Helping Early Learners Memorize Scripture

“Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.” Psalm 119:11 The words of God have the power to keep us from sin when they are hidden in our hearts. But how do we help our Gopher Buddies accomplish this? Working with children between the ages of four and six brings unique challenges. First, most will not be reading yet. That makes it harder for them to study their verses on their own. This puts more burden on you as a leader, and on their parents or older siblings. In this age when parents are showing less and less of an interest in the spiritual growth of their children, the burden will fall more and more upon you. Secondly, and related to their inability to read, you will have to use creative teaching techniques to help them memorize Scripture. Here are some practical techniques:

• Use Visuals: Make a poster for each verse. Find pictures that can represent each word in the verse. Glue them to the poster in the correct order. This can also be done on your computer using clip art and/or graphics found on the Internet. The graphics will help them to associate the words of the verses with the pictures that they see. Be sure to clearly describe and define difficult words so the children understand the words they are memorizing.

• Use Movement: This idea works well for Gopher Buddies. They already like to move and their movements can help them to memorize. I suggest that you develop movements for the different key words in the verse. Don’t worry about words like: of, for, the, that, etc.

• Use Repetition: Repetition is crucial. The more they hear the verse, the easier it will be for them to memorize it.

• Use Games: There are 36 creative game ideas found in the Gopher Buddies Lesson book each year. Children love games, and tying together scripture memory and games will help keep their interest up.

• Use Creativity and Efficiency: What can you do if you don’t have any parental involvement? First, be sure to use your time well for scripture memory before, during, and after the club meeting. Secondly, if you have permission from the parents, you can call the child and work on a verse over the phone. Scripture is what should always be on our minds and hearts (Joshua 1:8). We have a great responsibility to help our Gopher Buddies not let the “book of the law…depart out of thy mouth.”

[Jordan Wertz is the eastern Michigan Word of Life missionary specializing in children’s ministry. Jordan and wife, Bonnie, make their home in Corunna, MI. You may reach Jordan with questions or comments about his article at jordanwertz@ wol.org.]

Christian Service Ideas For Children

Christian service is such an important part of a child’s spiritual growth. Too many of the children in our world today are growing up with a “me” focus. As we promote Christian service within Olympians and Gopher Buddies ministries, we are trying to teach the children to have an “other’s focus.”The Olympian Christian Service Manual and the ideas given to Gopher Buddies for Christian Service are a great place to help the children focus on the needs of others. As you enter the spring season, here are some examples of ways the children can serve:

Tree Planting – Find out when your state celebrates Arbor Day and then plan to participate for a Group Christian Service. Check with your parks department and schedule a time to plant trees with the children at one of the local parks. As you and the children come in contact with others at the park, invite them to attend your church.

Pack It Up – Visit www.childrentochildren.org and then contact the social service agency in your community to see if you can work out details for your Olympians and Gopher Buddies to participate in a project similar to the “children‐to‐children”project. Ask if you can place a Bible in the duffel bags as well as a stuffed animal.

Food Drive – Have the children bring in canned or boxed foods for a homeless shelter, rescue mission, or Baptist Children’s Home. After the food has been collected, get the children involved in helping to pack up the boxes for delivery to the organization.

Fun Flowers – There are so many ways to create beautiful faux flowers from tissue paper and chenille stems. Have the children each make a flower and create a cheery card to attach to it. Plan a field trip to a local nursing home and allow the children to help distribute the flowers.

Flower Garden – Collect money from the children for a few weeks and then go and buy flowering plants for a senior citizen or for a nursing home. Take some of the children with you so they can participate in picking out the flowers. If possible, allow some of the children to participate in helping to plant the flowers.

Give a smile! – Cut round circles from construction paper and have the children creatively make smiley face cards to distribute to children who are in the hospital. Purchase some little stuffed animals that can be given along with the cards.

Spring Cleaning – Check with your Pastor and see if there are some senior citizens who could use some extra help with cleaning and yard work. Make sure you recruit additional adults to help, assign the tasks, and then “divide and conquer.”This is a great way to be a testimony in your community!

Paying Attention To Your Spiritual Growth

Those of us in leadership MUST pay attention to our own PERSONAL GROWTH. It has been said that “it’s only the overflow that proves to be a blessing to others.”Here are commentary thoughts from Warren Wiersbe that I trust will be helpful. Dr. Warren Wiersbe explains Hebrews 5:10-14 best when he shows how the writer deals with:

Four Marks of Spiritual Immaturity:

1. Dullness toward the Word (v. 11). One of the first symptoms of spiritual backsliding is dullness toward the Bible.

2. Inability to Share (v. 12a). Not all Christians have the gift of teaching, but all can share what they learn from the Word. One of the hardest lessons children must learn is the lesson of sharing.

3. A “Baby Food” Diet (vv 12b-13). The “milk” of the Word refers to what Jesus Christ did on earth. This includes His birth, life, teaching, death, burial and resurrection. The “meat” of the Word refers to what Jesus Christ is now doing in Heaven as our High Priest.

4. Unskillful in Using the Word (v. 14). A characteristic of little children is that they lack discernment. A baby will put anything in its mouth. An immature believer will listen to any preacher on the radio or television and not be able to identify whether or not he is true to the Scriptures.

[Dale Flynn is the Word of Life missionary for central PA. He and his wife, Liz ,make their home in Elkton, MD. Send comments or questions to dflynn@wol.org.]