One Hour a Week

We're preparing to open our new children's wing this weekend so my mind has been on children's ministry lately. Typically, a church gets one hour a week to influence the life of a child. Just one hour. Over a year that translates to maybe 45 hours (assuming they miss a few Sundays). That's less than 1% of their time. Compare that with amount of time they are influenced by school, sports, media, internet, friends, etc. It's staggering. That's why we've been working hard at Maury Hills to do two things:

1) Make that hour the absolute best hour of their week.
2) Partner with the home (where lasting spiritual formation happens in the first place).

Here's what we're trying to do in each of those areas. On Sundays we invest a tremendous amount of time and energy into our children's ministry. It takes up more space, more staff and more volunteers than anything else we do. We truly want it to be the best hour of their week! We want our kids to engage in worship, learn Bible truths and spend time applying those truths to their lives. This happens because of dedicated volunteers who are willing to share their lives with the kids. The registration volunteers make sure that they receive a warm welcome and parents feel comfortable. The hosts and worship leaders help them learn how to praise God and sing from their heart. The storytellers teach them that the Bible is not boring and make it come alive in unbelievably creative ways. The small group shepherds nurture and guide the kids in applying the principles of the Bible to everyday situations. I'm continually amazed at what my kids learn and love to see them "making the wise choice" or "trusting God no matter what." Two of the core values that are taught each week.

With our new building we're adding an entirely new element to Sunday mornings. It's called an "immersive environment." All week long our kids spend time in their rooms or classrooms which are typically full of kid stuff. They watch TV, play video games, listen to their ipods or surf the Internet. Then they come to church and sit in a room with blank walls and watch flannel-graph figures. If church is going to be the best hour of the week, then it also has to the most kid-friendly place in town. Of course we're not going to compete with Disney, but we are going to work hard to create an atmosphere that's inviting, fun and cool (or whatever word the kids are using these days). Our children's area has been transformed from blank walls to a Coney Island boardwalk complete with a ticket booth, surf shop, funhouse, captian's room and pier. It's one of the most amazing things I've seen. I wish I was back in 2nd grade so I could go to Bible class in there.

The idea of partnering with the home is still a work in progress. It's something we've been trying to gradually incorporate into our church. We realize that parents have the greatest potential to impact their kids spiritually. Therefore, we need to include parents in every step of the process. What happens in the one hour on Sunday is only valuable if its carried home and repeated throughout the week. So we're trying to do a few things differently. One is information. We've tried to provide more info to parents about what their kids are learning and how they can help reinforce those truths. We've done that through classes for parents and handouts that go home with the kids. One of the coolest things was the For Heaven's Sake class where we shared the gospel with both parents and kids, then challenged them to go home and discuss it as a family. I know of some great discussions (and decisions for Christ) coming out of that event.

Two is family experiences. We want to create some intentional events where the parents and kids learn or serve together. This allows the parents to see first-hand what their kids are doing and to model Christ for them. Two examples of this are Kidstuf and Summer Surge. Kidstuf is a family worship experience that's geared towards both parents and kids. With storytelling and drama we hope to spark conversations that extend beyond Sundays. Summer Surge is when we cancel all our classes on Wednesday nights and do something as a family each week. It may be fellowship (Concert in the Park) or service (King's Daughter's Party) or spiritual (Prayer Walk). It's something the entire family can do together.

Of course, I'm making it sound like we have all this down to a science. We don't. There's still plenty of gaps left to fill and we're constantly evaluating and re-adjusting. And very little of this is original with us. The folks over at Orange have been influential in shaping our thinking. A wise youth minister once told me the key to implementing effective ideas in ministry is knowing "what to steal and when to steal it." So what about your church? What are you doing for kids? Any good ideas we could steal?