Peter Witkowski Discipleship

Kids’ Ministry Changes Everything!

free kidMost every church says it values kids. And, we should want our churches to have this perspective! Jesus loves children and our heavenly father says children are a blessing direct from him. Kids are also the group most receptive to the gospel. Most Christians embrace Christ by age 13. As the great preacher Charles Spurgeon observed,

He who receives things simply, as a child, will often have ideas which the man who is prone to use deductive reasoning could never discover.

Christians, who want to have greatest possible influence upon the world, must “consider employing those resources in ministry to young people (Barna 2003, 19).”

The Great Disconnect

Sadly, many churches don’t actually invest money into their kids’ zones. On average, most churches spend somewhere around 3% of their budget on caring for kids. As one pastor concluded,

Many Christians today assume they value children, but in practice often treat their kids like the disciples did (Reju 2014, 13). 

Because they grew up in impoverished and understaffed kids programs, today’s adults are often content to let their kids use free babythose great flannel graphs located in the back room. Then, the adults run  over to Walmart to get a new coffee pot for the fellowship hall.  Not surprisingly, kids and young families feel unwelcomed in many churches who say the opposite.

Thankfully, this has not been my direct experience. I have been blessed to be a part of churches that recognize the biblical value of kids and invest heavily in reaching the next generation. Currently, I serve at a church with by far one of the best children’s facilities around. But as important as financial gifts and facilities are, they are not the sum total of what it means to biblically welcome kids.

Getting Reconnected 

We actually have to be present with our kids. When Jesus welcomed the little children, he was physically with them, caring for them. He was their savior.

To welcome kids, we too have to be with them. After we create a welcoming space for our kids, we need to fill the space. We have to be ready to hold crying babies, to chase wiggly toddlers and to teach bubbly grader schoolers. And I get that this is not always easy. At times, babies are stinky, preschoolers are messy, and grade schoolers are easily distracted. But our efforts are absolutely necessary.

Kids have to hear the word of God to be saved. And when we take the time to lead a Sunday school class, God uses our lessons and wacky crafts to save the lost! I truly believe God uses Sunday school teachers and nursery volunteers to save and disciple numerous future pastors and missionaries. Though we may have to wait 20 or even 30 years before we see all that God is doing, we now he is moving; our labor is not in vain! Today, I invite all my readers to join with Jesus and invest in the next generation. Get involved in kids ministry and start changing the world!

May God send to his people a more firm belief that little buds of grace are worthy of all of our care. – Charles Spurgeon

Works Cited

Barna, George. Transforming Children Into Spiritual Champions: Why Children Should Be Your Church’s #1 Priority . Ventura : Regal , 2003.

Reju, Deepak. On Guard: Preventing ad Responding to Child Abuse at Church. Greensboro: New Growth Press , 2014.

Peter Witkowski Children's Ministry

Putting Speed Bumps in Your Kids’ Ministry

Speed Bump BlogI cut the wheel hard to the left, then hard to the right, then hard back to the left all in a valiant effort to avoid the massive speed bumps that taunted my little, white car. Every time the shocks slammed up into my car’s very short wheel-wells, I cringed with disgust. I did everything I could to drive around those asphalt mountains minus hitting pedestrians (though I may of come close a time or two).

To many parents, safety protocols can feel like speed bumps dropped right into their Sunday routine. We get out of Sunday school late and then have to run like Usain Bolt to over to the kids department where we slowly check-out our kids (speedbump) before sneaking into the morning service as the music pastors wraps up last song. Naturally, if we want to get the most out of our Sunday, we try to find ways around the speed bumps. “Son, tell you teacher, I said it was ok for you to leave on your own.”

But speed bumps do have a purpose; they help keep crazy drivers like me from running over kids on bicycles. And in the same way, we check kids in and out to keep our kids from harm. As all childcare workers can tell you, it’s not easy to keep track of kids even when they are in a confined space. Kids are small, quick, impulsive, and easily confused. If we released kids without supervision, we might get everyone into church before the singing starts; but, we may also get a kid hit by a car. No one wants to trade safety for expediency. And so, even the 6th graders have to picked-up by a parent. We believe that every kid is immensely valuable to God and worthy being protected.

We install the proverbial speed bumps not to frustrate parents on their already busy Sunday, but to protect our kids from being lost in the shuffle of that busy Sunday!

Peter Witkowski Children's Ministry

We All Need’m: Rules For the Good Kids

Good kids blog post“Have you met my kids? My 8 year-old is training for a marathon, my 5th grader just open their second lemonade franchise, and the baby has been driving the family four-wheelers since she was 3. (Just wait to you meet some of the homeschool families at our church.) You really don’t think my kids can be trusted to walk the twenty yards from their Sunday school class room to the sanctuary?”

Ok, so maybe the above is a little bit of a stretch, but parents with responsible kids legitimately wonder why their kids have to follow the rules their church adopted to keep those water balloon throwing hooligans under control. The answer is simple. We live in a fallen world. Below our three reasons all kids need to be protected

Good Kids Make Bad Choices

We have to need rules because even the most responsible kids sin. A few weeks ago, I mentioned that our churches need rules in-part to keep godly men and women from temptation. In the same manner, we create rules that prevent kids from being unnecessarily tempted. Now, I am not talking about getting rid of game time or of throwing away the crayons because kids fight. If anything those fights provide our adults leaders with an opportunity to preach the gospel. One kid’s sin does not necessitate we change our kids program. But, we should actively seek to curb temptations that place our kid’s lives in danger. And though only a few kids would ever think of secretly escaping to McDonalds after Sunday school, some do; even some of the “good” kids have these thoughts.

True story: several  years ago, a usually compliant 8 year-old gal with a kind disposition asked to go the restroom. As usual, she was granted permission to make to short walk from the gym to the lobby.  About 15 minutes later, she was caught happily waltzing back into church with a newly minted soda in hand. Turns out, she had skipped the restrooms all together. Instead, she walked past the tree line and into our local Walmart to purchase her caffeine fix for the day.

Ultimately, neither you nor I can fully know what’s in our kid’s hearts or what they are capable of doing (even while at church). And as I learned from the Walmart run, no kid is above making really bad choices. The church that loves kids establishes rules prevent kids from being reckless.

No Kid Is Out Of Evil’s Reach

Second, we need check-in and check-out guidelines because others are watching. Kidnappers can and do target churches. A kid can be swept up in an instant. Even the “responsible” kid who never varies from her parents’ directions could quickly be snatched away by someone with evil intent if left unattended. And if we let a kid wonder off by himself, we are inviting trouble upon trouble. He could be kidnapped (not to mention getting hit by a car) before we snap our fingers. Because we have no clue where said kid is, we will be slow to access and respond to the situation. By only allowing kids to leave a classroom with a parent, our churches greatly discourage predators (don’t forget ex-spouses) from gaining access to our kids. It’s very hard to snatch or hurt a child who is under constant observation. Churches establish rules not because of your kid, but because of those who could harm  your kid.

Favoritism Impedes The Gospel

Lastly, we want to avoid the appearance of playing favorites. If we allow certain kids to break the rules, we will give the appearance of playing favorites (And it’s quite possible that we are showing favoritism). In today’s racially and socially charged world, we don’t want to do anything that would cause a visitor to think we value wealth or certain races more than others. “Oh the white kid hoping into the BMW got to leave early, but you want me to so my ID card?”

But even more important than today’s social climate is the scriptural mandate to avoid favoritism.

Indeed, if you keep the royal law prescribed in the Scripture, Love your neighbor as yourself, you are doing well.  But if you show favoritism, you commit sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors (James 2:8-9).

As Christians, we must put forth every effort to love all equally. The pastors’ kids who know their church’s campus backwards and forwards should be held to the same standard as the most lost visitor. To be loving churches, we have to diligently protect every child without exception.