Every pastor has found the occasion to use the famous quote
by Jesus, where He said, “Let the little children come to me and forbid them not; for of
such is the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 19:14) Certainly, Jesus was being
very directive to those of us who would lead His church today.
One of the tragedies
of the church today is that children’s ministry across the church is so
easily neglected. When budgets are cut, we cut out of the children’s ministry.
When we are looking for staff, we staff first, the choir, then finance office,
then the youth director, then a personal secretary for the pastor and maybe,
sometimes later we hire one of the parents to do a little part-time work for
the children’s programs.
It is so easy to
neglect the children. We would not call it neglect, because we know there
are parents who will take care of the needs or there will be some kindly
grandmother who will teach the third grade Sunday school class. Maybe we can
find someone who will do the children’s sermon. With a lot of persuasion and
arm-twisting we recruit the workers for Vacation Bible-School and the Children’s
Christmas Program. It seems that in the work we do in the church, it is so easy
to put children’s ministry near the
bottom of our priority list. This is ironic because most pastors have spent a
good part of their lives trying their best to be good parents to their own
children and to see that they had a good Christian education.
Most pastors realize that to have young families as a part
of your church, you must have an effective
children’s program. Yet, we as pastors, along with the partnership of older
lay leaders of the local church, often put children’s ministry as our last
priority.
I believe that Jesus’ advice about children is to the church
today. It’s time for us to change our
priorities and make children’s ministry at the top of the list!
*Note*
Leadership Nexus Foundation
will be presenting “Leadership
Conference 2012” at First UMC of Colorado Springs, Colorado, July 30 –
August 2, 2012. This is going to be a powerful
training event for clergy and lay leaders. The event features topics, such
as “Leadership in Children’s
Ministry”; “Youth Ministry”; “Social
Media and Worship” and more! Speakers for this event are experts in
these areas and include: Author and Professor, Dr. Lovett Weems;
Director of New Church Starts and Author, Bob Crossman; Rev.
Dr. Leanne Ciampa Hadley; Associate Pastor and Author;
Speaker, Professor and Award-Winning Writer, Bob Whitesel; Craig Miller; Director of Evangelism, NCD, UMC
GBOD and Author; plus many more.... For more information please email
us or visit our event
page.
Thank you for highlighting the importance of children's ministry...it is the foundation of everything we do.
ReplyDeleteI agree wholeheartedly with your statement. I have been employed at a large downtown church for 24 years. I am the director of our weekday child care program, this is my church and I love it. My issue is I have a very difficult time relating my passion for young children and the teachers that care for them to our church leaders. We are on the bottom of the pay scale yet, have the most precious commodities to minister to daily. My teachers, 27 of them, are very committed and love the children. We operate under a separate budget although the church provides many in-kind gifts; we do not pay electricity, phone or major building up keep. We are a “class A” center that currently holds 3 stars in the Louisiana Quality Start Star Rating System. This basically means we are very committed to providing a quality setting for all children in our care. My staff continues their education, ongoing; they are all required to have a CDA, which means they have a 2 year certification in child care. In Louisiana we cannot charge a tuition rate that covers all the cost of operating a center. So, we depend on fundraisers to stay in the black. This is an ongoing issue. I would like the church to commit to supporting our budget more than they do. None of our current church leaders have young children so they do not fully understand how important quality child care is. Do you have any ideas on how to get them on board and understand the opportunities we, as a church have to make a bigger difference in the lives of not only the children but, the lives of the adults that care for them? Thank you for any imput!
ReplyDelete