RELEVANT CHILDREN'S MINISTRY

In children's ministry, we are always looking for ways to bring families closer together.

McDonald's has a new promotion that is a incredible idea for doing this.

It's called "Payin' With Love."  Here's how it works.

They randomly select a customer.  After the customer places their order, the employee tells them they don't want cash for payment.  Instead, they want them to show an expression of their affection for payment.  They ask the customer to do something like calling their mother to say I love you, hugging the person with them, giving someone a fist bump, etc.

One of my friends experienced this last week.  They were asked to pay for their food by telling the family member they were with that they loved them.

What if we used this idea in children's ministry?  Perhaps we offer a free gift to a child who is checking in if he hugs his parents and tells them he loves them.  Perhaps we give a family a gift card to a restaurant for sharing one thing they appreciate about each other as they are leaving church.  Perhaps we offer a child free admission to an event if she does something kind for her sister.  Perhaps we give a family a month of reserved parking at church for writing a note of appreciation to each other.

I'm going to try this out at our church this and then I'll post in the comment section and let you know how it went.

What do you think?  What are some other ideas for doing this?  Share your thoughts in the comment section below. 

Here's the video of what McDonald's is doing if you'd like to see it.

This is a picture of McDonald's new Happy Meal mascot that's aimed at helping kids eat healthy.  But many parents have responded by saying the mascot is "creepy."

Here are a few of the many tweets that have been posted.

"In order to fight obesity in kids, McDonald's introduces it's new mascot to scare children."

"Happy Meal mascot arrested after eating three children."

"They gave it LEGS too, so it can CHASE you!  McDonald's introduces terrifying new Happy Meal mascot."

This reminded me that it's important to be aware of children who are overly sensitive.  I can tell you from experience that what may seem fun to one child may scare another child.

Just this morning, I was in one of our preschool rooms interacting with the kids with my favorite puppet.  I call him Shelly and he's a turtle.  Most of the kids rushed to hug him, but one little girl pulled back in fear and began to whimper.

And I've had more than one occasion where a sensitive child had nightmares from a video clip we had shown.

If you've been in children's ministry very long, it's probably happened to you as well.  An incident probably just popped into your head, didn't it. 

The last thing we want to do is cause a child to be upset or afraid.  So what can we do to avoid frightening them? 

Pay attention to age ratings on videos.
Some things you can use with elementary kids may not be appropriate for preschoolers.  Most videos have age ratings on them.   Do the research and use it as a guide.

Use age-appropriate Bible lessons. 
The Bible contains stories of real life, real sin, and everything that entails.  It shares the triumphs as well as the tragedies of men, women, and nations.  Some of the stories are not appropriate for children to hear at that stage in their life.

There will be plenty of time later for them examine David committing adultery with Bathsheba and then murdering her husband.  As children, they can learn that sin separates us from God without being taken on a trip into the depths of hellfire, brimstone, and demons.  And right now might not be the best time to study the beast of Revelation.

Be wise in what you share from God's Word.

Partner with parents. 
It's never fun to get a phone call from a parent who is upset because their child is having nightmares from something they saw or heard at church. 

Be proactive.  Keep parents in the know about what you will be teaching or showing.  Don't show movies or use video clips from PG movies unless you obtain parent's permission.  Communication upfront will save you a world of hurt later. 

Program for the average family.
Every church is made of up of families with varying degrees of personal preferences.  You will have some families who are ultra conservative and some families who don't care what you do.  The ultra conservative families are normally the most vocal.  Listen and respect their preferences, but don't let it dictate what you do for everyone. 

Don't program for either extreme.  Program for your average family. 

When in doubt...don't.
If you have questions about a character or video clip or whatever it is, don't use it.  It's always best to err on the side of caution.

Keep in mind that no matter what you do, there's a chance it may frighten a child. 
Sometimes you just can't win for losing.  I've had kids have nightmares from Veggie Tales.  Recently a child had nightmares from a hamster we showed on screen.  I never saw that coming!

Don't get discouraged when this happens.  Do everything you can to avoid it, but realize that many things can trigger fear in a child.

Would love to hear about some of your experiences.

Have you ever had a child become afraid or worse yet have nightmares from something they saw or heard at church?

What are some other tips on how to avoid frightening children?

Oh yeah...and do you think the new McDonald's mascot is creepy?