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This is a series that my Children’s Church is doing. As always, you can make it more geared towards teenagers or adults or younger kids or whoever you are teaching. My main focus with this series is to really focus on how kids can use their talents for God now. And also, that you can use ALL talents for God. I feel like people often just talk to kids about what they can do when they grow up, but I want them to know they can make a difference now.

I really want to focus on using all talents, not just the ones that we think of traditionally (like using music to sing in a praise band). Although there is huge value to that, it only applies to some kids. If they are into math or fashion or chess or polo or whatever, I want them to know that they can do that and honor God at the same time!

I got on this kick after reading J’s Everyday Fashion and Faith. It was a wonderful book, and really eye opening. I am not super into fashion, but I am into music (opera) and art (painting). I have always felt that I was honoring God in those things even though I do not only sing things that are about God.

If you haven’t read it, do it! Even if you are not into fashion, I suggest at least the first chapter. It can be applied to a ton of talents, arts, and hobbies.

Click on the picture to read a full review on Amazon:

 

Read part two (Using Talents for God: Art) here

 

 

Anyway, here is the first lesson that we did with my kids.

Using Talents for God Part 1

Bible Story: Matthew 25:14-30

Focus: You can use all of your talents for God!

 

• Introduction: Today we are going to talk about using our talents for God. We are going to try to decide if you can use all of your talents for God, or only some. What do you think? Do you think that being good with money is a talent? (If they say no, ask them if everyone is good with money. A talent just means that it is easier for some people than for other people, or it comes naturally.) There’s a story in the Bible about people using their talent for money for God. Some of them do a good job and some do not.
• Read Matthew 25:14-30. I like to read it like a narrator and have students come up and act out the actions that the characters do.
• Next, ask the students: Do you think God prefers when you are smart with your money, or when you are not? Which servant would you prefer to be? Do you think that God only means money when he talks about this story?
• No! I love that their money was called talents, because I actually want to talk about talents. What is a talent?
• Do you think that you can use your talents for God? All of them?

Also read: Free Church Object Lesson for Putting God First

• Let’s see. What is one of your talent? (I let all of the students say a few of their talents out loud and wrote them on the board. If you have a lot students, I would definitely not suggest that. A better idea for you would be to write down a few of the talents from a few kids or have students get into groups to talk about their talents.)
• After that, I added some extras like “being kind”, “praying”, “outgoing”, etc.
• Pick a few of the talents to talk about. Ask them: Do you think that being outgoing is a talent? (If they say no, ask if everyone in the world is outgoing.) Can I use that for God? Wouldn’t it be easier for an outgoing person to talk to people about God? Because it is easy for them to talk to people.
• Pick 2-3 more of the talents to talk about.

Also read: My Kids’ Favorite Church Games

Then tell them, we will talk about all different kinds of talents and how we can use them in the next few weeks.

Have students draw a picture of themselves and write or draw pictures of their talents around it. Encourage them to draw pictures of all of their talents, even if they think it cannot be used for God.

I feel like this is a teaser, because we didn’t get through much! That is how it was with my students. We really explored deep into ourselves of what our talents are.

By the way, my favorite Bible for reading to kids is this one.

Read part two here.

Don’t forget to subscribe in the sidebar or below for the next few installments of this series!