The Church inside the church!

So I have been thinking a lot about what I do for a living. If you read my profile you will know that I am a Children's Pastor! I love what I do. I love the staff I get to work with week after week. They are crazy, talented, and amazing on so many levels. I love the team of workers (we don't like to use the term volunteers for our adult workers in Kidscoast) that serve with us week after week. But I wanted to take a few minutes to describe what goes into a weekend service in Kidscoast and why I continue to do it week after week.
First of all I want everyone to realize that children's ministry is NOT CHILD CARE! And if done well, Children's Ministry is a church inside a church or in most churches it is many churches inside one church.

All the same elements and volunteer needs of a Big Church service go into making a successful Children's Church service. For us here at Seacoast we do lessons starting in our 2 year old department and go up to 5th Grade. We have five different teaching areas on the weekend. Each area needs a Storyteller just like the speaking pastor in big church. We also have greeters at the doors welcoming kids into the classroom, but unlike big church each of our attendees receive a name tag and security number. Also unlike big church we require one leader to every eight to ten kids in the classrooms. Another way we are like big church we do message series too. Currently in our elementary department we us reThink's curriculum, 252Basics. One major Myth in children's ministry, you don't just print out a curriculum and hand it to a team member. We tweak the living day lights out of it, and not because we don't like it but we tweak it to make it more applicable to the group of children in our services. We also add a cast of characters to our lessons who introduce the topic of discussion for the week. I was talking with a group of Children's Ministry Directors and pastors this week and they said the same thing; there is no one curriculum that you can purchase and just print out and use. You buy the one that fits your needs best and tweak from there.

Another way we are like big church is that we also have worship leaders in each of our areas. But unlike big church we have to have motions to our worship songs to keep the kids engaged. Of course we have to have many different song lists for the many different age groups.  Side note: Its funny how the songs have changed over the years, yet the God we teach the kids to worship remains the same!

It takes a lot of work to pull off weekend services in Children's Ministry and I am so blessed to work for a church that sees the importance of a strong children's staff and team. My heart breaks for churches that spend more time focusing on the adults in their services than the children in their church.  I recently heard a talk by Willie George, pastor of Church on the Move in Tulsa, OK. He talked about Jesus' forgotten ministry. The ministry he was referring to was Children's Ministry.  As a Children's Pastor it was a powerful message, reminding me why I do what I do.  Willie (using his first name like we're best friends) made a statement about how Jesus told his disciples on more than one occasion that they needed to become like little children to enter the kingdom of heaven. Jesus never told a child to act like an adult.  The churches that put all their focus on the adults will one day find that their church doesn't have a new generation to raise up, and sadly the church will die.
When I think about these things, I realize how important Children's Ministry is and I am honored that God has called me to serve these Children and to teach them who God is and that God is so that they can know who they are in HIM!

So the next time you drop your child off in Children's Church - take a moment to say thank you to the Children's workers for raising up the next generation, heck why not serve in the Children's church and be blessed as you watch the next generation grow in their relationship and understanding of who God is!

It's just my thoughts and I hope you are blessed by them!