"In Children's Ministry last night, the kids were designing the order of worship for the services they'd lead for the preschoolers. When discussing the Message, E said "We could laminate a poster and then laminate character pieces and put Velcro on them, and use them to tell the story."
My kid just invented the flannel board."
Her post took me back to my elementary school years. I went to a Presbyterian school, and my memory is of one year when the lady with the flannel board came every week. We also had chapel every week, complete with fire and brimstone preachers, all male, who asked us to take Jesus into our hearts so that we wouldn't burn in hell for all eternity.
I spent every Friday of 5th grade asking Jesus to be my Lord and savior and live in my heart. I spent a lot of time worrying that maybe Jesus hadn't heard me when I asked before. I often prayed myself to sleep inviting Jesus into my heart.
The lady with the flannel board had a different vibe--no high pressure, scare tactics, just good stories and figures that seemed to stick magically to the flannel board. The flannel boards were tri-fold affairs perched on a big easel. The board offered a setting of surprising dimension.
Do I remember the actual stories? No, but my impression is that they were mostly Old Testament stories--certainly there's more to choose from in the Old Testament.
Occasionally, a lucky student was chosen to be the flannel board lady's assistant. I don't remember it happening often--the flannel board lady didn't have all day, after all. I do remember after her presentation being allowed to stick the figures to the board.
I also remember wondering if I could create a flannel board set of my own. I don't remember attempting it.
I wonder if there are modern flannel board ladies, using modern technology to do the teaching. My spouse went to a faculty development session where he learned how to use animation software, Powtoon. He came home and made a video for his Philosophy students. Is this kind of animation the flannel board of our time?
I know that many people in faith communities spend a lot of time thinking about how to best reach and train children, but my current church has very few children. Most Sundays, I am one of the youngest people there, and I'm 54 years old.
I often think about the best ways to reach people, and I'm not sure that it breaks down by age. Maybe it's time to bring back the flannel board!
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