Kids Ministry isn't baby sitting. It's not child care. It's not day care! It's unlike any other interaction with children that you may have had in the past. For one very specific reason. JESUS.

We teach about Jesus! We GET to teach about Jesus! PLEASE DON'T COME TO VOLUNTEER IN FREEDOM VALLEY KIDS MINISTRY WITHOUT TEACHING JESUS IN SOME WAY OR FORM! There's too much opportunity to miss!! Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me and don't stop them! For the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these!" (Matthew 19:14) If we allow children to come to CHURCH, and not meet with Jesus, in my view, we're stopping them. Which would be a direct violation of what Jesus taught. 

Yes, that goes for babies. Yes, that goes for toddlers. THEY CAN BE TAUGHT! Paul wrote to Timothy "from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures." (2 Timothy 3:15). 

Our babies and toddlers need people passionate about teaching them who Jesus is. Will you?








If you'd like more encouragement on this subject, check out this article: http://www.childrensministry.com/articles/tips-for-baby-spiritual-growth

Hi Kids Staff!
Just wanted to share this with you all...thank you so much for everything you do!!!

From Robin Deitch: "I am so impressed by the detail at which my grandaughters leave church and share the bible stories to us on the way home! I am so thankful for the childrens ministry at Freedom Valley. Having served for 8 years or more in childrens ministry I PRAISE YOU MUCH for what you are doing in bringing the word of God into the childrens hearts. [My granddaughters] have went through a lot in the past year. God and church have been the one stable thing in their lives."

Thanks for serving with me and helping kids see Jesus through you!!

Candace

Effective Evangelism

Hi Kids Staff!
I am starting a new CMUO.com (Children's Ministry University Online) class today, called "Evangelizing Children", and hope to be updating this blog more often with everything I'm learning!  I hope to bring you all alongside me, so that we can learn and grow together as a team!

Today was the very first day of class, and I'm already learning so much!  One nugget, from George Barna, really hit me though: "The most effective evangelists are the most obedient and committed Christians.".  Here's what I know to be true: you cannot fully convince anyone - much less a kid - of something that you are not fully convinced of yourself!  So, the most important thing to remember about teaching children is not really about teaching children at all!  It's about you.  Your personal life between you and Jesus.  It affects your teaching, it affect the kids, it affects everything!

So, here's the reminder for the week: Spend time with Jesus!  Get into the Word, find some quiet time with Him.  Isaiah 55:11 says, "It is the same with my word. I send it out, and it always produces fruit. It will accomplish all I want it to, and it will prosper everywhere I send it."  In other words, NOTHING bad could possibly come from reading the word! It always produces fruit!  What do you have to lose?

Preschool Teachers!

Along the same lines as my last post, there is another critical window of time in a child's life.  A time that we have the change to influence for good!  The preschool years are also VERY important!  According to Hohmann's book, Kids Making A Difference, crucial attitudes are developed in these years that are very hard to change once the child gets older.  "These attitudes include how a child feels about God, the church, and authority."

Our relationships with the kids make the difference!  You can try teach them facts about God and the Bible all day long, but if you don't KNOW that child, they are less likely to receive from you. We need to love those kids like crazy for the short amounts of time that they are with us!  We are their models of God, authority, and the church! That's a big responsibility that we shouldn't take lightly!

56ers especially, but for all teachers!

Hey 56ers teachers!

I am going through a "Kids In Ministry" course right now through Valley Forge, and I'm learning so much great stuff! One thing I am learning is how important it is to train kids to DO ministry, not just be ministered TO.  It's especially important with the age group that you are working with this very weekend!  The follow excerpts are from a book called Kids Making a Difference, by Pete Hohmann.

"The preteen years (ages 10-12) are our second critical window.... They are no longer little children, but not quite teenagers.  You probably noticed that the flannel graph stories and secret code word searches in Sunday School just don't seem to have the same impacts as they did with the younger children. In fact, many of the age group have grown bored with Christianity and are just going through the motions of memorizing material, only to quickly forget it the following week."

"Because of this boredom...many are lost at the age, even though their parents may faithfully bring them to church each Sunday....  Could it be that they are bored with Christianity because they have not been given opportunities to personally prove that the promises of God are true? Their ideas and beliefs remain untested, and therefore are not integrated into their own faith in a meaningful way."

"Children of all ages in the Millennial Generation want to make a difference, but it is CRITICAL that PRETEEN Millennials be given opportunities to ministry to others!"

In light of this information, I'd like you to hit hard a few things with the kids this weekend.  Whether it has ANYTHING to do with the lesson or not, emphasize the fact that giving back is important, and ministry to others is what Jesus called us to do, and they are not too young to do it! Let them know that we have a Jr. Helpers program that they can get involved in (I'll make sure to have applications ready for you this weekend), and we have a Kids Worship Band that they can get involved in!    Ask them how we could make Kids Connect better, and what their gifts and talents are that they could be using!  Write down their ideas (with names!) and make sure that information gets to me, and that you follow up with them the next time you see them as well!

Challenge them to get involved and to use their gifts and talents for God!  That's the only way we're going to keep their hearts and their faith through their teenage years! 

Thank you all!

Leading Kids Worship

Hey Everyone!
I came across this awesome how-to video for leading kids worship! I really think that it can apply across the board, however, because the principles Priscilla Tan shares can be applied to teaching as well!  Watch it and see what you think!

1 Corinthians 14

I've written about this before, but I've been thinking about it a lot lately again.  1 Corinthians 14:3 says that prophecy is "strengthening, encouragement, comfort"!   My post from April 23rd, talks about how people have been drawn to Freedom Valley in the past because they got strengthened, encouraged, and comforted within the walls of the church, from church people, like they never got anywhere before in their lives.

I would venture to say that kids are even more drawn to someone who strengthens, encourages, and comforts them than adults!  I think that is why some teachers in Kids Ministry are loved and met with with exclamations in the hallways!  They LOVE the kids!  They put the time in to ask them questions, and remember their name, and ask how their week is going!  Kids know when you are genuinely listening and when you're just humoring them.  They know when someone really cares, and when they're just going through the motions.  You can be an expert at teaching or classroom management or discipline...but if you don't LOVE the kids...if you don't encourage them, and comfort them, and strengthen them, they won't care.  They probably won't learn much either.  


Think back to your favorite teacher growing up...was it the most educated one?  Was it the most prepared?  The funniest?  My guess is, for most people, it was the one that took the time to get to know you.  The one that invested some time into you.  

There are plenty of churches out there with gorgeous, pristine, perfect facilities.  There are churches out there that have the most expensive and cutting edge curriculum on the market today.  There are churches that paid top-dollar for the most experienced Kids Ministry Team available.  All of that is good, and helpful, I'm sure...but none of it means anything, without love. (See 1 Corinthians 13:1-3)  


Help me communicate Jesus' love to the kids that come through our ministry.  Help me ask them what their favorite color is, and how their week went, and what's new in their lives!  Don't let them walk out the doors of your classroom without the knowledge that at church, they are loved.  That idea will be what makes them beg their parents to come back every Sunday morning.  That idea will carry them through the rest of their lives.