Jesus Blesses Children (Sunday School Bulletin Board)

Categories: Sunday School Bulletin Boards

Here at biblewise.com, we are a community that loves the Bible and loves children. We are pleased to have found one another and have found a perfect venue to share all the varied ways we have discovered to pass on to children our love of the Bible. There is a Bible story that teaches Jesus' love of children. It's often called "Jesus Blesses Children." It's found in 3 gospels - Matthew 19:13-15, Mark 10:13-16, and Luke 18:15-17. We can't imagine why such an occasion is in the Bible, but we are told that children in that era were not loved and cherished and appreciated as they are today. In fact they were not welcomed into adult company. In this story Jesus changed the world's view of children.

In this bulletin board, I was pleased to find 18 artists who have drawn or painted this story all through the ages. I scanned pictures from my own Bible resource books and found many online. (To find pictures online, type "Jesus Blesses Children" in the search line, then press "images" as one of the basic choices. Some people don't know about this handy feature.)

Instead of framing them as I normally would have done, I cut them in similar shapes. I found templates in circles and ovals. I chose either circles or ovals in order to capture the most people in the pictures. I then arranged them as if they were strung together like beads across the board. I placed them from small to large in a figure 8, but any shape will do.

I then searched for childlike qualities. I found some in Bible Commentaries relating to this story. I found some in a book of synonyms and a thesaurus. I printed out this list in a large, childlike font and placed them around the pictures on the lower section of the board. Here are the ones I found— I'm sure you can find many more: creative, childlike, humble, modest, inquisitive, eager, wondering, expectant, trusting, dependent, receptive, genuine, sincere, honest, innocent, loving, and sweet.

I then put Jesus' words at the top - "Of such is the Kingdom of God". Jesus was so familiar with the Kingdom that he was always teaching about it. That day Jesus may have been telling the adults in the crowd that those in the Kingdom express these childlike qualities. We should all appreciate these qualities in children, welcome them, encourage them and emulate them in ourselves, as well.

This board measures 60" X 26". I used spray glue and stuck all the pictures and words onto a piece of fabric. When the time comes I till tack the fabric onto the board. This method has an advantage over putting the pictures one at a time onto a board on the wall. You can arrange the pictures on a flat surface until they're arranged just the way you want them and then glue them down. Placing them on the board one at a time often includes pulling tacks and repositioning the pictures as you go until you're satisfied. I think I'm going to enjoy this board. I hope you do, too.

Olene Carroll