Several years ago, I was invited to India to work with about fifty Christian leaders in the area of fund raising. The organization was working to create a new vision for funding from within the Indian Christian community.
One of the teaching modules was focused on I Chronicles 28, where David shares the vision “that the Spirit had put in his mind” (1 Chr. 28:12 NIV) for building the Temple.
Afterward, David invited Israel’s leaders to join God in the work; “Now, who is willing to consecrate themselves to the LORD today?" (1 Chr. 29:5 NIV)
We wanted Indian leaders to understand the importance of vision, a picture of the future, and the importance of communicating that with spiritual passion.
We divided the group into about eight groups and gave each group a 50-piece puzzle. However, the puzzle box cover artwork did not match with the pieces inside. As they began working on the puzzle, two things became apparent.
First, several members of the group had never seen a puzzle before and were trying to jam pieces together. Second, without a picture to go by, the team was a little confused. It became apparent they were trying to create something that was not on the box cover.
They finally completed the puzzles which led to clapping and even a little cheering. They experienced how important it is to have the right vision for the future.
When we began the study of, I Chronicles 28-29 you could see the lightbulbs coming on in their heads and the impact of the experiential activity. And this was with adults. All the more so, with children!
Experiential teaching moves beyond traditional cognitive-focused teaching and engages children’s senses, feelings, and emotions.
It is a powerful teaching tool that we have identified in Deuteronomy 6 as well as in the ministry of Jesus Himself! Being a powerful teaching tool, leaders need to be aware and be careful.
Here are some important guidelines to remember:
1. Be Safe
When you teach experientially, be careful to keep the children physically and emotionally safe.
For example, in an experiential activity linked to the Lesson Aim “I can trust God when I am afraid” (Exodus 3:11-12), you might ask everyone to, one by one, step up onto a table and fall back into their classmates’ arms.
Although that activity would definitely involve a demonstration of faith, children could fall or be dropped and get hurt. So, modify the activity to make it safer.
For example, have the students make two horizontal lines. The children would then fall back into the arms of the person directly behind them, thus giving them a safer experience of trusting a classmate.
Also, demonstrate the activity before inviting the children to be involved.
Physical Safety
Think through your activity and the environment where you plan to do it.
What objects or activities might harm children? Will your game have older and younger children playing together? Especially when the game is competitively physical, what hazards must you eliminate?
Avoid activities in environments where clutter or debris might cause children to trip. Whatever the activity, always supervise the children.
Emotional Safety
Every child has feelings, and some feel fearful, hurt, or rejected more easily than others do.
So, think about how the children might respond to your activity. Also, when you’re in your classroom, be sure to pay attention to every child during the activity so that none of them will feel hurt, not good enough, or rejected.
2. Be Careful With The Connection
The connecting question(s) and connecting statement are not meant to start an in-depth or even very long discussion of the Bible Truth.
These connection questions and statements simply set up the Bible Truth and prepare the children to hear the truth of God’s Word. Make sure to keep the connection short and simple.
3. The Bible
We said it before, but we will say it again. Clearly connect the experiential activity to the Bible Truth. Otherwise, you’ve created just a fun activity, not a teaching tool.
4. Check With Someone
A considerable number of children’s ministry leaders do not have children of their own, so they may not be aware of how children respond to certain things.
Since you’re dealing with children’s very real feelings and emotions, I strongly encourage you to check your experiential activity idea with another person, especially one who is a parent or who works with children regularly.
Doing this can help you both identify a blind spot and avoid an inappropriate activity.
5. Self-Learning
When I was younger, I heard professional educators talking about the “anticipatory set.” It sounded like something you do in volleyball.
Later I came to understand the phrase as it is used in a teacher’s world. An anticipatory set is something a teacher leads with in hopes of getting students to anticipate the lesson to be learned.
As students regularly encounter experiential teaching, they’ll start trying to figure out what you’re going to teach from the Bible—and that is teacher heaven.
When you can launch into the Bible Truth with the children anticipating what you’re going to teach, the opportunity for learning and for spiritual transformation is greatly enhanced.
The month of April, our new “Five Smooth Stones” Facebook Group is focused on experiential Bible teaching activities. So, check it out and also check our website!