Ideas to Help Your Students Encounter Christ
Here are some more suggestions to help children encounter Christ. Each has an idea for a fun application you can do with your students today.
Encountering Christ Idea 1: Be Gospel Centered
Tell students the story of Christ’s great and redemptive love. Sharing with our students the Gospel as a narrative, helping them understand the abundant love that motivated Jesus’ act on the cross, rather than boiling the Gospel down to episodes to remember, will help them to encounter Christ themselves.
Fun application: Gospel Scavenger Hunt! Open up different episodes of the Gospels. Divide students into teams and assign each team an episode to read together. Ask each time to identify different characteristics of Jesus from his words and actions and in the interactions of those he encountered.
Encountering Christ Idea 2: Share Salvation History
Salvation history is critical in a student’s understanding of who Christ is and why relationship with him matters. Make sure when you’re teaching salvation history the focus is on the story as an epic, not as a series of short stories. Presentation of the story of salvation in this way makes it clear who Christ is and what his purpose was, and that God has a deep and abiding love for all his people, not just then, but also now.
Fun application: Timeline Project! Help students design a timeline to see God at work throughout history, then and now.
Encountering Christ Idea 3: Remember, the Story is For All Generations
It can be tempting to think that the stories of salvation history or a real presentation of the Gospel are not age appropriate for elementary school students. However, we must remember that the Gospels and the stories of salvation history aren’t just understandable for students, they happened for them! We can’t fail to understand something that was done by God with us in mind. The stories need to be explained in relatable age appropriate terms, but the stories themselves are for everyone, just like God’s saving action.
Fun application: Scripture Quest! Search for and share Scripture stories featuring disciples of all ages, especially children.
Encountering Christ Idea 4: Cultivate Quiet
In a world where all of us, including kids, are constantly connected, plugged in, and engaged it is crucial that we give our students space and opportunity for quiet, so they learn not only how to pray in their own hearts, but also how to prayerfully listen to the voice of God. Introduce opportunities for reflection, guided meditation, or journaling. Quiet prayer is not just for more mature students, it can work well, and frankly, be necessary for younger students as well. Start with age appropriate lengths of time, even just a few short minutes can be helpful for younger students.
Fun application: Quiet Time! Begin instituting a scheduled quiet time in your religious education classroom or family time.
Encountering Christ Idea 5: Access to the Sacraments
The Sacraments are truly a tangible encounter with Christ, and his grace. If you want to provide an opportunity for your students to encounter Christ, you must give them access to the sacraments. Keep this in mind in your sacramental preparations. Ask yourself frequently, “how is this part of this program helping students encounter Christ?” If you can’t come up with an answer, consider what else you could put in its place to better serve this primary purpose. Any witness to the grace of the sacraments, is an opportunity for an encounter with Christ.
Fun application: Celebrate the sacraments! Host annual reconciliation services, invite students and their families to ordination masses, honor catechists celebrating wedding anniversaries.
Want more fun ideas to support encounter with Christ in faith formation? Download the 5 Activities to Support Encounter in Christ eBook with activity suggestions to support these areas and provide opportunities for students to encounter Christ any time of year.
