Embracing The Rejection of Kids’ Ministry

Although kid’s ministry is essential to every church, almost every church (including mine) struggles at times to staff their kids’ zone. During my 14 plus years of kids’ ministry, I’ve been charged with recruiting nursery workers, Sunday school teachers, and special event staff for many a year. Every time, I pick up the phone, I feel like I’m about to start a Job interview. “Will they hire me?” Um, yeah..well thanks… but, no. As I’ve told many people, I think kid’s ministry is in part a ministry of rejection. Thankfully, I had a lot of practice getting rejected while single.

Thankfully, I am currently married to the best gal ever! But if all those other girls hadn’t said, “No;” I very well may have missed out on marrying my bride. Although experiencing rejection was not highlight of my college career, God ended those relationships to direct to me to their most wonderful girl ever! In much, the same way having people tell us, “No I don’t want to serve in kids ministry” can be a good thing. (It can also be a bad thing, but we will look at that later). We should give people the space to refuse our recruitment calls for the following three reasons.

Allowing people to say, “No” keeps people from being forced into ministry. Our service should be freely given. If we serve to make the pastor happy or to avoid the negative looks of others, we are actually being selfish. We will get no reward from our heavenly father (Mathew 6:1).

Allowing people to say, “No” helps to guard our ministry. That really awesome Christian on the other end of the line may have some secret sin that disqualifies her from serving. By allowing her the right of refusal, we protect the integrity of our ministry. We also may gain the chance to help a friend by asking some good follow up questions.

Allowing people to say “No” promotes the health of the church. We want people to fulfill God’s call on their life. Our thoughts are not God’s. We could see a couple being a great fit in the nursery but God may be calling them to help with senior adult ministry. We should be excited to see people serving in every capacity. Allowing someone to say no may actually grow your church

Ultimately, all ministry is God’s ministry. He will provide the laborers. We need to diligently share our vision, recruit, and prepare adults for kids’ ministry. But, we do so through prayer. And as we humbly depend on God, we can rejoice even in the No’s. We know that God is working all things for our good and the good of his church! We want the team he has called working with our kids.