https://blog.dc4k.org | ljacobs@dc4k.org

Children’s ministers have a HUGE responsibility

 
 

Responsible

If the regular guy on the street knew all the responsibilities and tasks a children’s minister is responsible for, they would be singing “Hail to the King/Queen” every time you walked by.

Your job includes the height, depth and width of building the Kingdom of God

  • Height: The physical work is overwhelming. You spend hours setting up for Sunday and hours tearing down and resetting for weekly events– plus you still have all the daily responsibilities.
  • Width: You are either developing curriculum or spending hours pursuing curriculums appropriate for your church.
  • Depth: The depth of Kingdom work is astonishing. You can be the pivotal instrument to bring a child to Christ or turn a child away from Him.

Today I want to ask two more things of you

  1. Call a kid whose parents have separated or divorced. Just call him or her.
  2. Find out their birthday and put it on your calendar to give them a call on their birthday. Remember if the child doesn’t have their own cell you may need two phone numbers number, one for mom’s home and one number for dad’s home depending on where the child is on their birthday.

Kids get excited when you reach out

My son was in second grade when his dad left. After he left we continued to attend our home church. After a few years we left that small rural church to attend a church where they had a single parent class.

One evening my son and I were working in the back yard when a car pulled into our drive. Brian looked over the fence to see who it was. “Mom! Mom! It’s my Sunday School teacher. How about that? In all this time we’ve been divorced no one has ever come to visit me.” This had a huge impact on my child.

Not one Sunday School teacher, children’s minister, church leader or anyone connected to the church had called him in the four years since the divorce.

Divorce changes a kid’s life

While some people might not view divorce as a big thing in today’s world to a child it still is a gigantic event that doesn’t end. It means the death of their once intact family. It means they have to always say “good-bye” to a parent they love in order to say “hello” to the other parent they love.

These kids will go on the rest of their lives saying “goodbye” and “hello”.

Your challenge (Okay so I caught your attention with the two things to do but if you feel inclined here are a few other simple things you can do.)

  • Make the church a safe place for kids of divorce to fall.
  • Make it a place that feels welcoming and says, “Hey kid, you belong here.”
  • Create welcoming teams of other kids who will welcome a newcomer and walk them through a class session
  • Find a team of people who can commit to stepping up and creating a group support for kids of divorce. The best one is DC4K (DivorceCare for Kids). Not only did I create it but I run it in my local church and I see kids lives changed ever week because of DC4K.
  • Pray, pray and then pray some more for the hurting children in your midst.

 

This article is updated and adapted from an article originally published on the Kids & Divorce blog on April 16, 2015. 

 

 

 

 

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