There are many reasons to have children’s ministry, but many times, churches set up children’s ministry for the wrong reason. Here are three wrong reason to have children’s church and three right reasons to have children’s ministry.
Wrong Reasons:
Parents want to enjoy the service. This is the reason most churches have children’s church during the adult service, and there’s nothing wrong with parents wanting to enjoy the service. The problem is children’s church is to minister to children, not adults.
We need something for the children to attract adults to the church. Again this focuses in on the adults. Great children’s ministries do attract adults to church, but that’s a byproduct. The reason to minister to children is to draw children into the presence of God.
We want to teach children about God so that when they are older, they will serve Him. This sounds good on the surface. Who doesn’t want children serving God when they’re older. The problem with this reasoning is children are the church of today, not tomorrow. An effective children’s ministry will strive to create an atmosphere where children don’t wait until they’re grown up to serve God. They will serve God as children.
Right Reasons:
Children are a part of the body of Christ and should have a worship service they can relate to. There is nothing wrong with including children in all church services, but sometimes church in the main sanctuary doesn’t focus on children, and they don’t feel a part of what’s going on. Children’s church gives them an opportunity to learn to worship in a way they can relate to. The problem comes when children are always segregated from adults in church. There should be room for both.
85% of all Christians are saved between the age of 4 and 14 years old. This statistic tells us that if we want to have effective evangelism, we need to start with children. It is the norm for a Christian to become a Christian at a young age. If you wait until they’re teens or adults, you’ve missed a prime opportunity.
Children need to be saved, sanctified, and serving in the church. In other words, children need to be discipled. That is one of the main purposes for children’s ministry in the local church.