Grateful or Greedy; Are We Greedy?

Yesterday I asked if our ministries are "grateful" or "greedy" and posted a link to an excellent article. While I'm sure none of us want to even think our ministry might show we are "greedy", if we do not ask the question and keep our eyes open, we may indeed discover our ministries are "greedy" and are not "grateful". So, what might we see if our Children's Ministry is "greedy"? Consider the following . . . 

• In the article I linked to, it said children are not "expensive"; greed is expensive and went on to say children do not have to have the newest and best and most expensive things . . . in our Children's Ministries do we focus on having to have the newest, best and most expensive when what we already have would actually be just as effective, work just as well and allow us to continue reaching children and families?
• Do we try certain curriculum resources or events because they are what all the "in" churches use and do?
• Do we "push" events and opportunities for children and families because they are the current thing or because they are genuinely helping children know and walk with Jesus?

So, other than the obvious reason - greed in any form does not please God, why does it matter if we are on guard against having ministries which show "greed"? I think one of the biggest reasons go back to the questions I recently asked about keeping our focus as greed will cause us to lose focus and in so doing we will cheapen our faith. We can become distracted by the "new", "current cool thing" and "popular" and in so doing we fail to help the children and families in our ministries learn to know and walk with Jesus.

I can "paraphrase" the end of the article a bit for Children Ministries . . . 

The children in our Children's Ministries, yours and mine, need so very little. They need compassion, security, respect, Faith and morals to guide them; they need our love. They need our eyes on them as they show their latest skill, our ears open to hear their latest story, our minds and hearts fully present when we sit with them to play, to read, to be. In the end . . . these things are everything they need. What our children really need from us – it doesn’t cost a thing. 

We do not need big budgets and the newest and coolest curriculum/resources. We need God's Word and we need to be people who actually know and walk with Jesus, who are willing to share the joy which comes from doing so with children, so they can do the same. We must be on-guard and watching for greed so it does not distract our Children's Ministries.