Happy Pastor Happy Parent
Let’s be honest here, if you take the children on, you are going to have two happy groups, (we would hope for three), but two are a given, a happy Pastor, and happy Parents. The other group is the children, and we just know that you are going to make them happy.
Happy Pastors
As long as the children are happy the Pastor is usually happy, that means he/she can concentrate on the bigger stuff! This statement annoys the be jeepers (not a word) out of me.
Why, because the Pastor needs to get down and dirty with the children, he needs to know what you are teaching them, (you could even tie in your messages to those happening in Big Church to some degree) and the children need to see him/her often.
Not only at the front
They need to see the Pastor at the front of the church on stage, but they also need to know that he or she is a friendly person that gets on the carpet and pushes the trains along with them or draws a picture with them. They are as important as the new person walking into church that day; they are his/her future church. It’s just not good enough that the children’s areas are working well, have good numbers and tick along. It’s not good enough that you are just there to take the children away.
Lots of children’s area’s within churches are just not producing fruit, how can you tell? They are not doubling in size. Parents aren’t going to other parents and saying, “Gee you need to bring your children to church on a Sunday morning, the kids teaching is brilliant.” Children’s area’s that aren’t producing fruit are usually fronting up as a child minding service, offering a room to run around in, play video games and generally lark around with maybe a little try at a God Time.
Even with the rooms that offer space for 1-2 year olds need to have focus, ie. fun, play, routine and teaching/story time.
This is why the Pastor of the church needs to get involved, is this area producing fruit, can you walk into that room at any time and the children are focused, well looked after, happy and learning about God? If they are not, you as a Pastor really need to get involved. If you need further help in creating the right learning environment in the children’s area’s to help your church grow, use our contact page and we will be so happy to help.
Happy Parents
Of course the parents are going to be happy if you are offering them a space and helping hands where their children can play and create and not be fussy in church.
You are offering parents a break, and this is very important for their faith journey. Offer mums a break from their children for two hours every Sunday morning and your church will grow. What you can teach the parents very quickly is this is a place that your children are going to learn and grow a faith.
Daddy Pray!
Soon they will be coming home and asking why you aren’t praying before you eat. They will be telling you about the Bee Attitudes or the Armour of God, they will bring faith to your home very quickly. This is why it is so important that the fruit of your service will be children who start to understand the love of Jesus, this should be what the parents want from you, very soon they will recognise that you are the beginning of their faith journey and they should be very grateful.
Receive the Kingdom of God as a little child
I once had a father helping out in the children’s room; it’s not my policy or my norm to have the parents of children in the room unless their children are very shy. This is a time for the parent’s to have a break and not be on your helper’s list or roster. However, this particular father was I think trying to escape Big Church, this happens often with adults. I was teaching the parable of the seeds, landing on the good soil, the rocks, the sand etc, when the children moved onto their craft the Father explained that he learned more in the Sunday school than he had ever learnt in Big Church. Now; obviously he must have been new to faith, and obviously I was reaching him just where he was at, but what an amazing thing.
Remember God is in the room
What we all have to remember is that God is everywhere, we know that I hear you say; well why do so many think that He just turns up in Big Church and they show that by the amount of care they give to leaders, volunteers and the children of Kids Church. God is in the room when you are teaching the three to six’s, he is amongst us with His Spirit, amazing things can happen in the hearts of little ones in those Children’s room’s. So the next time you hear a Pastor say “I don’t care what the curriculum for the children is” or “as long as the kids are happy I am happy”, remember you and your role maybe a representative of the Church for a younger age group than the adult church, but as much importance should be placed there as it is in Big Church.