Children's Ministry Payoff

There are good days and there are bad days in the work of ministry. As I overheard the minister’s wife at the church of my childhood once say, “In the ministry, there are high spots and there are low spots. The high moments make it worth it all.” Today made it worth it all.

A six year old girl came bounding into my junior church classroom this morning. Before I could connect with what she was even saying, she reeled off the memory verse from 1 John 3:1. If you look up the verse, this is no “Jesus wept” short verse. She didn’t even stumble over the word “lavish.” When our youth intern entered the room, she repeated the performance. My second student, a fourth grader, rose to the challenge and, after cocking his head to retrospect, he also repeated the verse flawlessly. It gives me goose bumps to hear children repeat from memory the Word of God!

Both children missed last Sunday’s session. They were remembering the verse from two weeks ago. Moreover, the little girl’s mom told me she had not worked with her daughter on the verse at home; in fact, the only time she heard her practice it was when the child repeated it for a visitor. (I love i! ‘A little child shall lead them.’)

The best was yet to come. The girl’s family has been haphazard in their attendance over the last six months. I’ve noticed the little girl coming more often, however, whether or not big sister comes with her. The mom told me this morning that the girl bounced out of bed, got dressed and said to her, “Come on Mom. Today’s church. We gotta go.”

Music to a children’s ministry worker’s ear!

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I’ll be gone all this next week to our church’s teaching/preaching convention, the NACC, in Louisville, Kentucky. I’m excited because I love learning new ideas from other ministry workers and workshops alike. I look forward to sharing more resources with you Inside The Classroom in the coming weeks.