CM: Special Ministries

"Ministry opportunities abound. Ministry is a mindset of continually being the hands and feet of Jesus Christ and seeing others through his eyes. When we are aware of what is happening in the lives of children, we realize that children's ministry calls for more than offering them Sunday morning worship and learning. These are very important experiences, but usually they are not enough for the child's Christian formation, particularly if children struggle with complex issues, lack nurturing caregivers, or know very little about the gospel." (CM p. 282)

The authors tell the story of a child and his family coming into a church that was "ill-prepared to minister to [the child's] needs" and how the faith community rallied drawing on the communication skills of another child to bridge the gap and allowing a family member to give to other children and the community from skills she learned working with her child. They share other situations where faith communities had unplanned opportunities to minister to the needs of hurting children. The children could have gone unnoticed but they didn't - to the credit of the individuals in these churches who noticed and the communities that lent support. A family suffering tragedy in the larger community could have been written off as "not our problem," but they weren't.

The authors say, "No prepackaged curriculum can respond to the uniqueness of these needs. Thus it is the heart of the leader and the readiness to respond that are most significant." They talk about how important flexibility is. (CM p. 285) Notice that if members of a community are committed to help those who see, anticipate, and reach out to meet the unexpected needs of children (or anyone) asking, "What would Jesus do?" His Body becomes the minister, not just one person.

"God must be at the center. Not teaching the Bible, not knowing about God, not attracting large numbers of kids, not having fun, but knowing God. This must be the driving purpose in all that we do in the name of ministry with children." (CM p. 285)

The bottom line: we each represent the living God - the choices we make, the way we respond to people, the way we behave, the words we say. As a group of "believers" we represent the Living God and that's what the world sees and hears. That's what adults and children in the church and in the world respond to or don't. We can say the world rejects God because they reject us but we better be darned sure that God would be pleased with the way we represent Him. That's ultimately how the children (and adults) around us will come to know God.

Scary, isn't it.

The authors (as always) ask great questions, provide tools, and give wonderful examples of special ministries in this country and abroad but whatever we do with our ministry time or with the individual moments of our lives for that matter as they say, "God must be at the center...knowing God..." (CM p. 285) What more is there to say?