A good friend of mine moved to a new city for her husband’s job a couple months back. I recently asked if they’d found a church yet.
She told me they’d tried several local churches and she and her husband really enjoyed a couple of them. They were warm and inviting, the worship was good, the preaching was solid, and there were a thousand ways to get connected with community and serving.
But there was one major problem.
Their two young children didn’t want to go back.
They tried to drag their boys to church for a couple more Sundays, but they quickly tired of their weekly battle and gave up going altogether. And these are grounded Christ-followers. They want to be invested at a good church. They want their children to grow up loving church.
I asked my friend why her boys didn’t want to go back.
“They were bored. The children’s ministry leaders were amazing. They were so kind and so sweet. But they were being ‘talked at’ not ‘talked to.’ They were spectators and not participants. They weren’t having fun and I don’t want my boys to associate church with boredom. The Bible is anything but boring! Following Jesus is anything but boring!”
She’s right. The Bible isn’t boring. Following Jesus isn’t boring.
It’s the adventure of a lifetime!
I know this is anecdotal – but you’d be shocked at the number of families that leave the church (or go looking for another church) because their children didn’t want to go back to the children’s ministry.
Children learn best when they’re engaged – and children are most engaged when they’re having fun.
Biblically solid content is not at odds with fun and engaging teaching methods.
You should value fun in your children’s ministry. Not at the expense of good Bible teaching, but as a means of making your good Bible teaching connect with your children.
That’s why at GO! we want to get kids out of their seats and into the story. We want them to beg their parents to come back to your church next week because they can’t wait to learn more about who God is and what He has done.
If you’re not already a subscriber, we would love to offer you a free lesson to try out.
If you are a subscriber, we would love to hear your stories – from children and parents – who have discovered just how exciting it can be to follow Jesus.
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