The impact of Children's ministry.

Group Ministry surveyed nearly 600 churches to research the impact of children's ministry in churches. They came up with six major findings.

1. Children's ministry is a major conduit for getting families involved in ministry "Families in our survey indicated that they're tuned in to the presence and role of the children's ministry. They also assess it as high value ministry with 76% stating that children's ministry played a key role in their church."

2. Families with kids in the children's ministry are some of the most active and committed members in a church.



3. A healthy children's ministry attracts families to your church. "… 66% said the children's ministry program was "very important" int heir overall consideration when they chose their current church."

4. An unhealthy or declining children's ministry program may result in families leaving a church. "These findings underscore how important children are to families - so important in fact, that parents will sacrifice other priorities to ensure that their children have positive, nurturing experiences in their faith community."

5. Parents say children's ministry makes a positive impact in their child's life. "By far the greatest benefit was this: It helps my kids develop a personal, growing faith."

6. Parents say children's ministry has changed their family's behaviour at home.

We may have already known these things intuitively. However, they have two implications.

Firstly, they're especially encouraging when we feel that our ministry is unappreciated, unnoticed or of minor value to the health and life of the church. Nothing could be further from the truth and it's time to bury these unhelpful thoughts.

Secondly, they're an argument for ensuring that in any church, children's ministry is adequately resourced and supported. Any investment that improves you church's children's ministry is 'time and money well spent.'

Finally, an argument for children's ministry 'because it helps my church grow' is not the primary reason why we minister to children well. We ultimately do so because God is concerned for children and we aim to see them know and serve Christ. Yet a church that minister's well to children reflects God's concern that "not one of these little ones be lost" and therefore, it's not surprising that by His grace, a healthy children's ministry is intimately intertwined with and conducive to the overall health of a church.

You can use the survey to see the impact of children's ministry in your own context. You can download it by going to Web Exclusives at www.childrensministry.com

Worship for the generations.

How can you help your congregation become more mindful of children in services and to have a more intergenerational approach to worship? I recently read about a man who began by choosing a group of eight to 12 people made up of the different generations of the congregation. Together they studied the purpose of worship ("not their current or preferred way of practicing.") He then gave them a "worship diary" in with they would record their feelings and reactions to the parts of the service. Next, their diaries were copied, without their names and distributed to other team members. They would then come together to discuss how worship could be practiced in the most meaningful way.
The power of this approach is the way it helps people understand and empathise with one another followed by the search for a common approach that embraces the generations.
The reason why many churches do not practice intergenerational worship is that they lack a forum in which to discuss and implement meaningful intergenerational worship practices.

Question: What is the forum in your church that facilities this kind of discussion and openness? How does your church shape the services to ensure that it reaches everyone who comes?

Children in Church

The holidays present a wonderful opportunity to engage children in the worship services.

Below is a list of roles and tasks that children could do in the services. You may start with just one or two and gradually expand the possibilities as both children and adults become more familiar and confident.

This may be a new challenge for you and your church. How do you get started?  Try these steps to make it a reality.

1.  Discuss the involvement of children with the church leadership. See what the possibilities and limitations would be.

2. Let parents know that children will be invited to participate.

3. Ask the children which roles or tasks they would like to try. Tell them exactly what they will be doing and how they will find out when they will be needed. Write their names next to the tasks.

4. Contact those who are responsible for the tasks and discuss with them the best way to include the children. For example, put the child on the roster or contact them during the week with the Bible reading.
Try not to make it just a job or task. See it as an opportunity to disciple a child in faith and service. Discuss how the adults could share with the child in a simple way their heart for the task, how it serves God and others, their reliance on the Holy Spirit, their attitude of love and to pray with the child throughout the task, to give feedback and encouragement.

5. Don't ask too much or put pressure on the child if for example, they shy away at the last moment. Make it a positive experience and help them gain confidence. Pray for them, give them feedback, encourage them and look for another opportunity to try something else.

The list! Let me know what you could add to it.

• Helping set up the church.
• Praying before the service. 
• Greeting at the door.
• Welcome, call to worship.
• Leading singing: 
(Actions with songs, leading children’s songs and/or other).
• Helping with sound.
• Congregational prayer (eg. praying a prewritten prayer) 
• Bible and other readings (eg. part of baptismal form.)
• Sharing about their faith  
(testimony, interview)
• Helping with children’s story/ministry.
• Taking offering
• Playing an instrument during the offering.
• Praying for the offering.
• Praying for other children after the service.
• Talking/playing with (new) children. 
• Helping to serve coffee/drinks and food.
• Packing up. 

... I'm sure there are more.....

To evaluate how well your church involves children and to get even more ideas, download this Children in worship questionnaire and share it with others.

Recruiting leaders

As this year draws to a close, it is time to begin recruiting for the next. Waiting till January or February next year is too late.

Here are a few things you can do now to help you find leaders for 2012.

1. Pray for leaders. Together with your team seek God for the leaders you need next year.
2. Confirm which of your current leaders will continue next year. Make sure you approach this in a positive way. For leaders you wish to keep, begin by affirming their value, gifts and contribution (hopefully this won’t come as a shock to them since you’ve been doing it all year.) Then discuss their commitment into next year.
3. Create a list of potential new leaders. Be clear on what you are looking for. Choose people (both old and young) in whom you see genuine potential for children’s ministry.
4. Create written job descriptions that clarify the role, responsibilities and commitment you are looking for.
5. Between now and the end of the year invite potential leaders to come to the ministry and involve them in some way.
6. Set aside time to personally talk to potential leaders about children’s ministry. Don't just ask them to do a job. Cast your vision, convey your enthusiasm and uncover their heart for children's ministry. 

Here are some questions that need specific answers.

1. How is your team mobilised to pray for new leaders?
2. When have you planned to speak to existing leaders personally?
3. What names are on your list of potential leaders?
4. Do you have a written job description?
5. On what days will potential leaders visit your ministry?
6. What will you say to potential leaders?

Telling Great Stories

Watch this video for tips and reminders about how to tell stories that connect with kids.

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

Family mission.

Ever thought of a family mission trip? While there are many things to consider, the benefits of such an experience may make it tremendously worthwhile. Earlier this year father and son, Bruce and Hayden Smith from Bray Park, joined a team to the Solomons and I asked Hayden to pen a few words about his experience. Here is what he wrote.

"When I went to the Solomon islands Bethesda mission trip I didn’t think that I would get to do much of the building, but when we started we were being taught how to do lots of things like roofing, concreting, brick laying, frame working, cladding and building a heap of things.
I would encourage parents of teenaged children to let their kids go on a mission trip because this was one of the best experiences of my life. I learnt so much, met some of the locals in the Solomon Islands and saw so many different things. If you send your child they will come back refreshed and will have lots to say and teach you about. We also had lots of fun snorkelling and swimming in the beautiful ocean over there, the ocean is clear and wonderfully warm.
There are not many rules in the Solomon islands so when we were driving we were standing on the back of cars and trucks, when I was over there I went fishing overnight and caught 3 fish it was lots of fun but it started to rain and we were under a tarp for 4 hours.
After we had done all the work in the afternoon we would go and play soccer with the locals and have lots of fun we taught them a couple of new games like clap ball and doge ball. One of the locals gave me a necklace to say good bye to me and I really liked that. The food over there was pretty good and we had the locals cook us a feast that was lovely then after they performed a music for us.
I loved this mission trip and I would go again if I have the chance.
Hayden Smith aged 14"


As parents we aim to provide experiences for our children that will help them grow into people who serve and please the Lord. A mission trip ticks many boxes in it's potential to be a wonderful formative experience. I'm sure Hayden and his father are much richer for the trip.

Have you gone on a similar trip? I'd love to hear about it, especially how it impacted your children and relationship as a family.