How To Have a Church that Loves Kids and Kids that love Church! - part 1 The Power of ONE
Over the next few weeks I am going to talk about what I believe to be the 4 essential keys to a great children's ministry.
I get many calls from children's pastors just staring out or looking to change direction and this is where I get them to start. To consider theses four things.
This week I'll be talking about what I call "The Power of One".
In Luke Chapter 15 Jesus tells 3 stories about One lost coin, one lost sheep and one lost son. These are stories that capture our hearts and the message is simple - Ones are important. They're important to Jesus and they should be important to all of us, especially in children's ministry.
My church is a large church we see nearly 400 kids come through a brightly coloured doors every Sunday and more during the week. Sometimes I stand up on the stage watching the huge mass of little ones arrive, it really is something else to see how many little lives we have the opportunity to impact and influence toward the God of heaven and earth. One particular Sunday I was standing on the stage, watching the children come in and feeling so blessed, then God directed my gaze to a new family. Mum and 3 kids. standing in the middle of the hustle and bustle of hundreds of kids coming into a space and all knowing what to do, what was expected of them and knowing each other. The kids in this family looked terrified, the mum looked terribly unsure. On this particular Sunday, (thank you Jesus) one of my very capable leaders went and introduced herself, explained what the morning would entail and introduced all 3 kids to their small group leaders. She had a nice long chat with the mum and invited her to stay for as long as she thought was necessary.
Phew, that was handled well. But it did get me thinking and it did lead to a big change in our ministry. You see, I have been a part of the same church for over 20 years, I know where everything is and I know enough people to feel comfortable. But watching this family who was new and afraid made me realise we were not looking after the ones, that Jesus talks about in Luke 15 very well at all. These little ones are as precious to Jesus as any other and they needed to be valued that way when they walked through our doors.
So, we started a welcome table, a welcome team, welcome cards and made sure people knew what was going on and how to get involved. But more importantly as the leader of the ministry I began to speak very generously about how important the "ones" were. We needed to start focusing on Relationships. Relationships became the key focus of our ministry. We realised that if we cared for the "ones", built relationships with them that everything else could come later.
“Relationship
connection is the currency of kids.” States Jamie Doyle, the children’s pastor
at River Valley Church in Minnesota[1]
Technology and programs will never replace the power of relationship. Growing
children’s ministries make sure that in the midst of all the programming, there
is room for relationships with kids. Children have been patronised with
entertainment for far too long. Children need to know that somebody with a name
and a face knows them and cares about them. If no one on earth really cares,
how will they ever believe that God does?God
is a personal God He is personal reality and power – the power that works by
thought and choice and evaluation. He is not a blind force that can be
manipulated if one can only find the correct technique. The same should be with
leaders to children in ministry. Leaders should strive to create relationship
with children, get to know their names, their interests, their families, giving
them a glimpse into how God knows them.
An
emphasis on a relational style of ministry also establishes an excellent
welcoming to the unchurched. A children’s ministry should ask themselves “What
kind of church will we need to become to receive and to nurture new Christians?"
A church where a child feels welcome and where someone knows their name is a
far better place to nurture new spirituality than a cold, dogmatic environment.
Fellowship in church is the way church was done since the first Christians paved
the way. The first Christians were a genuine community of friends. From the
beginning it seems that this idea of the church being in relationship with one
another was assumed. A Relational ministry should be a priority of any
children’s pastor.
So now we are a changed environment. We value friendship over programs, we value family over activities and we value relationship over numbers. We value the Ones.
Look out for my next entry on - Environment
Cath
No comments:
Post a Comment