Planning for Faith Development

During my (Mary Jo’s) recent holiday in the USA, I had the privilege of worshiping in the congregation where I worshiped as a child and teenager. Back then, it was a middle-size congregation, using a middle-size facility, with a very predictable program. It was in this church that I was mentored as a junior Sunday school teacher. Things have changed in the intervening years. The congregation has grown in numbers and moved to a new, much larger facility. Connected with that growth — possibly one of the reasons for it — is the congregation’s deliberate commitment to ministry with children. This includes staffing and a long term plan for faith development. I happened to visit on the Sunday when this was demonstrated with both the installation of the Children’s Ministry staff for the new school year (it starts in September over there) and an infant baptism.

The following information is from their web site:

Faith Journey  

At Grace, we believe that faith in Jesus Christ is a gift from God — given freely, neither earned nor deserved. For some individuals, faith is first realized in baptism. Others realize it first in a conscious process of conversion. Whenever faith begins, its development continues for a lifetime. Taking the Faith Journey means living out a commitment to make Jesus Christ the Lord of Life. 

Children’s Faith Journey (birth - grade 4)  Youth Faith Journey (grades 5-12) 

Faith formation activities at Grace begin with instruction and encouragement for parents of newly baptized children. The faith journey begins in infancy with the Rite of Welcoming a Child, enrolment in Grace’s Cradle Roll, the Rite of Holy Baptism. 

Faith Journey Sunday school classes begin with preschoolers and continue through 12th grade. They follow a 9-year curriculum plan that includes the study of the Bible, Ten Commandments, Apostles’ Creed, Lord’s Prayer, Sacraments, church history and morality as well as leadership and witnessing skills, stewardship and personal spiritual disciplines. 

The Sunday school hour is 9:30-10:30. Children and Youth are expected to worship with their families at 8:00 or 11:00, where most services are fairly traditional, but include children’s addresses. A nursery is available during Sunday morning services and the Sunday school hour for children from infancy to age three. 

In addition to the regular classes, the Faith Journey includes special Sunday afternoon family events and ‘rites’ of passage at various points of the journey, plus camps and service opportunities. The lifelong faith journey continues through many educational and service opportunities for people at different stages of adulthood. 

I didn’t have time to get answers to all my questions, eg: How do they get family commitment? How do they involve children who come to the church at an older stage?

But two things impressed me most as I spoke to people at Grace church about their program.

First is the word ‘expected’. There is a congregation-wide expectation that all children will participate in the entire Faith Journey program, regularly. And that adults would continue the journey. What do our churches ‘expect’ of their families, children and youth?

Second was the plan — the idea that leaders, parents, and children know from the start what they will be doing. They also have a framework that allows them to see how what they are doing at any one point relates to the overall journey. How far ahead are our congregations planning their work with children, youth and families?

Used with permission from Uniting church Mission Resourcing SA, Children and Family

It's only an hour.

Most Sunday children’s ministry goes for about an hour. One day as I was talking to a group when someone said, “It’s only an hour.”

An hour is not much time. Can you really make a difference in an hour? Is it worth the thought, effort, time and prayer?

Have you ever read the following?

If you want to know the value of a year, ask a P.O.W. that has lost his freedom.
If you want to know the value of a month, ask a mother that has given birth to a premature baby.
If you want to know the value of a week, ask the editor of a weekly newspaper.
If you want to know the value of a day, ask a child on their birthday.
If you want to know the value of an hour, ask lovers waiting to meet.
If you want to know the value of a minute, ask a person that just missed their flight.
If you want to know the value of a second, ask a person that just avoided a serious car accident.
If you want to know the value of a millisecond, ask an Olympic silver medallist.
The value of time is what you put into it and an hour can make a huge difference.

I mentor a young child for one hour a week through Kids Hope. Every week I spend only an hour but I know that this one hour of personal care, repeated every week, makes a huge difference in the life of that little boy.

There was a book with a lofty goal titled “Making your Children’s Ministry the Best Hour of of Every Kid’s Week.”

What is the best hour in your children’s lives at the moment? How is it influencing and shaping them? By God’s grace could your hour become life changing? Could it be the difference between walking in Christ and wandering in the world? How might it become that?

Don’t underestimate the time you have, instead pray and work in such a way that you may make the most of it.

What's happened in the hour you have with children?

"I miss being with God."

I read the following in a book called, Listening to children on the Spiritual Journey.

I was deeply challenged by it for a number of reasons... take a read first....

Loraine (age eight) liked her new church. Happily she made her way to the children's activities on Sunday mornings, ready to enjoy the music, laughter a creatively presented short lesson, and the energetic young children's pastor. Although Lorraine had fun at her new church, as she snuggled into bed one evening she said, "Mommy, I miss being with God." And her mother took time to listen and fin out what was behind those words.

Loraine talked about children's worship at the church they had attended previously. There the children were welcomed into a special place to "be with God, to talk to God, to listen to God, and to hear the stories of God." In that calm and quite place they watched the stories enacted with simple figures, they wondered about the story, and then chose who they would respond. Loraine remembered a Sunday when she had chosen to go to the Bible table, and Miss Cathy had read the story to her again. Here is a child who had experienced being in God's presence and hungered to be with God again.

Is Loraine's desire unusual or do many children know what it is to sense God's closeness and treasure those times. Listening to children has led us to believe that they can experience God at an early age and that they love to be in God's presence. ..."

Here are my questions....

Would children in your church say they meet God in your children's ministry?
What could you do to foster and nurture that more?
What might you be doing that is actually getting in the way?

I find these questions really challenging as I reflect on the children's ministry of our church, and our worship services.

What are your thoughts?

Resources: 'The Next Generation' videoette.

This is a short, endearing, yet challenging three minute video that highlights the importance and urgency of Children's ministry. In it Australian children speak of their needs, dreams and desires. It raises issues for discussion among those who shape strategies and programs for children.

You can use this to inspire your team, or better still, your whole church.

To make the most of it do not just show it and leave it without comment or opportunity for further action. You might try some of the following:
* Make it part of a children's service in which children play a major role.
* Include some specific requests and examples of how people can get involved in Children's ministry.
* Follow it with some specific points of prayer about your church's children's ministry.
* Incorporate it in at a congregational meeting to highlight the role of children's ministry.
* Use it in a small group followed by questions for discussion.
* Use it in a commissioning service for children's ministry.
* Have everyone involved in Children's ministry stand up or come to the front for prayer.

You can download it from here...

Join the dots

What means a dot? Perhaps not a lot. Or maybe more than you think. Recently, at the ministers and wives', conference Toby, Helen, Maggie and Ron from Cadets and Gems asked ministers to stick dots on a large sheet of paper which they had hung on the wall. We were to choose the age bracket in which we had turned to the Lord. The results looked like

The Value of Children's Ministry

Charles Spurgeon, the great English preacher, once said,
"It is assuredly a noble part of benevolence to deliver the gospel to the sons of men;
and, if possible, this benevolence is of a still higher kind when you deliver the truth
of God to children,