There are 5 things that every child needs from your ministry. Let's take a look at what they are.
Every child in your ministry needs a caring volunteer. A person that knows their name. A person that misses them when they are not present. A person that believes in them. A person that helps them learn God's Word. A person that asks how their week went.
One of our top priorities must be to have every child connected to a caring leader. For this to happen, you must have the proper ratios of volunteers to kids. And you must get kids out of rows of chairs and into small circles where they will be known and cared for by a volunteer.
*if you need help building a volunteer team, the book at this link is a must have
Every child in your ministry needs a friend. Friendships at church matter. Look around at your ministry this week. Are there kids sitting alone? Are there kids nervously looking around? Are there kids that no one is talking to?
Lonely kids soon become absent kids. But you can prevent this.
Watch for these kids and help them get connected. Introduce the child to a potential friend. Bring the child over to a group of kids who are playing a game and get the child involved in the game.
Have icebreakers at the beginning of the class that get kids talking and sharing.
*check out my curriculum that uses icebreakers at the beginning of class time
Have kids who are greeters and have been trained to help new kids feel welcome and connected.
Every child needs prayer. Build times of prayer into your class time. Have your volunteers take prayer requests from the kids in their group. Pray for the requests then and during the week. Connect with parents and ask them how you can pray for their child.
Slow things down for a few minutes during class. Get the kids quiet. Have them bow their heads and close their eyes. Explain to them that prayer is talking to God, but it is also listening to God. Invite them to individually talk with God for a minute or so. Then invite them to simply sit and listen as God speaks to their heart.
Every child needs a faithful example. Someone who walks the talk. Someone who clearly lives out their faith.
Growing up, I watched the adults in the church to see how they lived out their faith in a genuine manner. One of the men I watched had a crippling disease. He wore braces on both of his legs and had to use a cane to get around. On Sundays, he stood at the entrance of the church and welcomed people to God’s house. I often wondered how he could smile since he was crippled. Why was he not angry or bitter toward God because of his crippling disease?
I went to high school with his son. One day, his son was involved in a serious car accident and died. I remember thinking about how this man would handle this. Would he drop out of church? Would his smile be replaced with a sad face? Would he still stand on his crippled legs and welcome people to God’s house? Surely not.
But Sunday came and guess who was standing at the door welcoming people to church with a smile on his face? Yes. It was him. In spite of having crippled legs and now having lost his son, he was there. In the midst of overwhelming grief, he was still there smiling and welcoming people into God’s house. What an impression it made in my life.
But the story doesn’t end there. Tragedy struck again. His precious little girl was in a tragic accident and died. Wow. Surely he would give up on God. In my mind, this was on the level of what happened to Job in the Bible.
Would he continue to serve God? Would he turn his back on God? Would he be able to continue to walk the talk? Yes. That Sunday he was there at church again. Smiling. Welcoming people. Serving Jesus in the midst of overwhelming sorrow and grief.
God used this man to impress upon me to be committed to serving Jesus no matter what happens. As a young man, I watched him walk the talk and I’ll never forget it. Whether you know it or not, the next generation is watching you.
Every child needs the Gospel. You can teach children a lot of different things. But first and foremost, you should be sharing the Gospel with them on a consistent basis.
Is your curriculum helping you to regularly share the Gospel?
Are you seeing children step across the line of faith?
Are you seeing parents step across the line of faith?
Connect12 curriculum shares the Gospel each month. You can check it out at this link.
The most important thing you will ever teach children and families is the Gospel.
The Gospel is the power of God to salvation. You can teach kids about the story of David and Goliath. The story of Jonah and the whale. The story of God creating the earth. The stories of Jesus healing the sick. These are all great.
But if you are not regularly sharing the Gospel, then you are not fulfilling God’s teaching plan. Kids can memorize the verses, sing the songs, listen to the Bible lessons, go to church and keep a set of rules...but if they don’t have a personal experience with Jesus, they have missed what it’s all about. We must present the Gospel clearly and then pray that God begins to draw them. As we do this, God will draw them to Himself.
Elevate these 5 things and you will see kids' and families' lives changed on a consistent basis.
Your turn. Is there anything else kids need from our ministries? Share your thoughts and insights in to the comment section below.
