Author: Kathie Phillips

Let Every Heart Prepare Him Room: Jesus, Simply Jesus

Kathie Phillips 1 Comment

“Let every heart prepare Him room…”

Today concludes our Let Every Heart Prepare Him Room series, posts dedicated to Christmas reflections.  Each Monday in December, through Christmas, we’ve looked at different ways that you can make room for Jesus this Christmas.  You can find past posts here, here and here.

“In the sixth month, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David.  The virgin’s name was Mary.  The angel went to her and said, ‘Greetings, you who are highly favored!  the Lord is with you.'”

“Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be.  But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God.  you will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus.  He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High.  The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end.”

“‘How will this be,’ Mary asked the angel, ‘since I am a virgin?'”

“The angel answered, ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.  So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God.  Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be barren is in her sixth month.  For nothing is impossible with God.'”

“‘I am the Lord’s servant,’ Mary answered.  ‘May it be to me as you have said.'”  Then the angel left her.

(Luke 1:26-38)

nativity1

“In those days, Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world.  [This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.]  And everyone went to his own town to register.”

“So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David.  He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child.  While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son.  She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.”

(Luke 2:1-7)

Jesus, Simply Jesus

Merry Christmas!

Guest Post: Three Last-Minute Christmas Lesson Ideas

Kathie Phillips

Today’s guest post is written by Steven Knight.  Steven has been serving in children’s ministry for almost 10 years. He loves working with kids & families, both evangelizing and discipling them. He is currently serving as a children’s ministry leader in Chicago while studying at Moody Bible Institute. He is blessed to have a wonderful wife, Katie. Steven blogs regularly at Kidmintools.com, which is a website dedicated to providing Family and Children’s Ministry resources and articles. You can also follow him on Twitter at @StevenKnight09.

Hey everyone! Since the holidays are such a busy time, we all get behind in something. For this Christmas season, I wanted to provide you with three last-minute Christmas lesson ideas to help you, if you are in need of a quick children’s ministry lesson!

candycaneCandy Cane Time: For this lesson, you will need to write on small pieces of paper and tape them to the candy canes. On the pieces of paper, write things that you believe are important to children (family, friends, Xbox, toys, dolls, etc.) Hide the candy canes around the room and have the children search for them. After the game is over, have several of the children say which candy canes are most important to them. Using the candy canes as an illustration, link the things written on the paper to a story about what is most important in your life, which is God. You can share how important these things are during the holiday season, but God is way more important than all of them. You can then share the story of the birth of Jesus Christ in Luke 2.

The Ultimate Present:This lesson is based around an object lesson using a Christmas present. You can talk about how excitedchristmaspresent you are to give away a gift today. Pretend to give your present to one of your volunteers, but don’t let go of the present when you start to hand it to them. Act surprised and then ask them to pay you $50 for the gift first. After the volunteer has acted surprised at this outrageous demand, give the gift to him for free. Explain to the kids that every present has a cost, but there is no cost to someone when they receive a free gift, because it has been paid for by someone else. Use this analogy to then explain the free gift of salvation, and the purpose for Jesus’ birth.

nativityNativity Narrative: For this lesson idea, simply read the story of Jesus’ birth in Luke 2. While many children have heard about the story of Jesus’ birth, some children might not have ever heard the Scripture account of His birth, and definitely not an exciting narrative! To make this lesson have more of an impact, simply add emphasis to the story where appropriate. For example, “I cannot even pretend to imagine what it must have been like for the shepherds, who were out in their fields with their sheep at night, when suddenly an angel appeared with the heavenly host, all praising God while His glory shone around them!” If you need extra tips on how to make this re-telling of the Nativity story more impactful, you can check out this recent article on Reteaching a Story.

Have any other last-minute Christmas lesson ideas? Feel free to share them below!

 

Let Every Heart Prepare Him Room: Preparing Your Heart for Christmas

Kathie Phillips 2 Comments

“Let every heart prepare Him room…”

Earlier this month, I introduced our Let Every Heart Prepare Him Room series, posts dedicated to Christmas reflections.  Each Monday in December, through Christmas, we’ll look at different ways that you can make room for Jesus this Christmas.  Today’s guest post is written by Kathy R. Bruce, my beloved Mom.  Please visit her blog, The Looking Glass.

One year, a friend of mine wanted me to add more commitments to my already hectic schedule at Christmas. I told her that I could not squeeze anything else on my plate, to which she replied, “You need a bigger plate!”

things to doAre others’ expectations of and for you crowding out the true meaning of Christmas?  Are you so busy that you are forgetting what Christmas is all about?  Is busyness stealing your joy? How can you prepare your heart to receive the Christ for Christmas?

I love Christmas. It’s one of my favorite times of year. Approximately a month before the big day, I begin to prepare my house by making room for all my treasured Christmas items. I pack up my photos, everyday dishes, mantel clock, and loads of trinkets to make room for my decorations, trees, gifts and cards. All of these things are carefully put in the perfect places where they can be beautifully displayed.  I want everyone who visits our home to enjoy them as much as I do.

In all the preparations making room for my things, I can easily forget to make room for the main reason for the season. Yes, Christmas is for giving, loving, fellowship and glad tidings. But the main reason for this season is to celebrate the coming of The Lord Jesus Christ.

My desire is to celebrate His great love for me. To worship the One who put skin on and came to earth (via a humble birth) just to save me. That’s worth celebrating! So this and every Christmas going forward, I want to be intentional about preparing my heart for Christmas. I want to receive ALL He has for me.  I want to be intentional about recognizing that He is The Lord of Lords and The King of Kings. No more stumbling over the manger on my way to embracing the good but not the best.

If you want to be intentional too, here are some ways to prepare your heart for the Christ of Christmas:

1. Tell God how much you desire to focus on Him.

2. Confess that you can become easily distracted and caught up in the ‘hoopla’ of the holidays.

3. Ask Him to speak to your heart and show you what making room for Him would look like in your life.

4. Listen to His voice. Is He asking you to stop the frenetic pace of life so that you can spend time with Him?  Is He desiring that you spend your days in His Word rather than devouring latest Christmas magazines searching for ways to make your Christmas festive and meaningful?

5. Intentionally set time aside to be with the One whose birth you’re celebrating. How about the first moments of your day?  Offer the day and its schedule to Him.

6. Go and offer the Hope of the World (and the real reason for Christmas) to everyone you meet. Offer Jesus.

In all your preparations to make this the merriest Christmas ever, remember that Jesus is the reason for the season.  Jesus, Simply Jesus.

Kathy R. Bruce answered the call from God to ‘come to Me’ on Monday, June 23, 1980.  Her journey with God so far has been transformational, to say the least.  She has seen God enlarge her borders in many leadership capacities.  In 2008, Kathy earned a certificate in Leadership from the Women’s Leadership Development Institute.  Kathy is married to her biggest cheerleader, her husband John.  They are parents to 4 grown children and grandparents to 7 grandchildren.  She blogs regularly at The Looking Glass.  You can also follow her on Twitter.  

Our Ministry’s Response to the Newtown Tragedy

Kathie Phillips 2 Comments

blessed are those who mournLike most Americans, I watched the news in horror as the tragic events that took place this past Friday in Newtown, Connecticut unfolded.  I don’t think many of us can wrap our minds around the fact that someone could take the lives of innocent children and adults in such a brazen manner.

As Sunday approached, many of us in Children’s Ministry began to ponder how–and if–our ministries would respond.  Should we address the issue with the kids OR leave it up to the parents?  Should we address the issue AND leave it up to the parents?  I asked my fellow kidmin colleagues for their opinion, as I was unsure what to do.  After praying about what it, I felt God lead me to respond in the following ways:

We decided NOT to mention it in our large group worship.  We made this decision for the following reasons:

  • Our Pre-K through 5th Grade children have been together as a large group during our kids’ worship time for the past few weeks in preparation of our Family Christmas Eve services.  Therefore, we didn’t think it was appropriate for children as young as 4 to hear this news from us.
  • Many of our parents do not allow their children to watch television.  We didn’t want children to hear this horrible news for the first time from us and put our parents in an awkward situation.

We emailed our parents, informing them of our decision to NOT mention it up front.  We explained our reasons why but also directed them to websites that could equip them to facilitate hard conversations and raw emotions.  We wanted them to be the primary means of unpacking and discussions this event.

We decided to place the ball in the court of our teachers and small group leaders.  They know the climate of their classroom better than anyone, so we wanted to allow space for the Holy Spirit to direct each individual teacher or small group leader as to how to respond.  However…

We equipped our teachers by giving them tips to guide conversations that might take place.  We provided a hard copy in class for them as well in the event that they needed to refer back to it.  While there were several tips mentioned in the handout, I encourage them to listen to the children and what was on their hearts and pray for those who were hurting.  One of our 2nd and 3rd grade teachers did a great job with this by having her class circle up on the floor for prayer time (which occurs every week, so the children were very comfortable with this) and asking them to share what was on their hearts.  Some children mentioned the Newtown tragedy; others mentioned everyday events.  One of our preteen boys’ leaders mentioned that the boys prayed for the affected families during their prayer time.

I am so proud of our team.  They did a great job in being available to shepherd our children by listening to them and praying for and with them.  I am so blessed by them and their humble service.

If you are looking for resources to pass on to families in your ministry, here are two that I recommend:

http://www.biblicalparenting.org/pr-tip7.asp

http://lindaransonjacobs.wordpress.com/2012/12/14/school-shooting-in-newton-school-advice-for-parents/

How did your ministry respond to the Newtown tragedy?  How did your family process it?