Thankful- Part 3

Happy week before Thanksgiving!  No, seriously... next week is Thanksgiving!  I can't believe it.  I am realizing more than ever this month how vast the things that I am thankful for are.  I can not put into words the gratitude and gratefulness that is in my heart this year.  Today, is my third post in my #KidsMin thankful series and I'm featuring Janelle from Well Equipped Volunteer.  

Janelle is a Children’s Ministry coach from Winnipeg, MB with over 17 years’ experience in children’s ministry. She has worked in both large and small churches, directed, designed and wrote VBS material, and served in almost every capacity in children’s ministry. Janelle specializes in empowering children’s ministry volunteers. Find free tips and resources, and sign up for the free newsletter at www.wellequippedvolunteer.com

Read about what she has to say about why she is thankful for #KidsMin and about who she is thankful for. 

Why I’m Thankful for Children’s Ministry

I grew up in the church. My parents were in ministry, which means that I was a student in children’s ministry. I attended Sunday School and children’s church and clubs. And I confess that as a student I took children’s ministry for granted. Then when I was older, I volunteered in children’s ministry. It was a natural progression from student to teacher, but I still didn’t fully appreciate the value of children’s ministry.

As I spent more time in children’s ministry, I began to appreciate its true value. Now after nearly 20 years of professional children’s ministry experience, I’m more passionate than ever about the importance of children’s ministry: we are raising up the next generation of the Church! Tomorrow’s pastors, leaders, missionaries, and prayer warriors are wiggling in your classroom today.

The Psalmist tells us, “We will not hide them from their descendants; we will tell the next generation the praiseworthy deeds of the Lord, his power, and the wonders he has done… so the next generation would know them, even the children yet to be born, and they in turn would tell their children. Then they would put their trust in God and would not forget his deeds but would keep his commands.” Psalm 78: 4&8 (NIV)

Therefore, I am most thankful for children’s ministry volunteers who faithfully show up each and every week, prepared to teach the next generation about our God and the things He has done. They sacrifice family time and sleep, their patience is tested, perhaps they even shed a few tears. They pray, they teach, they wipe noses, they discipline in love. It’s not easy work! It’s sometimes hard to immediately see the impact of their work in a child’s life.

That’s why I focus on equipping volunteers. Because what greater call is there than building up tomorrow’s church?

So here are three quick tips for all children’s ministry volunteers to make sure you are laying a strong foundation for tomorrow’s church:

·         Children love structure and routine! Create a structure in your classroom or program and stick with it every week. You will be amazed at how smoothly your classroom or program will run.

·        Identify your main point and teach that one thing during your lesson. Cut away all the extraneous material that distracts from that one thing.

            Resist the temptation to teach morals. Focus instead on teaching kids who God is and why we follow Jesus. Good morals will naturally follow.

Learn more about these tips and find many more free resources at my website, www.wellequippedvolunteer.com

Volunteers, I am so thankful for the work you’re doing! I know sometimes it’s hard and seems unrewarding, but your impact will be felt decades from now, so press on!

Hopping on the Thankful Band Wagon (Plus a Link Up)

Next week is Thanksgiving.  Seriously?  What happened to the month of November?

I've been posting my days of thanks on my personal social media but wanted to challenge myself to come up with my days of thanks for #KidsMin Calling.  

Here are 26 things that I am thankful for in #KidsMin from A to Z! 

What would you add to the list?  

Link up your thankful posts below! 

I'll be sure to visit, comment & follow you. 

Hop around and see what everyone else is thankful for! 

A Month to be Thankful- 1

We've all seen it on our social media sites... it's November and that means it's time to be thankful.  

All over social media I am reminded daily of all the things that people are thankful for and I think it's absolutely fabulous.  

I love seeing people sharing their gratitude instead of sharing their complaints. 

I thought I'd mix it up a little bit for my blog and invite some of my friends and fellow bloggers to share the reasons that they are thankful for Children's Ministry. 

I still have room for a few guest's to share why their thankful so e-mail me at: kidsmincalling@gmail.com if you'd like to share. 

Today, we're hearing from my friend and fellow #KidsMin Ashlyn Holland.  Ashlyn is truly fabulous at what she does.  She has such a heart and passion for children and we love to keep up with what the other is doing.  Ashlyn and I went to high school together and then found ourselves at the same college so we've known each other such a long time.  Ashlyn not only serves as a fantastic #KidsMin, but she teaches school during the week as well so she is constantly pouring into kid's lives and I love seeing the ways that the Lord is using her to make an impact on this generation.  Check out what Ashlyn has to say about why she is thankful for #KidsMin. 

Being Thankful for Children’s Ministry—a perspective of a Children’s Pastor

When I think about the many aspects of children’s ministry, there are a lot of factors that shape and mold what I would consider a kingdom-driven ministry. As a children’s pastor, the sole purpose of ministry for me, is to equip, nurture and mature children so that they are confident in “taking on” the world that surrounds them as a believer of Jesus Christ. Though there are many things that go into equipping, nurturing and maturing a child, one thing has to be evident at all times; (genuine) LOVE. The Bible tells us to love God and to love people. It sounds so simple, yet can be so difficult at times. Let’s take a situation that I recently found myself in and use it as a learning opportunity to illustrate to you what I really mean by genuinely loving those around you.

I was in the middle of teaching a lesson during children’s church and there was a child who would not stop talking, distracting others or keep their hands (or any other body part for that matter) to themselves. In that moment while I was preaching my heart out to this room full of children, I just stopped. I looked at the child and a part of me wanted to flat out ask, “Do you even care that I am up here trying to teach you?!” But instead I politely said, “I would like to speak with you in the other room.” I found myself face to face with this child and as I was getting ready to give my “normal talk” I found myself asking a very simple four-word question: “What is going on?” The reaction I got was totally not what I expected. The child began to cry and then proceeded to pour their heart out to me. They expressed how they couldn’t help it, they just feel pushed to the side at home, they are worried about what will happen next with some of the people that are living in their home; as the list went on and on, I just sat there in amazement. I had known and interacted with this child regularly for three years and did not have a clue. The teacher in me just thought, they must lack self-control in some areas and don’t know how to behave at times. How wrong I was. That saying you may hear from time to time, ‘you never know what someone could be going through,’ became reality to me as I sat there looking at a child who was broken and in need of someone to show them the love of Jesus. That was an ah-ha moment for me (I tend to have them often). The moment I realized that there is more to just standing up on Sundays and teaching children about the different stories you can find in the Bible and how we can apply the lessons learned to our lives. It goes back to two things so many of us lack; creating meaningful relationships and showing the love of Jesus. In order to create meaningful relationships and show the love of Jesus, we first have to LOVE (just as He first loved us). We are all sinners who fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23), but we are also sinners saved by amazing grace from God alone. (Ephesians 2:8). If it were not for God’s grace, I would not be where I am today. Just as He has shown love and grace and so many other things to me daily, I should do the same to the children that I interact with daily. It’s not a one-time thing. Just as the love of Christ is constant in our lives, I have grown to realize that loving and showing love to others should be approached in the same way. What in the world do I want you to take from all this? There are a two simple things:

1.) Children are not just the future, they are the NOW and it is OUR responsibility to equip them to go out and show the love of Christ to others. 

2.) We cannot equip children to show the love of Christ to others, if we, ourselves do not show the same to them.

I am thankful not only that God has given me the amazing opportunity and responsibility to lead children as their pastor, but also because He continuously gives me opportunities to minister to children and their families. He also gives me the opportunity to create new meaningful relationships with others and show the love of Jesus to them. Whether you are a children’s pastor/minister or a volunteer/helper, always be mindful of the little things and never take for granted the opportunities God gives you to love on (minister to) these precious children and their families. Every opportunity is something to be thankful for, for this is the time you get to make an impact for the Kingdom of God. Don’t take it lightly and above all else, no matter what; LOVE just as He has loved you.