Geelong, Victoria, was the location for an adult training day run by Quiz Worx kid's ministry. Their aim was to equip us uncreative adults in sharing the Bible's message clearly with primary aged children. In other words, being faithful to the text of Scripture, while being engaging and relevant to the kids of today.
What is Quiz Worx?
Quiz Worx is a travelling children's ministry group based in Sydney. They exist to:
* Share the message of Jesus from the Bible to kids, especially within state schools
* Minister to Christian children within the wider Christian community
* Resource others, especially those working in SRE in state schools, in their ministry to children.
Quiz Worx has performed in excess of 2 000 shows throughout Australia. They have been seen by over 200 000 people. They use the mediums of puppetry, music, chalk talks, animations, storytelling, drama, quick draw, comics, and numerous other tools to present the good news.
Tips for kid's talks: BEAMS
The Quiz Worx trip to Geelong saw them run several holiday club programs, a church service and our adults training day.
The holiday clubs were a hit. The children were mesmerized by the puppets, as well as actively engaged through drama, chalk talks, and rocking out music from the Quiz Worx music CDs.
The church service saw Batesford Presbyterian church double in size, as many came to watch. The whole church sang and danced their way through the Quiz Worx rocky version of the children's classic 'Jesus Loves Me.' We then all heard of Jesus, the one who has power to give life, even to the dead.
The training event focused on creating children's talks that are not lame. We were introduced to the BEAMS method:
Bathed always in prayer, the first step is to read and be faithful to the Bible. What is it saying and in what context? This is the foundation of any children's talk. Remember, the Bible has the most amazing message, so spend a LOT of time studying the Bible passage. Don't go from memory! Read, read, and read again!
Engaging the children with this Bible text is vital
This is where your creative skills come in and Quiz Worx are the masters at anything puppets, paintings, drama, and music. Apart from learning some live presentation skills, we were also introduced to some of their amazing video resources.
The take-home message is the Application: the 'so what?'. The idea of any Bible talk is not simply to impart information, but to have the Bible's truth impact people's lives.
The application must stem from the Main point of the Bible passage. What is the central point or big idea of the text? We were encouraged to ensure our talk had only ONE main point.
The whole message must use Simple easy to understand words and concepts. Just as Jesus taught difficult spiritual concepts using simple known concepts ("The Kingdom of heaven is like…"), we also must keep our sentences short and avoid theological jargon.
The Result
We have been trained and blessed by the Quiz Worx team in Geelong. Their ability to present the concepts of sin and salvation to children was outstanding. It was also a great lesson in being faithful to the Bible and using it to share the hope we profess. The result was that we came away with a host of resources and were better equipped to serve.
Jeremy is a former sport scientist, now chaplain & pastor.
Jeremy Dover's archive of articles can be viewed at www.pressserviceinternational.org/jeremy-dover.html