Sunday School Tips For Kids’ Discipleship

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Try these 5 classroom tips for greater success in your children’s ministry. These strategies to nurture children’s faith work great for any size class. Deepen your kids’ discipleship!

“Read another Bible story!” the two-year-old giggled. In a class where most of the teachers can’t get the kids to listen to stories, that Sunday, the toddlers couldn’t get enough of the Bible. 

In small churches, we may have a host of challenges in our children’s ministry, but providing meaningful and authentic kids’ discipleship does not need to be one of those challenges. Let’s talk about five simple things we can do, no matter our budgets, to enhance the way we nurture faith formation in children during Sunday school.

5 Tips To Nurture Faith

Children Can Have A Relationship With Jesus

Believe they are capable of an authentic and personal relationship with Jesus.

I was thrust into your arms at my birth. You have been my God from the moment I was born.

Psalm 22:10 NLT

God sees, knows, and loves our children more than we do. If we can have intimate and valid relationships with children, why can’t God? If we can learn to understand their cries, baby talk, and naivety, how much more is God capable of?

Jesus told his disciples and followers to “let the children come to” him (Matthew 19:14 NLT). Ecclesiastes 3:11 tells us that “God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart.” (NLT) Children and their faith abilities are beautiful. They have eternity in their hearts, it isn’t something that they need to grow into or mature to possess.

When we truly believe children are capable of having a relationship with God or that God is capable of having a relationship with children, our actions will follow. Our small church Sunday school classrooms can become places of opportunity for kids to get to know Jesus, not just know about Jesus. This is where true kids’ discipleship, and not just head knowledge, begins.

Work With How Children Learn

Have developmentally appropriate classroom expectations.

When I was a child, I talked like a child; I thought like a child; I made plans like a child. When I became a man, I stopped those childish ways.

1 Corinthians 13:11 ICB

Paul did not write the above verse to insult or mock children but as a reminder of his growth and maturity. God created children and planned for their development with structure, organization, and purpose. 

Even Jesus was born as an infant and went through normal childhood development. Luke 2:52 says, “Jesus grew in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and all the people.” (NLT) This one verse incorporates all the major areas of child development: cognitive, physical, spiritual, and social-emotional.

If we want to best disciple children, we need to understand and work with the way God created children to learn and grow. This includes moving their bodies a lot, playing a lot, interruptions, and using more concrete and relevant language and examples, rather than abstract language, as a start.

Great Storytelling Can Make An Impact

Practice great storytelling.

My people, listen to my teaching. Listen to what I say. I will speak using stories. I will tell things that have been secret since long ago.

Psalm 78:1-2 ICB

Stories are powerful, and a great story holds so much potential for us in small church children’s ministries. Jesus knew the impact of a good story, as well. While some people are naturally gifted at telling a good story, it is a skill we can learn and improve on. Here are three things to include when telling a story children will want to engage with:

• Movement – Kids’ bodies need to move, make that movement intentional. What verbs can they act out? What weather can you play around with?
• Emotion – Kids’ emotional intelligence is an important part of their development and feelings are also very relatable. How are the characters feeling? When might the kids have felt this way in their lives?
• Imagination – Kids experience real feelings when they pretend. Let’s help them to experience the Bible, not just hear it. Where is your story taking place? What did it smell like? What could your characters see or hear?

Allow Time For The Holy Spirit

Allow space for the Holy Spirit.

But the Helper will teach you everything. He will cause you to remember all the things I told you. This Helper is the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send in my name.

John 14:26 ICB

Often in Sunday school, we plan every moment and every activity down to the minute. It helps us to feel confident and in control when teaching. We pick out, print out, and cut out all the little pieces for the crafts. Then, we provide themed coloring pages and have one easy-to-memorize big point. 

Those things aren’t bad or wrong, but do they allow space for the Holy Spirit to speak to the kids in our small churches? Could coloring the picture of the fish and loaves while repeating “If Jesus can use this child’s generosity, he can use mine,” hinder the child with no food at home from reflecting on how Jesus fed even those who didn’t have anything to offer? Or, perhaps a little boy who loves pre-historic animals would internalize the story better if he responded by drawing the story of David and Goliath as if everyone were dinosaurs. 

Again, crafts and big points aren’t wrong, but sometimes the Holy Spirit has a different lesson for the kids. Occasionally, our desire to send home cute, matching crafts that parents can display on the fridge can distract from the Holy Spirit’s time to talk to the kids about what they heard. 

A New Approach Beyond Coloring Pages

Instead of always closing your story with a reminder of the point of the lesson followed by the craft, what if you prayed aloud, asking the Holy Spirit to share his point with the kids? Then provide a time of reflection with open-ended art supplies, white paper, blocks, story stones, and/or journals. Leaders can float around asking questions that spark connections and creativity. When time is up, you offer kids the chance to share what they heard and thought about from the story.

This is a bold move, and it may take a few times before it goes smoothly. You can start with a shorter amount of time and have crafts and coloring sheets available for those who choose them, without them being the only option. This is a way to demonstrate your belief in the children to listen to the Holy Spirit and to guide them in owning their faith.

Successful Ministries Value Relationship Over Results

Prioritize relationship over results.

This is my commandment: Love each other in the same way I have loved you.

John 15:12 NLT

Finally, dear Sunday school teachers, see the children. See them for the precious, unique, loved, purposeful, and intentionally made children of God that they are. Help them to feel seen, valued, and loved. This is one area where we in small churches can truly thrive.

• Use their names. 
• Ask about their school or extracurriculars. 
• Notice who they are and who they are becoming, not just what they do. 
• Celebrate birthdays and other milestones. 
• Pray for them when things are rough. 
• Have a special high-five or handshake. 
• Find ways for them to serve that would help them experience joy in serving. 
• Get to know their parents and families.

When things aren’t going as planned, and kids are not responding typically, I give you permission to not finish the lesson but instead see the children and their needs. Do they need a day of rest? A day of dancing? Celebration? Play? Crying? Extra snacks? Ok! One Sunday of pushing through the lesson when your students are falling apart is not worth the impact of not seeing and valuing their needs.

No matter what it looks like in your situation, your relationship with the kids is what they will remember. I don’t remember any Sunday school lessons, but I do remember one of my teachers from over thirty years ago, Betty Wrenn. She sent me cards, she prayed for me, and she even knew when I graduated from high school. She made me feel seen, known, and loved, even after I left her class and church. That is the impact of focusing on relationships.

Small Church Kids’ Discipleship Can Be Amazing

Our children are blessed to be involved in small churches. To be in a place that can see them, know them, support their families, believe in them, and meet their needs. This is not something you have to implement all at once or excel at every single Sunday. It is also not something you have to do alone. Pray, reach out, and check out other Small Church Ministry resources. And know, you have the Holy Spirit with you, you can do it! 

Read More: 

5 Reasons Children’s Prayer Stations Are Great

Get Your Church Excited About Children’s Ministry

Include Movement In Children’s Ministry