As a church plant, you are in the building stages of every aspect of church life including ministry to children. Here are three ways to minister to children in Sunday morning worship when you don’t have a fully developed children’s ministry yet.
1. Provide a children’s sermon.
Early in our Forks Community Church church plant, I took the 30-minute message geared for adults and condensed it into a five-minute message geared for children. Not only did this provide a message for the kids but it helped me deliver the full sermon clearly and concisely. Prior to the full sermon, I invited the children up front to sit on the floor where I sat with them and taught. Not only were the children engaged but adults often told me how much they appreciated the message because it was clear, concise, and memorable.
2. Provide video instruction for children.
Instead of an oral lesson, one may also use a video lesson. To do this well, make sure you have proper video and audio equipment. During a time our children’s ministry was understaffed, we used kids lessons from Right Now Media and showed them during a segment of the morning worship service.
Another option is to provide the same instruction to children in a separate dedicated space for children’s ministry. This is ideal for a situation where a church has an individual or individuals comfortable with ministering to children but lack the spiritual gift of teaching.
Note: Right Now Media is a paid video subscription service for churches. They offer special pricing for new and/or small churches.
3. Address children during the sermon.
If a church planter prefers not to use the above options, then be sure to use this option. Include references or stories children can relate to. Speak to them. “Hey kids, this is important for you to know.” Provide a children’s sermon outline with the Bible passage, key words, and refer to the key words in the sermon to reinforce attentiveness. Incentivizing listening by providing a small reward will likely appeal to children and encourage attentiveness.
These three children’s ministry ideas will help the children in your church plant grow in Christ and know that they are loved by God and important to the life of the church plant. Do you have any ideas for how to ministry to children in a church plant? Please share in the comments.
Article by Tim Zuck, Church Planter at Forks Community Church in Forks Township, PA near Easton, PA. Tim Zuck was previously the church planter at Saucon Community Church and is ordained by the Bible Fellowship Church denomination.
