Jesus Loves: How We Can Help Children Ages 3-5 Experience Jesus
by Laura Hebling
posted 6/15/2007
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This article is third in a series that answers the question "What are we doing?" You can read Yes, Jesus Loves Me to understand the big picture.
Preschoolers love action.
They want to play, sing, dance, tie their shoes, write their names, create and recreate games and stories, and build block towers only to knock them down again. How fitting, then, that these same children—between three and five years old—are able to learn that God and Jesus are active, present, and do amazing things! Jesus doesn't merely exist, but he walked on water, calmed storms, healed sick people, and came back to life. He even continues to love and help us today.
Of course none of this is news to you or me—but it can be wildly exciting stuff to learn for young kids. We, as children's ministry workers, will build up Jesus' importance in the minds and heart of preschoolers when we focus on what he's done and what he wants us to do. In other (simpler) words that summarize this concept: Teach preschoolers that "Jesus loves," and that we can love, too!
But How?
Before jumping straight into the Bible lessons to teach young kids, let's take a quick look at a more subtle, less talked about concept. Here's what I mean: One way preschoolers experience Jesus as an active, loving person is through feeling secure when they hear about him; a big issue when you're small. Around age three, kids become prone to separation anxiety because they're old enough to realize that mom and dad just left them in the care of someone else—and yet they remain young enough to fear mom and dad won't come back.
Our ministry strives to have consistent leaders and teachers in the rooms to promote emotional security among the kids. Here's how this works: When kids see the same faces week after week and learn that these adults are here to play with them, teach them, and take care of them until mom and dad return, then they will start to piece together the fact that church is a safe place. It's then that youngsters can begin to trust these adults and what they're teaching—as well as associate that feeling of safety with the person of Jesus.
Leader consistency heightens the ability for preschoolers to learn because the kids' energy turns from focusing on their anxiety to hearing and participating in the lessons. Not to mention the fact that the concept of "Jesus loves" is much easier for kids to grasp when the same teacher they've learned to trust not only tells the kids verbally, but also demonstrates it with his/her commitment to them.
Does your ministry highlight consistency among your volunteers as a high value? Have your volunteers bought into the concept of "being Jesus" on a regular basis for their kids?
Okay, now let's look at how preschoolers experience Bible stories taught each weekend. Sure, they hear that God and Jesus exist. But they also hear about the incredible active roles God and Jesus play in these stories. We reinforce the ministry and magnificence of Jesus through a single key concept for each lesson—the one phrase kids walk out the door saying each week that reinforces the day's Bible story.
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