Fluff.
Watered-down.
Just a waste of time.
About 5 years ago that was my opinion of any kids ministry that focused on fun. My thinking has changed a lot since then. I’ve learned some things from experience and now I wholeheartedly endorse FUN. No children’s ministry can ignore the role of fun. It should be an intentional value in your programs. In other words, “I was against it before I was for it.”
Before you un-like me on Facebook, let me explain.
Two of my favorite #kidmin bloggers wrote about fun last week and I kicked around their ideas over the weekend. This post is 40% a response to their posts and 60% Monday morning rabbit-trail. Thanks Gina & Amy for the provocation. Lin also wrote about fun a little later.
Why Fun is Good
When kids talk about fun, they usually mean something they like. This could be any activity or environment that promotes a positive emotional experience. When mom’s ask kids, “Was kids church fun?” They usually mean did you enjoy the experience.
One fact of human development is the increasing complexity (or depth) of emotions. One might describe dozens of mood variations that children experience. They would include happy, excited, curious, confused, anxious, sad, mad, sad, bored, etc. These are not well defined and can change rapidly. So having fun just means staying on the good side of the emotions.
Most adults could describe their moods with more precision and might relegate fun to a smaller set of moods. But since adults are mainly crazy I won’t try to figure them out.
For kids, fun is any activity that encourages the positive range of emotional states. It does NOT always include being silly. Fun is anything that spurs curiosity, helps children participate, allows kids to laugh, makes the lesson memorable. In short, anything a child likes could be labeled fun.
Relationships exist within the context of their moods. When a child is in a positive emotional state, they are more likely to development positive attitudes toward the people and ideas they experience. Having a good time at church is no guarantee that kids will become Christian adults. But it does encourage positive attitudes toward what they learn and who they learn it from.
Making your ministry fun demonstrates love. It shows kids that you care enough about them to speak their language. It proves that you love them enough to become like them. Making it fun assures parents their kids will have a positive (and non-harmful) experience at church.
Why No-Fun is Bad
Activities that ignore the positive moods by default will encourage the negative – confusion, boredom, etc. In these situations kids will often create their own fun, usually in ways that disrupt what you are trying to teach. To correct their behavior you will often need firm discipline, which by often will encourage more negative emotional states in all the children. This cycle will quickly erode the educational and spiritual value of your ministry program.
Some route learning can be achieved without fun – I remember spelling tests too! But life-change learning does not flourish in negative emotional environments.
Fun is a Powerful Tool
When I was against fun, I wrongly assumed that fun activities could not encourage learning or spiritual growth. There are many ways to have fun that do really benefit kids. Games can help children recall or apply what they have learned. One example is this Sunday School game that teaches kids to encourage others. Acting out a Bible story will help children rehearse the main details and empathize with the characters. Craft projects can help integrate abstract concepts with existing life experience.
Wisdom would commend moderation with fun, especially if the you tend to neglect the whole range of emotional states. We need Jesus both on happy days and in hard times. There should be time for prayerful reflection and God-focused adoration. Of course, as kids develop spiritually those more serious moments become positive (and fun) in their own sense too.
What Do You Think?
So much of this conversation depends on how you define the words. Leave a comment below to let me know what you think. Is fun a value that you build into your ministry? How do you keep things interesting without losing the content.
Be sure to check out Amy’s post why is fun so important? and Gina’s post Defining “Fun” if you want more insight into this issue.
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{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
Great post u’ve posted.
I believe fun is great and draw the kids closer to church then God. I could remember few years back when the children department was at an average sunday attendance of thirty-five, but approach to their teaching is changed with some spices of fun and as at last sunday the attendance stood at one hundred and twenty.
I will advice us not to forget in our teachings that life is not bed of roses.
tony – thanks for pushing the conversation further, this is a great post! here’s where i’m at on the subject of fun: i think fun is great, and important especially in our children’s ministry. but, what i’m concerned about is the possibility that we are unintentionally teaching our kids that a life of faith, or life in the church is always fun and high energy. what happens when kids experience pain, grief, or even confusing seasons of faith when god doesn’t seem to make sense? do they have a framework or a foundation to grow in faith during these seasons?
my bottom line – i want to create a balanced faith experience for children, so they are able to grow during any season of life.
Thanks for the article on having fun in kid’s church. I agree with you. I’ve actually always thought I could be most effective if my kid’s were having fun. A few years back, we thought we would have “mini big church”. The kids responded well and we had some serious services. I see the importance of a balance. We can get serious and have some awesome getting to know God times, but it is best balanced. I have to remember these are kids, and they are only kids for a short time in life. Us adults are crazy, it’s our kids that have it all together! Fun is about making kids’s church enjoyable for the kids. We try to make every aspect of a kid’s life upbeat and fun, why would we not want the same for them out of their Jesus relationship. I can say I truly believe that Jesus was fun and I bet he was even more fun with the kids that he sat and ministered to during his life. Jesus knew kids were special and held a purity that no adult can ever come close to having. I’m going to believe that Jesus wants me to approach my ministry to these kids serious, but by having fun and letting that loving patience and peace and “JOY” that comes from Him shine through me and my teaching! Thanks again, Great Article!