Peter Witkowski Parenting

Summer of Service

Summer of ServiceAs a kid, I always look forward to stuffing the school books away and beginning my wonderful summer vacation dedicated to swimming pools and baseball! As an adult, I still too look forward to relaxing during the summer. Rest is good! But we can’t afford to take a vacation from our spiritual life.  If we leave off fellowshipping with our brothers and sisters, praying, and studying the Bible, our souls and are families will be left vulnerable to all kinds of sins. Instead of using summer as a time for self-indulgence which leaves our souls empty, let’s redeem our summers. Let’s take in some sun at the ocean; and, let’s also be active worshipers of Jesus. Let’s commit to maintaining our personal spiritual walks. Let’s volunteer to teach a kids’ Sunday school class, help with VBS, attend the youth Summer Bible study, sing in the choir, and/or serve our neighbors.

Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. –Gal. 6:7

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!