Children's Ministry...Today and tomorrow.

Final Post

2008-01-28T13:03:00.000-08:00

I am thinking of continuing blogging, but I will continue under a new title and domain name.

I'm a little tired of the "Jaded" aspect of this blog.

This is my final week at UPC. I will beginning my new opportunity in ministry on Feb. 15 at CBC. I think I might try blogging more then as to the events and happenings of that ministry.

I'll be sure to post a link to the new blog at that time.

Death to a blog?

2007-12-14T15:14:00.000-08:00

After blogging for some time (225 posts) I am feeling that this blog might have run its course. My posts have been rare recently. Just unsure on what to talk about.

Provide me some insight as to where this blog needs to be abandoned or if I should hold on. If I should hold on, what are some subjects to discuss?

For my reading right now, I just finished the semester (which helps with some free time). I finished a book at the office about Sabbath which I enjoyed. I just started The Chronicles of Narnia which I'd like to complete prior to the beginning of the Spring semester.

I'm back...maybe.

2007-11-14T07:51:00.000-08:00

I know it has been a very long time since I have made a post. Been pretty preoccupied with other things to take the time to blogging.

I found this article this morning and think it is particularly interesting. It is about "Muslim" car. I like to see how automakers are working to bring things that Muslims would be interested in for their choice of car. The article states, "The car could boast special features like a compass pointing to Mecca and a dedicated space to keep a copy of the Koran and a headscarf."

So what would a "Christian" car come standard with? Any ideas?

The Children's Sermon

2007-10-16T12:16:00.000-07:00

The Children's Sermon has been a staple of modern worship for some time. The church uses this as an opportunity to embrace children in worship.

Typically the Children's Sermon has been a simple message designed to teach children a moralism out of a simple Bible story. This has been something UPC has worked against for quite some time. And with some success.

I have a team of about 8 or 9 different people who share children's messages with the children of UPC on a regular basis. We use one of the lectionary texts and teach the message presented in that text to the children.

Our first service has gone very well. But our second service has struggled. We have only one family who consistently worships in second service. We are thinking about doing away with the children's message during second service and finding alternative ways to embrace children in worship and for them to learn and experience Christ.

I am looking for ideas. We would love to have a "children's area" where children can go and have an activity or special place that they can experience the message being taught. This could be through tactile activities, art, music, etc. If you have any ideas, please share.

What is church?

2007-10-11T13:25:00.000-07:00

I have used this post title before. Now let Rob Bell define it.

"The church doesn't exist for itself; it exists to serve the world. It is not ultimately about the church; it's about all the people God wants to bless through the church. When the church loses sight of this, it loses its heart." (165)

All I can say is...AMEN!

Pain

2007-10-11T13:22:00.000-07:00

"As a pastor, I spend a lot of time dealing with other people's pain. And when I am dealing with theirs, then I don't have to think about my own." Rob Bell.

Brutally honest and brutally true.

"Christian is a great noun and a poor adjective"

2007-10-10T10:31:00.000-07:00

The title of this entry comes from Velvet Elvis (I have a couple more posts coming from there). "My understanding is that to be Christian is to do whatever it is that you do with great passion and devotion. We throw ourselves into our work because everything is sacred." (84)

I love how Bell moves away from Christian as an adjective and back to a noun. What does it mean to be a Christian in whatever setting your find yourself? This is a very important question to remember.

He also redefines church as "a church is a community of people who are learning how to be certain kinds of people wherever they find themselves, so they can do whatever i is they do 'in the name of the Lord Jesus.'" (85)

I would love to see the church see itself in such a manner. The church would be a better place let alone the world!

Questions

2007-09-13T11:23:00.000-07:00

I started reading Velvet Elvis by Rob Bell yesterday. So far, so good.

He has a section on questions that I think is excellent. He writes about a night called "Doubt Night" where the people of his church were permitted to write down all of their questions and doubts on slips of paper while they discussed them anonymously at church. He writes, "[W]hat was so powerful for those I spoke with was that they were free to voice what was deepest in their hearts and minds. Questions, doubts, struggles. It wasn't the information that helped them -- it was simply being in an environment in which they were free to voice what was inside." (30).

He goes on to write, "Central to the Christian experience is the art of questioning God. Not belligerent, arrogant questions that have no respect for our maker, but naked, honest, vulnerable, raw questions, arising out of the awe that comes from engaging the living God." (31)

I completely agree with this principle. I think that the church must be a place that is more about questions than it is about answers. More particularly, I want to see a children's ministry (particularly a pre-teen ministry) that is embraces questions instead of just supplying answers. The kids need that. The kids need to feel comfortable enough to have a place that they can go before others with their questions without feeling that they are stupid. I think that this is a very important part of ministry that is being left out and the kids need it. The kids will be asking questions that they some times need answers to and sometimes not.

Wii had fun

2007-09-13T08:09:00.000-07:00

Yesterday a family invited me over to dinner to hang out and play Wii. It was incredible. I am truly a Wii believer! I hadn't thought it would be as much fun as advertised. But it is. What a great day!

2007-09-04T14:36:00.000-07:00

"Where has the Lord met you since we last met?"

This is the question that begins our prayer time each day at staff prayer. This question should be easy to answer, but it is not. Why?

Justin and I were talking about this earlier today and exploring how this is a difficult question to answer. I know that I meet the Lord each day in some way, but I have a hard time either recognizing that or verbalizing that.

Something else to ponder. I have felt that this question has led me to go out looking to meet the Lord when instead he will meet with me if I keep my eyes and ears open to that.

Search Institute Conferences

2007-08-30T23:08:00.001-07:00

This conference put on by the Search Institute is very intriguing. It is in Rochester, NY. Anyone going? Click here.

I'd like to go. I have some money. I could make it happen.

Back to school

2007-08-28T10:28:00.001-07:00

I am sure that I have posted the back to school post before. But it is the end of August which means that it is back to school time. On Sunday we had a Back to School BBQ for our children's and youth ministries. It was a fun time of hanging out and BBQing at the local park (even got in for free that day which was really nice).

The back to school theme goes for me too because I am back to school this week as well. I am taking Elementary Greek and New Testament Backgrounds at the seminary. It is nice to be back in school. My Greek class is truly a review for me as I have taken another class like it before. The NT Backgrounds will be a lot of work which I have already started on.

I hope that the rest of the world's back to school events are going well. This is always a crazy time for children's ministers so it is good to take a moment and refresh in this hectic time.

Finishing Stonehouse

2007-08-28T10:16:00.000-07:00

I have a few more quotes that I am lumping together from Joining Children on the Spiritual Journey. I have finished this book for quite some time but I like to offer time to share the quotes and opportunities to ponder them.

On adults working with kids in ministry...
"We must never forget that we are merely assistant teachers or worship leaders, but God does give us the privilege of assisting, and he honors us by sometimes speaking through us to the children." (186)

On Godly Play...something I have experienced and found to be very boring, but other children's ministers believe in its power to minister to kids.
"In our discussion of godly play, you may have noted the absence of comments on adults building relationships with the children. Although we enjoy worshiping with our friends, the purpose of worship is for communion with God, and that is the focus of godly play. However, deep bonds often form between adults and children who experience genuine worship together week after week." (192)

On childrearing as a family activity...
"Even in North America most nuclear families live at a distance from aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandparents. Both father and mother in many of these families work outside the home and return to the family with depleted energy and emotional resources after the stress of the day. As we have seen, God did not intend for a father and a mother to should the full load of child rearing without the support of an extended family and a faith community. Will our faith communities connect with young people and become an extended family for them?" (197)

And finally on Christian education...
"Examining isolated stories, however, can lead to misunderstanding when interpreted without knowing the flow of the master story. Christian education must provide children, youth, and adults with opportunities to learn and revisit the whole story. Too often Christian teachers focus on New Testament stories, ignoring most of the Old Testament." (208-209)

This has been a great book to broaden my mind in the world of children and their spirituality. I haven't agreed with everything that Stonehouse has said, but I do think that much of what she has said is very true. I have enjoyed the conversations that this book has spurred and look forward to posting more with new books on the way.

A time to think

2007-08-22T11:26:00.000-07:00

An important insight that Joining Children on the Spiritual Journey has shown me is providing children with opportunities to think. Stonehouse records an interaction with John, a fourth grader at her church who was always in motion, concerning what he liked about church. This is what he said, "The way you give us time to think." She then writes, "Even active children need and appreciate time to reflect. Our society is stimulus addicted, and children need a place where they can come off that addiction and can discover the peace of quiet." (181)

I believe that churches have tried to feed the stimulus addiction of our society. I think that this has been a terrible sin by churches. Children need to relax. Children need to have quiet. Children need a place where they can meet and interact with God without the visual and audible sensory overload. Children need to experience Sabbath while in worship at church.

When you walk into a Catholic cathedral you are instantly in God's presence. You know that you are standing on holy ground. Perhaps this is a little bit of a cultural creation, but regardless you know that this is a place to be reverent before God and others. How do we emulate that same response with children in worship in our Sunday School classes and children's churches? How do we regain that response of being on holy ground and a feeling of reverence before God?

Answering these questions will engage the spiritual development of children. Your church may not grow to the immense numbers of some children's ministries, but your children will grow spiritually and come to know their creator God.

Stories are central to theology.

2007-08-21T10:41:00.000-07:00

A post for Justin.

"Stories are at the heart of faith development for children; stories capture and communicate theology for them. When adults try to explain God to children in abstract characteristics, even using simple, everyday language, the teaching does not carry meaning for them. But children can know God from stories and can experience God in stories." (Stonehouse, 161)

Stonehouse makes this statement in reference to children but I believe that it can be expanded for so many other groups. Stories are essential to theology. Theology can be discovered through stories. Entire sections of the Bible are stories that relay theology to God's people.

I believe that we must continue to use stories to train our children in the character of God but also we need to train our adults to use stories to see where God is working and how.

She goes on to write
"Denominations, local churches, and families need to keep alive the stories that communicate who they are and what they believe. Those stories give our children basic beliefs that they will want to own and hep them develop a faith identity, which gives them a sense of belonging." (164)

This is precisely the vision (or perhaps revelation) that Justin has for UPC's people.

Vision vs. Revelation

2007-08-15T15:48:00.000-07:00

A lot of churches have vision statements. We do not. We have stood against vision statements for quite some time. Recently I read this statement in a Blackaby book.

"'What is your vision of what you want to accomplish over the next five years?' That is the wrong question. We are not a people of vision--we are a people of revelation. We are a covenant people. We belong to God. We have no business telling God what we want to accomplish for Him or dreaming up what we want to do for God." (Chosen to be God's Prophet, 21)

I think that he is on to something here. Everyone wants to know what is the pastor's vision for his church is. That statement possibly has some big holes in it that need to be corrected. What is God's vision for that specific church? Or even better, what has God revealed to his people that he wants them to do in his community?

UPC has sought to answer that question by providing ministry to the community through programs like SNAP, tutoring, Greek Encouragement, and Laubach. God has revealed to his people these things. These people did not provide their own vision for this community and then check to see if God was in line with it.

What will God reveal next? Not sure yet, but it is exciting to seek him in anticipation of what that will be.

no title.

2007-08-14T11:34:00.001-07:00

"With each new level of development, persons have new capacities for relating to and trusting on another along with new potentials for a relationship with God. God created human beings with the capacity and the deep need to have faith. Without faith, life is a lonely, meaningless existence." (150)

A child's image of God, cont.

2007-08-14T11:29:00.000-07:00

This is a continuation of the previous post. Please keep the good stuff coming.

Since the tendency to create an image of God seems to exist within young children whether or not they have religious influences in their home, I would say that this tendency is a creation gift from the Creator God. Genesis 1:27 states, "So God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them." Human beings were created in the image of God. We arrive with no awareness of ourselves but with the need, over time, to differentiate and to know ourselves. That process begins in the first months of life. (Stonehouse, 137)

She goes on to write, "Even young children experience that restless desire, which leads them to want to know God. Constructing their image of God is their resonse to the pull of God, the beginning to know God."

I like this idea of children creating their image of God without religious influences as a gift of our Creator God. Any thoughts?

A child's image of God

2007-08-09T11:30:00.000-07:00

I found another interesting quote for this community to chew on. I loved our previous discussions and I am excited to see what my readers have to say about this one.

We do not give children their primary understanding of God through formal religious instruction. Even young children come to church with their own God. Our teaching is secondary to the primary image they have formed. In formal education, children are introduced to new ideas about God and must reconcile their image of God with what the teacher tells them about God. As we teach children at home and in the church, we do not give them our understanding of God; rather, we guide them as they reshape their God in light of what they learn from us and in their ever expanding life experiences. (Stonehouse, 134)

I like the idea that children have an image of God prior to religious education. I think that religious educators can easily forget that. We live in a society that teaches that education is open the mind and let the teacher pour in their thoughts. This tells me a different thing. This tells me that the child opens up their ideas to the teacher while the teacher might help to guide the child in his or her perspective on God. It is a reshaping from characteristics that are not of God and an adding to the ideas that are characteristics of God.

Children of Ministers

2007-08-05T21:34:00.000-07:00

James brought up an excellent question in my previous post that I believe needs more discussion.

Why do children of ministers run from spirituality? I have my theories but I would like to hear from the masses and in particular from actual children of ministers.

What are we doing for parents?

2007-07-25T14:08:00.000-07:00

Parents need all the help they can get in raising their children. It seems that more and more parents are unprepared for the spiritual life that they need to raise spiritual children. Stonehouse writes, "The spiritual formation of children should begin with the spiritual formation of their parents. As a church we must understand young adults, invite them into community, and provide for their ongoing growth." (66)

We are considering starting a family faith night. This could be a chance for parents to develop spiritually alongside their children. This could help our parents to grow spiritually as they raise their children in spiritual manners as well.

A young child's ability to trust.

2007-07-23T12:40:00.000-07:00

"The ability to trust is inseparably bound up with faith. Faith is reaching out to God in confidence that God will be there and will work for our good. If I do not believe the significant people in my world can be trusted to respond to my needs, why would I believe an unseen God would respond?" (52)

The development of trust in children is a key component to developing trust in God throughout their lives. Children who are neglected or placed in situations that are not creating trust between children and the significant adults will result in a lack of faith in God later in life. This shows the importance of good parenting on children and good nurturing of children by church workers.

God has entrusted these precious ones to us to help them build faith. We must remember this always as we minister to them.

Spiritual training on the go.

2007-07-19T15:10:00.001-07:00

"The commands of God are taught best in the normal flow of life. Adults and children can talk together about God and God's ways at home, as you go here and there, at bedtime, and as you start the day. Whenever something causes you to think about God, talk naturally about God then. These would not be planned lessons but mini conversations about God as child and adult enjoy a flower, a song, or a story about God." (25)

The Deuteronomy text that this is speaking about is commonly addressed in children's ministries as children's ministers are trying to place the responsibility of spiritual formation back on the parents instead of on the church. This I completely believe to be true!

I am curious what ministries and more importantly what parents are actually embracing this. As you drive to school, as you run errands during the day, as you see teachable moments, what are you doing to train your children in spiritual manners?

A prayer for the hungry

2007-07-19T15:04:00.000-07:00

Last Sunday, Justin and I led our KidMentoring time with a focus on hunger. We had a wonderful time teaching the children about world hunger. We had a map of the world and gave each child and their mentors a tea light candle. They placed a candle on a country that was struggling with hunger and then the mentor lit the candle for them. After the candle was lit, the child led the rest of the children in prayer for that country and the hunger that exists there.

It was beautiful. This mentoring experience has been amazing for everyone!

Home from camp

2007-07-18T15:47:00.000-07:00

I spent the last couple of days at Calvin Crest. I bounced back and forth between Sherwood Forest and Miwok Village. What a wonderful time. I also got the opportunity to talk with another children's director and the Sherwood Forest director. It is a great time at camp...but its good to be home too.

I have a vacation coming soon which I am definitely looking forward to.

I hope to have some new posts soon. I have finished reading a few books and want to talk about them. Talk to everyone later :).