Do you have mixed-age Sunday School? If so, maybe you’ve wondered: How do you reach a 3-year-old and a 12-year-old with the same experience? How can you keep things interesting enough for the preteen without the preschooler being totally lost or unable to participate?
Read on to find out seven secret ingredients to make mixed-age groups not only work but actually be a big advantage over age-graded classes! We’ll help you A.M.P.L.I.F.Y. your ministry!
How to A.M.P.L.I.F.Y. Discipleship in Your Children’s Ministry
Applicable
The first secret ingredient to amplify your ministry is to include experiences for kids that are applicable. Now, the application to a preteen might be more specific and go deeper than what a three-year-old would get out of it.
For example, in a lesson on kindness, a three-year-old might walk away wanting to show kindness to their family, while a preteen might be able to identify a specific experience where they’re struggling to show kindness and come up with tangible action steps.
Movement
The second secret ingredient to amplify your ministry is to include movement. When kids are up and moving around, attention spans don’t fade as quickly, and kids’ active bodies can help boost their memories. Kids of all ages connect with moving around.
Sure, there may be logistical issues. You may not have the space for kids to run around and play tag. Or maybe you do, but you’re concerned about bigger, faster kids trampling younger kids! You can still do movement safely in a small space!
Here’s an example from Two or More curriculum: in a lesson on creation, kids get to do something active to experience each day. None of these requires a lot of space, and none are too hard for little kids or too babyish for preteens! Everyone just enjoys getting to move and be part of the story.
Kids of all ages connect with moving around.
Personal Questions
If you ask knowledge-based questions, the older kids are always going to win out. But when you ask personal questions like, “Tell about a time you were sad” or “What’s something that helps you feel better when you’re scared?” or “What do you think Jesus loves about you?”, you level the playing field.
Anyone can answer those kinds of questions because we all have our own stories to tell. And there’s no wrong answer to make kids feel embarrassed for saying the wrong thing.
Learning One Point
The fourth ingredient to amplify your ministry is learning one point per week. Sometimes we feel like if we want our kids to know the Bible, we need to give them a firehose of information. After all, we have precious little time with them!
In Matthew 13, Jesus tells the story of a farmer scattering seed. He says that some seeds fell on shallow soil with underlying rock. The seeds sprout quickly, but wilt under the hot sun because they lack deep roots.
In verses 20-21 Jesus explains, “The seed on the rocky soil represents those who hear the message and immediately receive it with joy. But since they don’t have deep roots, they don’t last long. They fall away as soon as they have problems or are persecuted for believing God’s Word.”
A faith that lasts isn’t scattered widely to produce shallow roots. We want to grow deep roots of faith in kids that is lifelong—and that means simplifying the message so kids can go deeper rather than wider.
Influence
The fifth ingredient to amplify your kids’ ministry is influence. Leverage the influence your older kids have over your younger kids. This benefits everyone! You most likely have a limited volunteer pool, but when you enlist older kids to help younger kids, you lighten the load on the adults.
Plus, you’re teaching older kids leadership skills and giving them responsibility, which will reduce discipline problems. And younger kids have a role model to look up to—a “big kid” who they want to be like!
Here are some examples of when you could give older kids that mentorship role:
- In a Bible experience where kids are making storm sounds and acting out a storm, challenge older kids to be role models to keep everyone more engaged.
- In a prayer where you give a blessing affirmation to kids, give it to older kids first, then let them pass the blessing onto little ones.
Flexibility
The sixth ingredient to amplify your ministry is flexibility. When you have a mixed-age group of kids, that may mean from week to week, you don’t know whether to expect one kid from each grade, or a whole group of four-year-olds, or 2 preteens. Activities that can easily be adjusted up or down if your group doesn’t end up being as mixed one week can help you stay flexible.
Here are some examples of ways to adjust activities up or down:
- If you’re doing a craft, provide a simpler and more complex option with a similar outcome so kids can work at their own level.
- In a game where kids toss an item around and try not to drop it, a group of mostly younger kids could roll a ball instead of throwing, since catching is difficult for little ones.
- In an activity where you’ll be reading a few different Bible verses, a group of primarily older kids could learn how to look them up in their Bibles.
You!
And the final secret ingredient to amplify your small church kid’s ministry is right there in the room—it’s you! You have a unique role to play in kids’ lives. Never try to replace yourself with programming.
You could plan the most perfect lesson, but if you’re not building relationships with kids, it’ll still be a miss.
Never try to replace yourself with programming.
The Advantage of Mixed Ages
We think you’ll find that this model of ministry isn’t just a way to get by if you don’t have “enough kids” to separate into grades. Rather, you’ll find you’re creating unique opportunities and strategies!
When you have mixed ages, discipline problems can be reduced, because you lose the element of preteens trying to “perform” for a group of kids their age by goofing off.
When you have mixed ages, you’re encouraging teamwork rather than competition.
And best of all, when you have mixed ages, each age level has something to contribute to your group. Younger kids can spark older kids’ imaginations, and older kids can be leaders and role models and inspire younger kids to go deeper in their faith.
1 Corinthians 12:12 says, “The human body has many parts, but the many parts make up one whole body. So it is with the body of Christ.” Although this passage is about spiritual gifts, it can apply to mixed-age groups too. By bringing together the unique things each age has to offer, you’re demonstrating the harmony of the body of Christ. And that’s an amazing opportunity!
