7 Keys to Ministering to Today's Child
(Part 1)
By Timothy BrownClick here for a downloadable PDF file
I was talking to our group about how many people come to our church and how many there are in our town and surrounding villages. It worked out that only one out of every one hundred people in our sphere of influence attended our church. The obvious goal was to encourage the children to invite their friends and change that number. Before I could get to the application, one child blurted out, “What are we gonna do about this? That’s when teaching really becomes rewarding.
This article will address three keys to teaching today’s child to help get more of those “aha” moments. The next article will cover four more.
Love the Children Unconditionally
One teaching truth that was true thirty years ago and is still true today is that if you want to be an effective teacher, you have to love the children unconditionally. I remember years ago hearing John Maxwell say, “Nobody cares how much you know until they know how much you care.” It works with children too. Children don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.
Loving children unconditionally is not easy. Many children today grow up in an environment that teaches them life is all about me and that they are not responsible for their actions. In your own strength, it is often difficult or impossible to love some children like that. Don’t let that pull you down. Unconditional love comes from God. Ask him to give you his supernatural love for the children you work with and to see them as he sees them. That will help you get beyond their attitude and actions and see their heart.
You can demonstrate love to them by your consistent attendance which shows you are committed to them. My wife and I only miss church a couple of times a year and even then we miss the kids. The children know that when they come to church, we’ll be there. If for some reason we can’t be, we let them know in advance.
How do you greet the children when they arrive? The best way is with a smile and calling them by name. It’s amazing how big an impact just using their name has on them. It shows that you care and is another simple way to demonstrate love.
Another way to demonstrate love is to come to class prepared. Since we do children’s church, we never know for sure how much time we’re going to have. Sometimes the service goes overtime and we’ve got to fill an unexpected ten to fifteen minutes. To be ready for that, I always try to over prepare. We typically have an hour and fifteen minutes, but I plan for an hour and a half. If you don’t have a plan for your class, the kids will, and it probably won’t be one you enjoy.
Pray for Each Child Each Week
I heard the following statement one time; “More is accomplished in the prayer closet than in the classroom.” There’s a lot of truth to that. The “aha” moment comes a lot more often when I pray for the children and the lesson than when I don’t. So, what should you pray about?
- If they don’t know Christ, pray for their salvation.
- Pray that Satan won’t snatch the word from their heart but that it would become implanted.
- Pray they will apply the lesson from the previous week. (Make sure you give them something specific to do during class time.)
- Pray that they will be a light at home if they have unsaved family members.
- Pray they will continually grow in grace and in the knowledge of Jesus Christ our Lord.
- Ask God to help them be a witness at school and with their friends.
- Pray God will prepare them Saturday night for what he wants them to learn on Sunday morning.
- Others as God brings them to your mind.
Work to Clearly Communicate Truths to Children
Don’t automatically assume that what you are saying is what the children are hearing. Children come to the classroom with their own thoughts, feelings, prejudices and life experiences. Your words filtered through all that can be transformed or misunderstood.
If the child just came from a home where mom and dad had a big fight, their mind will be on that and not your lesson topic. As you teach, they may listen, but part way through start thinking about the fight.
One way to help is to get more of their senses involved in the learning. If they see and hear, they’ll pay closer attention so an object lesson is a good thing to include in your teaching. It will help even more if it is an object that they can touch.
Add variety to your teaching. The more predictable you are as a teacher, the less your impact will be. Conversely, the less predictable you are the greater the impact. Children will come wondering what’s going to happen rather than being able to predict it.
When you have an important point to make, after making it, stop and ask the children if they can tell you what you just said. Don’t let them just tell you using your words; have them tell you with their words. If they can do that, you’ve communicated well.
Four More Keys
In the next article, I’ll share four more keys to help you clearly communicate important truths to the children you’re teaching. Until then, will you commit to love the children unconditionally? Will you pray that God will help you see them as he sees them? Will you pray by name for each child in your class or group? Will you ask God to help you to clearly communicate the lesson this Sunday?
God loves the children you minister to more than you do. He’s entrusted them to your care. That means he wants to use you to help mold and strengthen them. When you go into class prepared and prayed up, you’ll see more and more “aha” moments. It doesn’t get much better than that.