I‘ve coached my son’s basketball teams for five seasons. Each Tuesday evening we hold a one-hour practice and each Saturday we play a 40-minute game.Each of the boys I oversee fall into one of two groups. Youngsters who fall into the first group participate in those practices and games—and nothing else. The only time they pick up a basketball is in the gym with the team. Many times these young players—and their parents—wonder why their shots don’t go in, passes go errant, and dribbles bounce off their feet.
The other group of boys also attends practices and competes in the games. In addition, they play basketball at home during the week. At the end of each season, the boys who have played more than just the weekly hour and 40 minutes of our program reach skill levels far past the first group—especially if parents or older siblings have worked with them on the same fundamentals covered in practice. The game makes more sense and becomes more natural for those who play consistently.
Likewise, Christianity will make more sense and come more naturally for kids who frequently interact with faith issues. Your church has key people outside of your immediate ministry team who benefit from your ministry’s success. These folks can add two important ingredients to help you cook up plenty of faith interaction for kids: consistency and involvement.
Pastoral Support
Children’s consistent attendance serves as a foundation that makes building a relationship with God more likely. A commitment to high frequency will evolve into a church-wide value only when a church’s pastor understands the benefit to kids and the ultimate responsibility of parents. In a weekend message, Menlo Park Presbyterian Church (Menlo Park, California) teaching pastor John Ortberg challenged moms and dads to take their responsibility for family-wide spiritual development seriously by telling the congregation: “Parents, do whatever you have to do … because getting your kids into a consistent pattern of Promiseland [children’s ministry] attendance and involvement is the best help I think you can get with the most important parenting assignment you’ll ever face.”
Attendance is an issue difficult to address by the children’s ministry because its audience—kids—can’t drive themselves to church. A church’s pastor occupies the best platform to deliver this message, so periodically remind him or her of its value. If needed, print this page with John Ortberg’s quote, mark his words with a highlighter, and share it with your pastor.
Parental Involvement
After you’ve secured the pastor’s active support, turn attention toward opportunities for your ministry to connect with parents. North Point Church in Atlanta offers a creative program called KidStuf that parents and kids attend together in the hour between Sunday services. After they experience a dynamic time of learning, families leave with materials designed to stimulate conversations during the days to come—even questions specifically for car rides. Learning launched on Sunday continues to fly Monday through Saturday, propelled by the reality that repetition is the key to learning.
Ministry opportunities that impact the home exist past offering shared experiences and physically distributing materials. Ed Young (pastor of Fellowship Church in Grapevine, Texas) describes a successful strategy of Fellowship Church’s Adventure World: “Small-group leaders are also challenged to maintain contact with the families of the children in their group beyond the confines of the church itself.” (from Can We Do That? by Andy Stanley and Ed Young, Howard Publishing) A leader can make a phone call to check on a youngster who’s absent a few weeks in a row, send a birthday card, or attend a basketball game. All these ideas are easy. And all create connections with kids and their parents. Imagine how much more receptive children will be to a leader or teacher who has become a family friend—a person Mom or Dad know and refer to by name. The expectation to set with parents is to be receptive to the leader’s efforts. Similar to the attendance issue, your pastor can most effectively deliver the message about receptivity.
A ministry’s efforts to partner with parents will be well-received. In every parent-teacher conference I’ve attended, I ask the same question: “What can we do at home to help Erin (or Scott) succeed in your class?” 
David Staal, senior editor of Today’s Children’s Ministry, serves as the president of Kids Hope USA, a national non-profit organization that partners local churches with elementary schools to provide mentors for at-risk students. Prior to this assignment, David led Promiseland, the children’s ministry at Willow Creek Community Church in Barrington, Illinois. David is the author of Words Kids Need to Hear (2008) and lives in Grand Haven, MI, with his wife Becky, son Scott, and daughter Erin.
Excerpt from Leading Kids to Jesus by David Staal (Zondervan, 2006.)
Copyright © 2006 Promiseland.
