We need to ask ourselves what is most important to us. Where do we want to see our church focus it's energy, time, people and finances? In our churches our first staff hire is obviously for a senior pastor. The next hire in most churches is for a youth pastor, but really, shouldn't the next hire show we are turning our vision, passion, plan and priority to the children's ministry? In far too many churches the third hire is for someone to lead music. Don't get me wrong, I understand music can be an effective way to lead people in praising God, but when 43% of people make the decision to follow Jesus before the age of 13 how can we put music ahead of the children?
Where is the priority in your church? Is there a vision, passion, plan and priority on children and families which is obvious to all? Are the parents being actively equipped to be the primary disciplers of their children? Is the children's ministry a visible part of the church? Is it held up before the people as a vital and important part of the church? Does your children's ministry extend beyond Sunday morning, Wednesday night and one week in the summer? These are important questions to ask.
Children's ministry matters and the price is too high to pay when it doesn't have the vision, passion, plan and priority in our churches that it needs to have.
No comments:
Post a Comment