Large Group Speaking To Grade School Kids

Statistics have consistently shown that the vast majority of information people use in forming their ideas about who God is, what salvation is, and what their relationship with Him is, is gathered in their grade school years. Most people refer to the lessons and concepts they learned in these formative years as some of their biggest influences as they navigate later stages of their lives. The value of teaching Gospel truth to our youth is irreplaceable and should be given as much, if not more, focus and excellence as the teaching of our main service crowds. Just behind our lead pastor, the most influential voice on our church campus each week is the speaker in the Vibe service. In light of this, we must seek the highest level of teaching each and every week. God will nevertheless work within our kids, and He will reach them with His message however He must, but what a glorious thing is it for a person to be in the position to be used to do just that?

Over the last several years, God has given me the great privilege of accumulated a set of skills and concepts that have led me to develop a very effective communication style for delivering complex biblical truth in a way that can be easily grasped by our kids. In this guide, I want to outline some of the ideas, concepts, techniques, and tips that will help others as they seek to grow in those skills as well. Here is a list of the topics that are covered in more detail below:

1. Scaffolding

2. Asking the right questions

3. Yes – and

4. Object lessons

5. Short words

6. Move around

7. Cut the chatter

8. Pre-affirmation

9. Repeat the points

10. Think on your feet

11. Talk like yourself

12. Other random tips

1. Scaffolding.

This is the idea that anyone can understand anything; new information just needs to be constructed within a framework they already understand. When new information is introduced to them, people use their past knowledge as a reference to process that new information. With this in mind, when we are trying to teach someone something, we need to develop an accurate idea of what they already know in order to determine what ideas we need to establish beforethey are able to grasp our main concept. For example, if I am speaking to a group of adults, I can assume they understand what taxes and jury duty are, so if I were to tell them I got jury duty on a tax evasion trial, most of the adults would understand what that entails. If I were speaking to a group of kids though, I would first need to tell them what jury duty is, what taxes are, what evasion means, and why someone would get in trouble for that, beforethey could understand what my having to do jury duty would mean. It is similar with concepts in the Bible. If I am talking about Jesus cleansing the temple, I have to assume that they don’t know what the temple is, who was in it, what a money changer is, why Jesus was upset…. I would need to develop all of those ideas before I can get to the real concept at hand. This may seem tedious and time consuming, but this process is vital for successfully developing an idea with a group of kids. The key is to take less ambitious bites into truth than you would with adults. Kids don’t have the attention span to crawl through a complex series of ideas, so we work on scaffolding one simple idea at a time. This is why our lessons each week focus only on two ideas: what the passage teaches us about God, and what it means for me. Some weeks, we will need to slow down and build two or three ideas in order for those main points to make sense.

Here is an example of a scaffold I used last week in explaining the testing of Abraham. I used a series of questions, followed by answers that build the ideas needed for them to understand the end point.

-Who was the man that God was speaking to?

-Where else have we seen him before?

-Can you remember what God promised to Abraham?

-What did God tell Abraham to do?

-Did Abraham have to go through with it?

-How does this compare to God and the sacrifice Jesus?

-God is generous to us without expecting us to earn it, just like he was with Abraham

Each question and answer is part of the construction of the idea that the story of Abraham is a comparison and parallel to the story of Jesus’ sacrifice. By the last question, every kid can at least say that the story of Abraham and Isaac helps us understand God and Jesus, and that God does not make Abraham earn his blessing, just as God does not make us earn salvation. Easy, right? But, without building those ideas in this way, the kids may hear the words, but will not grasp the true “why” behind the story.

2. Asking the right questions.

So, this naturally leads us into the idea of coming up with the right questions. It is a long-held teaching technique that you can tellsomeone what you want them to know, but if you want them to understandit, you have to lead them down the path of understanding so they come to the same conclusion you would have told them in the first place. The difference is that now it is theiridea—theycame to it as a result of considering the answers to your questions. This is why, in the example above, I am not making a series of statements, but am asking a series of questions. And while the answers to each one may need to be teased out, augmented, or flat-out told to them in the end, it is the conscious processing and pondering that leads them to understanding the answer to the question whether or not they came up with the answer on their own. It is also worth noting that with kids, it is important to not ask vague or open-ended questions. Try to keep questions specific and provide information within the questions that make the answer more apparent. In the example above, rather than asking them about how this story relates to Jesus, I give them more information by saying, “How does this compare to God and the sacrifice of Jesus?” And given that we just talked about Abraham, Isaac, the sacrifice, and how he did not go through with it, it is then easier to make the jump to see the comparison to Christ. Almost try to provide the answer within the question itself.

3. Yes – and.

An old rule for improvised comedy is the “yes-and” rule. Whenever someone else is speaking and you follow after them, you never disagree with or correct them in live time. As you are asking questions to a group of kids, you will hear all kinds of things. Some responses will be dead on target, and others will be so far off you wonder if they are even speaking English. Either way, the way to respond in both cases is to simply say, “thanks,” or, “good,” or, “yes,” followed by a general address to the rest of the kids saying, “give me more,” or, “who has something to add?” or, “what else?” This makes the kid who just spoke feel like they were heard and their words were valued, while signaling to the rest of the kids that there is still room for them to contribute as well. Do this as many times as there are kids who want to answer. Unless you are in a time crunch, it is always encouraged for kids to participate in the large group. In the end, be sure to thank everyone for their input, affirm their ideas, and then present a summary of them, or the “real” answer you were looking for. At that point, a simple question to the crowd like, “does that make sense?” or, “do you get it?” is a good way to put a stamp on the idea before moving on.

4. Object lessons.

These are so powerful. Without getting into a long discussion about learning styles, we can simply say that the best way to ensure that an idea is driven home is to have someone read it, hear it, and experience it in some way. The object lesson is an effort to bring the experience into the lesson. It is one thing to teach a group of kids about Jesus cleansing the temple, and it is another thing to flip over a table with a bunch of stuff on it during the lesson. Those kinds of punctuated events within a talk etch a clear memory into the kids’ minds and provides an anchor for you to tie your main ideas to. Recently, I used a simple act to drive home a concept about God’s nature. The point was that Abraham believed in God’s promises because he had seen them come true over and over again. I asked the kids, “would you believe me if I told you I had a tiny flamingo in my pocket right now?” Half of them raised their hands in the affirmative, and half said no way. I asked them what they would need to know in order to believe me. They all said they would only believe me if I proved it to be true. Then I took a tiny stuffed flamingo out of my pocket and showed it to them. Then the concept hit them—God proves that He is faithful to His promises over and over again. So, when God says He loves us and will never forsake us, we can trust that He will follow through because He has so many other times. That silly little flamingo provided a huge anchor for the kids to tie that idea to. Whether simple or extravagant, a good object lesson is one of the most powerful tools you can possibly use.

5. Simple speech.

This is sort of an add-on to the scaffolding idea. It is important to keep in mind that if you don’t want to burn a ton of time explaining random words, you should use the simplest words possible to explain the ideas you’re teaching. A short example is to look at the phrase “the redemptive process.” This means nothing to anyone under 18 years old. Avoid these kinds of words unless you need it to make your point. The easiest way to hit the same idea is to say, “God helps us improve,” or, “God makes us more like Him.” This can take some time and energy as you prepare talks, but is worth it if you want your words to land in the right place.

6. Keep it Moving.

There are fewer ways to bore a group of kids than to stand in one place and just talk to them. They will tune you out in the first few seconds. Rather, move around, walk back and forth, squat down, jump, wave your hands…. This is what I have come to call “taking up the slack in their attention.” Kids’ minds need to be occupied all the time, it’s just the way they are. Your goal as a speaker is to occupy as much of their attention as you can. Simply speaking to them will not occupy the majority of their attention, or even be enough to hold it. Moving around or providing them more visual stimulation will essentially occupy more of their mental attention and leave less space in their minds for other random, distracting things.

7. Cut the chatter.

In any group of kids, you will inevitably have at least one or two kids who don’t seem to care that you are speaking to their group, will want to have their own conversations, play games, or just goof around. Don’t ignore it, it won’t stop. As hard as it is for youto pretend it is not happening, it is ten times harder for the rest of the kids to ignore it. One chatty or goofy kid can completely block the ideas you are trying to communicate. It is tough enough to deal with the fizzy nature of grade schoolers already, so don’t let a disruptive kid finish you off. The first thing to look for is if there is an adult in range of the kid who can act as an extension of yourself. Usually a simple look or cryptic gesture will cue any adult leader to step in and correct the kid. Beyond this, a direct correction may be needed. It is much better to momentarily interrupt your talk to address a kid by name, than to let that kid disrupt the talk for the rest of the duration. I simply look at the kid, say their name, and ask them to “focus up here, ok?” Beyond this, removing the kid from the group or having them sit behind the crowd can work. Once again, it is not acceptable to allow one kid who is not listening to take the entire group with them.

8. Pre-affirmation.

Setting the bar! This is a great tool you can use as a momentary mental booster for kids, and even adults. You can say something to the effect of, “lots of people would say you’re too young to get this, but I think you can handle it,” or, “if you guys can understand this next thing, you will impress me so much.” This affirmation causes most people to suddenly sit up straight, perk their ears, and direct their attention and energy at you for a short time. Don’t use this affirmation all the time, but keep it in your pocket for a moment when they need an extra boost.

9. Repeat the points.

Repetition is important in any form of teaching. At the end of the talk, it is especially good to go back and tell them what was taught. This begins with phrases like, “so here’s what we learned,” or, “remember kids…..” This is your chance to put a really clear stamp on the ideas you are focusing on. These phrases are basically the thing you want the kids to repeat to their parents when they are asked, “what did you learn in Vibe today?” It is your entire talk boiled down to one or two simple phrases that they can take with them. Don’t feel the need to re-teach the entire lesson again, simply give them the takeaways.

10. Think on your feet.

There may be times when you have written out a fantastic lesson or asked some great questions, but it seems like they are just not getting it. It is hard sometimes to predict how a kid’s mind will respond to something that seems self-explanatory to us. Don’t just blast through it and hope for better luck next time. There are some simple things we can do during our talk to help the kids gain some clarity on the subject. In this case, a simple way to go about it is to look at the questions you are asking them, and try to rephrase them in simpler terms. Maybe you need to scaffold one or two simpler ideas for them to get the one you are trying to strike on. Another great tool is to ask the group of kids if they have questions or to ask, such as, “is any of this confusing for any of you?” If all else fails, consider whether or not you can sacrifice this point in the interest of time, or if you should stay on it and give up something later. What is not acceptable is to just keep going if it looks like no one is going with you.

11. Talk like you do.

Believe it or not, kids can sense a phony person far quicker than you would think. If you are speaking in a voice that is not your own, using words that are not yours, or just pretending to be more excited or energetic than you normally are, they will sense it, and you will lose credibility as well as their attention. They can also sense a genuine person as well. The best way to establish credibility among the kids and capture their attention is to be exactly who you are. And while I believe that anyone can do youth ministry, if you naturally are not great with kids, that is good to know, and you should find a way to serve that fits better with your strengths. But speaking to kids like they are babies, being cartoonish enthusiastic, or speaking in a way that is not you, are losing strategies for kid min. Rather, use your own words, pause when you need to think, mix up words when you do, and make wise cracks as they pop into your head. The more comfortable you are, and the more genuinely you present yourself, the more basic attention you’ll receive and the more the kids will naturally like you. When I speak to kids, there is effectively no difference from when I speak to adults, only in the language level or how well I dress.

12. Stories.

Every great teacher, preacher or even entertainer tells great stories. Jesus himself told stories. He uses parables to communicate complex theological truth in a way people could relate with. Many people will tell you that they will get more from a good story than they ever would if you just tried to tell them the main points you were going for. When we tell a story, we invite someone to come out of their own mind, and enter into this other world with us as we walk them through the process of realizing the truth being taught for themselves. Stories, especially personal stories bring someone into your life as well, helps them to get to know you better and makes the audience feel like you are in their world with them as you invite them into yours. This earns you incredible credit with kids especially. Frankly, if the kids feel like they know you, and if they like you, they are much more willing to listen to you.

But let me wrap this up with one last point, but one which is crucial for any of the others to mean anything in the real world. It is the simple idea that your greatest asset as a speaker and leader to kids is that you actually care about them. If you really love these kids and pray for their hearts to know Jesus now, it will come out of you in ways no one can define, and will earn you their affection, their attention and will allow the holy spirit to use your words to change them and reform them into his image, in spite of any lacking those words may have.

Matthew 18:2

Jesus called a little child to stand among them. “Truly I tell you, He said, “unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoever welcomes a little child like this in My name welcomes Me. But if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would be better for him to have a large millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea. Woe to the world for the causes of sin”