Three Quicksand Dangers in Kid’s Ministry

Quicksand is weak, unstable, and liquefied soil that traps and submerges people slowly into impending death. Normally, people get trapped into quicksand unknowingly, and are not purposely walking into it. Life turns into immediate panic when someone realizes they are trapped in an almost hopeless situation. Signs are posted to warn people of quicksand areas in order to keep others alive and avoid the horrendous situation.

I want to ‘post’ a warning sign regarding three types of kid’s ministry quicksand: (1) Church-ianity; (2) Bible-ianity; and (3) Christianity. Interestingly enough, I think many others have already posted warning signs, and maybe this post is more so regurgitation. Future post will offer suggestions, encouragements, and corrections to these types of quicksand.

1. Church-ianity Quicksand

Are you a church person? A church person is when the majority, if not whole, of your life has the smell, look, language, and mold of a particular local church, denomination, brand, organization, or charity. You are marked by professionalism (all things are in order and structured), shared personality traits (to remove conflicts and differences), or an attachment of particular church fads of your era (music, preaching style, Bible translation, building, hot topic books, conferences, guest speakers, and so on).

Discipleship turns into training people to be followers of your church and not Christ. The good news you bring to people’s ears is how awesome your church is or all the different ministries the church provides. You begin to invite people to church versus to Christ. Christ becomes assumed and in the background instead of the consistent, hot topic and foreground of ministry.

Kid’s ministry then follows the set pattern with kids growing up ‘in church’ and not growing their faith in Jesus. Kids find it harder to live in two worlds of church and non-church. Kids become confused instead of convicted about following Jesus. Kids sense their mentors personae, patterns, passions, and persuasions to be church-centric providing a noticeable difference between text and teacher. Kids learn more about church structure, policies, curriculum, and culture than learning to become a follower of God in their culture. Kids become zombie numbers than transformed disciples on God’s mission to make life, disciples, and churches about Jesus.

We need to ask ourselves the probing question of: How much lower do we need to sink before we realize it’s too late?

Topics to come:

2. Bible-ianity Quicksand

3. Christianity Quicksand