What is the driving force of your kids ministry on Sunday mornings, Wednesday nights, and any time you meet the kids that attend your church?
On Sundays, my wife and I serve in our church’s kids ministry. Yesterday, a few of us had lunch with our kids pastor to plan for the month of February. At the beginning of lunch, my kids pastor cast the vision that we always wanted to point every Sunday’s main point toward the gospel. While it might be easy to teach a moral or a behavior modification, we need to always be pointing these kids to the source of life-transformation, Jesus Christ.
The lifeblood of CentriKid Camps is to always point to Jesus at every chance. You will never see a time of worship at camp where the gospel is not presented. You will see every single game on the recreation field or at track times always rooted in scripture and pointing to the gospel of Christ. Our goal is that no kid leaves camp without a life-changing encounter with Jesus, and we do not want to miss a single opportunity to share that good news! We pray that your kids ministry shares a similar vision and strives to always point to Jesus at every opportunity.
Here are three tips to help always use the gospel in your kids ministry:
- Evaluate your ministry. As early as this Wednesday or Sunday, ask yourself, “How are we doing?” Take a look at all aspects of your programming (Sunday School, small groups, large groups, children’s church, etc), and truly evaluate how clearly the gospel is presented during it. If you find the gospel is not clearly presented, make a goal to have a plan of action to improve by the next time you meet with your kids.
- Cast vision with your volunteers. Like the kids pastor at my church, meet with your leaders and clearly cast the vision for your kids ministry to focus on the gospel. Show your volunteers ways how to incorporate the gospel into every activity, game, and teaching time. For some of your volunteers, it might be the first time they have shared the gospel, so encourage them and equip them to clearly communicate the gospel with kids. This “meeting” could look like a lunch, or could simply be a short meeting before your normally scheduled time.
- Find resources to help. You are not alone! There are tons of great resources out there to help share the gospel with kids. If your curriculum is missing the gospel in favor of teaching them a good moral, find a curriculum that clearly points kids to Jesus. One easy resource we recommend is “The Gospel: God’s Plan for Me.” This was created by CentriKid a few years ago, and we love how clearly it presents the gospel on a kids level. (In fact, this is exactly how I phrase the gospel when I’m teaching the kids in large group at my church.)
If you are lucky, you have the kids in your ministry maybe an hour or two each week. If that’s the case, at most, you will have only 52 hours (or less!) of their attention for an entire year. How much of that time will you spend sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ this year?