RELEVANT CHILDREN'S MINISTRY

What's the secret to growing a church?  Great worship?  Relevant teaching by a dynamic communicator?  Awesome facilities?  A friendly congregation?  Location?  While all of these can play a part, I believe the most powerful way to grow a church comes in a small package.

What's the small package you might ask?  Children.  Though they are the smallest package in the church when it comes to stature, I believe they are the most powerful when it comes to influence and decision making.

Don't think they affect your church operating budget?  Think again. 

In the latest family spending survey, 46% of parents said they've gone into debt buying something their kids wanted.  

Parents (and grandparents) are drawn to a church that loves their kids.  Parents give to a church that invests in their kids.  Parents choose where to go to church based on their kids.  Parents walk into a church thinking, "What do you have to offer my kids?"  The truth is you can have great worship, great teaching, awesome worship facilities for adults and a great location, but if the kids aren't happy when dad and mom pick them up, your growth as a church will be limited.

Remember this important statement.

When you take a child by the hand, you take their parent by the heart. 

If you want to get the attention of a parent, then do something nice for their child.  If you want to win the heart of a parent, then love their child.  I believe children's ministry is the most powerful way to reach people who are far from God and see them connected to the local church.  No matter how far away from God a dad is, when you love his child, you have his attention.  And no matter how hard a mother's heart is toward God, when you invest in her child, her heart softens.

Think about all the times in scripture when adults came looking for Jesus because of their child.  Here's one example found in Mark 9.

When they returned to the other disciples, they saw a large crowd surrounding them, and some teachers of religious law were arguing with them.  When the crowd saw Jesus, they were overwhelmed with awe, and they ran to greet him.  “What is all this arguing about?” Jesus asked.  One of the men in the crowd spoke up and said, “Teacher, I brought my son so you could heal him. He is possessed by an evil spirit that won’t let him talk.   And whenever this spirit seizes him, it throws him violently to the ground.  Then he foams at the mouth and grinds his teeth and becomes rigid.  So I asked your disciples to cast out the evil spirit, but they couldn’t do it.”  Jesus said to them, “You faithless people!  How long must I be with you?  How long must I put up with you?  Bring the boy to me.”  So they brought the boy.  But when the evil spirit saw Jesus, it threw the child into a violent convulsion, and he fell to the ground, writhing and foaming at the mouth.  “How long has this been happening?” Jesus asked the boy’s father.  He replied, “Since he was a little boy.  The spirit often throws him into the fire or into water, trying to kill him. Have mercy on us and help us, if you can.”  “What do you mean, ‘If I can’?” Jesus asked. “Anything is possible if a person believes.”  The father instantly cried out, “I do believe, but help me overcome my unbelief!”

This man came looking for Jesus because of one reason - his child.  And it's still happening today.  I could fill a book with stories of entire families I have personally seen reached through their children.  And I've had the joy of serving in churches that decided to invest in children in a major way and as a result experienced exponential growth.

Another great example of people being drawn to Jesus because of their children is found in Luke 18.  Check it out.


Show me a church that is growing and I'll show you a church that makes children's ministry a priority.  Show me a church that is growing and I'll show you a church that is focused on the next generation. Show me a church that is stagnant and I'll show you a church that has lost sight of the power of children's influence. 

Do you really want to see your church grow?  Then make children's ministry a priority.  If you'd like help in making children's ministry a priority in your church, then join us for a live webinar called "Making Children's Ministry a Priority in the Church" on Thursday, April 6th from 8-9:30 pm.  Below is more info. and you can register here. 

Want to know what the Bible says about children? Here are 20 key scriptures about children in the Bible. Children have always played an important role in God's story. 

Children are a heritage from the LORD, offspring a reward from him.  Like arrows in the hands of a warrior are children born in one’s youth.  Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them.  They will not be put to shame when they contend with their opponents in court.  Psalm 127:3-5

Then Esau looked up and saw the women and children. “Who are these with you?” he asked.  Jacob answered, “They are the children God has graciously given your servant.”  Genesis 33:5

But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it and how from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.  
2 Timothy 3:14-15

But when the chief priests and the teachers of the law saw the wonderful things he did and the children shouting in the temple courts, “Hosanna to the Son of David,” they were indignant.  “Do you hear what these children are saying?” they asked him.  “Yes,” replied Jesus, “have you never read, “ ‘From the lips of children and infants you, Lord, have called forth your praise’?”  Matthew 21:15-16

Through the praise of children and infants you have established a stronghold against your enemies, to silence the foe and the avenger.  Psalm 8:2

He called a little child to him, and placed the child among them.  And he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.  Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.  And whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me,  “If anyone causes one of these little ones—those who believe in me—to stumble, it would be better for them to have a large millstone hung around their neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea." 
Matthew 18:2-6

“See that you do not despise one of these little ones. For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven."  Matthew 18:10

People were bringing little children to Jesus for him to place his hands on them, but the disciples rebuked them.  When Jesus saw this, he was indignant. He said to them, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.  Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.”  And he took the children in his arms, placed his hands on them and blessed them.  Matthew 19:13-16

Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it.  Proverbs 22:6

Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.  Deuteronomy 6:7

Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.  “Honor your father and mother”—which is the first commandment with a promise—“so that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth."  Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord. Ephesians 6:1-4

Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Deuteronomy 11:19

He took a little child whom he placed among them. Taking the child in his arms, he said to them,  "Whoever welcomes one of these little children in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me does not welcome me but the one who sent me.”  Mark 9:36-37

Things we have heard and known, things our ancestors have told us.  We will not hide them from their descendants; we will tell the next generation the praiseworthy deeds of the LORD, his power, and the wonders he has done.  He decreed statutes for Jacob and established the law in Israel, which he commanded our ancestors to teach their children, so the next generation would know them, even the children yet to be born, and they in turn would tell their children.  Then they would put their trust in God and would not forget his deeds but would keep his commands.  Psalm 78:3-7 

Through the praise of children and infants you have established a stronghold against your enemies, to silence the foe and the avenger.  Psalm 82:2

Listen, my son, to your father’s instruction and do not forsake your mother’s teaching.  They are a garland to grace your head and a chain to adorn your neck. 
Proverbs 1:8-9 

Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord.  Colossians 3:20 

Even children are known by the way they act, whether their conduct is pure, and whether it is right.      
Proverbs 20:11 

It were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he cast into the sea, than that he should offend one of these little ones.  Luke 17:2 

And all your children [shall be] taught of the LORD; and great [shall be] the peace of thy children.  Isaiah 54:13