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NOTE: This
article applies to
Beginner/Kindergarten classes -
Primary and Junior require slightly
different techniques, however, you may
still find the tips given here useful.
Now I don't really want to sound as
if I am pushing my own barrow on this
issue but I am in a rather unique
position to understand the perspective
of a visitor in Sabbath/Sunday School
(read here
to find out why)! The way
children are welcomed into a class can
have a tremendous impact on:
- the way parents view your church
- the way children perceive church
and Christianity
- the impact of the outreach
ministry in your church.
Because of this, I thought I'd
share a few positive, practical and
commonsense ways of including visiting
children in your class. Some of
these tips may sound obvious but there
is never any harm in sharing them even
if it is remind you of the importance
of this outreach ministry.
1. Find out the child's
name - as soon as they arrive if
possible.
This is very easy to do if a
child is early, but difficult if
they arrive after you have already
started. However, if you take
the time to find out the child's
name early, it is much easier to
include them in activities naturally
later. To aid this, you may
like to have a helper give children
name cards as they arrive, making
sure you have plenty of spares to
write the names of visitors (please
don't just have a generic
"Visitor" name
card!). You may even
like to keep the card with the
comment that they will be able to
wear it next time they come!
2. Have a regular time in
your program to welcome visitors.
Make a special effort to warmly
welcome visitors and help them feel
that they are important to your
class. This time should be
earlier enough in the program so
that visitors can be included in the
rest of the class but late enough to
include stragglers (another obvious
point!). This can be the time
to find out names if you haven't
already done so. You may like
to do this just prior to prayer time
so that they can be included by name
in prayer - thank God that they have
come to your class today.
3. Give them special jobs
to do, just as if they were a part of
the class.
Mikhyla, particularly, loves to
be involved in Sabbath School and is
not shy about putting her hand up to
take up the offering or any other
job that is on offer! Please
take the time to respond to this
willingness - even if it is just to
say that while that while 'Peter' is
taking up the offering today, you
have got some special things for
'her' to do while they sing the next
song. Remember, not all
visitors are outgoing so make sure
you give them things to involve them
even if they haven't shown a
particular interest.
4. Have an alternative to
attendance cards that they can take
home.
A generic "Visitor"
card for them to place the attendance
sticker on is really quite
meaningless for young
children. One way of
overcoming this to have a regular
supply of special blank cards that
they can put their attendance
sticker (and memory verse sticker if
used) in. You might like to
write a little message to them
inside this card thanking them for
visiting your class on that day.
5. Prepare a class even
when the regulars are absent.
When you are in a small church it
can be very tempting to have a break
on the weeks that you know many of
your regular children will be
away. However, holiday time
can be a time when there are more
visitors. You are more likely
to have an impact on them and
encourage them to return if you have
prepared for them, and teach your
class as you regularly would.
6. Invite them to return.
Remember, your class may be one
of the few times these visiting
children have had contact with a
church program. Taking the
time to make them feel welcome and
encouraging them to return may be
just a small task, but the seed may
be planted for them to continue and
hopefully develop a relationship
with Jesus. Don't neglect this
important outreach!
Other Suggestions
Ruth shared the following:
A couple of things that we do for
visiting kids, is have a special
something for them. Let it be
a pencil, a sticker, or something
small that reminds them of their
visit. The other thing is that
in our church we say the names of
our visitors from the pulpit, and we
pass a list of the children visitors
also, so when the kids story comes
along their names are also
mentioned.
You may like to check out the
following resource from Sunday
School Resources
Outreach for more ideas.
Do you have some great ideas for
including visitors? Click
here to give us some of your
ideas.
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