. . .kids call the shots. . .

When my daughter was born in 2015, she and my husband started attending church on Easter Sunday. For the first year of her life their attendance was sporadic based on her needs. You know, babies are high maintenance -- so she called the shots. The church I was working for at the time had a fantastic children's ministry. Each Sunday, between all four services, there were over 200 kids -- NOT counting the nursery.

 

That year in the Spring, a new Children's Ministry Director was hired, and she got to work relaunching the ministry so that our children were learning something from the time they were infants. While infants cannot really learn complex biblical concepts, the impetus was on instilling a love of Jesus from an early age. Some people might call this indoctrination, but no matter what we believe or how we live our lives, we are always indoctrinating our children.

 

Exposing children to complex ideas from a young age actually helps build their critical thinking skills. I'm not an educator, but I remember learning this in my Christian Education course in seminary.

 

I am so pleased with my new church for understanding the value of Children's Ministry and for taking the initiative to hire a new Family Ministries Director, Janet Loos, before I started. Because of Covid-19, Janet is doing children's stories in worship, but starting the second week of August she will be launching our new program. It will take place during our regular worship and coincides with the start of the new school year. Of course, she will not be able to do it alone and will be coaching and equipping people from within the congregation who will serve on a rotating basis.

 

Bippy in the Doves Room

There is a lot of debate about whether or not children should worship with adults. I mean, they will be adults themselves someday, so it makes sense. But it also makes sense for kids to learn with their peers because, as I said before, biblical concepts are complex. Also, it's really hard for adults to engage in worship when we are constantly making sure our children are quiet! I know there are many parents hesitant to bring their kids right now, but Janet is reserving a pew with things for our kids to do during the worship service. My daughter, who began her time in Children's Ministry as a "Dove," really had a great time this past Sunday even though she had to be quiet.

 

Thanks, Janet, and thank you CCUMC, for all you are already doing to ensure parents and children are engaging in worship.