My Top Five Reasons for Having a Discipline Policy Which Shows Grace - #2 - Because We Want Them to Experience Grace

As we continue to look at my Top Five Reasons for having a Discipline Policy which shows grace to the children in our ministries, I am very happy to share with you today another of my reasons . . . 

• Because we want the children in our ministries to understand what grace is. We want them to experience grace from us - a small grace, so they are able to understand and experience grace from God - a very large grace!

Think about this. We have received this very large grace from God - many times throughout our lives; how can we not show this grace to the children in our ministries? When a child misbehaves, and they will from time to time, be sure your response shows grace. What might this look like, you ask? consider the following . . . 

• If a child does not pay attention or follow directions, while you could respond in a way which is primarily focused upon just getting the child to do what you say, you might instead try changing the way you do things in class. Maybe you do not let children participate and they have trouble listening and following directions because they just need to move. Let children help by researching the Bible event and then give them an opportunity to share what they learned.
• Build in times of movement - use relays to help children review Bible events and learn Bible verses.
• Ask children to help you hand out supplies or bring you items you need.
• Always start with a clean slate each week.

These are just a few ways you might show grace to a child. How do your discipline policies reflect grace?