Chapel Talks for Kids of All Ages

By Jack Fallat

Presenting Chapel talks for students as young as 7 and as old as 19 is a difficult task. Even within a more restricted age range, interest levels can vary a great deal. I dealt with this challenge as a school Chaplain for a number of years. Some presentations were obviously more successful than others. On the following pages, I present a brief overview of the ideas that I generated and the stories I told. Many themes or topics are tied in with personal experiences. In each case, I tried to follow the simple philosophy of trying to tell a story and then make a point. Before telling any story, I would usually provide an introduction about the subject matter emphasizing its relevance or importance. Speaking for the entire time period was avoided as much as possible. Videos, demonstrations, and interactions with the students were not always possible but very helpful when they could be used. Every Chapel service began with a reading. I relied heavily on a Concordance for any scripture quotations and obviously, the internet was a great resource for topics that could be reinforced by quotations from famous people. Some Chapels included a brief history lesson on the life of the person who was credited with the quotation. The Headmaster of the school where I served as Chaplain gave me great flexibility regarding how I could conduct the Chapel services. As long as my lessons were age level appropriate, the subject matter could be of my choosing. That freedom of choice was greatly appreciated and essential for my planning as I attempted to find the targets that might be interesting for students of different ages, backgrounds, and beliefs. My Chapels gained the reputation of not being religious and more like assemblies. My goal was to try to always give the students something to think about or reflect on, and there was always the intent to provide students with an element of discovery. Some Chapels were intended to generate a conversation with the students, but certainly not all of them. Some topics would simply not motivate students to share opinions or reactions. Later in the day, if I heard one student talking about what happened in Chapel, I would feel some measure of success. The summary of each Chapel talk is not meant to provide the wording for a complete presentation. These brief examples will hopefully generate ideas and topics that the reader can use in producing a Chapel service or leading a discussion group that can be engaging for kids of all ages.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1719817014
• ISBN13: 9781719817011
• Release Date: August 2018
• Publisher: Independently Published
• Length: 116 Pages
• Weight: 0.29 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.3" x 5.0" x 8.0"