Kids Ministry
Notes
Transcript
Children are a nuisance to the world
Children are a nuisance to the world
“It is a poverty to decide that a child must die so that you may live as you wish.”
― Mother Theresa of Calcutta
64% of Christians accept Christ before the age of 18
43% of Christians accept Christ before the age of 13
13% of Christians accept Christ between the ages of 18-21
23% of Christians accept Christ after the age of 21
Then people brought little children to Jesus for him to place his hands on them and pray for them. But the disciples rebuked them. Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” When he had placed his hands on them, he went on from there.
In culture today most see children as an annoyance, but Jesus sees them as an opportunity.
Here are the disciples longing to advance the kingdom, so they naturally prioritize adults for hearing the Gospel.
WE all do this. We think the adults tithe, they have influence. As humans we naturally undervalue the importance of children.
So here are these children that hear about Jesus and they want to see him too. but the disciples, kept them back. “sorry kids, Jesus is too busy for you!”
He will get back to you soon.
No matter how you look at those disciples, you should recognize that those disciples are us. Those are the same reactions we have naturally. I want you to understand that we must alter those reactions. WE must learn to see what Jesus sees and to love what Jesus.
“Children are an environmental hazard.” Tracy Stone-Manning
We see in this horrible quote that how little children are valued. They are a mere commodity in our culture. If they can help bring about some goal then the culture will use them.
Look at what Hollywood does to kids. It takes them and destroys them for a profit and then throws them aside.
Now look at how the church treats children: We do our best to keep them quiet and in their corner, so that the church can function without distraction. I’m sure that is what the disciples were thinking.
In the culture that Jesus was in children were not valued. in that world they were not overly regarded for, which is why Gods cry through all of humanity is take care of the Orphan and the Widow. Take care of the weak in the world.
Children are a gift to God.
Children are a gift to God.
Children are a heritage from the Lord, offspring a reward from him.
God Looks at children very differently
WHere the world see a nuisance, God sees a gift!
Where the World see a drain, God sees endless potential.
Where the World sees a hazard, God sees a warrior.
God calls on us to reach Children and to protect them from this cruel world.
It time that we as the church put our money where our mouth is. We cannot say we want to reach children and then make no effort or make excuses as to why it is someone else’s job. I remind you River City, you are all we need to make this ministry effective.
Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.
If we are to walk before God and be effective our heart must be where his is.
With the orphan.
You pastor most kids have parents. true. Most kids are not physical Orphans, but most kids certainly are spiritual orphans. Parents leave there children to be raised by the government. The government teaches them morality along with their education.
Most parents will not abandon their children physically, but a significant number will abandon them spiritually and emotionally.
God calls on us to train children. To raise them up into Him.
You and I will say. Train the parents! Yes that is part of the answer. We must train and equip the parents to succeed. This is why this fall we are lunching a family CityGroup. That will be a place for families to come together, support one another, and grow together. In this small group we will work two train parents to succeed at their job.
There is another aspect that we must look at and that is training the children in church. That happens here by sending the kids into kids church or nursery where they are taught to love Christ.
But head knowledge is only part of the battle. If these kids come here and are just shuffled into their classrooms so that we can have “real church” than we are not helping them. So beginning September 5th we will be inviting the children to worship with us during service. After Worship they will go to their classes for an age appropriate lesson.
Why would we do this? Because God calls on each of you to help reach them. Yes they will interrupt at times. They may cry, but praise God, they are in Church and we are called to love them. We are called to lead them into the presence of God. so let show them, what worship looks like.
We are also relaunching men’s and women's ministry. In these ministries we will invite girls and boys at the age of 12 to join and become part of the ministry. We want to help young people, not just thrive as kids, but prepare them for life long Christian success.
So what do we need? We need you to love the kids that come in. I want people to write them birthday cards, to possibly buy Christmas gifts, to pray for them as though they were your own children.
WE are moving Sunday morning worship back to 1030AM beginning September 5th.
Lastly, God has opened the door for us to partner with another church. Iglesia Ciudad is a Hispanic church that was meeting at another church in the area, but that church was unable to continue the partnership. So they approached me about using the gym on Sunday mornings for their worship service. After praying and meeting with them, the board and I believed that this was the Lord wanting to use the RC3 to help a young church continue to thrive. So beginning in September, Iglesia Ciudad will be meeting in the gym alongside our morning worship.
One thing that this partnership is allowing us to do is it is allowing us to partner with their kids ministry as well, so that the churches can share resources for the kingdom of God.
They have a very successful kids ministry and it will allow our volunteers to partner with their volunteers to work together to reach this neighborhood for Jesus.
I believe that this is a strategic partnership led by the Lord for a season where we are banning together to see people come to know the Lord.
