The Failure of My Ministry

I have to wonder if I have failed the children of my church.I look at some of the kids who have come out of our program into the youth and see that they do not have a strong Biblical foundation. They do not like coming to church a lot of the time. They don't see the relevance of the Bible in our everyday life. Looking at that, there is little question that we have failed.

But, why? Why have I failed in so many lives?

I heard from someone wiser than I say, "They are not going to care about how much you know until they know how much they care." Yeah, it's a nice platitude, but how real is that? There are a couple of boys in our program right now where it seems that they are getting in trouble with me and becoming disruptive more than should be. Of course I get frustrated. But where is my frustration coming from? Is it because I cannot finish my lesson? Is it that they are not hearing my pearls of wisdom? I look and see that more times than not, it is.

I do not think these boys think I care about them as people but only as students who must be taught. So now I begin looking at how to make my ministry more relevant, not in teaching them but in showing them I care and love them and want to see them grow in love with God. Ultimately, teaching is part of this, but it is not the end-all goal of my ministry.

I need to do more prayer and study of His Word to find out what the goal of the Children's ministry of First Baptist Church needs to be. In the back of my mind is the 5S Racing stuff still. To help families raise children who will run the race successfully. Is this truly the goal? I have told preschool teachers that we should spoil preschoolers and that they should love coming to church because this is where they are shown tons of love. Why not in children's ministry? I am more interested too much of the time in teaching than loving.

Should the goal of our children's department be that we are going to show the love of Christ to children and their families in every aspect of ministry first and foremost? We need to show love through teaching but not sacrifice community building and loving family time for the sake of getting through the lesson.

Our daycare was called, "1st Kids" as it was not only a play on First Baptist Church Kids but as a philosophy of treating Kids like first-class citizens and putting their physical needs and spiritual needs to know Christ a top priority. It isn't about getting through the lesson. The same philosophy needs to be everywhere in our program. It should run through every action we take – God loves them. We love them.

It is time for a total revamp of Children's church and possibly every aspect of our children's ministry. Love is the first, last and middle that needs to be everywhere and this is not about finding the right curriculum. It's about making it a place where they feel loved, where they feel relevant and where God is relevant in their lives.

I'm tired of failing them.