I started attending church in 5th grade, so Children’s Ministry is very important to me. I have been involved in it for the past 5½ years. I worked at First Christian Church in Florissant, MO as the assistant to the Children’s Director for 4½ years and I have been the Children’s Pastor at The Summit Church in Seymour, TN for the past year. It’s a very important part of my life and here’s why it’s important to you.
How many of you accepted Christ before the age of 18?
How many before the age of 12?
Children’s Ministry effectiveness reflects change. Now lets look at a few ways Children’s Ministry has changed over the past 10 years in order to reach more children with the Gospel.
The programming in Children’s Ministry has changed a lot over the past several years. There are many churches today that are removing a few traditional programs in order to be better effective. Some churches have stopped doing Vacation Bible School. People say that Vacation Bible School is effective in reaching kids with the basics of the Gospel but it is doing little to retain kids and disciple them.
Another such program is Sunday School. “The Fabulous Reinvention of Sunday School” by Aaron Reynolds is all about transforming Sunday from the boring Bible lecture to innovative hands on Bible experiences. Rethink Group, the writers of the 252 Basics curriculum have taken the idea of learning in small groups and teaching in large groups and fused them into a genius large group/small group curriculum that changes the way kids think about church. Program changes have impacted it largely but not nearly as drastically as the advancement of technology in Children’s Ministry.
When I first started going to church in 5th grade our worship was a boom box and an overhead projector. It’s amazing how times have changed. As secular children’s programming becomes more advanced so must Children’s Ministry. If Mickey Mouse is teaching the alphabet with digital videos and we are still using slide projectors to teach them the love of Jesus then something is wrong.
Children’s ministry has adapted to this change very well. The boom box has changed to a top of the line sound system, the overhead is a digital projector and digital videos and lighting has been added for effect. This increase in technology puts Children’s Ministry on the same plane as other children’s programming in its ability to capture the attention of kids. Children’s Ministry has also become more interactive over the past several years, which is most evident in church plants.
Church plants have really taken hold of interactive lessons and activities for many reasons. Church plants have the advantage of not having as strict traditions and policies on how you need to present lessons to children. They also in most cases have a much smaller budget, which allows Children’s workers to think outside the box as they plan lessons. This increase in hands on activates is even visible in school settings. Teachers have begun to teach kids multiplication with hands on activities such as counting cubes.
David Staal and Sue Miller point out many times in their book “Making Your Children’s Ministry the Best Hour of Every Kids Week” that children learn better when they are directly involved in the learning rather than being lectured at. Fred Rodgers in his book “Helping to Understand Your Young Child” says, “While children may look like they’re ‘just playing’ they are also working on some of the basic things they’ll need in order to be able to read, write, and do math later on. What’s more, they’re learning about those things in a way that’s natural and interesting for them.”
Children’s Ministry has changed a lot over the past 10 years in order to reach more children with the Gospel. The programming has been adapted in order to retain and disciple more children. Technology has changed the face of Children’s Ministry in order to capture the attention of children today. Lessons are more interactive and hands on as people study and understand how children learn best.
How many of you watch T.V.?
How many of you watch T.V. on a black and white T.V.?
As people change so must our methods for reaching them. Children’s Ministry effectiveness reflects change.
