Show the children your family photo album. Show the children your pictures telling them about your family roots. Highlight some heroic deeds and tell them how proud you are to be a descendant. Bring out the Bible and tell them that as well as our natural family we are also part of the family of God. The Bible is our “family history” telling the story of our ancestors in faith that we call Saints.

 

Object Lesson Props: (1) A Bible, (2) your family photo album

 

Full Children’s Sermon:

Good morning children. Many churches celebrate this Sunday as “All Saints Day.” On this day we remember all the believers in the family of God that have gone before us, Saint Peter, Saint Paul, and others that we read about in the bible as well as the many other men and women of God who were disciples of Jesus Christ down through the ages. I want to say more about this but first I wanted to show you something I brought from home. (Hold up your family photo album.) Do you know what this is? That’s right. It’s my family picture album. I’d love to show it to you. Look at this elderly man here. This is my grandfather Ernie. He was a wonderful man. He had a bad leg because he was injured in the war but he worked very hard on his orchard growing apples. I’ve always been inspired by how much he loved us and how he was such a hard worker. And here is my grandmother MacKinnon. In the summers we used to go with her to the lake. She was very caring and looked after us if we ever got hurt. I often look at this photo album because it reminds me of family members I used to know and even one that I never got to meet because they died before I was born. (Put down the photo album and hold up your bible.) Do you know what this book this is? Right, it’s a bible. I like reading the bible too. As believers in Jesus Christ we are all part of the family of God. The bible is a book about members of the family of God that goes back many, many years. (Open up the bible.) This part of the bible talks about a man names Abraham who had great trust in God. This part talks about Moses who led God’s people out of slavery in Egypt. This part talks about God’s son Jesus and about the disciples, John, James, Peter, etc. We call them Saints. Saints are people who have been “set apart” for God’s holy / special purposes. In a sense we are all saints, but we like to specially remember them because they knew Jesus and were the first to follow him. What I want you to understand is that these Saints that are mentioned in the bible are really part of our family – the family of God. So you see that the bible is like our family album. It tells the story of great men and women of faith in the family of God; the same faith family that we belong to!

 

Children’s Prayer: Heavenly Father, thank you for the many and wonderful saints that followed Jesus down through the ages. Help us to follow their good examples and to remember what a blessing it is to be in the same family of faith. We ask this in Jesus’ name – Amen!

Feel free to use this story on Sunday morning but please give credit to Sundaychildrensfocus.com and consider linking to this site. Thank you. A.H.

Idea for the Children’s Sermon: All Saints’ Day

Show the children some large pictures of well known Saints. After discussing these saints, hold up pictures of other saints, pictures of people in your congregation. Finally, tell the children that you want to show them one last picture of a saint. Hand the children a mirror and ask them to look at it. Emphasize that according to the bible’s definition of a saint (Holy ones –set apart for God’s purposes) we are all saints.

 

Illustration objects: (1) Some pictures of classic biblical Saints. (2) Pictures of various people in the congregation (3) a small mirror.

 

Children’s Sermon:

Good morning children! Did you know that many churches celebrate the Christian saints at this time of year? Do you know what a saint is? I brought some pictures of saints. Look at this picture. This is a picture of Saint Paul. They didn’t have cameras then so this is just a picture of what Paul might have looked like. Paul was a great teacher and he is pictured here holding a book that represents the scriptures. Look at this picture here. It’s a picture of Saint Luke. This drawing of Luke has him holding some medicine in his hand. The bible says he was a doctor. Now I want to show you some other pictures of saints. (Hold up pictures of members of your congregation) Do you recognize any of these saints? You’re right. This is a picture of Mrs. Jones. She is a follower of Jesus and she makes the coffee for us every Sunday morning. This is Mr. Smith. He is also a follower Jesus. You probably know him pretty well because he operates the sound system at our church. These people didn’t live hundreds of years ago, and they are not portrayed in any stained glass windows. However, the bible refers to all believers as saints. A saint is a “holy one.” That means someone who is “set apart” for God’s special purposes. And all believers have been set apart for God’s special purposes. That brings me to this last picture I have. (Pull out the mirror and hand it to the children to look at.) Look at this. Who do you see? That’s right. You can see yourself! You are followers of Jesus so that makes you a saint too. You might not be as well known as Peter, Paul or Luke but you are still a saint. As followers of Jesus we have been set apart to as God’s own children. We have also been set apart for serving God in the church and in His Kingdom.

 

Children’s Prayer: Thank you God for all the saints that have followed Jesus Christ. Thank you for the wonderful things they have done and for the wonderful example they are to us. Thank you also for the saints in our own congregation who serve you in so many different ways. Thank you God that we are also saints. We have been called by you and we have been set apart for serving you. What a great honour that is. In Jesus’ name – Amen!

Feel free to use this story on Sunday morning but please give credit to sundaychildrensfocus.com and consider linking to this site. Blessings, A.H.