Eliminating the Roadblocks in Our Children's Ministry Services

I so want each and every child in my ministry to experience and walk in the fullness of the Spirit. I want them to have an intimate relationship with Him. And, since our services are probably the only launching pad for a child's love for the Holy Spirit, I am constantly evaluating what I see in our services so that I can insure that we are doing everything possible to help nurture their walk in the Spirit.

Recently during one of these time of inspection, I saw a couple of areas that needed attention and tweeking in our services. I saw how making two simple modifications throughout our entire ministry could move the children and our ministry one giant step closer to the ministry that I could see in my spirit.

Here are the two areas that I examined:

1. The first insight involved the culture of the Pentecostal/Charismatic service. I had to ask myself the question about whether or not the children understood the whats and whys of our services. We are constantly gaining new children in our services. Do the children have a clue about what we are doing? The Pentecostal/Charismatic church service has its own patterns and ways of doing things, right? We are clapping our hands, raising our hands, praying aloud, speaking in a strange tongue, etc. These and other things define the Pentecostal/Charismatic culture. And, in our church, this isn't relegated to just the adult services. And then I asked myself, do our children know why we are doing the things that we do? For example, hopefully, the children see you and your staff raise your hands during worship or dance before the Lord in the time of worship and prayer. Your children should hear you praying in your heavenly prayer language. But, do they actually know and understand what is happening? Have you explained during the service what is happening and why you are doing what you are doing? This ignorance will remove the value of what is going on and the children won't naturally follow your example.

2. The second insight again involved in what the children are seeing. If the children are following our example, what example are they following? We talk a pretty good talk in our services about seeing God move amoung our children. But, do our actions match our words? For example, do the children see you and your staff demonstrating your passion? Is your entire team being seen during the time of praise and worship? And, if so, do the children see the longing and passion in the heart of your leadership? They hear us talk about loving God with all of our heart, soul, and might. But, do they SEE it demonstrated during our time of praise and worship from the entire team? They hear you talk about wanting to win the world for Jesus as you receive the offering. But, do they SEE you and your entire staff giving in the offering? We must be DELIBERATE and VISIBLE as we set the example of what we want to see from our children!

As we eliminate these two speed bumps, we will be one giant step closer to seeing God demonstrate His presence in our services ... I guarantee it!