1 of 2

When I asked my wife for her opinion on this column's title, she quickly responded: "Which one of yours will you write about?"

Ouch!

Last week, I spent several hours with a group of children's ministry leaders that represent a church denomination. We discussed a spectrum of topics, we brainstormed without barriers, we freely debated issues—because we drank coffee and enjoyed a good lunch; key ingredients for any productive meeting.

After several hours of conversation, countless stories I shared with varying levels of usefulness, and thick cookies with our late afternoon cups of joe, we began a session of questions/answers to address issues unaccounted for on the agenda.

Jon raised his hand and said he felt bothered by a specific concern, and wanted advice on how to handle the situation. He went on to say, "I love working with the kids, and I love teaching lessons on weekends. Between teaching those lessons and other responsibilities, though, I'm frustrated that I never attend a church service. What should I do?"

Another colleague added, "When I do attend a service, I slip in the back for the last 25 minutes of the message. I admit, though, my mind is still back in my ministry area and I often times don't make it at all."

Around the now-very-quiet room, heads nodded.

At this point, anyone who has figured out how to lead in children's ministry and attend his or her church's weekend service will likely stop reading this column.

But if you share this same frustration, this column now has your full attention. This issue goes unspoken and unresolved in many children's ministries. Possibly most.

Should you accept the reality that weekend children's ministry work precludes you from attending your church? If not, then how do you overcome the obvious barrier that your ministry happens at the exact same time that big church takes place? Those seem to be the big questions, alright.

"What's your counsel?" someone asked me.

Thoughts raced through my mind like people rushing a Target store the day after Thanksgiving. Unfortunately, every response seemed predictable, hypocritical, and therefore, too deplorable for me to say. Here were a few of the cheap bargains you could pick up anywhere because they hold little practical value: Just make it a priority. Attend the midweek service. Listen to an audio recording. Read the biblical command to gather together. Ask someone to hold you accountable. Quit your whining; you obviously aren't committed to doing whatever it takes.

While that last one seems rather sensational, I admit I bought into its logic.

And I also admit that never successfully addressing this issue stands as one of my greatest children's ministry leadership failures.

That's right; I rarely attended a weekend church service during my years leading a children's ministry. Neither did the team I led, based on my great example. Or the folks who reported to them.

Sure, periodically we'd take time during a leadership team to bemoan the fact we didn't attend church. We tried establishing a rotation. We agreed to hold one another accountable. We fully realized work should not completely delete time for worship. We knew what the Bible says.

next page... |  1 of 2

share this page

More Training Resources Leadership | Volunteers | Serving Families | Shepherding Operations | Risk & Safety | Programming and Teaching | Free Samples