Children's Sermons

Children’s Sermon I
What are some of the things you do around the house to help out? (Anticipate — or guide toward — answers like: make my bed; clean my room; take out the trash; set the dinner table . . . )

Why do you do those things? (Anticipate answers like: because I’m told to; it’s how I earn my allowance; if I don’t I can’t watch tv . . . guide toward: because it’s my responsibility; it’s my part of the family work.)

What are some things that people do around the church to help out? (Hand out bulletins; prepare communion; make coffee; greet visitors; preach; read scripture.)

Why do they do these things? (Because someone asked them . . . )

So there’s not one person doing everything, is there? (No.) And not everybody does the same thing, do they? (No.) Well you know, every year our church gives money to Week of Compassion. That money goes to help people all over the world: maybe someone’s home was washed away in a flood; or maybe they had to flee their town because of a war; or it might be a place where a lot of kids were sick and they had no medicine.

Our scripture for Week of Compassion this year talks about everyone having different abilities, different “gifts.” If someone’s home was ruined in a flood, what kind of people would they need to help them? (Builder, electrician, roofer?

And if someone has to move out of their home and can’t take anything with them, what kind of people would they need help from? (People to provide tents, clothes, food?

What about kids who are sick? What do they need? Doctors, nurses.?

Those are all different jobs, right, just like you have different jobs at home, and people at the church have different jobs to take care of, too. The great thing is, God has given every one of us the ability to do something that can help someone else. Everyone is able to do different things, and just like we have responsibilities at home with our family, we have responsibilities to take care of God’s family too.

When you get your Week of Compassion offering box, you may have different kinds of money to put in there: maybe it’s pennies and nickels, or maybe quarters, maybe even dollar bills. But whatever kind of donation you make, it’s important to give.

When you’re putting money in your offering box this week, think about things you can do to help out: at home, at church, at school, in your neighborhood. I’ll look forward to hearing about how you’ve been helpful!
— Courtney Richards, Indianapolis, IN


Children’s Sermon II
Needed: (Bible, Week of Compassion Offering Box, book bag with a picture of a famous person, big gray brain cut from construction paper, red heart cut from construction paper with word “willing” written on it.)

Good morning! I have been reading the Bible, and I find here in I Peter this verse: “Serve one another with whatever gift you have received.”

“Serve one another with whatever gift you have received” . . . hmmmmmm . . . well, let’s see. Can you help me figure out what gift I have that I can use to help others? Can I sing? Nooooo? You don’t think so? No, that’s probably not a good one then. What about . . . (name a few of your jobs around the church.) Oh, what about this. I can give money in my Week of Compassion offering box! That’s a way I can help others not just here in our church but all around the world!

Tell me, what gift has God given you that you can use to help others? (Let children share, help them along by reminding them of how important it is to come to their Sunday School class — no one else can sit in their chair! —pick up communion cups, pass out bulletins, put money in their Week of Compassion box . . . )

Now, I have to get myself ready to do my job. I have here my “service” backpack — my pack with the things I need to do my job. First (pull out picture of famous person) . . . Oh my goodness, it’s Buzz Lightyear! Do I have to be Buzz Lightyear to do my job? He’s pretty strong and he’s very famous! Do I have to be like him? (Or whomever you choose.) No! Of course I don’t! I can do my job myself — just exactly who I am.

Let’s see . . . I have (pull out gray brain) — oh, no I’m really in trouble now. This is a big brain — it must belong to a really smart person — do I have to be the smartest person in the world to do my job? No! Of course not! I can do my job with my regular sized brain, the brain God gave me!

OK, what else . . . a heart? Yes, a heart . . . and look here, it says, “willing.” This is a willing heart. What do you think about that? Do you have to have a willing heart? Yes! And this is all it takes to do our job — hearts that are willing to do what God wants us to do.
Are you willing? Are you! Great! Me too.

— Beth Burton Williams, Smithfield, NC