Take time to reflect and plan

At Wantirna, (where I'm employed part time as the Children's ministry worker) we've come to the end of another busy year. The other day I said to to a friend, "It's good to do children's ministry, and it's also good to stop doing children's ministry." I think you know what I mean. As you come to the end of the year, may you experience something of God's pleasure in your work and take time for a well earned rest.

Yet at the same time I'm excited about next year. It's a strange thing. My excitement comes form the time I and others in our team have spent reflecting on how we want the ministry to develop. We have a vision for the ministry and some very specific things we want to work on.

Holidays ought to be a time to rest, but they do not need to be a time to go brain dead. Why not spend some time personally and with your team reflecting and planning?

Here are some questions you could consider to guide your thinking.

• What is the purpose of your Children's ministry? Summarise it in a few sentences or key points.
• Do your ideas match Biblical ideals? (if you're not immediately clear what the Biblical ideals are, perhaps it's a good time to investigate what the Bible says, otherwise your probably ministering out of tradition or the expectations of the church, rather than Biblical conviction.)
• What are the strengths of your current program (ie where does it fulfil the Biblical ideals?)
• What areas of weaknesses do you want to improve? List the things you wish to do better.
• Prioritise this list. What is most important? What will you work on first?
  
• Consider what you might to do to implementing or change the important items on your list. Who can help you? What steps will you take?
• Set some specific items for action.

May the Lord give you a season of refreshing this Christmas as you remember his coming. May he strengthen you for the work yet to be done as you prepare for what is ahead and consider his coming again.

Children's ministry outreach - MOPS

Wondering how to reach out to the community in children's ministry? Why not consider MOPS for next year. Here's how it works in Sutherland... wow! Praise God!

The Ministry of MOPS,
by Marianne Vanderkolk, Sutherland CRCA.

The MOPS ministry is a very exciting ministry of building bridges and furthering relationships in the community. It is based on a Friendship Evangelism model so when coming to a MOPS morning, it looks more like a community mothers group than a church-run outreach. This, we believe, is what makes MOPS such a powerful ministry.

Since Mothers of Preschoolers can often feel overwhelmed, alone, insecure, stressed and extremely busy, the program is designed to provide them with “Time-out” while their children (Moppets) are being looked after by a capable team of helpers.

Each MOPS group structures their morning differently. We begin with a very relaxed morning tea, followed by a talk. Speakers have included people from within our church and from the community – dealing with a huge range of topics including cake decorating, hairdressing, mission topics, health and fitness topics, Discipline DVDs by Dobson, as well as using the MOPS curriculum which usually has 6 DVD sessions on various mothering topics. Then we have some discussion questions. At this time, the Christians in the group and the MOPS team can answer questions from their own personal experience and bring in their journey of faith appropriately. Following this, we have some time for a creative activity which can include cooking demonstrations, crafts and other activities.
The aim of MOPS is to bring mothers to a knowledge of Jesus Christ through friendship evangelism and subsequently, using tools such as Christianity Explained, Christianity Explored and others, to explain the gospel clearly. Since we first began in July 2008, we have seen a number of ladies come to church and church run activities (since it is a very familiar place for them and their children), go through Courses, attend a special MOPS Bible Study on the alternate week, and come to faith and also profess their faith.

The MOPS Bible study is a wonderful opportunity for interested ladies to learn about God without any prior knowledge of God or the Bible. It runs on the same day as our KYB group and so the two groups meet at morning tea. Some ladies have moved from the MOPS Bible Study to the KYB when they are ready to go more into depth.

Another aim of MOPS is to encourage young women in developing leadership skills. It has been a great opportunity for young church mums to enter into various roles and work in a committee.
We are very thankful to God for the fruit of the MOPS ministry and we pray that He will continue to bless those who come and bring more into relationship with Himself.

CRCA Training in 2011: coming to a State near you.

Training is something close to my heart. Over the years I have benefitted enormously from the insights, inspiration and practical help it's provided, especially at critical times like the start of a new year. It's been well worth the effort. In early 2011 we plan to offer training thoughout the states. We've called it 'Stretch training.' 'Stretch' though will be different from some of the events I've attended. The emphasis at Stretch will be practical and team orientated. For example, one workshop will focus on five key dimensions of children's ministry. Throughout, teams and individuals will reflect on their situation and have the time to consider what they need to do in their own context. There will be other practical workshops too and time to network with different children's ministry teams to share insights and resources.

We urge all children's and youth ministry teams to attend. States will be notified of the times and places as they are finalised.

Before you kick the year off, why not take time with your team, for a good Stretch?