These Things Matter as Well

This morning, on one of my other blogs - Grandma's with Heart -- I wrote about how important it is for grandparents to speak up on behalf of their grandchildren - particularly when it comes to their experience in their Children's Ministry. I wrote; "If you have grandchildren who go to church with their parents, or with you, you must be a person who is willing to speak up on behalf of your grandchildren to your church leadership. If your Children's Ministry does not engage your grandchildren while they are young, they will get the mistaken idea church - and therefore Jesus - are boring. If your Children's Ministry does not connect with your grandchildren by noticing when they are not there, sending a card on their birthday, and just making sure the children know they are loved, they will be more likely to stop going and believe the church - and therefore Jesus - do not really care about them. While these things are important if your grown children take your grandchildren to church, they are absolutely imperative if you are the ones taking your grandchildren to church." (You will find the full post at this link.) 

So I want to take a moment to encourage you to listen, truly listen if any grandparents in your church speak up for their grandchildren. If they do, this tells you several important things . . . 

1. First of all, these grandparents care - about their grandchildren and about your Children's Ministry.
2. If their grandchildren are feeling left out or do not want to be part of your Children's Ministry, you need to pay attention. Clearly this is not what you want to happen, so since it is, you need to pay attention and make changes.
3. If grandparents are speaking up it is very likely there are those who are experiencing the same things but are not speaking up.
4. Your response matters. If you ignore them - they will believe you do not care. If you demand they apologize, they will know you are not to be trusted as you refuse to take responsibility for the things for which you should take responsibility. If you sit down with them and listen, pray about what changes need to be made, and then make changes - they will know you care.

So, be ready to respond well, and if no grandparents contact you, take a close look at what you are doing, ask questions, listen to the answers, and determine if there are any changes you need to make - but no one was willing to mention it to you.

Children's Ministry matters - what you do, how you do it, and how you respond if what you are doing is not having the results you want - these things matter as well.