What does “holiness” mean to a child who is five years old? God’s holiness is an extremely important theme running throughout the entire Bible and even very young children can experience how special God is.
Try dedicating one area of the room as a special place where, each week, you and the children sit for a few minutes and talk about how special God really is. See how it brings a new depth to what you are learning!
You’ll need three things- a holy space, a holy attitude, and a holy conversation.
Holy Space:
Find a way to make this space ‘special.’ You don’t have to buy specific items, but do what you can to make the space set apart. Try:
For a larger space or room:
- Bringing in a small table, chairs or pillows to sit on into the space. Try decorating the table with wrapping paper, a cloth, or something else.
- Draping sheets or fabric over something tall, or pin it to the ceiling to create a ‘wall.’ This will help make the space feel cozy and set apart.
- Adding some lights or decorations. One teacher added a paper crown on a purple pillow emphasizing the Kingship of God since they were studying the Divided Kingdom and the End of the Kingdom.
For a smaller space:
- Put your “special” items in a basket and lay out the items when it comes time to have your devotional. After all, this is exactly what was done with The Tabernacle. It was set up and taken down wherever the Israelites camped.
A Holy Attitude
Create an expectation that this space is a ‘set apart’ time from the rest of the lesson. Talk about how you might play games and sing action songs and act out the story at other times, but when you go and sit in the holy space, it’s a time to speak more quietly and reflect on God in awe and reverence.
A Holy Conversation
When you come to the Holy Space, have a holy conversation. This is a 5 minute devotional time that is not limited to the lesson you are talking about that day. Everything you talk about in this space should relate to how special God is. Emphasise that God is approachable, but that He is different from us. In a child’s eyes, this space is very special and it is a great launching place to talk about how God is even more special than our idea of precious things.
- Try to cover a different aspect of God’s holiness each week. Talk about how this has been shown in Scripture. This is not the time to tell another Bible story or try to explain complex topics- you want the children’s minds to be fully on God in a way they can connect to.
- Try using illustrations to depict these things. For instance, the illustrations below are from www.freebibleimages.org
- The Tabernacle
- The Temple
- The Word of God- We open our Bibles and read a verse about God (or they follow along as I read).
New Depths – One teacher’s experience
“This experience has brought a new depth to the lessons I’ve been teaching. The children have really picked up on the fact that sin is not just “bad behaviour,” but a real offence against who God is. I’ve been amazed at how often the children have referenced God’s holiness as we study other lessons.
- When we talked about idols being erected and even brought into the temple the children were disgusted. They understood why King Josiah destoyed idols and places of false worship. “Don’t those people know how much more special God is than statues?”
- When we learned about the prophet Jeremiah visiting the potter’s house and hearing God warn about turning away from him, the children understood why God was angry. The kings were not treating him the way he deserved.
- We learned about how Jeremiah dictated God’s Message onto a scroll. As King Jehoiakim listened to the words, he cut off pieces of the scroll and threw them into a fire piece by piece. When I mentioned that King Jehoiakim was making a huge mistake one of the children corrected me, “No! The king knew God’s words were special. He did not make a mistake, he did it on purpose!”
- Before being led off into exile, the Temple of God was destroyed. The students in my class were so sad to hear this. They understood how serious this was to God.”