Some Things to Think - and Most Importantly Pray About for Sure

Over the years I have been writing this blog - and the website before it - I have had much to say about the things we could and should do when it comes to Children's Ministry. Today I want to write about some things we need to be careful we do Not do.

In the Gospels it is easy to see how children wanted to be around Jesus  -  and He wanted them to be around Him. We know children do not tend to want to be around people who are boring, so while there are no Bible verses which say; "And Jesus was not boring", it is safe for us to believe He was not boring.

Plus, as I have written about, we know God created some children - often many children - to learn by moving, wiggling, talking, and being engaged, so again, it is safe for us to believe God is not boring and He wants children to learn by being engaged.

So, with these two things in mind, we need to be careful not to make our Children's Ministries boring. Instead, we need to intentionally make the choice to not be boring. We need to choose to have a Children's Ministry which engages children in the learning process, so they learn with us.

In far too many churches our Children's Ministries are boring - this communicates to children the untruth of how God, Jesus, and the Bible are boring; they are not. Why do we do this? We must not continue to do this.

And, a growing number of churches make the choice to cut back or even cut out, their Children's Ministries (and Youth Ministries) in the Summer. Again, why do we do this? How do we honestly communicate to children/youth the truth about how there is value in going to church on Sundays if we, the church, are fine with cancelling it for 1/4 to 1/3 of the year? If it is okay for church to not offer ministry to children/teens for part of the year, why should they bother getting up and going any part of the year? Legitimate questions.

So, please do not make your ministry boring - engage the children instead. And, please do not cancel your ministry in the Summer - kick into high gear instead. I know this means you have to have sufficient staff and take time to train them, but perhaps you would not have so much trouble recruiting if your ministry was engaging and children wanted to be there and if your volunteers felt equipped to serve.

Some things to think - and most importantly pray - about for sure.