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What are we supposed to be doing in children’s ministry? The bottom line is we’re in ministry to help mold kids so they live as Christ followers. And we’re painfully aware that, in the church, we have little time with the children to accomplish this. However, the full responsibility is not on us. As the church, we are here to help parents and be their partners in this effort.

For this partnership to work, both parents and the church must understand how their responsibilities complement each other. Our parents need to understand and apply a biblical worldview when raising their children. They have to model daily how to be a Christ follower if they expect their children to be Christ followers. The value of this cannot be underestimated. Then, as the church, we come alongside parents and reinforce what they are living out on a daily basis in the home.

Now let’s make a few assumptions. Let’s assume our children’s parents regularly attend church. Let’s also assume that these parents love their children. Finally let’s assume that these parents want their children to become adults who are Christ followers. If all these assumptions are true, then here are some ways in which children’s ministries can partner with parents.

1. Communicate. It is important to let parents know on a regular basis what is taught in the church. Here are some of the methods we’ve used: sending take-home papers; projecting children’s ministry teaching information on the screen during the main worship service; offering information on the website; teaching in conjunction with the adult curriculum to create family discussion. We know that none of these ways are 100 percent effective, but they provide help to the families who wish to use them.

2. Create family events. We started making children’s events family-oriented. We ask that a parent be present at every teaching or social event. For example, our fall festival is a family event that doesn’t require many volunteers, and it brings families together with other families in the church.

3. Discontinue the kids-only VBS. We have restructured our vacation Bible school to be a family VBS so parents are involved, too. In this type of structure, the parents are brought along in the teaching automatically. We don’t dismiss the adults for a separate lesson—they stay with their kids the entire time. This is a great opportunity for families to enjoy quality time and a shared hands-on experience together.

4. Dedicate parents. For years, we have held Baby Day. There are lots of “oohs” and “aahs” as beautiful babies and proud parents are introduced to the church family. Make no mistake, though—this is not a baby dedication but a parent dedication. While this is a great way for a parent to make a public, verbal commitment, we have increased the impact by requiring that parents attend a special class before participating in the actual ceremony. Parents learn why it’s important to dedicate themselves to godly parenting, and we provide parenting tools and resources. It’s invaluable to educate parents at this juncture about their responsibility to teach their child about matters of faith. If they can form a habit of spiritual education in their family, they have a much better chance of sticking with it in the latter years.

5. Build a Backyard Bible Club. The main goal of Backyard Bible Clubs is to help church members see the influence they can and should have outside the walls of the church building. Each club is held in a church family’s neighborhood and hosted by one or two families. The club is an outreach to the neighborhood, and it creates a way for families to work together to invite neighbors. This is a great opportunity for parents to model that faith is something to be shared on a daily basis.

6. Include parents. We offer a Bible 101 class for children who want to make a commitment to Christ. This is a four-week course, and it is mandatory for parents to participate the first and last week. The purpose of the class is to make sure the parents are informed about what their child will be learning. It’s also to instruct and encourage parents to be involved in their child’s experience of making a decision to follow Christ. The children are given a booklet to work on at home with their parents, and some questions require parents’ input. Hopefully, the parents will become an integral part of their child’s spiritual growth.

7. Organize family teaching. We allow and encourage families to teach together. We have several families who teach a Sunday school class as a family unit. This is yet another opportunity for the parents to be spiritual role models in service and attitude.

8. Mark spiritual growth. One area that we plan to develop is a way to applaud spiritual benchmarks of the children. I think this will be significant for the parents. If we are communicating what we expect the children to learn and then acknowledge these steps when they are accomplished, it will reinforce the importance of spiritual growth.

It is possible to only teach and never offer opportunities for parents to use what they have learned. It also is possible to offer opportunities, but never educate the parents on how to be spiritual leaders in their families. It would seem that our most effective efforts to bring family and church together are through teaching and coaching the parents and providing them with opportunities to use their knowledge in practical ways. These approaches go hand-in-hand.

Since there is limited time spent with the children in our ministry, we need to be effective partners in raising Christ followers. As children’s and family life ministers, we have a timely and exciting challenge before us. Let’s step up to the challenge!

—Becky Arthur is the  children’s minister at Harvester Christian Church in St. Charles, Missouri.

Adapted from Collaborate: Family + Church, by Michael Chanley + the Group of 34, © 2010 Ministers Label. Used by permission.

Here’s a great FREE sample object lesson from our DiscipleTown curriculum that teaches kids to follow instructions.

Source: From DiscipleTown “How to Follow God’s Plan”

Letʼs Play!—Follow Instructions Game

Supplies: envelopes, two sheets of paper, one with each set of instructions printed on them.

Ask for two volunteers who are outgoing and willing to look a little silly for a prize. But mention that they must be good at reading and following directions. In this game, boys against girls works well, or you can pick one boy and one girl to start with, since you will need to pick replacements as they mess up.

When the contestants come up, give each an envelope with the following instructions inside. Explain that they are exactly the same instructions, only in a different order so that they canʼt just follow what the other is doing; also, it will be harder to tell who is winning until the end. (It is important that the first line be included in small print!)

PLAYER 1: Read these instructions all the way through; then do what they say.

1. Jump up and down ten times.

2. Run and touch the back wall, come back, and yell, “Iʼm back!”

3. Say the alphabet facing backwards.

4. Pat the leader on the head.

5. Go knock on a door.

6. Sing “Row, Row, Row your Boat” all the way through fast.

7. Turn around three times.

8. Sit on the ground and yell, “Iʼm so silly!”

9. Say “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious” three times super-loud.

10. Do only number 4; then yell, “Iʼm all done!”

PLAYER 2: Read these instructions all the way through; then do what they say.

1. Turn around three times.

2. Sing “Row, Row, Row your Boat” all the way through fast.

3. Jump up and down ten times.

4. Run and touch the back wall, come back, and yell, “Iʼm back!”

5. Sit on the ground and yell, “Iʼm so silly!”

6. Pat the leader on the head.

7. Say the alphabet facing backwards.

8. Say “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious” three times super-loud.

9. Go knock on a door.

10. Do only number 6; then yell, “Iʼm all done!”

Most kids will start out doing everything on the sheet and fail to notice the instruction “Read these instructions all the way through; and then do what they say” line. Therefore, you can let them go for a while—they may even finish—and then announce that nobody won because they did something wrong. Then choose another contestant. After a while you can start interrupting the game sooner. Eventually a kid will read it all first, do only the correct item, and win.

The Point

A lot of people have a Bible and are trying to follow it, but they are doing so in a haphazard way—so they end up making a lot of mistakes in life that could have been avoided if they had been reading the Bible carefully!

About

DiscipleTown is a downloadable children’s church curriculum for elementary-age kids. Developed by Karl Bastian, the Kidologist, and published by DiscipleLand, DiscipleTown uses a creative and adaptable town theme to teach practical “Disciple Skills” that every follower of Jesus Christ must develop in order to grow and live victoriously. The children’s church format compliments DiscipleLand and/or your other ministries to kids.

The following DiscipleTown units are currently available with more to come!

• How To Worship God

• How To Use My Bible

• How To Grow Spiritual Fruit

• How To Make Good Friends

• How To Follow God’s Plan

• How To Make Good Choices

• How To Be Faithful Workers

Rather than providing a rigid plan to follow, you can quickly and easily modify DiscipleTown to fit your ministry needs. There is more than enough material for a full length service, but you can also choose only the elements you’d like to use. By design, DiscipleTown is packed with ideas so you’ll never be left needing to supplement the lesson, but its flexibility allows you to add your own unique teaching elements.

© 2010, DiscipleLand. All rights reserved.

One of the greatest gifts you can present to God is to believe – truly accept – what He says about you.

Jesus resisted the devil by applying God’s Word. When you are attacked, it is the knowledge and use of the Word that allows you to resist temptation. We cannot resist him by human will or human effort. We resist him by spiritual means – by using the Word of God, being empowered by His Holy Spirit, and through prayer.

As we look at the Word, apply the Word in faith and obedience, allowing the Spirit to empower that action through prayer we can be victorious. Read the rest of this entry »

We are called to make disciples. It is the heart of our Lord’s Commission for His Church. Jesus said:

“Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Matthew 28:19,20)

We fulfill the Great Commission as we develop students and adults into faithful followers of Jesus Christ. Otherwise, many depart from the faith because they are not led to maturity and service in the body of Christ. Read the rest of this entry »

Conflicts cause great damage to relationships when left unresolved. In our home and in the churches I have pastored, we teach and practice something we call instant reconciliation.

Jesus said, “Moreover if your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he hears you, you have gained your brother” (Matthew 18:15-17; see also Matthew 5:23-24).

Let’s break it down. Read the rest of this entry »

The latest DiscipleTown unit, How to Follow God’s Plan is now available on both DiscipleLand.com and Kidology.org. Read the rest of this entry »

Once upon a time, Christian parents asked their children after church, “What did you learn about God?” Today, the question is often, “Did you have fun?” Not too long ago, wanting to fully equip children to serve Christ, churches offered extensive Bible training for all ages. Today, wanting to keep kids happy and to make recruiting easy, many churches offer high-energy, entertainment-based programs. Children rarely use their Bibles.

What’s needed is a comprehensive children’s discipleship system that helps equip kids to reach their peak potential as Jesus’ disciples, a children’s church curriculum that partners with teachers and parents to transform children into dynamic disciples of Jesus Christ. Kids need to learn to Know God intimately, love God passionately, and to serve God selflessly.

Imagine getting a brochure in the mail: Salvation Conference – O’Hare Hyatt – Jesus, God’s Son, lecturing on God’s Eternal Plan for the Salvation of Mankind.  Admission Free.  Come ready to study the prophetic Old Testament Scriptures and the Types of Christ that point to the Soteriological Position and Role of Jesus.

Not many people would be drawn to a training seminar on Semitic salvation – and that is why Jesus didn’t come and undertake an educational ministry, but rather a relational ministry!  Jesus came to this earth, born as a child, grew up within the culture, ministered to felt needs, and made friends who He made into disciples to carry on the ministry after His redeeming work on the cross.

And yet, so often we try to minister to children through a primarily educational ministry instead of a relational ministry!  Yes, Jesus had a message to communicate and did a great deal of teaching – but He delivered His eternal message within the culture and within a relational context.  In Children’s Ministry we must do the same!

Jesus ministered within the culture.

Jesus could have made a ‘grand entrance’ as an adult – much in the same style as when He left for heaven.  From one perspective, some might say this may have helped his reception as the Messiah, but instead, He chose to come as a child.  Jesus chose to grow up within the culture.  No one could say of Jesus that He didn’t ‘understand’ or had never ‘walked in our shoes.’  The book of Hebrews teaches us that He suffered and was tempted in all ways as we are.  He knew whom He was ministering to, not only as their Creator, but as One who had experienced it first hand as well.  Perhaps this made His ministry more difficult, but it certainly made it more effective.  Ministry to children is not much different!  We need to be willing to get into the culture of children and minister to them from within that culture.  Yes, this will make ministry more difficult!  Some will even misunderstand and accuse you of untrue things (being immature, childish, a clown, etc.), BUT your ministry WILL be more effective!

Jesus ministered to felt needs.

The multitudes that Jesus was ministering to were in desperate need of spiritual salvation and freedom from the bondage of superficial religion and the eternal consequences of trying to work themselves into God’s favor.  However, their focus was more on their temporal aches and pains and political struggles.  Jesus could have rebuked them for worrying about the wrong things and tried to redirect them toward the things that truly mattered in the scope of eternity.  But instead, He graciously and patiently chose to attend to those temporal concerns, all the while drawing them to the things they should be thinking about.  The same is true in a children’s ministry!  Are kids thinking often about spiritual things?  Their eternal destiny?  How they can please God in day-to-day life?  The salvation of their friends?  Probably not.  It’s more likely they are thinking about toys, television, the next time they will get to play outside or some other activity that is fun and certainly eternally irrelevant!  That’s O.K.  (Adults are not much different!)  It is the children’s minister’s job to accept those ‘less than spiritual’ concerns and while addressing them, be continually drawing them up to the more important eternal concepts they should be thinking about.  That is why church needs to be fun – but a strategic fun with a purpose.  Not merely entertaining, but engaging the kids so as to lead them on to more essential concepts.

Jesus made disciples who would carry on the work after He left.

While Jesus certainly ministered to the multitudes, He focused the majority of His time on a few men we know as the disciples.  It was these twelve men and those they in turn trained, that turned the world up side down for the rest of history.  Without the development of the disciples, Jesus’ ministry would have only been a great show for three years.  Instead, His ministry was the stone that was dropped to start a tidal wave of ministry that has only grown larger over time!  Yet all too often in ministry, you see people who put on a great show for awhile – some fantastic kid’s program, for example – and then when they are gone, all that is left are great memories of a wonderful time, instead of a lasting memory.  This need not be!  In children’s ministry, it is essential that we continually build a team that will outlast us – not only in our particular church – but outlive us in life.  This means not only training fellow adults – but also enlisting and equipping children to serve as well!

This is why later, we will address in detail how to start a “Kids Church Crew” of children who can learn to plan, organize, lead and minister in the Kid’s Church program!

IN SUMMARY…

A PRINCIPLE-DRIVEN MINISTRY

1. Jesus ministered within the culture.
2. Jesus ministered to felt needs.
3. Jesus made disciples who would carry on the work after He left.

THEREFORE CHILDREN’S CHURCH MUST ….

1. Be kid-centered. Minister from within the “Kid Culture.”
2. Be aimed at kids’ interests and contemporary needs.
3. Be disciple – driven. Equip kids for ministry after you are gone.

ASK YOURSELF

1. Is your Kid’s Church service kid-centered?  Does it minister from within the “Kid Culture?”
2. Is it aimed at kids’ interests and contemporary needs?
3. Is it developing disciples?  Are there kids being equipped for ministry after you are gone?

- Karl Bastian
Founder Kidology.org
Blog: Kidologist.com