Your church, like mine, is likely blessed with dedicated volunteers who gladly give their time and energy to children’s ministry. But have you ever known volunteers who serve so willingly they never seem to make it to “big church” on Sundays and Wednesdays? I’ve seen that happen at times in my church–a worker gradually falls into a pattern of rarely gathering with the church to hear God’s word preached, to pray and sing together, or to partake of the Lord’s Supper. This is either due to the demands of the ministry or their own comfort level in being with the children. Either way it’s not an ideal situation.
In some cases, a good plan for rotation or recruiting new workers can help. In other cases, the workers themselves may need to be encouraged to gather with the church when they have the opportunity. Some adult volunteers can actually lose their “taste” for congregational worship, preferring instead the familiarity of the childrens or youth department. It’s an easy thing to happen, but it’s something better avoided for several reasons:
1. It can cause us to miss what we need. Congregational worship offers unique means of edification for us. Hearing the Scriptures taught and preached, singing and praying together, the witnessing of water baptisms and the taking of the Lords Supper are all important ways that God has prescribed to build us up in our faith. If we never join with the church in doing these things we’re missing something vital God has for us.
2. It can set a wrong example. Children, as we all know, see and notice everything; we should be careful to model faithfulness and submission to God’s word for them. Our eagerness to join with other believers in a corporate setting should be displayed for them to see.
3. It can prevent others from serving. If the same folks are teaching a Sunday School class on Sunday morning, working with children’s church during the main service, helping in the nursery on Sunday night and hanging out with the youth on Wednesdays, other people in the church may not see the need to volunteer in these areas, even though they are gifted to serve.
Obviously, it is often hard to find enough people to volunteer in children’s ministry, which makes the task of dedicated workers participating in corporate worship even trickier. But with prayer, sincere effort and good communication, a way can be found! After all, it is God Himself who commanded us not to neglect assembling together as the church (Hebrews 10:24,25); where He has commanded He will also provide!
Has your church experienced and dealt with this problem? What are some ways you’ve addressed it?
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Great article. I am the sole person in our tiny church’s children’s ministry and it’s a challenge getting others to volunteer AND to actually teach the kids.
The kids stay with the adults for praise & worship, and on days we have the Lord’s Supper the kids’ group re-joins the adults for that portion–which is fantastic. Fortunately the kids’ room is separated from the main room by one glass-paned door, so if they’re engaging in free-play I can go out to listen while keeping an eye on the littles.
I also agree with the article. Many great points, and I am also guilty of finding my joy with the children. With only one service a week, it is very difficult to ask others to forgo the service and attend only to help with the children’s program.
I would love to hear some creative suggestions on ways to “invite” others to serve the children.
I try to attend as many small group and special programs as are offered so that I may meet other members, although I usually spend time getting to know the parents better.
I really appreciate the enthusiasm and intent of this article. I think you have eloquently expressed your ideas. I believe there are many positive points which you have raised. I have said some of the same things in the past. I do suggest another look at the idea that
“Congregational worship offers unique means of edification for us. Hearing the Scriptures taught and preached, singing and praying together, the witnessing of water baptisms and the taking of the Lords Supper are all important ways that God has prescribed to build us up in our faith. If we never join with the church in doing these things we’re missing something vital God has for us.”
If this is true for us as adults, then does this imply that we should not have any age-graded children’s programming, worship, teaching, and fellowship? The statement seems to imply that worship and edification is not occurring in the context of children’s ministry. I am sure that this might be the case at certain times in churches. If this is so, then why would we deprive children of the very thing which we as adults need? Or is it possible that both in children’s ministry and in other venues such as home groups or intergenerational worship, these very important sacraments and experiences can find expression.
Perhaps a middle-ground might be helpful as some churches have found, bringing age levels together at certains points for common worship experiences.
As for children noticing. I agree. They do notice. They notice that the church they grew to love as children and youth later becomes irrelevant when they graduate high school or college. Their spiritual tribe has been dispersed and they often feel they no longer belong, as Barna as so well documented. This is one reason I believe that intergenerational sermon-based small groups could well hold an important key to stemming the exodus of youth from the church, providing that they are included when they are children and later as youth.
I am very sympathetic to what you are saying. I am one of those workers in the church who rarely makes it to an adult church service. We have one service per week on Sunday morning and during the school year we run two age-graded kids churches, one for older elementary, one for younger elementary and preschool. Since CM leadership is my role in the church, I therefore am responsible for directly overseeing it.
Our about-to-be-launched sermon-based small groups should begin to fill in the gap, allowing me to get more involved with the content of weekly sermons. I also experience communion with friends outside of the institutional church, or at home.
Just thought you might appreciate a different perspective. I know you might disagree, and that is okay! Mine is not the final say on the matter:) Thanks for provoking my thinking. I appreciate it!
Glenn, we’re likely very much on the same page. I do believe that the more a church can do along intergenerational lines the better, and a lot is possible. I appreciate your responses and views.