Flipping Take-Home Papers On Their Head

Photo Credit: Mark van Laere via Compfight cc

For years our team has wrestled with the dilemma of the take-home paper.  You know, the stuff we send home to tell parents what we taught their kids so they can talk about it at home?  Sure, we all agree that God's plan is for parents to be the spiritual leaders at home.  We all agree that what happens at home is more important than what happens at church.

But do the papers we send at home each week really help?  Does anyone actually use them?  Or do they end up as paper airplanes or wadded up in the floorboard of the minivan on the way home?

Okay, first I think there's nothing wrong with take-home papers.  For parents who are already discipling their kids, they can be a good tool to keep the conversation going.  Also churches that have a strong discipling culture have a much better chance of seeing families actually put these to good use.

But I was really challenged last year when I read what Michelle Anthony wrote about take-home papers in her book, Dreaming of More for the Next Generation.  Anthony talks about the fact that take-home papers may be sending the wrong message to parents.  She writes, "Without saying it directly, I was communicating that we would be the primary teachers of God's Word and they would support us by reinforcing the message at home."

So what did she and her team do?  They flipped the process on it's head.  Her ministry created a pre-teach resource to equip parents to be the first one to read the Bible story to their kids.  This put the Children's Ministry in the position of just following up on what was happening at home.

"Now, instead of parents asking, 'What did you learn in church today?'" Anthony says, "we, the ministry leaders, were able to ask the children, 'What did you learn at home this week?'"

Recommended Resource: Long Story Short

One of the hardest things about teaching kids is knowing what to leave out.  Sometimes when I'm teaching, I feel like I just want to tell kids the entire Bible at once.  Probably not a good idea - unless you do it in a really fun and creative way.

Here's a great resource if you want to show your kids the big story of the Bible in a short period of time.  It's called Long Story Short.  It was originally presented as two separate dramas, the Old Testament Rewind and New Testament Rewind, written by the brilliant Aaron Reynolds.  

Using hilarious gags that rival the best of Saturday Night Live, three actors and a narrator fly through the Old and New Testaments at breakneck speed.  It's totally engaging for both kids and adults.  We've used them for family events and on the weekends with kids.  

Be warned, though, you'll need plenty of rehearsal time if you want to do these live.  They take a lot of rehearsal and props, but they are totally worth it.   If you choose to do the drama scripts, I'd also get the DVD too just so you can see how it's done.