We got some new songs for our upcoming “God Is…” series in Toon Town!

Check them out here!

Kyle and I have walked through Colossians 3 with Keegan & Josie for the past two weeks.  It’s the scriptural focus of the message series, Road Trip, they’re watching in LifeKIDS each weekend.  I love the fact that our family is focused on this one chapter in scripture.  The time spent just reading together has been refreshing.

Since God chose you to be the holy people he loves, you must clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience... Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds us all together in perfect harmony.  Col 12 & 14

I wish I could say this has been my demeanor the past few weeks.  Yet I’m amazed at how difficult it has been to live this out.  Ministry has been challenging, to put it lightly.  It seems that the simplest of processes in kids ministry aren’t so simple right now.  The level of patience, gentleness, and humility I’ve shown is less than I care to confess.

Why is it when I ask God to increase my patience, gentleness and humility… He likes to show me all the areas where it lacks the most?

Dan Scott started a great conversation here about phrases to quit using in kids ministry.  Kenny Conley comments in that conversation about the process we go through as Christ followers.  Here is what Kenny writes.

…I’ve become a lot more comfortable with the idea that becoming a Christ Follower for many people isn’t an alter call experience, but a process. I’ve talked to too many people who can’t tell you when they became a Christ Follower because it was more of a process for them... I’ve had parents get frustrated when their kids “asked Jesus in their heart” and they’d already done it before… Could it be that this is a process? Kids may have made a heart decision, but their mind still hasn’t caught up (they don’t completely comprehend)…

I’ve talked to many parents with teens that have ‘grown up’ in church.  They stand before me confused because their daughter made a mistake and is now pregnant.  Mom/dad look at me and say,

“She accepted Jesus when she was 6, she never missed a Sunday, we volunteered every Wednesday night… now my 16 yr old is pregnant.  What happened?”

Are we offering a checklist?  Are we giving them hoops to jump through?

Don’t miss church.

Bring your kids to our events.

Do this bible study.

Pray this prayer.

We forget sometimes that mom/dad want to do this thing right.  If we throw a perceived ‘recipe for success’ out there, are we inviting parents to assume that following the recipe will produce the perfect child? Or at least a child with no MAJOR issues like teen pregnancy, social drinking, or addiction to 80’s hair band music.

I question our approach often.  I work to explain to mom/dad that choosing Christ is a series of discoveries and decisions.  It begins with discovering what He did for us and why.  Then continues with decisions… the everyday, ordinary decision of choosing what He says is best verses what we think is best.

Is anyone else (parent or Children’s pastor) wrestling this down?

I blogged a little about this yesterday.  You can catch up here.

Consider the gifts God has placed in each of your family members…

Imagine these gifts engaged on a mission…

Imagine your family embracing a cause…

There are community mission opportunities to engage your family.  Some coordinated by your local church.  Some waiting to be coordinated by you.

Where can you take a group of families to engage with your community this June?

Featured here are friends who saw an unmet need in their community and were brave enough to do something about.  These are amazing people.  Take a click and see where God leads you…

The Tapestry Project

The Spero Project

Hope Chest OKC

Here we are… The 5th and final faith skill to build into our kids… (cue drumroll)

Skill #5:  Give to God

It’s important for children and teens to know how to give back to God and serve Him in the way they live their everyday lives

Again, I don’t think we’re hearing anything new here.  It’s the simplicity of living a life focused on God and not ourselves.  Whether it’s worshiping through song, the tithe, serving others… the key is focusing on God and following His desires for us, not our own.

Now, here’s the kicker question that applies to every faith skill.

1. Navigate the Bible
2. Personalize Scripture
3. Dialogue with God
4. Articulate Faith
5. Give to God

Do these faith skills only apply to kids?  Or are these skills each of us need to develop/sharpen in our own lives?

We tend to plan out the things kids are taught to ensure the objectives are clear. Consider this ‘continuing education’ for adults.  Which faith skill needs sharpening in your life?

Talking about the 5 skills to establish faith in our kids.  Catch the first 4 here.

Faith Skill #4: Articulate Faith

Create a safe place to discuss and wrestle with what kids believe.  This is key for our kids to make their faith their own.

Not just as parents, but as individuals, we can fear doubt.  We are scared of questions.  Sometimes it freaks us out when people question their faith.  We think we might lose them forever.  They might go off the deep end.

“Just have more faith.  Have more faith!”

I’m not discounting faith.  It’s a vital component to your relationship with Jesus.  But in order to make something your own, sometimes you’ve got to wrestle it down yourself.   I appreciate a good sermon, but I value scripture more when I labor through, question and digest it myself.

Give people in your home the space and the safety to question.  Have less faith in your explanations of God… and have more faith in the work God is doing in the midst of the wrestle.

Some of the best parenting advise I’d ever heard came from a 23 year old single man.  He said…

Talk less.  Pray more.

Do questions make you uncomfortable?  Do you allow people to question and wrestle with their faith?

My kids love www.jellytelly.com.  If you have kids pre-school to early elementary, here’s a fun activity to do together.

(Or maybe something they can watch while you unload the dishwasher. )

Check me out doing this all in sequence.  What’s up with that?!?  Usually I toss in a few random posts just to keep you guessing.  Not so, this time.  Let’s keep rolling.  If you missed the first two, you can catch up here.

Skill #3:  Dialogue with God

The environments created at home and at church will be one of the first places children and teenagers learn to pray

Talking with God is not a difficult thing to demonstrate.  Actually doing it is the secret.  Though mealtime prayers are a ritual in many homes; breakfast, lunch and dinner are not the only times to dialogue with God.  We don’t stop talking to our kids at breakfast, do we?

Here’s a fun idea to establish a habit of prayer with your kids:

Every time the bell rings at school, just say hello to God.

It draws them back to a focus on Him and encourages an opportunity to talk with Him.

As a Christ-follower, what could serve as a constant reminder to just say hello to God?

As a parent, ministry leader/volunteer, what ideas do you have that would teach a Christ-follower the habit of dialogue with God?

I’ll leave you with this little nugget.  Who could resist. 

All posts in this series can be found here.

Skill #2:  Personalize Scripture

Encourage children to memorize scripture so they can remember it and apply it in everyday situations

Knowing how critical the demonstration of parents and volunteers can be, it only makes sense that we lead the way in scripture memorization.  And yet I slack significantly here.

I’m inspired to 2 action steps:

• Lead my kids in memorization by doing it also rather than just expecting them to do it
• Lead my volunteers to memorization to increase their effectiveness/encouragement
  

As a parent/volunteer/mentor to kids… how would you rate yourself on personalizing scripture?

My friend, Sam Luce, is featured on the cover of K! magazine.

If you’re looking for a solid resource to inspire you in kids ministry, K! mag is a great place to start. You can check out the entire mag online (including Sam’s article) here.