Five
Forks BIC
Sunday July 18–Thursday July 22
This week I worked with Five Forks’ VBS. I sat in on Bible Lessons, and helped with games and crafts. This week of VBS was very different than Martinsburg’s VBS. Martinsburg had a total of 20 children per day; Five Forks had around 150 children per night. The differences between these two Vacation Bible Schools were numerous, yet both were special and needed in their own ways.
After being involved in different aspects of Children’s ministry all summer I have a question. Has Children’s ministry become all about saving as many children as possible? While I was at New Guilford BIC the pastors gave me a book written by George Barna called “Growing True Disciples”. One of the main points in the book was that we focus too much on saving people, and not enough on discipling those people. Are we doing the same with children?
It seems that many individuals and churches have the mindset that programs for children need to be big, flashy, exciting, and attractive in order to get children to come. The focus should be less on making it attractive, and more on impacting the children and discipling them. In his book, Barna describes true disciples as “men, women, boys, and girls committed to Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord and growing daily in their knowledge, love, and service to Him.”
Most “pre-packaged” VBS programs tend to have a word or theme for the day, a character associated with that word, and then a verse to go along with it. But are we truly focusing on teaching the children about the word/theme, and the verse? Or is it just a verse to memorize to possibly get a prize of some sort? Are we teaching the children how to live their daily lives for Christ? Or are we more concerned with getting high numbers of conversions?
The following is an excerpt from a paper I wrote a few months ago on Children and Youth Ministry.
This is the generation that will make a difference. The time to do something about the frightful statistics listed above is now. The youth generation is eager to move, but they are not ready yet. Recently in my English class we were given an assignment to do a project on religious difference. One student gave her presentation on “Growing up in a Christian Home.” As I listened to her presentation I considered my own upbringing in a Christian home. I have a good understanding of my faith and the concepts that surround it, but not a great understanding. Not to place blame on my parents or the church, but what if the adults around me went out of their way to teach me real theology as I grew up?
Teaching theology to a child is a foreign idea to most, but it could, and does, work. Teaching an eight year old is very different from teaching an eighteen year old. However, they are capable of learning some of the same ideas. Children think in concrete ways; abstract ideas, such as love, mean nothing to them, unless the abstract idea is matched with a concrete idea (Beckwith 52). Telling a young child that in John 13:34 Jesus says “love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another” (Bible) means little to them. However, when concrete actions that demonstrate this love are repeatedly pointed out to the child as the concept of loving one another, they begin to associate the concrete actions as love (Beckwith 52).
The methods of teaching need to be geared for children to learn. For example, teaching the Bible. Adults have trouble remembering how to think as children, so they have “dumbed down” the Bible so that children can make sense of it. A popular Sunday school story is Moses and the burning bush. Many times pictures are used to aid in the simple paraphrase of the story that is generated for children. Through this process the Bible loses its originality, it becomes as important as every other picture book. Children need to be told the stories of the Bible, and then assisted in understanding them. Too many people attach moral lessons to the stories, pushing the children to understand the story in that way. Beckwith uses the example of the story of the boy with the loaves and fish being explained to children in a way that teaches them that it is good to share (127). However, this causes the story to lose its meaning. The story is meant to show the power and majesty of God. When adults attach moral lessons to the Bible, it loses its importance. The Bible needs to be presented to children as the Bible, not as a morally true picture book with superheroes (Beckwith 127-128). Children are able to understand abstract ideas when they are paired with concrete ideas. Therefore, the Bible, as is, can be understood by children, when it is presented in a way that they will comprehend.
Many adults have the mentality that once a child “prays the prayer,” that child is saved. Therefore the adult moves on so that more children can be “saved.” Beckwith summarizes Lawrence Richards’ “five processes for guiding the spiritual development of children in the faith community” (Beckwith 65). First, children need to belong in the faith community around them. Children need to be active participants in the activities of their faith community (Beckwith 65-66). Adults who are seen by children need to model faith, “The child sees adults who struggle, who trust God, who make mistakes and are forgiven, who work for mercy and justice, who model kingdom values” (Beckwith 66). Hands-on methods of learning need to be utilized to assist teaching children faith. Finally, good decision making needs to be emphasized and taught (Beckwith 67). Ultimately, children need to be guided through their faith by their parents and the faith community around them.
Beckwith declares, in chapter six of her book, that, “Family is everything to a child” (Beckwith, 101). In his book, Reid states that, “The greatest impact in the life of youth is not made by their peers; the greatest impact in the life of youth is made by adults, and especially by parents” (Reid 154). Pulling from Deuteronomy 6:4-9 and Hebrews 12:1, Mark DeVries (author of Chapter 8 on, “Focusing Youth Ministry through the Family”) summarizes his view on the need for family involvement by saying that, “I define my own approach to family-based youth ministry in this way: Using the position of the youth ministry to access, empower, and connect students to the most effective sources of faith formation, namely the nuclear family and the extended family of the church” (Dean 150). The family should be the first and foremost education that a child receives. Family is the first thing a child experiences, and it will stay with a child no matter what. Because of this, children must be spiritually nurtured first and foremost by their family. However, the church has come into the habit of breaking up the family as soon as they enter the doors of the building. According to Beckwith, the church’s job is to adequately prepare and assist parents with spiritually raising their children (Beckwith 101-103).
In his sermon, Matt Cote addresses the jobs of the church and family. Cote suggests that at one hour for one program, the church has 40 hours a year with which to impact children. Parents, on the other hand, have 3,000 hours a year with which to impact their children. The church’s job is to be assistance to the parents, to say that, “I will do anything I can to help you get your kid as close to Jesus” (Cote 39:10). The job of parents is to raise the kids spiritually.
This week I worked with Five Forks’ VBS. I sat in on Bible Lessons, and helped with games and crafts. This week of VBS was very different than Martinsburg’s VBS. Martinsburg had a total of 20 children per day; Five Forks had around 150 children per night. The differences between these two Vacation Bible Schools were numerous, yet both were special and needed in their own ways.
After being involved in different aspects of Children’s ministry all summer I have a question. Has Children’s ministry become all about saving as many children as possible? While I was at New Guilford BIC the pastors gave me a book written by George Barna called “Growing True Disciples”. One of the main points in the book was that we focus too much on saving people, and not enough on discipling those people. Are we doing the same with children?
It seems that many individuals and churches have the mindset that programs for children need to be big, flashy, exciting, and attractive in order to get children to come. The focus should be less on making it attractive, and more on impacting the children and discipling them. In his book, Barna describes true disciples as “men, women, boys, and girls committed to Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord and growing daily in their knowledge, love, and service to Him.”
Most “pre-packaged” VBS programs tend to have a word or theme for the day, a character associated with that word, and then a verse to go along with it. But are we truly focusing on teaching the children about the word/theme, and the verse? Or is it just a verse to memorize to possibly get a prize of some sort? Are we teaching the children how to live their daily lives for Christ? Or are we more concerned with getting high numbers of conversions?
The following is an excerpt from a paper I wrote a few months ago on Children and Youth Ministry.
This is the generation that will make a difference. The time to do something about the frightful statistics listed above is now. The youth generation is eager to move, but they are not ready yet. Recently in my English class we were given an assignment to do a project on religious difference. One student gave her presentation on “Growing up in a Christian Home.” As I listened to her presentation I considered my own upbringing in a Christian home. I have a good understanding of my faith and the concepts that surround it, but not a great understanding. Not to place blame on my parents or the church, but what if the adults around me went out of their way to teach me real theology as I grew up?
Teaching theology to a child is a foreign idea to most, but it could, and does, work. Teaching an eight year old is very different from teaching an eighteen year old. However, they are capable of learning some of the same ideas. Children think in concrete ways; abstract ideas, such as love, mean nothing to them, unless the abstract idea is matched with a concrete idea (Beckwith 52). Telling a young child that in John 13:34 Jesus says “love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another” (Bible) means little to them. However, when concrete actions that demonstrate this love are repeatedly pointed out to the child as the concept of loving one another, they begin to associate the concrete actions as love (Beckwith 52).
The methods of teaching need to be geared for children to learn. For example, teaching the Bible. Adults have trouble remembering how to think as children, so they have “dumbed down” the Bible so that children can make sense of it. A popular Sunday school story is Moses and the burning bush. Many times pictures are used to aid in the simple paraphrase of the story that is generated for children. Through this process the Bible loses its originality, it becomes as important as every other picture book. Children need to be told the stories of the Bible, and then assisted in understanding them. Too many people attach moral lessons to the stories, pushing the children to understand the story in that way. Beckwith uses the example of the story of the boy with the loaves and fish being explained to children in a way that teaches them that it is good to share (127). However, this causes the story to lose its meaning. The story is meant to show the power and majesty of God. When adults attach moral lessons to the Bible, it loses its importance. The Bible needs to be presented to children as the Bible, not as a morally true picture book with superheroes (Beckwith 127-128). Children are able to understand abstract ideas when they are paired with concrete ideas. Therefore, the Bible, as is, can be understood by children, when it is presented in a way that they will comprehend.
Many adults have the mentality that once a child “prays the prayer,” that child is saved. Therefore the adult moves on so that more children can be “saved.” Beckwith summarizes Lawrence Richards’ “five processes for guiding the spiritual development of children in the faith community” (Beckwith 65). First, children need to belong in the faith community around them. Children need to be active participants in the activities of their faith community (Beckwith 65-66). Adults who are seen by children need to model faith, “The child sees adults who struggle, who trust God, who make mistakes and are forgiven, who work for mercy and justice, who model kingdom values” (Beckwith 66). Hands-on methods of learning need to be utilized to assist teaching children faith. Finally, good decision making needs to be emphasized and taught (Beckwith 67). Ultimately, children need to be guided through their faith by their parents and the faith community around them.
Beckwith declares, in chapter six of her book, that, “Family is everything to a child” (Beckwith, 101). In his book, Reid states that, “The greatest impact in the life of youth is not made by their peers; the greatest impact in the life of youth is made by adults, and especially by parents” (Reid 154). Pulling from Deuteronomy 6:4-9 and Hebrews 12:1, Mark DeVries (author of Chapter 8 on, “Focusing Youth Ministry through the Family”) summarizes his view on the need for family involvement by saying that, “I define my own approach to family-based youth ministry in this way: Using the position of the youth ministry to access, empower, and connect students to the most effective sources of faith formation, namely the nuclear family and the extended family of the church” (Dean 150). The family should be the first and foremost education that a child receives. Family is the first thing a child experiences, and it will stay with a child no matter what. Because of this, children must be spiritually nurtured first and foremost by their family. However, the church has come into the habit of breaking up the family as soon as they enter the doors of the building. According to Beckwith, the church’s job is to adequately prepare and assist parents with spiritually raising their children (Beckwith 101-103).
In his sermon, Matt Cote addresses the jobs of the church and family. Cote suggests that at one hour for one program, the church has 40 hours a year with which to impact children. Parents, on the other hand, have 3,000 hours a year with which to impact their children. The church’s job is to be assistance to the parents, to say that, “I will do anything I can to help you get your kid as close to Jesus” (Cote 39:10). The job of parents is to raise the kids spiritually.
I pray that as I push on full steam ahead into working for God that He will never let me forget that it is not all about getting children to “pray the prayer,” but that the children need to be taught, guided, and discipled.
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