Kid’s Ministry Bar Set to Gospel Height
Like a sneaky ninja, your heart’s expectations can easily karate chop joys and ministry relationships, which inevitably strains the vision of kid’s ministry. Spoken or not, expectations exist and reveal themselves at some point like the ninja. Do we expect people to volunteer, keep their word or possess skills to deliver? Do we expect our health to maintain it’s course, keep us faithful to each day and allow us to work continuously without rest? Do we expect God to bless our ministry because everything is in order? How did we first set the bar of expectations? Are expectations to low or to high? Are the expectations helpful or deterrents?
Like a sneaky ninja, your heart’s expectations can easily karate chop joys and ministry relationships, which inevitably strains the vision of kid’s ministry. Spoken or not, expectations exist and reveal themselves at some point like the ninja. Do we expect people to volunteer, keep their word or possess skills to deliver? Do we expect our health to maintain it’s course, keep us faithful to each day and allow us to work continuously without rest? Do we expect God to bless our ministry because everything is in order? How did we first set the bar of expectations? Are expectations to low or to high? Are the expectations helpful or deterrents?
Rather than running away from an internal ninja or chasing after sporadic expectations that seem to move like a destructive tornado, anchor your heart in the gospel to set ministry expectations. Jesus sets the disciples expectations in the beginning of his ministry by the gospel (Mark 4:10-20). Jesus describes various types of people and how they receive the gospel. Satan takes away God’s word from them, trials and persecutions hinder faithful perseverance, and internal desires for the world other than God drag them down to utter deafness (Mark 4:13-19). However, a fourth type of soil stands in contrast to all three previous types, that is, one hearing God’s word that it actually bears fruit like a seed in good soil (Mark 4:20).
When God’s word lands like a seed into the ready soil of one’s heart, it will grow, there will be evidence and it will continue to bear fruit. As it produces fruit, that fruit carries the same seed of God’s word to other soils (Mark 4:20b). Therefore, do not let discouragement of ministry become like a leech to your soil; rather, allow God’s word to penetrate your expectations. When kid’s ministry bar is set to gospel heights, we become low and humble in spreading God’s word.
Therefore, ask your ministry mission, visions, staff, leaders and pastors, what is our bar? At what type of height (up, down or all around)? Our standards? Ready to drop, crash and burn us? Or Is it gospel height? Gospel height is expecting God to grow the seed and help us stay faithful to spreading his word like a faithful farmer. As Jesus went through the latter part of his earthly ministry the disciples were able to see the differences of seed and soils before their own eyes. Prepare you staff and teachers in these ways like Jesus to his disciples.
To be continued …
Further Reading:
Vintage Church: Timeless Truths and Timely Methods
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This is part of the blog posts series from Missional Education on the gospel in children’s ministry.
