Peter Witkowski Children's Ministry

Why There Are More Babies Than Mean, Old Ladies in Heaven

The mom panics, the dad’s face turns a touch red, and the old ladies begin to shake their old ladyheads. The baby has cried. As the baby is run out the sanctuary back door like patient about to be airlifted to the hospital for a brain transplant, the murmurs start: “Why did they bring that kid in?” What a distraction; I can’t focus with all that noise.” “Nursery, anyone?”

And while parents with young children should seek to be considerate of others, most of the people who dislike having kids in their services don’t have a people problem. They have a gospel problem.

When the disciples rebuked the parents who wanted Jesus to bless their kids, Jesus rebukes his disciples. And Jesus rebukes his disciples not because kids’ ministry is his number one passion. He rebukes the disciples because they get the gospel wrong.

The disciples didn’t want the kids interrupting Jesus’ day because they thought salvation was a matter of works. I.e. you help God help you be what God wants you to be. Because the little babies being thrust before Jesus could do nothing meaningful for the kingdom of God, the disciples shewed them away. Jesus only had time for those who belong in Big Church. No distractions please. Or so they thought.

But the disciples got the message of the gospel wrong. Jesus flipped the religion on its head. Jesus said, “Let the children come to me; do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God” (Mark 1:14). Jesus was saying that the church doesn’t belong to all the cranky, self-righteous people. The church, the kingdom of God belongs to the children! How can this be? The babies don’t vote, tithe, or lead Sunday school classes!

Well it all goes back to our understanding of salvation. According to the scriptures, crying babysalvation is a free gift of God. Our Lord saves us not because we were able to focus on the sermon for 50 straight years, not because we earned our 100th Sunday School Pen, and not because we tithed 3% of our income for the last 60 years. God saves us by his grace. He saves us not because of works that we have done but because of his love (Eph. 2:8-9). And because God is loving and merciful, he saves little babies and children that die. (For a full look at how this happens, see my blog Onesies: the doctrine of salvation.) As John MacArthur wrote:

The salvation of young children…is a deathblow to any form of legalism, since such children obviously can do nothing to merit salvation.

In a since the disciples were right. The little children could offer nothing to the kingdom of God. But they missed was the fact that they too could offer nothing to the kingdom of God. If we view children as a nuisance, as a bother, or as an unwanted distraction, we need to check our hearts for pride. We need to ask: “Are we impressed with what we and our church is offering to God? Do we think ourselves as being more worthy and deserving than little babies? Have we forgotten that we add nothing to our salvation?” And then, we need to welcome the little babies like Jesus did. We need to be glad that they are with us.

At the end of the day, the church does not belong to the senior adults. Is also is not supposed to be the millennials’ new coffee house. The church belongs to those who are trusting in Christ alone for their salvation. The church belongs to those who have been saved by grace. As a result of God’s mercy, there will be more crying babies in heaven than self-righteous old ladies. Shouldn’t our churches reflect heaven?

 

Peter Witkowski Vacation Bible School

The State of VBS 2016

State of VBS 2016The back drop is down. The plastic fish are deflated. And, the extra t-shirts have been boxed for return. VBS 2016 is officially over. And though it’s finished, the benefits of VBS have just begun to roll in. As we look to build on our VBS efforts, I want to take a few minutes and reflect on what happened at VBS this year. Let’s take a look:

Praises

Over all, I think this was the best Vacation Bible School that I have overseen during my time at First Baptist Church Eastman. Every class and activity ran seamlessly. Outside of having to send a few kids home for fighting (a normal occurrence) and having to overcome a few barely noticeable organizational glitches, almost everythingn went according to plan. We had a great team of over 110 teachers. They teachers decorated their rooms well, taught well, and invested in their kids. And the kids responded! Instead of losing kids after Wednesday night (a typical occurrence), our nightly totals remained consistent all week long. We actually set a new record high for attendance on Friday!  VBS Daily Attendance 2016And as the kids and their family came, they heard the gospel clearly proclaimed. A couple of kids expressed interest in following Christ as their savior! Others responded by giving $660.45 to our IMB Missionaries. As a result, yours truly got a pie in the face. Click here to see the video! God greatly blessed FBCE’s 2016 VBS! I am very thankful for all who helped and for all the kids who attended.

VBS BY The Numbers

Now some of you may have noticed that our VBS numbers were down. We averaged 166 per night this year. Last year, we averaged 201 kids per night, In 2014 we averaged 257 kids per night. Over the past two years, our VBS attendance has dropped by over 1/3. Initially, I found these numbers discouraging. My heart is to reach Eastman and Dodge County with the gospel. It appeared that our VBS was missing the mark. But upon further examination, I discovered three hopeful trends hiding within the larger numbers. Let’s take a look:
First, the largest demographic drop off came with kids that attend other churches. In 2014, 134 kids from other churches attended our VBS. This year only 17 kids from other churches came to FBCE’s VBS. That is a drop off of more than 88%.VBS yearly trends
Secondly, over the past 3 years, FBCE kids’ ministry has experienced a net loss of 38 students. Thirty-Eight more students have graduated out of our kids’ ministry than have been born into it. In short, our birth rate is not sustaining our kids’ ministry. Thankfully, our church is doing a good of reaching2016 VBS Birth Rate new families as the number of FBCE kids attending VBS has actually gone up the last two years. But with each passing year, it will become harder to sustain our church attendance numbers unless we start having more babies and start doing an even better job of reaching young families.

And now for the really good news. We are reaching a larger and larger number of unchurched kids and bus kids. In 2016, we reached 83 kids with no church home. In 2014, we only reached 52. In 2015, we reached 61 kids with the bus ministry. This year we reached 71! The right numbers are going up!VBS Kids By Church Home

Finaly Thoughts

In short, our overall numbers dropped because we are not reaching kids who already have church home. I’m ok with that result. Our heart at FBCE is not to steal sheep. Our heart is to reach the lost. I am happy to report that our VBS is doing just that. Now, we can and must continue to find ways to more effectively reach the dying and the lost with the gospel. If you have ideas or thoughts on we can better connect with families, please share them below in the comment section. And then join me in thanking our God for giving us a great VBS!

 

Peter Witkowski Vacation Bible School

3 Truths That Make VBS Survival Possible

VBS is an amazing week. It’s also an exhausting week. On VBS nights, I celebrate the end
of the day, with silence. Just the sofa and silence. After a few minutes, my mind is able to reboot from its recent information overload. VBS can knock off the best of us. And if we are not careful, we all might need to spend some time recuperating on a counselor’s sofa, talking about our childhood. To keep that from happening and to find joy during VBS, I have encourage you to join me in meditating on these three Biblical Truths:

1. Remember Joy Does Not = Comfort

Often when life is hard, when there are extra bills, or when the pipe breaks, we assume vbs-blog-2that God is angry with us. We assume that our suffering is directly tied to the verbal barrage we shot at our kids the other night. Thankfully, our God does not work this way. According to the scriptures, we often suffer not because of our sin but because God is working. As Romans 5:3 says, “Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance,” Suffering is for our good. So if the kid who bites, yells, and throws punches winds up in our VBS class, we can still be joyful. That mean kid is here for our benefit. He is here to helps us get closer to God. And he is at our church to be exposed to the grace of God even it comes via discipline.

So are you having a rough day, night, or week at VBS? Take heart. God is at work. You can have joy because the source of our joy, God, never disappoints. Even the hard knocks we are going through right now have a purpose. Rejoice!

2. Don’t compare to others

Because we are people, we love to compare ourselves to other people. We ask: “Who has the better decorations? Who is the most artistic teacher? Who is the most fun? And, who is winning the most souls?” The simply solution is stop. As Paul says in 1 Corinthians 3:7, “Neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth.” Why are other teachers more popular than you; why do other churches have bigger VBS’s; and, why do other people get to lead more kids to Christ? The answer is simple. God is working. God is the one who saves. God is the one who gives the increase to that class or to this church (Mark 4;26-27). Admittedly, it’s more fun to reap the harvest than to plant the crop. Both tasks are important. Instead of comparing ourselves to others, and complaining, let’s be thankful that God is working in his church. Let’s boast in him (I Cor. 1:31).

Now, I am not against learning from those who do things better than us. Nor am I excusing sloth. But at the end of the day, we are charged with teaching the word of God and loving others as ourselves (Rom 10:17). If we have faithful taught the Scriptures and lived the Christian life, we are doing what God has called us to do. The results, the size of our VBS harvest is given by God (Mark 4:26-27). Don’t compare yourself to others.

3. Stay Focused on Heaven

Dealing with the girl who constantly trips, pushes, and verbally assaults other kids is not easy. In fact, such kids can make VBS seem downright pointless. But we must not give up. As Paul says in Galatians 6:9 “And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season vbs-blogwe will reap, if we do not give up.” If we remain faithful to the word of God, we will reap eternal life. We should not be serving in VBS to impress the kids, our friends, or our pastors. We should serve in VBS because the Holy Spirit is working in us. He is motivating us “to do good to everyone” (Gal. 1:10). And when we are tempted to tie up a kid and toss her into the closet, we give her grace. We work with her because our reward is not a calm night and peace. Its heaven. And if we keep sowing according to the Spirit, we will reap fruit. We will reap eternal life.

And, we will reap blessings here on earth. We will see kids come to Christ. We will see people changed by the gospel. It may not happen today. It may not happen this week. And it may not happen this year. But it will happen. If we sow according to the Spirit, we will reap blessings. Don’t let a hard night or week distract you. You are children of the king! Don’t give up!

 

Are ready for another day of VBS?