Are You Getting the Bang for Your Buck?

While recently sitting at a meal with several men, I was intrigued as I listened to their conversation about investing money. I learned about a start up company that is having exponential growth in the technology field and is producing great yields for its investors. I also learned about companies that at one time showed great potential but made poor choices and is now seeing its investors bail out. It was quite enlightening to learn how these men valued their financial investments and the caution being used to maximize its returns. 

While you and I might not be in the stock market, it is safe to say that in these shaky financial times we are all careful in how we use our money. We tend to be far more frugal. We are careful to not waste what is difficult to get. We want each and every dollar to go as far as possible don't we.

Can we say the same about our children's ministry? What is the return or yield in your ministry? In our children's ministry, we have some children that are with us each and every weekend. Others come every other weekend. Then there are those that I call the CEO's (Christmas and Easter Only). This means that I have the opportunity to minister to some children 90 minutes each week. Others will be for 90 short minutes out of a 14 day period. Then there are the children that I will only have 90 or 180 minutes during the entire year. What is the return on our "investment"? What is being accomplished in those precious few minutes?

Here is the litmus test that shows the return on your ministry's investment. I draw this test from a quote attributed to Smith Wigglesworth. "If you leave people as you found them, God is not speaking by you." At the end of those precious few minutes of ministry, have the children's lives been changed? Has the Holy Ghost spoken and drawn the children closer to Jesus? Has the Word of God touched the very core of the children's hearts? If not, then it is safe to say that we are wasting our investment. Those 90 minutes aren't yielding what God wants from our ministry. 

Take a few minutes and examine your "stock" portfolio. It might be wise to do some shifting and changing so that you can maximize the yield and return. Boys and girls destinies are depending on your choice.