I'm done with "Children's Ministry".....
Well, I've been researching and reading about this new movement that is taking place all over the nation called, "Orange." I've now decided that I'm DONE with Children's Ministry....Not really, but let me give you a little idea of what I mean. RED is church; YELLOW is family...so: ORANGE is what Children's Ministry should look like. Parents typically have over 3,000 hours per year of unscheduled time with their children. Children's ministers and church volunteers only get about 40 hours. Obviously, parents have an essential role in shaping a childs spirituality. If we ask ourselves, who is responsible for a childs spiritual development? There's no question that parents are top on the list. How can the Red and the Yellow come together to make Orange, and teach the next generation about the ways of Christ? Many parents rely more on the 40 hours children are at church than the 3,000 they have with them. So, when I say, "I'm done with Children's Ministry...what I mean is, I believe we need to begin working together to connect parents and families to Jesus and one another instead of ONLY focusing on bible stories each week. This connection a child makes between the bible stories and how the bible can come alive and work in their everyday lives is essential in their spiritual development. We can teach the bible stories at church, but parents are the ones who know what the children are dealing with on a day to day basis. I think we need to bridge the gap between families and the church. It would be great if parents begin to ask, "what did you learn" after church rather than, "did you have fun?" We have a huge number of kids who are getting into college and starting their careers and leaving their faith they grew up "hearing about" behind them. We must help these kids find their faith in a personal way before it's too late. So I may be done with Children's Ministry alone, but I'm just starting with Children and Family Ministry!! More ideas on how we do this is to come....stay tuned!
