Parents and kids can enjoy Sunday School right from home through your internet ministry

The rapid growth of internet activity socially and economically during the past decade has spread into the realm of religion. Several ministers around the world are spreading their religious messages through online church services. Passionate individuals can now be ordained through the Universal Life Church, which is dedicated to sharing an interfaith message, replacing years of dedication to learning one religious study or another with the freedom to draw from several religious sources. Additionally, individuals desiring to be ordained can do so years ahead of those pursuing traditional religious study, enabling them to share their interfaith message speedily.

How does an aspiring minister of the Universal Life Church set up Sunday school services for children? First, ministers will have to determine their lesson plans. What morals will Sunday school focus on? What religious stories match those morals the most? Will the message center on stories from one religious faith, focusing upon the message of that particular faith, or will the message use stories from several faiths, showing the universality of the morals being emphasized? These questions and more should be considered by the minister.

Whatever the message might be, the stories chosen should give a clear picture of the morals being addressed. Along with the message, whether printed or spoken through an audio recording, or webinar setting, the minister should include several pictures to help the children absorb the moral of the stories. As pictures are worth a thousand words, the use of pictures will help the children (and parents) to internalize the minister’s message during online church services.

It’s very important to make use of original photos, free stock photos, and royalty free photos as part of the presentation. This will help ministers avoid copyright infringement. Websites like istockphoto.com and publicdomainpictures.net can be searched for public domain and royalty free images. Additionally, depending upon the minister’s computer aptitude, ministers should consider the assistance of a professional web developer to present the lesson materials online through a website or set up the presentation through a webinar through using services like found at gotowebinar.com.

Children can also learn through engaging activities. Ministers can develop their own puzzles and crosswords related to their message by using internet resources like ones found here. While the minister’s message can be accessed by anyone with an internet connection, they will need to spend extra time creating engaging interaction that usually comes with a more traditional church setting. Ministers should consider to use of internet forums for discussions or using other social networking sites or message boards to provide children and parents to post their questions or comments. Ministers should also consider providing their lesson plans to parents well in advance to the time of their church service through email or website for approval.

With the growing presence of the internet into more and more aspects of our lives, parents need to develop plans to regulate and monitor their children’s time on the internet. Advances in technology has greatly increased access to materials helpful and harmful to our children. Ministers ordained by the Universal Life Church can play a strong role in providing messages that build character, strong virtues and common sense for the children of this generation and ones to come.