Relaunch, part 1: The most important thing ...
Kidmin ain't easy.
Currently, I'm leading the Kids' Church team at my church through the process of, essentially, a relaunch. Asking questions. Thinking about vision. Digging through curriculum. Assessing culture. And coming up with something new. A whole lot of change.
Change. Anyone who has led change knows that it's not for the faint of heart.
But we had to. There was something compelling me to lead through change, even though it's tough.
Why? For me, it all starts with Psalm 78. I read things like this:
We will not hide these truths from our children;
we will tell the next generation
about the glorious deeds of the Lord,
about his power and his mighty wonders.
The next generation needs to know about God. Not just any ol' things. They need to hear the stories. The stories of the glorious, awesome, amazing things that God has done. How He has shown His power. The miracles He has done. How He sent His Son.
The things that kids learn should cause them to think, "Wow, this God is amazing!"
The author of Psalm 78 doesn't concern himself with how to influence behavior. He doesn't care how many verses they have memorized. He cares deeply that kids know the story of an amazing, powerful, mighty God.
He commanded our ancestors
to teach them to their children.
Commanded. Whoa. Let that sink in for a bit.
He commanded the Israelites (not just the parents) to teach all of their children about God.
And then, some time later, Jesus came along. He did away with the barriers that divide us. Jew & Gentile, men & women, slave & free - they all found equal footing before God. In light of Jesus, this command looks something like this: God commanded the Church to teach the story of God to every child.
The "church" kids. The kids who only come once in a while. The behavior problems. The kids with special needs. The kids who only know "Jesus Christ" as a curse word. All of 'em.
Quite a command, huh?
So each generation should set its hope anew on God.
Each generation. Or, rather, each person in the next generation. Every boy. Every girl.
God's desire is that every single one might place their hope in Him. In what His Son has done for them. That their hope would be in His love, and His promises.
Every single kid, with none left behind.
Mind. Blown.
Then they will not be like their ancestors—
stubborn, rebellious, and unfaithful,
refusing to give their hearts to God.
Currently, I'm leading the Kids' Church team at my church through the process of, essentially, a relaunch. Asking questions. Thinking about vision. Digging through curriculum. Assessing culture. And coming up with something new. A whole lot of change.
Change. Anyone who has led change knows that it's not for the faint of heart.
But we had to. There was something compelling me to lead through change, even though it's tough.
Why? For me, it all starts with Psalm 78. I read things like this:
We will not hide these truths from our children;
we will tell the next generation
about the glorious deeds of the Lord,
about his power and his mighty wonders.
The next generation needs to know about God. Not just any ol' things. They need to hear the stories. The stories of the glorious, awesome, amazing things that God has done. How He has shown His power. The miracles He has done. How He sent His Son.
The things that kids learn should cause them to think, "Wow, this God is amazing!"
The author of Psalm 78 doesn't concern himself with how to influence behavior. He doesn't care how many verses they have memorized. He cares deeply that kids know the story of an amazing, powerful, mighty God.
He commanded our ancestors
to teach them to their children.
Commanded. Whoa. Let that sink in for a bit.
He commanded the Israelites (not just the parents) to teach all of their children about God.
And then, some time later, Jesus came along. He did away with the barriers that divide us. Jew & Gentile, men & women, slave & free - they all found equal footing before God. In light of Jesus, this command looks something like this: God commanded the Church to teach the story of God to every child.
The "church" kids. The kids who only come once in a while. The behavior problems. The kids with special needs. The kids who only know "Jesus Christ" as a curse word. All of 'em.
Quite a command, huh?
So each generation should set its hope anew on God.
Each generation. Or, rather, each person in the next generation. Every boy. Every girl.
God's desire is that every single one might place their hope in Him. In what His Son has done for them. That their hope would be in His love, and His promises.
Every single kid, with none left behind.
Mind. Blown.
Then they will not be like their ancestors—
stubborn, rebellious, and unfaithful,
refusing to give their hearts to God.
Hey, I think God's talking about me.
Ouch.
Let's sum all that up.
God's command is that the Church tell His story to each and every child, so that they would place their hope in His love & His promises, and live a whole lot closer to Him than we do.
There are over 200,000 people living within 20 minutes of our church building. How many kids? I don't know - a whole bunch.
So, I had to ask myself - did we have the kind of Kids' Church that was going to give us the opportunity to tell God's story to every one of those kids?
You can guess how I answered.
Bring on the change.
How did we go about it? What does that change look like?
Stay tuned ...
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