Children June 15, 2007
Posted by Han in : Church and Ministry , trackbackWe demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.- 2 Corinthians 10:5
“I don’t want to go to church because its so boring”. This is sadly what we may often hear from kids who are asked to come to church. How do we make children church more exciting? We can’t minister if they are not even there. What can we do to not ever hear that phrase again from any child in the ministry?
We need to know that ministry to children cannot be accidental. It has to be intentional. If we approach it naturally with just good motives and no deliberation, we are heading towards disaster. The truth is simple. We adults do what we think is interesting and a great idea to us and program it into the kids service. We miss the point that kids are different and like different things.
The prime deliberation is to put effort into understanding what children like. That’s it. If we know what they like and program our service in such a way to do what they like (within the boundary of what is permissible), we start seeing more enthusiasm and joy coming to church. Captivating kids is a prerequisite to make their worship and learning time the best one and for them to want to come back for more.
Here’s what children like…
1) Children like to laugh
Program humor into your service. Kids just like to laugh. Let your skits, drama, clowns, puppets be funny, humorous and even silly (if clowns are involved). When kids laugh, is a sign that we have captured their hearts. It’s easier to minister thereafter.
2) Children like to do things
Program such a way that kids can move around, jump and do something physically. Make it easy to avoid losing the younger or shy ones in doing difficult tasks. Body movement surely disarm kids and make them more open to the service we are bringing them.
3) Children like to see things
Children spend a lot of time listening in church, so some things that they can see will surely draw their attention to what you want to say. Invest in big colour props. Don’t just say ‘grace’, show it with some props and actions. Don’t say ‘serpent’, show them one (or at least try using whatever means).
4) Children like to listen (to stories)
Yes, they like to listen too!!… But not to our long complicated explanation of bible concepts. Rather they like to hear testimonies or stories about God and about how God answers our prayers. Invest in building up a collection of stories both from others and from your own life. Keep a journal and live an authentic christian life to make it useful.
5) Children like to be acknowledged and related to.
If you acknowledge the kids from the moment they walk into the room, during the big group time in service and small group time in care group right to when you say bye bye. When we really value their presence in our life that Sunday, they’ll surely want to come back again because they would have tasted love, grace and the work of Holy Spirit through us. If we can only consider one, let this be the one. Relationship is the best programming.
Contrary to our natural understanding, children don’t care about how clever you link concepts together or how excellent our ideas in drawing parallels etc. They won’t go “hey now that’s great idea or philosophy” As adults we overemphasize concepts and ideas in our programming. While its good to have them in simple easy to understand form, what’s more important are the 5 kids targeted points above.
While the content of our message should always be scriptural and convey God’s heart for people, the form can always be a bit more children targeted and interesting in their context. I hope we can understand it may not be as difficult to captivate children as we imagine. We just need to know them, act upon that knowledge and get the results we want. Never again should we see a boring children church if we invest in knowing what children like and doing it intentionally.
Article taken from Rags Studio.
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