Children’s Ministry

Philosophy Project

Sarah Hettig
FAM 424- Professor Brown
Due: December 8, 2016
 My Philosophy of Children’s Ministry
By: Sarah Hettig
To me, the definition of children’s ministry is this: a holistic ministry working

side by side with families towards the common goal of honoring and serving Christ

through mind, spirit, service and our relationships. Until the last century, Children’s

Ministry was not considered very important. Focus was put more on educating the

children, and adults of a church congregation separately. As time has moved on

however, and society has changed, churches have realized something very

important- the root of Children’s Ministry is parents. Parents are the main faith

shapers in a child’s life and because of this, the root of a church’s focus must be on

helping to educate the parents. The Old Testament (Deuteronomy 6) calls parents

to be the main faith shapers in their children’s lives. Additionally, within the Lutheran

church, we also urge parents to take on an important role in the lives of their

children. In Romans 12:2 Paul urges the church in Rome: “Do not conform to this

world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” While the church has an

impact on children, parents are the ones who have the most influence to focus their

children back on Christ and the Bible.

Purpose and Mission of My Philosophy:

Throughout my philosophy, one thing continues to ring: a church must walk

alongside parents to bring children- of all ages, up in faith and “start children off in

the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it”
(Proverbs 22:6). The purpose of my ministry is simple: to teach children to be more

like Jesus, and to grow as leaders, as well as equipping parents to shape the faith of

their children. As a church, we are called by God to be a family- building each other

up through the example Christ laid out for us. The mission of my program would be

to help students to grow in mind, spirit, service, and relationships. Through these

four different areas, the hope is to build children and their families in their minds-

giving them tools to learn and soak in all they can about Christ and His love, in spirit-

teaching them teaching them to cherish the Gospel, in service- helping them to learn

about serving others wherever they are, and in relationships- strengthening their

relationships to glorify God in all of them.

Theology:

Psalm 78:6-7 says: “So the next generation would know them [the

commandments], even the children yet to be born, and they in turn would tell their

children. Then they would put their trust in God and would not forget his deeds but

would keep his commandments.” Within my philosophy, the role of scripture is to be

a guide for everyone to follow. As David expresses in this Psalm, we are to use the

commandments and the word of God to pass onto our children. Scripture is to be

used in many different forms. First, it is to be taught at age appropriate levels. For

example: for younger children, reading to them Bible stories and having them point

at the pictures of different characters has a profound impact on them. For school

aged children, teaching them how to locate different stories in the Bible and how to
look up different books and references helps to set that foundation of scripture. For

upper middle school and high school students, digging deeper theologically into the

meanings of the Bible helps prepare them for the next chapter in their lives. These

different stages of scriptural development help to build the foundation of faith on

scripture alone. Likewise, faith is to be grown through learning about Christ, His

work on earth, and his commands to us as His followers. The spiritual growth of

members will be viewed as an ongoing process that occurs throughout a Christian’s

life and does not stop at any point. Because of this, the role of the Children’s

Ministry director is to be a guide. This person provides encouragement, suggestions

and teaching tools for parents, and also leads church programs for families as extra

support for their faith journey. In addition to that, the church is to be an

encouragement to parents- walking alongside them to support them in shaping their

children spiritually. The church also is responsible for providing resources for the

families to use to strengthen their faith lives and provide different classes as well as

spiritual development for parents so that they will be fully equipped to fulfill God’s will

for their families.

The Parent’s Role:

The parents’ main job is to teach their children daily at home- through prayer

and daily devotional activities. Some of these activities could include praying

together, reading a short Bible story, or chapter of the Bible, or just a prayer and
expressing highs and lows of the day. These are all activities that can be short in

length, but have long term effects in the faith development of your children.

For the family, through this philosophical view, the church would be using

what is called the Family Equipping model. This would mean that the church would

be working alongside families to help give them the tools they would need to be

successful faith shapers in their children’s lives. This would also focus on working

on programs that would help the whole family grow spiritually and would help in

filling the parent’s spiritual buckets so that they have things to share with their

children. The first program would be parenting classes. These would be rotational.

Depending on the size and demographics of the church, the ideal plan would be one

spiritual parenting class and one daily life parenting class that would both be taking

place at the same time. Spiritual parenting classes, would include things like talking

to your children about faith, how to help nurture and grow your children’s faith, how

to encourage them to individually focus on their faith, and giving them answers to

common questions that children ask about faith. The Daily Life parenting classes

would be heavily advertised within the community. Having an extreme outreach

presence would make this parenting program a launching tool to gain families into

the church and eventually share the love of Christ with them. These would be

touching on topics based on age groups and would cover anything from potty

training, separation anxiety, bullying, sex, romantic relationships and anything in-

between.
 The second program that would be implemented would be Family fun nights.

These events would take place once a month and involve a devotion and worship

time (maybe involving singing, or a fun music video) and then be followed by a fun

activity and possibly a snack. Activities could be anything from board games, gym

games, crafts, easy baking projects, or anything else that families may suggest. The

main objective of this night would be getting families together to not only socialize

with others within the church family, but to also give them ideas to take back home

with them and to help them engage in deeper relationships with their families. In

addition to this program, once a quarter, instead of a family fun night, there will be a

family servant event. This will be a servant type event that the whole family could

participate in. There are two different parts of servant events: in partnership with the

church (for example: thanksgiving baskets, giving trees etc.) or with the church

family (for example: planting flowers for an elderly member, serving at a soup

kitchen etc.) The main goal of these activities would be to help both parents and

children to understand the importance of service within the church and throughout

the community. I think it is very important for families to understand the importance

of serving the community. Doing this as a family also shows children that their

parents are committed to following in the footsteps of Christ.

Another service based program would be Worship helpers. These would be

families that have signed up to be a family worship team. Responsibilities could

include greeting people at the door, lighting the candles, passing out the offering

baskets and ushering for communion. These would be things that all family
members could participate in and if families are small, or have a lot of small children,

more than one family can tag team.

Another program that would be beneficial to families would be small groups.

While these could include just families at the same stages in life, depending on the

congregation, it may be more beneficial to have them mixed. This way families

could get together and build meaningful relationships with each other as well as

learn from one another. Older parents could also give younger parents advice on

different stages in life as well as encouragement.

Lastly, the annual Vacation Bible School program would be revamped.

Who says VBS should only be for kids? This VBS program would be for the whole

family! There will be the traditional VBS classes for children, a youth group style

class for the older children, an Bible study for grandparents, and a parenting Bible

study on faith for the parents. This type of VBS will not only encourage the whole

church to be involved, but will also show visitors an accurate picture of what the

church is doing as a whole.

Learning Styles:

To be effective, a church has to acknowledge the fact that there are many

different learning styles. No child learns the same- some learn better through

listening, or reading, while others learn better through doing things and action.

Because of this, the programs that a church offers must appeal to children of all
learning styles. The curriculum used would need to not only reflect the spiritual and

emotional learning levels of children, but also be appropriate for the child’s cognitive

learning level. For example: younger children who think concretely may need more

pictorial emphasis. When teaching the lesson of the 10 leprosy ridden men, instead

of just reading the story, younger children may benefit more if you physically act it

out- drawing red dots on yourself. Without using age appropriate teaching

techniques, students who think concretely may think you are talking about leopards-

the animal.

While no child learns the same, it is also important to note that some children

do have diagnosed conditions that complicate their learning even more. The most

important thing to remember with children that have learning impairments or

disabilities, is that they are children of God too- they also need to be shown love as

well. There are many different degrees of these learning challenges, and because of

this, there are many different ways that this ministry would deal with them.

For children that specifically have a mental disability, such as ADD, ADHD, bi-

polar, mild autism, and Dyslexia, or emotional disabilities such as depression, or

anxiety, special care will be made to integrate them into the programs. In a

classroom where a child with these conditions is in, another adult will always be on

hand, in the room. That way, if the child is acting up, the second adult can take the

child out or deal with the child without distracting the whole class. The class

structure will also be adapted to help these children. Each class will have the same

flow- the same rotation every time so these children can feel comfortable with a
schedule. Additionally, as the Children’s Ministry director, I will meet with the

parents to talk about how their children learn. This way we can figure out, together,

the best way to teach them about Jesus. Depending on the mood and temperament

of the child on a given day, this could include one on one attention and explanation

or could include the child reading a story on their own. This technique ultimately

depends on the individual. The focus of implementing these things into Sunday and

Wednesday classes is for the benefit of the student, so using different approaches

and being willing to try new things is key.

If the ministry is large enough, there would be a different approach taken for

children with severe autism, mental retardation, Down syndrome and others with

similar disabilities. This would be a separate class that would really bring the lesson

down to their level. Depending on the group, this could include reading from a

children’s storybook, or telling Bible stories in very simple ways with a lot of motions.

It could also include simple crafts, coloring pages and other things that could remind

them of the lesson. Additionally, it is very important to assess students on an

individual basis to make sure they are learning the most they can.

Spiritual Formation in Programs:

Because of this difference in learning styles and cognitive development,

Sunday school and Wednesday night classes will reflect the diversity. Children will

have the opportunity to experience their faith through their five senses and
understand how to grow their faith in whatever way they learn. On Sunday

mornings, children will go to their own class in-between services based on their age

group. The class style that these classes would take would be a rotational model.

The hour will start with a station telling the story for the day, being followed up with a

station that has a physical element, a station with a craft of some sort and a “special”

station. This station will vary each Sunday and may involve something like music, a

nature element, or something else. The hour will end with a short memory session-

helping children to not only understand scripture, but also memorize it.

Curriculum would include things like reading Bible Stories and memorization,

but would also include things such as “field trips” into Bible times, leaning stations,

and different guests. This will help students to experience their faith in ways that

appeal to them- so that they remember and hold onto it.

Because parents have such an important role in the lives of their children,

these Sunday morning and Wednesday night classes will also have a parental

aspect to them as well. These things are bringing the key concepts that are learned

in class home- and using them to increase learning even more. As part of this

approach, there will be three parenting components: a Bible Memory Plan, a Bible

Reading Challenge, and Home Take Aways. With these three basic concepts as a

spring board, parents will have something to help launch them into being the main

faith shapers in their children’s lives.

This family memory plan would be relaxed enough that families would not

think of it as a chore, but also focused enough that families what to do it together.
For example: if your whole family memorizes six different verses you get to

participate in a pizza night at church. Using small incentives like this will help

parents to encourage their children to grow their faith and will help grow the faith of

the whole family. It also lets kids know that parents are also committed to growing

their own faith.

Another element of this would be a Bible reading challenge- to help engage

children in reading the Bible. This will be different for every learning level. For

example: for younger children a parent or sibling could read them Bible stories from

different story Books. For elementary and middle school students this could mean

reading different Bible stories to themselves or to their younger siblings. For older

children, this could mean reading a book of the Bible every month. The point of this

would be for children to begin reading and discovering the Bible for themselves.

Because of this, as part of this program model, there are many different things

that could be take homes- giving parents a launching pad for more at home

influence on their children. The following are just a few ideas of items that could be

given to parents to help encourage spiritual development at home. For nursery

through three year olds, the Jesus Bible Story Book would be a helpful resource to

start introducing Bible stories in a unique and kid friendly way complete with eye

appealing pictures. For four year olds through second or third grade, Concordia

Publishing House’s Bible Story Book would be a good addition to a home because

the stories are a little more advanced and invoke questions and intrigue in children.

For fourth through sixth grade families One Hundred Bible Stories would help to
encourage not only their faith but full family interaction as the children grow up- also

building family relationships. For seventh through eighth graders, Concordia

Publishing House also has One Hundred Bible stories and an accompanying

workbook that would be very beneficial. This could also serve as a teaching tool

that older children can use to “teach” their younger siblings about the Bible. Another

tool that could be used would be a homemade Church Seasons devotion packet.

This devotional packet would have a devotion for every Sunday based on what

rotational year the church is on according to the plan published by the Lutheran

Church Missouri Synod. Depending on the church, and the pastor’s preference, this

could be based on the lessons of the week, on the topics of the Pastor’s sermon, or

both. These would be tying into the lessons expressed within the church service

and bringing them home. This could also be a good resource with families cannot

make it to church. Other things that could be used based on the church season

would be: Nativity Scene Advent Calendars, or Lenten Resurrection eggs.

Conclusion:

The vision for my ministry is to help students to see how God is using them

for His glory inwardly and outwardly. To fulfill this, the main instrument that will be

used are parents. Parents- whether they believe it or not are the most important

people in a child’s life- and have the most impact on them. As a church, this ministry

will walk alongside parents- with them to help them lead their children in God’s

footsteps. At the end of the day, numbers, figures, or attendance doesn’t matter.
The only thing that matters is that the students are learning about the most important

thing in the world- that God loves THEM so much that He would send His Son.
 Resources Used:

1. Lloyd-Jones, S., & J. (2007). The Jesus storybook Bible: Every story

whispers his name. Grand Rapids, MI: Zonderkidz.

2. One hundred bible stories. (2015). Place of publication not identified:

Concordia Publishing Hse.

3. Engelbrecht, E., & Pawlitz, G. (2011). The story Bible: 130 stories of God's

love. St. Louis, MO: Concordia Pub. House.

4. Carlson, G. C., & Anthony, M. J. (2006). Perspectives on children's

spiritual formation: Four views. Nashville, TN: B & H Academic.

5. Jutila, C. (2002). Children's ministry that works!: The basics and beyond.

Loveland, CO: Group.

6. Houser, T. (2008). Building children's ministry: A practical guide. Nashville,

TN: Thomas Nelson.

7. Jones, T. P. (2011). Family ministry field guide: How your church can

equip parents to make disciples. Indianapolis, IN: Wesleyan Pub. House.

8. Comstock, J. (2009). It worked for us: Best practices for ministry with

children and families. Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press.

9. Csinos, D. M. (2011). Children's ministry that fits: Beyond one-size-fits-all

approaches to nurturing children's spirituality. Eugene, Or.: Wipf & Stock.

10. Organizations/ Websites Referenced:

Concordia Publishing House

Group Publishing House

Voice of Care
 Focus on the Family

CPYU

Ongoing Ambassadors for Christ

11. Insights and Ideas gained from:

Cynthia Brown- DCE S.A.L.T Church, Troy Michigan

Dawn Rupe- DCE Christ Our King Lutheran Church, Saline Michigan

Julie Burgess- DFLM St. Paul Lutheran Church, Ann Arbor Michigan

Rev. Thomas Brazinski- Interim Pastor, Immanuel Lutheran Church,

Bridgman Michigan

Dr. Steven Christopher- Professor at Concordia University, Ann Arbor

Michigan

Professor Ben Freudenberg- Professor at Concordia University, Ann Arbor

Michigan

Craig Oldenburg- DCE/ Camp Director at Camp Concordia, Gowen

Michigan

12. Some Ideas adapted from:

Immanuel Lutheran Church, Grand Rapids Michigan

Faith Lutheran Church, Grand Blanc, Michigan

Peace Lutheran Church, Ann Arbor Michigan

Christ Our King Lutheran Church, Saline Michigan

Immanuel Lutheran Church, Bridgman Michigan

Trinity Lutheran Church, Fenton Michigan

Trinity Lutheran Church, Utica Michigan