Are you In or Out of the Box?

Is your Children's Ministry, "in the box", or are you, "out of the box"? I know in the past few years one of the "catch phrases" in ministry has been to, "think out of the box", and many Children's Ministries have reevaluated what they do and how they do it with a goal of being more effective. 

But while this thinking has brought about some changes which have helped Children's Ministries be more effective, this is not what I'm talking about. Today I'm talking about are you, "in the box", or not, when it comes to your Children's Ministry interacting with other areas of the church. For example, is your focus, all of it, on programming for children, recruiting volunteers and all you have to do each week, or do you look for opportunities; or better yet, create opportunities, for the Children's Ministry to interact with other areas of the church? Are you in the box with your focus on just the Children's Ministry, or out of the box with your focus on children, families and grandparents . . . intergenerational ministry.

I've been talking a lot lately about engaging grandparents and equipping them to pass on a heritage of faith to their grandchildren. In the coming week I want to think about why this can be a very important part of the Children's Ministry in your church and how it can help you truly impact the lives of children in far greater ways than you ever will if you, "stay in the box"!