Drew Boswell

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    • 6-2-2022 Podcast
    • “If You Have an Ear, Listen To This: Parables” Mark 4:1-34
    • Mark 3:7-35 Sermon “The Society for the Promotion of Madness Among the Respectable Classes”
    • Mark 1:14-45 “Remaining Focused On Your Calling In A World of Distractions”
    • Mark 1:1-13 “The Beginning of When the World Was Changed”

Values in Children’s Ministry

All too often I tend to focus on the “what” of ministry. What needs to be done? This deals with to-do lists, goals, and task management. We know that there are certain things that need to be done a weekly, monthly, and yearly basis. VBS or summer outreach program is a staple of most children’s ministry. But what gets easily lost is the “how” of ministry. This is where your church and ministry values come into play. The question is not “Will we have VBS this year?” but “How are we going to do VBS this year?”

What are your church’s shared values? If you don’t have them, then you may establish goals (have Sunday School every week), but how you go about it may cause conflict. One person may want the kids to sit quietly as they talk at them, while the teacher across the hall has the kids jumping and yelling at the top of their lungs – and they may even be teaching the same lesson! A lack of values may also lead to inconsistent ministry. One week things are awesome, then the next week, so not awesome? What happened? It could be that your volunteers aren’t sharing the same values in how they carry out ministry.

Values determine how we will deliver ministry to children.[1] Do your volunteers know what is important and what is not important? How do you know this? One of the best ways to assure that everyone has the same shared values is to write them out, and repeat them often.

Before we jump into actual values for your ministry, remember that whatever value you determine should improve the ministry as a whole. Avoid values that are too vague like, “we love children.” Also avoid values that are too specific and require a specific action every week. For example, “we will love children by teaching them through drama.” Now you have to have drama every week. Your values will act as a filter in decision making both as a church planning team, and teachers and volunteers in their planning at home. There will be things that shouldn’t be done because it goes against our agreed upon values for ministry.

Three Examples of Values (and what I feel should be the top three):

1. I Will Make It Fun – Children will not willingly go to a church’s children’s ministry unless they know that it will be fun. Parents will also grow weary of the hassle of making them go if the ministry is not exciting.  Volunteers also want to be apart of something fun, and is not boring. If they (the kids) don’t come, then you are going to have a hard time teaching them.

People who tend to gravitate toward children’s ministry typically are people who enjoy being around children and doing what children enjoy – so they want it to be fun too.  Values are an emphasis on what is important. There will be some things that are of less value, and some things that are of more value – as a team you get to choose! But also as a team you must hold to the values or there will be conflict.

For example, if communicating content is the value, then kids sitting quietly and remaining still is the best way to get through a lot of material. But if retention of material (i.e. learning and application) is the value, then less material may need to be covered, and methods that help children retain information may need to be implemented (which may involve noise, movement, excitement, and even yelling at the top of their lungs).

Values should also go beyond the teaching time to include the environment, signage, correspondence with parents, how the volunteers dress, planning meetings, etc… Everything should be done with the “making it fun” as a foundational value in mind. In order for this to happen leaders must look at the world through a child’s eyes, and ask the question, “would this be fun for ___________?” (you can insert a two-year-old, an eight-year-old, etc.)  How do you know this to be true. Don’t assume; ask a child that age, study up on growth and age characteristics for that age, and make an educated guess.

2. I Will Keep It Safe – Parent’s will not hand over their children to a church’s children’s ministry unless they feel it is safe. I used the word “keep” instead of “make” because this value has to be held by all volunteers and staff. You can set all kinds of policies and write out manuals but it is the volunteers who have to keep the policies and understand the values.

Children also need to feel that your church is a place where they can be safe. No one will make fun of them, or laugh at them, or make them feel uncomfortable. They will be loved unconditionally and people there will know their name. So physical safety is just one part of safety, there are also emotional issues as well. Students should feel free to ask questions and be themselves.  This value focuses on making sure that a child is protected as a precious treasure.

3. I Will Invest Myself – If the children know that they are loved by their teacher or shepherd, then they will return again and again if it is within their power to do so. To invest means a lot of things but I would highlight three. If I know that a specific idea is to be taught, then I will invest the time to make it creative and interesting.

The teacher will not show up and read the curriculum (yuck!), instead he will have invested enough of his time to not only know the lesson topic, but has taken the time to pray and plan with those in his class in mind. There is also the investment of time. The family today is extremely busy, so time with those they love is extremely precious. If a teacher will invest time in the child’s life outside of the classroom, then they will reap huge benefits in the classroom.

Teaching with investment in mind also includes a lesson that includes application. The teacher is going to show the children how to apply the lesson this week (or even right then) in their lives and will follow up to see how that application is going later in the week. Investment is all about time.

One of the hardest things about maintaining values is that Sundays come around with extreme regularity. Many times the focus becomes simply existing and having a Sunday School, or AWANA, or mid-week program. There is so much to do, that being creative and keeping it fun, or safe, or even having the time to invest in children’s lives feels like an impossible task. But remember values act as a screen – allow them to help you in making decisions of what to stop doing, change your priorities, etc. in order to run your ministry, classroom, or shepherding group in such a way that will bring God glory.


[1] Sue Miller with David Staal. Making Your Children’s Ministry The Best Hour of Every Kid’s Week (Grand Rapids, Michigan; Zondervan, 2004) 64.

I’m Exhausted!

We dropped the kids off at McDonald’s at the FSK mall today and the boys and I headed home. It was an intense week of Camp (Centrikid) and we are all very tired. But it’s a “good tired.” You know the kind after you have helped the old lady across the street fix her porch and it took you all day, or serving in a soup kitchen and it emotionally drained you, or swimming to save a child from drowning in the ocean and you struggled to keep your own head above the water. Not that I have ever done any of those things, but I was just imagining the feeling.

Anyway, the kids are tired and the leaders are tired (especially me) and the staff of Centrikid are tired. They have traveled all over the southeast for thirteen weeks, and this was their final week. They didn’t show it, and they gave all they had for the kids – but even twenty-somethings get tired.

In ministry there are several myths that I have seen smart and hard working people buy into. Let’s look at three real quick:

1) You should always be tired; you can rest when you go to heaven.

These are the people who are up at 4am (without coffee), work constantly all day, are constantly beginning new initiatives, and have to force themselves into bed in the early hours of morning. They feel guilty if they take a nap or even a vacation. After all, there are still mountains to climb, souls to save, revolutions to begin, etc. . .

The truth is that if you don’t rest and sleep properly then you will go to meet your Creator sooner as opposed to later. Tiredness directly affects your ability to make the best decisions, your emotional quotient, and your health. If you allow your body to rest, then you are able to accomplish more than if you make a series of mistakes that you have to “fix” because you made them while you were exhausted.

2) You should keep the same pace as the leader across town.

Let’s face it, there are some people who only need four hours of sleep and can stay mentally focused the other twenty hours that they are working. But, that’s just not me. I am thirty-six and have come to realize that I need eight hours of sleep, and I need mental breaks through out the day. My kids also need me to spend time with them, oh, and my wife really appreciates it when I spend time with her as well.

The guy across town who is keeping a “break-neck” pace may be on the verge on a mental break-down, his marriage may be falling apart, and his kids may hate him – but man look at what he’s getting accomplished! When we compare ourselves to the guy across town we will never know all the information we need to make a proper comparison. Even if he/she has managed to keep it all balanced shouldn’t we celebrate what God is doing with them, instead of trying to show ourselves better than they are?

Wisdom tells us to know ourselves, and to obey Christ in the position and place that He has placed us. It’s ok to slow down, spend time with your family, and still be able to work hard. The work you accomplish will be of better quality and you will still have those loved ones around you as you go.

3) You should keep the same pace your whole life.

Ok, I already mentioned that I was thirty-six, so when it was time for the campers to go to bed at 10pm – I made them go to bed at 10pm. I was tired and grew increasingly grumpy as the minutes winded past 10pm. In the years past, I probably would have lead an expedition to the Coke machine, a secret splash in the pool, or just to run around in the open fields, finding my way into a bed way past midnight.

But I’m not twenty-something anymore. But who cares, I have much more wisdom now, then in my twenties (at least I hope so). At each stage of life there are pluses and minuses. Wisdom is knowing what your weaknesses are and leveraging your strengths. As you get older it’s ok to slow down and rest – but make sure that you use your rested self in pursuits that are of value.

There was no one on the Centrikid staff over twenty-five (as camp pastor he was the elder). But it was their youth that added exuberance and excitement to the camp that the children fed on like the sugar coated “Nerds” sold in the camp store. But if you looked through the crowd most of the adult leaders who brought the kids were over thirty-five. So there was a good balance of generations using their giftedness and abilities to minister to children. One was not better than the other; both played a very important part.

So I’m going to try and get some rest before my next big adventure. So if you call you may get the machine, and if you facebook it may be a couple of days before I respond. Just know that I may be getting geared up for the next ministry opportunity.

Understanding Roles of the Church and Home (Part One; A Definition)

Lately I have been thinking about the strategy that the church uses as a means to encourage the spiritual formation of others, specifically children. The following is the beginning of a series of articles that attempts to understand how we can do this.

Before any effective and biblical strategy can be developed, the church must understand its role and how it relates to the role of the home. If the church does all the intentional spiritual teaching and the parents do little or no intentional spiritual teaching, then the child suffers. This reliance of the parent upon the church is not only a poor use of time, but also an abdication of their God given responsibility.

Children are highly influenced by the environment around them. Parents spend far more time with their children than the typical Children’s Ministry teacher on Sunday morning. If a child attends a school, then he is further influenced by that school’s philosophy of education and by their peers around them. The Children’s Ministry teacher spends far less time with the student than any other major influence in their lives. However, if the parents are relying on a one hour a week Sunday morning program to educate their children in Christian foundations, the church has to fight against these other influences that have far more access to the child.

Barna has said, “When a church—intentionally or not—assumes a family’s responsibilities in the arena of spiritually nurturing children, it fosters an unhealthy dependence upon the church to relieve the family of its biblical responsibility”[1] The church and the home are partners. The home bears most, if not all, of the responsibility and the church bears the biblical mandate to supplement that teaching and to give biblical guidance. Since there is this preferred symbiotic relationship between the church and the home, it would be in the best interest of each to work together. Also, the church has no oversight regarding the activities the child does when they are away from the church classroom. It is the parent’s responsibility to have oversight of the child and to keep him safe.

Fields, while relating specifically to youth ministry, gives several ideas on how to bring the home and church together. Developing a growing relationship between the church’s educational team and the parents is very important. Fields says, “It is impossible to create healthy teamwork with people you don’t know.”[2] As this relationship develops, parents can inform the teachers of issues that are going on in the student’s individual lives in times of difficulty. As the children grow older, the parent’s control and influence will decrease. This may bring feelings of fear, inadequacy, abandonment, or failure. By working together the church has invaluable background about the students, and the parents have a support network. Another benefit of working together is that the weekly flow of life can be better managed. The home and the church can work together to ensure that both calendars are balanced.[3] If a children’s ministry has an event planned and desires for it to be a success, then it needs to make sure the parents are aware of it and thoroughly informed well in advance. Many precious resources have been wasted, when a church event or program is planned and few people show up. The same is true for the home. Once parents are committed (financially or personally) to an activity, they feel as though they miss out on a much desired church activity.


[1] Barna, Transforming Children Into Spiritual Champions, 81.

[2] Fields, Purpose Driven Youth Ministry, 254.

[3] Ibid., 255.

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