Feasting on the Word Guide to Children’s Sermons

Feasting on the Word Guide to Children’s Sermons equips church leaders and children’s ministry volunteers to deliver children’s sermons that are free of gimmicks and simplistic conclusions, that welcome children into the family of faith, and that give a foundation in God’s good news for all people. This volume will address the common questions pastors have about the children’s sermon, steps on avoiding common pitfalls, suggestions on how to use the children’s time in a church following the lectionary, and sample Bible stories for use in the children’s time.

“I encourage you to pick this book up and take a journey with the authors as they break open new and exciting ways we offer our Holy Scriptures to children and to all who listen with them.”
—Shawn Schreiner, Rector, Grace Episcopal Church, Oak Park, Illinois

“This, thankfully, is not the usual book on children’s sermons. If you are looking for the customary collection of gimmicks, object lessons, and little moralisms that characterize this genre, this is not the book for you. Instead, the Bartletts present a vision of preaching to children that leads to faithful and contextually pertinent sermons—attentive to biblical texts, alert to what it means for children actually to worship, and expressive of the gospel. They challenge us to create sermons for children that are as carefully crafted and theologically profound as all sermons are supposed to be. In short, they call us to care about the children to whom we preach and the gospel we are commissioned to preach. If this book keeps even one preacher somewhere from grabbing a paper bag and a doll on the way out of her study or fastening on a fake beard and telling the children that he is James the son of Zebedee, the Bartletts will have accomplished their purpose.”
—Thomas G. Long, Bandy Professor of Preaching, Candler School of Theology, Emory University

“From the first chapter to the last story, this is a valuable resource for anyone who is responsible for the children’s time or sermon in worship. The Bartletts take this activity seriously as a theological and liturgical enterprise, but they also understand its place as a hospitable practice towards children (and adults, for who doesn’t enjoy a well-told story). Follow their lead and this element of worship will be transformed for everyone.”
—Carol Wehrheim, General Editor, Feasting on the Word Curriculum

“The Bartletts bring a wealth of knowledge and experience to addressing the perennial question of children’s place in worship. Their desire to keep the biblical story of Good News at the center of the lives of all God’s children, but especially the youngest disciples, is where the church’s focus should be. Pastors, Educators, and all those who love children will find help and encouragement in these pages to tell the stories of faith as Jesus did.”
—Kathy Dawson, Associate Professor of Christian Education, Columbia Theological Seminary

Carol Bartlett is a retired licensed social worker and Christian Educator. She is married to David Bartlett. They have two grown sons and live in Decatur, Georgia.

David L. Bartlett was the J. Edward and Ruth Cox Lantz Professor Emeritus of Christian Communication at Yale Divinity School, Distinguished Professor Emeritus of New Testament at Columbia Theological Seminary, and an ordained minister of the American Baptist Churches USA. Bartlett had a long career, holding both academic and pastoral positions. As an ordained minister of the American Baptist Churches USA, he served as the Senior Minister for congregations in Minnesota, Illinois, and California. He was also on the faculty at schools such as American Baptist Seminary of the West, Graduate Theological Union; The University of Chicago Divinity School; Divinity School; Union Presbyterian Seminary in Richmond, Virginia; Yale Divinity School; and Columbia Seminary. He was Associate Dean of Academic Affairs at Yale Divinity School for eleven years. At both Yale Divinity School and Columbia Theological Seminary, he was a distinguished faculty member and was honored as professor emeritus. He also served as theologian in residence at Trinity Presbyterian Church in Atlanta. He wrote eighteen books, two of which he coauthored with his wife, Carol.

Feasting on the Word Guide to Children’s Sermons

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