Why Children’s Ministry is for You, Too

I placed my hand gently on the knee of the wiggling second grader beside me. This particular child had attached himself to me from the start, which ended up being a good thing, as he needed regular reminders to keep his voice down and his hands to himself. It was the Christmas Eve service. Our family had experienced a series of cancelled Christmases in recent years as our kids were still young and easily susceptible to the many winter germs. Volunteering in the children’s program meant opening myself—and them—up to a higher germ load. Yet, if not enough adults were willing to be there, the kids of our church would not be able to hear the age-appropriate words of the promise of Jesus, who came as a humble baby to die an unjust death that brought us life and the promise of returning again to end evil once and for all. “Lord, protect us,” I prayed as I walked into church that day.

My little seat-neighbor was particularly squirmy during the Bible lesson. After the tenth time of my gentle reminders, I leaned in and quietly asked him to stop speaking aloud because he was distracting the other children. He responded by blowing directly into my face—one long, silent stream of breath.

That did not bode well for a healthy Christmas.

Kids are unpredictable. They act silly, say odd things, and show interest in objects most adults find uninteresting. It’s a real challenge for some volunteers to easily flow with the unexpected antics of juvenile energy. It would be easier to serve God by holding a door or passing around the offering bucket. All jobs are important, but let's be careful not to disqualify ourselves from service that Jesus himself highlighted as essential. We do a disservice to the congregation by relegating children’s ministry to self-identified “kid people.” Getting involved in children’s ministry does not require a particular gifting—just the fruits that are already gifted to all believers in the Spirit, such as patience, kindness, and gentleness (Gal. 5:22-23). Children’s ministry needs to be a whole-body effort, and once involved, the believer will find that serving children not only strengthens the next generation in the faith but also their own spiritual health. Here’s how. 

Questions Need Answers

Anyone who has spent more than five minutes with an elementary-aged child knows that children ask a lot of questions. Like, A LOT. A search-engine will tell you that kids ask an average of 300 questions a day! Some of these questions are pointless or repetitive, but others can be thoughtful and deep. Children in the church, gleaning from the Bible lessons each week, will have questions about the stories, concepts, or words they are hearing. The adults caring for them need to attempt an answer to appease their curiosity and encourage further understanding. Some of their questions might be something you have wondered before, or perhaps they need clarity on a concept that you understand but have never been asked to articulate. I find that when I'm forced to explain something, my understanding of the concept deepens, especially when I need to use simple words to explain a complicated idea. You will come up with analogies and synonyms you never considered before that will sharpen your own knowledge of the faith. 

A Broader View

Our church kids are being raised in the faith and ideally have a modicum of gospel learning happening at home. These kids see their mom and dad reading their Bible, praying with them, and engaging with them in Scripture songs and memorization. This is good, as the Bible implores us to saturate our homes in God’s commandments, teaching them to our children with diligence, talking of them “when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise” (Deut. 6:7). Yet it's just as vital that our kids see other families, specifically adults, living for Christ. This takes faith beyond the hearth of home and places it in the real world. Interacting with other adults who can encourage them to read and pray and know the God who created them will have a penetrating impact in their faith journey. They need to see Christianity as not just something they do with mom and dad but realize that other people, regardless of age and stage, live for Jesus too.

Members of the Body

In Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians, he compared the people of God to a body, and explained that one body is made up of many parts that are equal yet have different functions. Children are a part of the Church body, and they are weak members. Since “God has put the body together” (1 Cor. 12:24 NIV), we must believe that every member has an equally important purpose in God’s Kingdom. With youth comes inexperience, naivety, and dependence on caregivers. It is our responsibility as the stronger parts of the body to protect, strengthen, and uplift them. Paul calls us to humility in order to prop up our weak members. We must surround these weaker parts with “greater honor” (1 Cor. 12:23). What does this look like? Intentional relationship building, training, discipling, and disciplining, in accordance with the word of God.

Loving Thy Neighbor

As already mentioned, the family’s role of gospel fostering is vital, biblical—and ceaseless. Parenting is a full-contact, full-faculty, all-hours job. Children’s ministry lifts some of that beautiful burden, giving parents a reprieve to be refreshed and to “not grow weary in doing good” (2 Thess. 3:13).

Neck deep in the thick of parenting three children under five years old, I relied on those few hours every Tuesday where the family of God cared for my children so I could study God’s word with peers. Meeting with other men or women who have been there, or who are there, and centering those friendships on the core of our Christian identity, is a balm greater than any self-care regimen can provide. Together we can laugh, sympathize, and encourage one another to seek Christ in the weeds of tantrums, sleep regressions, or second shifts.

You can love the parents of your church by caring for their children. Care for them with time but also with prayer and relationship.

From Generation to Generation

Regardless of our qualms about the next generation, it’s important to see them as valuable parts of the body and care for them as such. I would urge every believer to be intentional in devoting time each year to spiritually feed the young. Our kids need the maximum input of whatever is true, lovely, pure, admirable, excellent, and praiseworthy (Phil. 4:8). It’s the role of the whole body of Christ, regardless of gifting, to step up and serve these vulnerable members of God’s family. It will stretch our theological muscles, strengthen our faith, and add some levity to our day as we play, question, and discover alongside the future leaders of the Church.  

By God’s grace, neither I nor my family got sick that year for Christmas. God is gracious and answered my prayer, just as he answers the prayers of his saints who petition for willing servants within their congregation and works of salvation among them. Our youngest congregants are the mission field. Working with children does not require a knowledge of yesterday’s memes or today’s trends—it requires a vision for tomorrow’s promise. It’s a vision shared by our heavenly Father whose steadfast love and faithfulness remain from generation to generation (Ps. 100:5).

Serving children requires the whole church body—because it blesses the whole church body.