I sit here this morning reflecting on my current place in service to the Lord… after being asked several times again, “but when do you have time to… ” All I know that I can answer that question with is that God is the author of time… and somehow I manage to have enough time to accomplish everything He calls me to do and if it doesn’t get done that day… it always seems to work out. Usually because He had someone else called to do it and because there was a reason for the delay… so I just live and obey and trust God to deal with the whole time thing. If I ever get focused on the time constraint of 24 hour days I end up in an anxiety attack… so I choose to practice the three P’s of children’s ministry…
And no the three P’s are not puke, pee, and poop…
I have come to realize that Children’s Ministry is a whole new ball game of emotions. It is for me anyway… but I am learning it is indeed also for many others. Which in learning so, it helps me keep things in perspective. Perspective is powerful thing. Perspective and perseverance and patience…
these are the 3 P’s of children’s ministry.
The absolute only way that we can keep things in the right perspective is to stay in the Word of God. The absolute only way we can maintain perseverance in the ministry of the gospel is to stay in the Word of God. The absolute only way we can maintain and continue to learn and practice patience is to stay in the Word of God.
If I didn’t… I just flat out would not be a very nice person at all.
I must stay in the Word of God and pray without ceasing (I suppose I misnamed this post, it should be “the four P’s”) to maintain those three P’s of children’s ministry… and sadly its not usually because of the kids. It actually is only occasionally the kids… and usually when its the kids, its because I am already upset over something that happened previously.
I take nothing more personal than an adult that tells me or my staff they are “not called” to serve or interact with our children. Please understand that I know not everyone is called to teach children on a regular basis, that is indeed a calling, but to be unwilling to serve them for an hour, a few times a year… when the only requirement is to just love on them?
Yes I take that personally… and I think God does as well.
Then He will answer them,
‘Truly I say to you,
to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these,
you did not do it to Me.’
Matthew 25:45
I take it personally for more reason than one…
The ministry to children, especially the extended care ministry in some way or another blesses every single member of your church family simply by its existence. Whatever amount of time a person sacrifices to serve in this rotation makes an eternal impact.
How you ask?
There is an eternal soul in the body of that little one. An eternal soul that needs Jesus. An eternal soul that needs to see and experience some Jesus with skin on… and there is an eternal soul in there that needs to understand the value of their life and the life of others…
I wonder sometimes if we do not think we will stand before Jesus and give an account for what we did not do?
We spend a lot of time worrying about getting credit and forgiveness for what we did do and have done when we might need to be spending a little more realizing all the opportunities to serve our Savior that we just walked by… ignoring them because well… we did not want to do that.
How else is service to our children an eternal impact?
That eternal soul in that little body, will one day be an eternal soul in a big body… a big body that will most likely be making decisions one day that will affect you and your children and your children’s children greatly. An eternal soul in a big body that will be leading and teaching and running your kids, your grandkids, church, school, business, country…
How else… ?
Think about how many young couples have joined your church, or answered the call of salvation, and made that walk up the center isle, because in that hour they were able to be still and hear God’s voice because they knew their children were being well cared for by someone in extended care… in that very hour.
This girl knows…
How thankful I am as a mother myself… who made that walk over 11 years ago, while my daughter was being taken care of in Extended Teaching Care! Imagine had I had to leave early to change a diaper, or if I had of been distracted with passing out coloring pages, or even worse been embarrassed by my child’s inability to sit still and just left and never came back!
Where would I be today?
God would have still saved me… I have no doubt about that… but would I be serving Him at Shiloh Baptist Church?
So yes, I take it personally. I take it very personally. My GOD is a personal God. Children’s Ministry, every single part of it, is personal and every single person involved is important, from those who serve 4 hours a year, or once a year in VBS, or those who serve every day of their life… this ministry is indeed important and vital to the growth of the Kingdom of God and the church and our nation.
So when things get taken personal… I have to pull out my three P’s of children’s ministry.
My perspective:
For the eyes of the Lord move to and fro throughout the earth that He may strongly support those whose heart is completely His.
2 Chronicels 16:9
But their eyes were prevented from recognizing Him.
Luke 24:16
Then the Pharisees also were asking him again how he received his sight. And he said to them, “He applied clay to my eyes, and I washed, and I see.”
John 9:15
fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Hebrews 12:2
God is the one who makes blind eyes see… I am not going to beg for servants. Jesus didn’t beg. He simply said “Follow Me”. He didn’t chide the nine lepers that walked away with their healing, He simply blessed the One that turned back to Him to serve.
God is the One who knows whose heart is His… He will provide for that positions… my eyes are simply to stay on Christ… He’s the One who is in control… and whatever frustration I am experiencing at the moment is nothing compared to what He went through for me. Perspective!
The joy that I receive from loving these kids and investing in their eternal souls… it’s all worth it. Perseverance!
God is teaching me through all this as well and preparing me and training me and so I will work to take deep breathes and smile… trusting Him with each day to accomplish His work… because it’s all His anyway. Patience!
I am also learning that it is not me that has been rejected. It’s not the children. It’s Him. So I am learning that it is not anger or frustration that is rising up in me… it is sadness… just flat out sadness.
The Lord said to Samuel, “Listen to the voice of the people in regard to all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me…
1 Samuel 8:7