How To Have a Church that Loves Kids and Kids that love Church! Part 2

How To Have a Church that Loves Kids and Kids that love Church!
- part 2 Environment


I thought it was time to continue my little series on providing the best church for kids and the best kids for church. So here is my second post in the series and it's all about - Environment.


Where are you right now? At home? in your office,?on the bus? Wherever you are, look around and take in the environment around you. What in the environment makes you comfortable? What makes you uncomfortable. What is your environment set up for? Is your office cubicle set up for work? Does your home reflect a little bit of everyone that lives there?

Environment is such a vital part of life, we create our environments to make ourselves comfortable, to be productive and to invite others in. We even do this in church, there has been many a discussion on how comfortable church pews are, we have music playing as congregants enter, set design, lighting, sound, media, interactive worship and sermons all play a part in how the environment makes people feel. The goal, in big church, is to create a place where people can connect with God, be free to worship Him, and be comfortable to stay for up to 2 hours.

So then, how important is environment when you think Children's Ministry?

The environment a children’s ministry provides for its children is vital to attracting and keeping children engaged and must go hand in hand with the ministry’s relational and family ministries. What a child experiences in their first ten minutes of walking into a church building will give the child and their parents their first impression about how that church views the importance of kids. The environment can draw in families and help engage kids. Whether it results in multi-million dollar refurbishment or just simple murals or better budgeting, or hiring staff to focus on children, a priority on the environment of children’s ministry can only help to build the Kingdom of God through reaching and teaching kids.

So next time you step into your children's ministry space, ask yourself...How does this environment make me feel? Am I comfortable? Am I about to have fun? Does this space speak of the importance of children in this church? Will kids connect with Jesus in this space?

Environment is important, how's yours?