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How to Prepare a Service Plan

Purpose


Description


Owner
Thian-Peng Ter
Next Review Date
9/1/2025

Spiritual Benefits

  

Spiritual Measures

  

References

Introduction

Our church is committed to investing in the next generation. As part of this vision, we encourage parents to take an active role in teaching their children during Children Worship Service (CWS). This allows parents to own the discipleship process instead of outsourcing it. Future leaders will also support in teaching.

Recognizing that not all parents are experienced teachers, the service plan is designed to make leading activities simple and accessible—with minimal prep. “Simple” means having clear talking points and easy-to-use lesson materials.

About Materials

There’s no perfect, one-size-fits-all curriculum. Our kids come from different backgrounds—some are very young, some are new to church, and some are still learning to focus. Because of this, we need adaptable yet biblically sound content.

Our approach: purchase reliable digital materials and use AI tools to tailor them to our kids’ needs. This gives us both doctrinal soundness and flexibility. However, someone still needs to curate the content and create a service plan—hence, this guide.

A Note about Godly Play
We currently offer Godly Play once a month. It’s a creative, reflective way for kids to explore Bible stories—focused on wondering, listening, and responding through art or play. It doesn’t include crafts or games and differs from our usual structure.
This guide doesn’t apply to Godly Play. It’s still in a trial phase as we explore how to integrate it sustainably. The service plan here applies to most Sundays, excluding Godly Play weeks.

Service Plan Structure

Each service plan includes:

  • Introduction for Leader & Helper

  • Before Service Reminders

  • Praise & Worship (15 min)

  • Prayer & Offering (5 min)

  • Review Verse from Last Week

  • Bible Story (10 min)

    • Introduction (1 min): Use a question, object, or short activity to set up the lesson.

    • Story Telling (5 min): Interactive Bible story focused on a key attribute of God. Use motions, props, or simple drama.

    • Wrap-up & Discussion (4 min): Ask 2–3 questions to help kids reflect and apply the story.

    • Memory Verse Practice

  • Craft & Game (10 min)

    • Craft (5 min): A hands-on activity to reinforce the lesson visually.

    • Game (5 min): A movement-based activity to help remember the concept.

  • Response Song

  • Closing Prayer & Snack (10 min)

  • Free Time & Pickup (15 min)

This guide focuses on curating the Bible Story, Craft & Game sections. The rest of the structure remains consistent.

Steps to Curate Content

  1. Begin with prayer—ask the Holy Spirit to guide your preparation.

  2. Upload the lesson PDF to an AI tool (e.g., ChatGPT, Grok, Gemini).

    • This helps the AI work from reliable, sound content.

  3. Use a prompt like:

    • What is the teacher introduction? Preserve the original text.

  4. Set the context with this format:

    Based on the material, produce the following:
  
Lesson Title: (Choose a key attribute of God, e.g., “Sovereign,” “Faithful,” “Protector”)
 
Main Idea: (Summarize in one sentence what the children should learn about God in this lesson.)
 
Memory Verse: (Choose a simple Bible verse that reinforces the main idea.)
 
Bible Story (10 minutes):
 
1. Introduction (1 min): Use an engaging question, object, or short activity to introduce the concept.
2. Story Telling (5 min): Share a simple, interactive Bible story related to the attribute of God. Use hand motions, storytelling props, or drama to make it engaging.
3. Wrap-up & Discussion (4 min): Ask 2-3 simple questions to help kids understand and apply the lesson.
 
Craft & Game (10 minutes):
• Craft (5 min): A hands-on activity that visually reinforces the lesson.
• Game (5 min): A simple, movement-based game to help kids remember the concept in a fun way.

    1. Curate the Introduction

       

      • Prompt: “Write a full script for the introduction.”

       

    2. Curate the Story Telling

       

      • Prompt: “Write a full script for the storytelling part.”

       

    3. Curate the Wrap-up & Discussion

       

      • Prompt: “Write a full script for wrap-up and discussion questions.”

       

    4. Curate the Memory Verse

       

      • Prompt: “Write a script for teaching the memory verse with hand motions.”

       

    5. Curate the Craft & Game

       

      • Prompt: “Write a full script for the craft and game.”

       

    6. Review and refine the content. Aim to spend no more than one hour editing. Once it’s “good enough,” you’re done.

     

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