world is made. Public schools teach a secular worldview (framework) that doesn't include God. But church and home schools can give kids true wisdom by giving them a Christian worldview.

Proverbs 9:10—Education is more than the transference of knowledge, it is learning how to learn. The secular education system teaches that all things must be explained without using any force outside of our understandable dimensions, ie, without God. But the Bible teaches that knowledge of the Holy one is understanding. Christian education takes all the best of earthly science, math, social studies, etc. and uses an understanding of the Creating, loving, redeeming and sustaining God as a catalyst to make it all make sense and create upright, Godly citizens.
Just as we support mission outreaches such as frontier missions, Bible translation, medical missions and youth mission trips that don't directly benefit us, we should also support Adventist education even when we don't have a child going to the school—because it's mission work.


1 John 2:12, 13—In this list we see a place for kids in the church. They are the ones who keep the focus on the simplicity of the Gospel. The church can become a very powerful tool for reaching kids when it uses Sabbath Schools and other church kids ministries to support parent's efforts, help mold worldview, provide for Christian relationships and make a safe place for kids to grow and learn about serving God and others.


Deuteronomy 6:5-7—Some people think that they can leave it up to the "professionals" at church to reach their kids for Christ. This is neither Biblical nor realistic—this job belongs to parents. Barna Research Group1 did a study and found out that even with all the other powerful influences that are out today, parents still rank number 1 in having the most influence on their kids. A church's best function is assisting parents in discipling their kids as needed. This is a day in and day out thing. When you're at home or in town, when you get up and when you go to bed, your influence is shaping the worldview of your kids!

At the beginning stages of our church movement God showed us the necessity of reaching out to our kids. This led to Sabbath Schools in nearly every church that has even one kid. It has led us to have the largest educational system of any evangelical church. And it led us to promote family values that are sometimes countercultural. Let's not drop the ball now. Let's see this mission work thrive in our time.