kids ministry

But Jesus called the children to him and said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.
Luke 18:16

Today I went to a training day for a mission that I am hoping to be involved in in Janurary.

I didnt know what to get out of today, but I think I got more than I origionaly thought I would. A lot of things hit me in my personal walk today. Thats kind of interesting when you're here for a kids ministry thing.

This will probably get long, so if you dont have a lot of time, stop reading now. From here on, the red text is my thoughts on stuff that was said today, and stuff I'd appreciate comments on.

The purpose statement for the ministry is this: "We exist to have a relationship with God, and flowing from that, to see people connected with God, welcomed into his family and equipped for ministry."

Relationship

• Love the Lord your God with all your heart.
• 1"I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes^[a] so that it will be even more fruitful. 3You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.

  5"I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 6If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. 7If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. 8This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples. John 15:1-8.
  

• If we're not in it with God, then we'll just be put into the fire because we are fruitless and worthless.
• There's a difference between doing and being. Ever been asked what you do? And there's always the response of teacher, or a nurse, or student.. etc? In our culture, a lot of "who we are" can be shaped around "what we do". So what is your identity? Is it in who you are, or what you do? If this mission is to be ran simply on doing (because you must do stuff too! Its not a one way street!) and not being, there will be no spiritual fruit and we will burn out!
• To my 'unsaved' friends, they probably know me as Sammy, what I do, study education, they know I go to church but I dont talk about it enough. Who I am? Probably the biggest thing that comes out is South Australian. And who are you?
  

Connected

• "Go and make disciples" [not converts]. The difference between a disciple and merely a convert is a disciple is someone who follows Jesus, wheras a 'convert' simply hasnt gone anywhere yet.
  
• Kids can respond to God in a real way, and God wants to use kids to build his kingdom.
  

Welcomed

• "baptise them". (That doesnt mean litterally immerse them with water at the mission)
• Need to think about children who dont go home to christian families. Some arent even allowed to go to church - what happens to them then?
  

Equipped

• As above, make disciples, not just converts.
• Help christian kids be all that God wants them to be!
• Need to teach them how to grow as christians (prayer, mentoring, bible, worship, fellowship...)

Ministry

• "Love your neighbour as yourself."
• Kids can minister to others
• No one is too young to serve Jesus and make a difference.
• Instill confidence in kids to use their gifts. God can use gifts as much as he can use us.

Prayer

• Why pray?
  Well, to talk to God! God desires communication. He has commanded us to pray, and things change when we pray. Its the same as with a relationship with a friend. If you dont talk to them, or you refuse to listen, what kind of friendship is that???
• Evangelism is most ineffective without prayer. The enemy will tremble when you pray. Not praying is like a soldior without a weapon. Prayer is a weapon - use it!
• Prayer is the (not a) key to evangelism. It increases our effectiveness as witnesses for christ. The spiritual battles must be fought with spiritual weapons. (see ephesians 6:12). A person can only be released from Satans grip by the power of God. There's darkness and there's light. You can only be under 'dominion' of one.
• How does prayer work?
  God acts in response to to our prayers - victories won in the spiritual realm! Those we pray for are changed. The church will be changed, we will be changed.
• Spiritual strongholds can be seen (and unseen) in kids here in Bendigo. Some things that the devil uses to stop kids coming to christ are mindsets, situations, afflictions, influence, humanism/materialism taught in schools (aghh!), negative portrayal of christianity, whichcraft and abuse.
• Pray...
  ... in unity, "when two or gather in my name I will be with them"
  ... persistently - Dont do it enough
  ... with discernment
  ... in the power of the spirit -
  ... with authority -
  ... with repentance
  ... with fasting - something I dont know a lot about
  ... specifically
  ... with faith
  ... with people - a bit like unity
  ... by claiming Gods promises - something I need to explore
  ... for people
• Lost for ideas to pray for? Try for God to draw people to himself, for more workers for the harvest field, for Gods kingdom to come, for the church, for God to be glorified, for the salvation of people.
• Prayer strategies: 24 hour mondays (do you think it'd be wrong to do this during SOSE lectures?), Days of prayer and fasting, prayer newsletters, team members using intercessory gifts, Prayer walking.
• More: ecclesiasties 2:26 and Exodus 12:35.

Someone's brilliant speech about child development (refresh my memory from uni!)

Maslows heirachy of needs!

To achieve growth, the needs that need to be met are self esteem, belongingness and love, safety, and physiological needs. Plain and simple!

My thoughts on childrens ministry...

There is really a special place in my heart for kids ministry. Gosh, Im becoming a teacher, for goodness sake! But I have a personal testimony that prooves the importance of children hearing about Jesus at a young age... By giving this testimony I am not looking for sympathy, but it is basically something I really want to give glory to God for, and possibly encourage others to think and pray about this issue for kids in their community.

My parents were not christian. But for some odd reason, my sister and I always went to sunday school. I think it may have been because of the fact that the church was desperate on numbers, and needed to rely on the wider community, because I remember a lot of my friends that were also not from churched homes went as well (unless there was some kind of strange mini temporary revival in the early 90's that I dont know about). Yes, every sunday, mum would dress my sister and I up in our prettiest dresses and off we went to sunday school.

When I got that bit older, I was able to go to KUCA camp-out (Kids of the Uniting Church Australia) that was always held at West Beach caravan park in Adelaide. This was quite often the highlight of my year.

When I was 8, my parents seperated. This was really difficult as a child of my age. I was a mess - at 8!!!

I was still going to Kids Camp Out and there was this desire within me to know God. The church gave me a Good News Bible (with pictures!) and I started to read it. Not a lot made sense though. I signed the commitement at the back of the bible. I have this bible here with me in Bendigo. I would have been 10 when I decided to sign this:

On this date:

1/4/97

I recieved God's offer. Jesus forgave me and became my Saviour and Lord. His spirit came to live in my life.

SJSmedley

(signed)

One night I woke up at a very odd hour and I was really frightened. What did I start to do? I prayed. I didnt fully understand or know God, I was only about 10, but I called out to him, I told him I trusted him. I remember a peace flow through me, and I went back to sleep.

This came and went. God was a big part in my life, but I didnt really understand a lot.

In 2001, there was a similar scenario as above, except things were different. I was in a bit more of a wreck. I was in year 9 at school, 14 years old. The church had invited me on an 'easter camp' . This was with a whole bunch of youth from around the reigon. I was not the nicest of kids. I was swearing, I was cursing, I was a plain wreck. But on the last night of that camp I gave my life to Jesus for real. Someone hugged me that night and said that my life would never be the same again. Gosh, were they right!

Later that year I revisited what I'd signed at the end of my bible. I put a cross through it, and rewrote:

On this date

23/10/2001

I recieved God's offer. Jesus forgave me and became my Saviour and Lord. His spirit came to live in my life.

SJSmedley

Relating this all back to life for kids today in not only where I live now, but the world. There are kids, facing the same stuff as I have, just like that, all over the city. I was an outcast because my family was broken, but these days it is very normal for kids to be in these situations. It is more and more common, and there are worse things happening. Peer pressure, hurt, abuse! Its not ok to be bound by these things!

I want to influence this generation, because they again will be the next generation of influence. We need to reach out to those who are hurting!

When I got a bit older and maturer in my walk with God, I got involved with my childrens ministry in my home town. At one stage I was in a position of influence with the youth as well. It was a bit depressing to have to move, land in a new environment, and 'start over', and its great to get back into it. I have to go home on tuesday, I might just revisit the kids ministry there.

I will now leave you with a verse that is at the bottom of the signing-commitment of my Good News Bible, which has now occured to me how true and real it has been in my life over these nearly 12 years now.

"Everyone who calls out to the Lord for Help will be saved."
Romans 10:13

Who I am.. Who I am not...

Today I have seen a few things worth blogging about.

This morning, at church (short street), a couple spoke about their recent missions trip to china. It was really touching some of the stuff they did. I would love to go over. There were so many things in what they were talking about which reminded me of Indonesia.

It is funny how I longed to go over to Asia to do what they were doing. I still do long for it. But how important is it to me? I know that part of this is why Im here in Bendigo. There is the smidget of opportunity to go over to China next year with them.

I was pondering this today. If this was what God wanted me to do, how willing would I be to go over there? Would I risk the safety, the distance from Hamish, my friends, my money, or even would I risk a semester of uni, meaning not being able to graduate with my friends? What would I sacrifice for God?

At the moment, short street don't have sunday night services in the school holidays. Cara invited me around to her house, and then after we were going to go to the AOG.

I was kind of excited about going to the AOG, seeing things that I wouldnt normally see at Short Street. And dont get me wrong, it was an exciting experience. I dont mind the fact that Short Street doesnt make a habit of that kind of stuff, in fact, Im really happy that my mind isnt consumed by all of this every weekend.

The sermon was pretty good, he had some really good things to say. Unfortunately I didnt take notes.