My mother got me an AMAZING early Christmas gift this year at the annual Baptist Mid Missions conference. She met someone from the “Through the Bible in Felt” ministry begun by Betty Lukens. This is incredible flannelgraph material that churches and missionaries have been using for years.
The amazing part is the representative GIFTED ME a set of the “Through the Bible in Felt” material!
A few weeks ago I did my firist flannelgraph lesson in three different Bible clubs held within the community. The children understandably were a little confused because many of them hadn’t seen a flannelgraph before. I personally believe that may have seen one, but forgotten. Their confusion became excitement when they realized the animals I’d handed them stuck to the board.
Yesterday I taught about ten children a story about Cain and Abel using the same flannelgraph and didn’t have ONE PROBLEM keeping their attention!
The Lord through this experience taught me an important lesson……
Ministry doesn’t have to be cool
There is nothing wrong with using the latest tools or technology in ministry. I am actually a big fan of doing that. But sometimes in a desire to be “cool” (using the latest tools) we can set aside something that really works.
Yesterday afternoon a little girl came to one of my Bible clubs who is absolutely addicted to Tik Tok and her tablet. She actually brought her tablet to Bible club!! At first, she would stare at it and not really pay attention to me, but as I started handing out flannelgraph pieces her attention was drawn towards the board. She put down the tablet and watched carefully as I told the story.
There are times when we as Christians should embrace the cool tools of ministry
Other times we should embrace something that is old school, but cool
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