Look What We Will Be Talking About Next Week on About the Children's Department!

Next week I'll be looking at Children's Ministry Web Sites and Blogs. There is a wealth of resources and sources for information and ideas . . . I'll be looking at some of them and sharing them with you all week long! If you have a favorite website or blog, let me know and maybe I'll include it in my visit across the web next week!

"Put Feet to Their Faith" with Angel Tree Camping!

Did your church participate with Angel Tree at Christmas? Does your children's ministry involve your children in summer camp? If so, you may find Angel Tree Camping is the perfect ministry to involve the children and families in your church with to "Put Feet to Their Faith". Angel Tree Camping is a ministry opportunity which helps your church stay connected with the Angel Tree® families you served at Christmas by giving those children a week away from home which challenges and exposes them to the message of Christ’s love.  Their caregiver gets a week of rest and perhaps a chance to catch up on other responsibilities and the incarcerated parent may be deeply moved to know his or her child was cared for in this special way.  Prison Fellowship will help support your church’s ministry by providing materials and resources to help you create a wonderful summertime Christian camp experience.

A successful camping experience will be made possible by the prayers and efforts of a dedicated volunteer team.  Work with your church leadership to form a team of people who are excited about helping extend your church’s Angel Tree ministry in this way.  You may want to make public and written announcements inviting people to get involved with the program.  The tasks for volunteers may include contacting caregivers, leading the prayer team, hosting an information open house at the church for the families, providing transportation, raising money to purchase camp supplies, or filling a tote bag with supplies—whatever your individual camping program requires.


You can involve the children of your church in fund raisers to raise the money to pay for a child - or for several children - to attend camp. Children could run car washes, cookie bake sales and do yard work or they could make craft items to sell to raise money.

If you need help finding a Christian camp in your area, you can contact the Christian Camp & Conference Association (CCCA).  It is best to contact camps early, because spaces fill up quickly.  As you are trying to determine which camp to choose, you will want to consider things such as:

1. How far is the camp from your church, and what will the transportation arrangements be?
2. Is it possible to include the child(ren) in the week of camp the children from your church attend camp?
3. What is the per-camper cost, and will the children in your church be able to raise the money to pay this cost or will the camp offer full or partial scholarships for Angel Tree children?
4. Will the camp provide your church with brochures, videos, etc., which may be shared with the Angel Tree caregivers to help them understand the type of experience their children will have and help them feel more secure about the camping opportunity?

Angel Tree Camping is a wonderful opportunity for the children in your church to "Put Feet to Their Faith" and make a real difference in the life of another child. Next week I'll talk about how to contact the child's caregivers and finalize the details if you decide to get involved with Angel Tree Camping!

We Have Three Winners in My Family Pick VeggieTales Hosanna! CD Give-Away!

I'm happy to say we have three winners in our VeggieTales Hosanna! CD give-away - Maralee McKee, Mary Tramper Gabrick and Kathryn Pelkey-Ansley! Thank you VeggieTales/Big Idea for sending the CD's for my review and give-away!


Next Friday I'll announce our new "Family Pick" and drawing!

The Other Part of Effective Children's Ministry . . . Part Two!

So what can and should the church do to help parents in these areas? Equipping parents involves training them and this is a vital – sadly often ignored – area of critical ministry the church is in the unique place to offer to parents, both from the church as well as the community. The church can impact church families by offering classes to help parents in the following areas:

1. Understanding and communicating how to live God’s Word - I highly recommend The Joshua Basket and  Celebrations of Faith as these resources would be easy to develop a parent training and are sure to significantly impact families who implement these celebrations. I also recommend utilizing a curriculum with a unified scope and sequence - check out kidz Connection
2. How to parent children and help them learn to make wise choices - I recommend Parenting with Love and Logic
3. How to be a steward of their time and resources, check out Financial Parenting 

The church can impact and equip church and community parents by offering classes in these areas as well:

1. How to discipline their children – all parents need help with this vital area, I recommend Parenting with Love and Logic 
2. Marriage – both to strengthen and help when it is struggling - check out Marriage Love and Logic, The Five Love Languages: the Secret to Love that Lasts,
3. Divorce recovery - check out Love Must Be Tough, The Smart Step-Family, Healing the Hurt in Your Marriage
4. Finances,  check out Financial Parenting and Financial Peace University

I had the opportunity to talk with Children's Pastors from churches across the country to see what they are doing to equip parents and how they get church and community parents to attend their training opportunities. Most of the churches I spoke with told me while they wanted to provide opportunities to equip and train parents and knew this had to be a vital component of effective ministry to their kids, they were not really doing so. The churches that were providing any equipping and training opportunities were mostly implementing them through their small group ministry. These opportunities were successful because to begin with, the invitations to attend – especially to community parents – were delivered personally, by a church parent and the class began with a relationship in place to build from. In fact, one large church told me 90% of community parents were brought into their church by relationships with those who attended the church. People in and out of the church are looking for real relationships and if we provide opportunities for people to find these relationships and at the same time strengthen their parenting skills, their marriages, their families, we will not only find parents attending our training classes, but will find ourselves successful at the other part of effective ministry to children – building, equipping and encouraging the family as well!

We only see kids for a few hours a week. If parents understood their roll as primary trainers/teachers for their children and felt equipped and confident to do so, these families would be strengthened and our ministry would be many times more effective. We need to evaluate and include in our written ministry statement measurable goals relating to equipping and encouraging parents to train their children as many parents will step into and fill their role if they feel equipped and are encouraged to follow-through.

Along with equipping and encouraging parents we do have a role to fill in coming alongside and building on what parents are teaching their children. We need to evaluate our Sunday school, mid-week ministry and other opportunities for children to be involved in our ministries to be certain these opportunities are genuinely effective. We want children whose parents do train them to be further challenged to continue to understand and live God’s Word as they participate in the opportunities we develop and provide at church. We also need to be aware, while many parents will fill their role when they understand and are equipped to do so, there will be parents who – for whatever reason – will not accept this role. In these cases, we in the church have a “surrogate” role to fill with these kids. We can have a truly effective ministry which impacts lives in real and lasting ways and while we strive to pass a legacy of faith to these kids, we need to also continue to try and reach the parents so they will put their faith in Christ and then be equipped and encouraged to train their children.

Ministry to children is too important for us to ignore building, equipping and strengthening families. If we have a ministry to children we also have to have a ministry to parents and the family as well. When we commit to the whole ministry we will see families in the church strengthened and families from the community reached for Christ making a real, lasting and measurable impact on the community!

The Other Part of Effective Children's Ministry

What does and should children's ministry look like in our churches? What is the true, God given role for the church to fill in the area of training and teaching children? For many, many years we have mostly focused on the area of teaching in Sunday school, mid-week ministry and for special events like Vacation Bible School. While these are certainly areas the church can and should strive to be as effective as possible due to the tremendous way they allow us to reach in to the “church” kids and out to “community” kids, true, genuine and lasting effectiveness is achieved as the church fills it’s role in equipping and encouraging parents to fill their God-given role as the primary teachers of their children.


Even a quick look at Scripture passages such as Deuteronomy 6:4-9; Psalm 78:1-7, 2 Timothy 1:5 and Ephesians 6:1-4 clearly show how God has entrusted to parents the vital role of passing on a legacy of faith to their children. When parents take seriously their responsibility and great privilege to train and teach their children, they create a setting ideal for their child to grow to understand, believe and live God’s Word!


I believe there are two primary areas the church can and should focus it’s attention on . . . the first being that of equipping and encouraging parents to teach their own children and the second of coming alongside to reinforce and build on that which the parents have done and are doing. We will look at both of these areas.


First in equipping and encouraging parents we have two groups of parents to consider – church parents and community parents. I sincerely believe most if not all Christian parents sincerely desire for their children to respond to God’s grace and love and then grow in their walk with Him. Some parents understand their God-given role to teach their children, are committed to doing so and see the fruit of this commitment in the lives of their children. However, many parents I talk with express their frustration, generally in one of two areas. First, in not understanding their role – they tell me, “This is why we bring our kids to church, so they can learn about God and the Bible.” These parents love their children, but see the church as the primary – and in far too many cases, the sole – spiritual educator for their children. While it is true the church has an important and much needed role in coming alongside and building on that which the parents have done and are doing to train their children, the church cannot nor should be the primary or sole trainer/teacher of children. Scripture is clear this is a responsibility, privilege and joy given to parents – they are to train children as they rise as they walk . . . throughout the day. Parents are the people in the position to train their children day-in-day-out . . . throughout life. Teachers at church are not able to train and influence children to this extent; it is clear God’s plan is for parents to be the primary trainers of their children. When we work with parents to help them understand their role we need to be clear in helping them realize the difference between teaching facts only and passing on a true legacy of faith. Too often church parents think when they are studying the Bible in family devotions and making their kids memorize verses they are filling this role. However, passing on a legacy of faith is not about adding to the head knowledge of kids – it is about helping children understand how to make real connections between life and God’s Word that impacts the choices made and the way they live.

The second area of frustration parents have shared with me has to do with them feeling inadequate to teach their children. Many parents have only a head, fact-based knowledge of Scripture and feel completely at a loss as to how to connect Scripture facts with their own lives let alone teach their children how to do this. There are parents who do not have the confidence to relate what God’s Word says about issues like discipline, sibling relationships, how to lead their child to Christ, how to give, how to pray, how to serve and the list goes on. If a parent lacks confidence or does not have the information they need, they will not train their children.

Community parents may not recognize the need to pass a legacy of faith to their children – especially if they lack faith themselves – but many parents, especially single parents are looking for answers to both their parenting concerns as well as answers to the problems and challenges they face in life and this provides the church a golden opportunity to touch lives and reach out to the community and in so doing, impact families in real and lasting ways.

In my next post I'll look at what we can do to help parents teach their children!

Scripture Memory - How Do We Help Children Really Treasure God's Word in Their Hearts? In Conclusion!

In my own church I struggled to help people understand the “whys” for real

Scripture memory. We had people who wanted the kids to learn many verses

and thought they should be rewarded for doing so. The Scripture memory plan

we ended up utilizing is as follows:

• Our curriculum has one verse/passage for a month - all ages learn the same verse together.
• The first week we focus on learning the verse.
• The second week, kids say the verse and learn what it means.
• The third week, kids say the verse, tell what it means and share a way they lived it in their lives the previous week. 
• The fourth week, kids say the verse – by now, most all the kids will know the verse, even those who struggle with memorizing – they tell again what it means to them and tell another, different way they lived the verse in their real lives. 
• If there is a fifth week, they repeat and tell another way they lived the verse.
• This is something the teachers have to do along with the kids!

I really like this plan for Scripture memory because the focus is not on just learning the words in proper order – I’m not impressed by someone memorizing a hundred verses unless they also are living those hundred verses – but instead the emphasis is on understanding and living God’s Word! We don’t give prizes or rewards for Scripture memory – the prize is God’s Word, being able to see God’s Word is real – today! Affects my life – now! Enables me to know God – for real! Just as these reasons were worth more to David than riches, they can be the “reward” for children and adults today as well!

And what about the Holy Spirit? Scripture clearly shows that He is our Teacher, see John 14:26, and in our passage from Psalm 119, David talked about God being his Teacher as well. But, how does He do this? I wouldn’t want to put God in a “box” and say He can only teach us in certain ways, but God does give the gifts of Preaching and Teaching to people, so I believe it is possible one of the primary ways God teaches us, is through the people He gifts. We need to be sure we have people who are gifted in areas that involve teaching our children. We also need to be sure we provide train their effectiveness in teaching. In addition, it is crucial we provide opportunities for our volunteers to grow in their own walk as a teacher who is walking with God is one who will be able to be used by God and will be tremendously more effective in helping to lead others to walk with God as well. When our teachers help their students to understand the words they are memorizing, and are teaching children to spend time in prayer with God, the children will come to see God as their Teacher – we have all had experiences where we were reading Scripture or meditating on Scripture we memorized when all of a sudden, it became clear what the passage is all about. This is an example of when the Spirit, Himself, is our teacher. God is certainly able to take words we don’t understand, and teach us to understand what they mean, but I do believe we are delighting God when we and our teachers use the gifts He has given to help children understand the words they are memorizing!

Perhaps your church recognizes the need to develop a Scripture memory

plan which is real, so developing a goal and implementing a plan to involve the

children and adults in real Scripture memory is something you should be able

to go ahead with. But maybe your church still looks at Scripture memory

from the perspectives mentioned earlier and you are wondering if this is a

battle worth fighting or one whicht doesn’t really matter enough to go through

the struggle to implement change. After all, what is so bad about making

kids memorize lots of verses and giving them awards/prizes for doing so?

Please allow me to share a few true stories with you.

When I was in high school, I was on my church’s quiz team. It was my goal

to be able to answer any question with no more than five words of any

question being spoken. I memorized doctrine books and a hundred verses –

King James Version, word perfect. I quizzed out – personally answered five

of the fifteen questions in a match – of every match, except for two. I do

not remember most of what I memorized, but I do have trophies for winning

in international competition – understanding for application would have been

tremendously more long lasting and life impacting. I truly wish someone

had said, “Quiz team may be fun, but remembering, understanding and living

God’s Word is more valuable than winning”. As a teen, I didn’t understand

this. I wish my leaders had.

My children have been able to memorize easily and when they were younger,

they earned lots of badges from their mid-week club. I thought this was

a great thing, until one evening when I noticed other children crying when

week after week they didn’t receive badges because they struggled with

putting the words in order and memorization was difficult for them. No

child should feel like they are not good enough at church.

A lady I know thinks memorizing lots of verses is important. She has a

daughter who can memorize and while this daughter is only in the fourth

grade, she has memorized many verses. This girl, however: is a challenge

in her Children’s Ministry . . . she lies, won’t share or take turns and takes things from others. This girl’s mother wants her to memorize lots of verses . . . I pray she learns to understand and live even some of the Scripture she must memorize.

I’m not advocating that we in Children’s Ministry stop having children

memorize Scripture, but in previous years, I do believe we tended to swing

too far to the extreme of having children memorize many verses, for which

they were rewarded with candy, or prizes without focusing on what the verses mean and how to live them in their everyday lives. We do not need to swing to the other extreme of providing almost no Scripture for kids to memorize. There is balance somewhere in the middle, but to get to that place of balance, we may need to go to very focused Scripture memory, offering only a few verses to be memorized with an emphasis on living those verses in our everyday lives. Once children – and adults – see Scripture does mean something to their lives, now, they will be willing to memorize more Scripture for the joy God’s Word, living in their lives brings – this a great reason to memorize Scripture!

Now, I’m sure there are people who memorize lots of verses, understand

them and live God’s Word. But for the kids who struggle and feel they are

not good enough and for the ones who only focus on the number of verses

or the “prize” to win rather than the living of Scripture, we in Children’s

Ministry have the opportunity to take a stand and make a difference so

those in our ministry will “delight in God’s statutes and not forget His Word”

for their lifetime! It is worth the struggle!

Scripture Memory - How Do We Help Children Really Treasure God's Word in Their Hearts? Part Two!

This passage in Psalm 119, as a whole, has much to say about Scripture Memory, but how does this translate into our ministries to the children and families in our churches and communities? How should we approach Scripture memory – what should our goal be for Scripture memory? How do we develop real, effective Scripture memory plans where God’s Word is remembered, understood and lived out in our lives and the lives of the children and adults in our church and community? And, how to we take into account the role of the Holy Spirit in teaching people – children included – so they will understand God’s Word to be able to live it in their lives? 

Let’s take a look at these questions. First, how do we approach Scripture

memory . . . what should our goal be in Scripture memory? Why do we

want people to memorize Scripture? Our passage in Psalm 119 gives us four

reasons David wanted to remember God’s Word.

1. So he'd live a pure life and not sin.

2. So he'd know God.

3. So he'd continue to learn more about God.

4. So he could tell others.

When we look at our reasons for Scripture memory – what are they? Why

do we have children memorize Scripture? There may be several reasons

you can think of, but it isn’t good enough that we memorize because we are

a church and Scripture memory is something we have kids do. It should

never be so kids can earn badges, trophies or candy. What do we want to be the end result of Scripture memory? Do we really want our efforts to result in

short term memory goals or do we want to see the long term . . . the living out of Scripture in the lives of children and adults? Take a moment to think about

the goals you want to see accomplished because you have people involved in

Scripture memory. You may want to consider gathering a group of teachers,

parents and church members to help determine the goals your church has

for Scripture memory.

Once you have your goals on paper, how do you develop a real, effective

Scripture memory plan where children and adults are remembering,

understanding and living out God’s Word in their everyday lives? I thought

it may be helpful to talk with some Children’s Directors and Pastors

from churches across the country to see what they are doing in the area

of Scripture memory. I was truly saddened to hear of the low level of

participation in Scripture memory by children and the almost non-existent

level of participation by adults in something as valuable as Scripture memory.

While we all say it is important, so few people are really memorizing

Scripture – and even fewer understand and live that Scripture.

However, I am delighted to say there are some churches where they are

experiencing success in equipping their children and adults in the area of

Scripture memory! Several years ago I asked Larry Shallenberger when he served at Grace Baptist Church, Erie, Pennsylvania, how they approached Scripture memory. Larry said, “We spend 10 – 15 minutes per Sunday School class reviewing the Scripture verse and making sure the children understand what Scripture is trying to teach us. We do NOT do the traditional rewards programs for Bible memory, because they are extrinsically driven; the only children who succeed are the children whose parents get behind it. We also want children to be vested in life-long Bible learning because they know its value.” Larry’s Children’s Ministry handbook says, “Bible Memory is very important to us. However, we don’t want to merely hide God’s Word in our brains. The Bible talks about God’s Word being hidden in our heart. In Biblical language the heart was the symbol of the whole person: mind, will and emotion. We need to have God’s Word permeate every part of who we are . . . With that in mind, we need to say we don’t value cramming Scripture into a child’s short term memory. That’s not an ambitious enough goal. We do want our children to be able to recite Scripture, but we also want our children to be able to comprehend the Scripture they are memorizing. Without comprehension, the whole exercise is meaningless.” Larry explained how they spent time on Sundays and Wednesdays working to learn the same verse. Then he made a very important point. “Everyday review of the verse needs to be supplied by the family." He said they found the children who learned memory work the best were the children whose parents got involved with them.”

Gordon West, of Kids At Heart in Mesa, AZ, told me at his church they, “want the kids to enjoy memorizing God’s Word for the joy of getting to know God better, so this must be modeled by the adults. We want the kids to understand the verses they memorize and so we do work with paraphrasing.” They have children learn one verse a month, with the emphasis on “retention and understanding beyond just rote memory of the verse . . . We ask that teachers NEVER ask for just rote memory, but also require the child to repeat the verse in his/her own words. We also try to teach on the meaning of the verse in addition to memorization . . . while remaining in our place as the “supporters” of the spiritual nurturing that the parents are responsible for.”

I so appreciate Larry and Gordon stressing the role parents play in effective

Scripture memory. Look through God’s Word. You will find verses and

passages, like in Psalm 119, encouraging individuals to learn Bible verses.

You will find passages like Deuteronomy 6 where parents are commanded to

teach their children. You will not find verses telling the church to teach

children memory verses. Why is it so many people today look to the church

as the one whose responsibility it is to teach Scripture memory? This isn’t

to say the church should not be involved in teaching Scripture memory, but

it is the “job” and joy of parents and individuals to memorize Scripture and

teach their children to do the same.

This can be a difficult area in Children’s Ministry to try and affect changes

to make Scripture memory real. Be aware, you may have people in your

church who fit one of the following categories.

1. 1. “More is better” – the children need to be given lots of memory verses to learn. 
2. “Rewards” are a fact of life, so it is okay to reward kids for verses learned.
3. “I memorized verses as a kid and while they didn’t necessarily mean anything to me then, they do now.”

These “reasons” for status quo Scripture memory can be difficult to deal with – people can be tremendously passionate about Scripture memory. If you experience these responses, remember, these people are likely concerned if we are “teaching the Bible to the kids”. Most of the time, they mean well. Try to help them understand your goals for Scripture memory . . . you don’t just want to “teach” Scripture, but rather are concerned with what is remembered and lived out – what is “learned”. In my final post on this subject, I'll share the Scripture memory plan we used at my church.

Scripture Memory - How Do We Help Children Really Treasure God's Word in Their Hearts?

Psalm 119:11 – "Your Word I have treasured in my heart, That I may not sin against You. NASB"


This one verse is probably the single most often-utilized verse people
turn to when they think about why they should memorize Scripture. Well-
meaning and intentioned people tell me, “We need to have kids memorize
lots of Scripture while they are young so when they are older it will mean
something to them and they will have it when they need it.” When I hear
that, I wonder two things . . . why should we wait till kids have grown up to
expect Scripture to mean something to them and why don’t we think kids will
need Scripture to be real to them, now?


One of the beautiful things about Psalm 119 is it is broken into passages. Let’s take a closer look at Psalm 119:11 in the context of the other verses in this passage.


Psalm 119:9-16 - "How can a young man keep his way pure? By keeping it according to Your Word. With all my heart I have sought You; Do not let me wander from Your commandments. Your Word I have treasured in my heart, That I may not sin against You. Blessed are You, O LORD; Teach me Your statutes. With my lips I have told of all the ordinances of Your mouth. I have rejoiced in the way of Your testimonies, As much as in all riches. I will meditate on Your precepts and regard Your ways. I shall delight in Your statutes; I shall not forget Your Word."


What a beautiful and challenging passage, which when taken as a passage –
rather than just one verse – sheds tremendous light on the whole issue of
Scripture memorization. I believe Scripture memorization is something
children, youth and adults should regularly be doing, but not just for the
sake of “memorizing verses”. Lets take a look at this passage – all of it – to
see what it teaches us about memorization.


First, verse 9 begins with a question, “How can a young man keep his way
pure?” – I do believe this is one of the main reasons we want children to
learn God’s Word. We all wonder the same thing, not just for “young men”,
but also for all of us of any age. We recognize we all need help to keep
our way pure. This verse goes on to answer the question by telling us to keep
our way according to God’s Word – this indicates we have to do three things.
We must remember God’s Word . . . this is where Scripture memory comes
in as to keep God’s Word, we have to remember what He said. Then we have
to understand it . . .we have to keep our way according to God’s Word – this
will only happen if we understand God’s Word and finally, we have to put it into practice by living it in our everyday life!


Verse 10 challenges us to seek God with all our heart – memorization is not
just about head knowledge, it has to be something which involves all of us.
When it isn’t just in our head, we won’t wander from God’s commandments.


Then for verse 11 – it encourages us to hide or treasure God's word in our heart – not our head – so we won’t sin. The not sinning isn’t a result of words in our head, but rather from words, treasured and lived out of our very being!
From there, David goes on to praise God and asks Him to be his Teacher so
as David learns from God, he will be able to tell others, rejoice/follow/live
God’s Word, not for some prize or external reward, but rather for the joy
of knowing God and having His Word real in his life – this in itself is more
valuable to David than riches!


Verse 15 shows us David did not consider Scripture memory to be
something he'd “learn” and not use, but rather one reason for learning
was to enable him to continually refer back to and meditate on Scripture so he would be able to continue to learn and know more of God and His ways! Finally, the end result is David delights in God’s Word and will not forget/neglect what he has learned!


This passage, as a whole, has much to say about Scripture Memory, but how

does this translate into our ministries to the children and families in our

churches and communities? How should we approach Scripture memory –

what should our goal be for Scripture memory? How do we develop real,

effective Scripture memory plans where God’s Word is remembered,

understood and lived out in our lives and the lives of the children and

adults in our church and community? And, how to we take into account the

role of the Holy Spirit in teaching people – children included – so they will

understand God’s Word to be able to live it in their lives? In my next post I'll see if I can answer some of these questions!

Keep Your Children's Ministry Before the Eyes of Your Church - It Takes a Church!

In my last post I re-posted Wanda Parkers article about what we want our kids to look like when they are 40 years old. Today I'm continuing her post with her follow-up on how to get there. I also wanted to share a couple additional excerpts from her posts about the book, Essential Church? by Thom and Sam Rainer. Wanda said, 

"On page 27 we read, '… the youngest generation doesn't necessarily leave their faith; rather they leave their church.' Don’t we see this over and over in the Old Testament?  The second generation may still have their faith but the third generation 'knows not God.' – Abraham, Isaac, Jacob (Jacob did wrestle with God and came back), David, Solomon, Absalom – what others can you add? I think it was Bruce Wilkinson who first brought this to my attention over 20 years ago.  He pointed out that as we raise up children we want them to be First Generation Christians. 'First Generation Christians Know God and Know His Power Second Generation Christians know God but know not His power. Third Generation Christians know not God nor His power.' If we are going to raise up First Generation Christians we must first KNOW GOD AND KNOW HIS POWER ourselves.  Then we must expose our children to situations where they have to be dependent on God so they can experience His power. 

My previous post asked the question, 'Who Do You Want A Child To Be When he Is 40?' The next question that has to be asked is, 'What does the kid need today so he will grow into the man I pray he will become.?' "

IT TAKES A CHURCH TO RAISE A CHILD WHO WILL WALK WITH JESUS INTO ADULTHOOD

CHILDREN/FAMILY MINISTRY

• Intentional, individualistic discipleship of children by adults in addition to mom and dad.
  • Adults committed to walk through life with children.
• Gospel centered Biblical teaching.
• Provide teaching so children are able to internalize the truth.
  • Children think in the concrete – Biblical concepts are abstract.
  • Curriculum that encourages Disciplers to share their own walk with God – the good, the bad, and the ugly. Don’t be afraid of reality.
  • If we want children to walk with Jesus into adulthood the truth must sink in deeper than just the brain.
• Curriculum that speaks to the whole child (spiritual, mental, physical, emotional and social).
• Children’s Ministry team continually asking, “Are we making the Church essential to the children? As adults will they need the Church to feel fulfilled?” . . . Years ago I was told of study where they took adult siblings who had grown up in Christian homes and one had walked away from the Lord while the other continued to walk with the Lord.  The question they were asking was “Why?” I think that when they began they thought they would learn that it was something that happened within the home. BUT!  What they learned was that the sibling who walked away from the Lord had never felt connected to the local church growing up.The sibling who continued to walk with the Lord into adulthood had close connections with adults within the local body of Christ other than mom and dad. She had experienced child discipleship.In other words he was discipled by members of the church other than mom and dad.  He felt he was ESSENTIAL TO THE CHURCH because of these intentional relationships. Discipled means involvement with the kid in and out of church. It means commitment and intentionality on the parts of adults.Why is this connection to the local church as a child so important? Statistics today show that we are losing 70% of our church raised kids. That means your child(ren) is at risk of walking away from the Lord. Kids need to hear the gospel message from you, but also from other adults with whom they have a trusting relationship. Each time they hear the truth from someone else with whom they have a relationship it builds a lasting credibility. By the time kids are in their teens it is already too late.
• Every gathering of children considered to be a ministry – not just a program.
• Intentional Summer Ministries . . . Summer is a time when kids can be taught skills, such as planning, there isn't time for during the year. Make Summer Sundays different from the rest of the year – the kids need a break

EQUIPPING PARENTS

• Provide opportunity for parents to learn what their children are learning so they can continue at home what was begun at church.
• Provide take home tool for parents to use to disciple their children at home on the concept the child was introduced to at church.
• Think of the church as a family – we are the Family of God.
  • Families meet needs – provide spiritual, emotional, physical, social, mental support to families as needed.
  • Discipleship Plans
• Parenting classes
• Parenting tips

CONNECTING NEEDY FAMILIES TO COMMUNITY RESOURCES

• Family Plans for families with extreme needs.
• The church makes known that it has teams who will work with a family to assist them in moving out of difficult situations.
• The family works with the team to develop a plan to move them out of the “situation” in which they find themselves.
• If within the church its self there are not the needed resources (such as a lawyer) then the team will search the community for one who is willing to do pro bono work.

What Wanda is talking about is being committed to insuring your children's ministry is intentional. This isn't just the "job" of the people who serve in the children's ministry. It is the responsibility of the entire church. To really make this point take the children in your ministry to the front of your church on a Sunday morning. Share the following information - 43% of people make a decision for Jesus before they are 13 years old. After the age of 21 less than 23% of people get saved (George Barna). If statistics are showing we lose 70% of children raised in our churches, which of these children are you willing to lose? Divide the children so they represent 30% on one side and 70% on the other. Say nothing else, then after a moment have the children return to sit with their parents or return to their classes.

Yes, this is a shocking way to get people's attention, but children's ministry matters. We pay far too high of a price when we do not intentionally place the vision, passion, plan and priority on our children's ministry it must have.

Thank you Wanda for allowing me to repost your articles. If you would like to read more from Wanda, you can visit her blog through this link.