I was reading on a popular Children’s Ministry website recently and I found a post that seemed to be fairly popular. The post was talking about ridiculous things that other Children’s Ministers have heard – I’m sure we’ve all heard our fair share of crazy statements: “When are you going to become a real pastor?” “Can you just find something to keep the kids busy?” So on and so forth…I watched the topic grow over the next several days and finally after watching all these comments I had heard enough.
Seriously? Are we still going on about the insensitivity of those who don’t have a passion for kids? Are we still talking about those who will never see us as anything other than babysitters? Are we still lamenting the truth that many people don’t value kids? It took me a bit to nail down why this bothered me so much. I know I’ve had similar thoughts as the ones posted on the discussion…I try not to dwell on them because they can really drag you down. The thing that really bugged me was the attitude that was represented by each post, I know some were just posting for fun, but they still fall into the deeper issue that a lot of Children’s Leaders fall into – the feeling of being treated unfairly.
There are a few realities in Children’s Ministry:
- We will never have enough workers – if you do then your vision isn’t big enough
- We will never have enough money – if you do then your vision isn’t big enough
- We will never have everyone’s support – your Sr. Pastor doesn’t, why should you?
- There will always be those who don’t understand what we do – they don’t want to be a part so deal with it.
I’m sure there are many more you could come up with – my goal wasn’t to create a depressing list of hurdles – there are just things we have to face. This is the situation. It’s like being a Bengal’s fan, face it they are going to suck…keep cheering or get off the bandwagon. In last month’s K! Magazine Sam Luce wrote an article titled “Quit being a nerd”. This blog goes with it – quit whining. It sounds harsh I know…but that’s just because whining makes you feel better. Want to feel better? Work to make changes that address the issue. Educate, recruit, inform…don’t sit back and whine. When we continue to make posts about what horrible things people have said to use or how hard Children’s ministry is we are speaking death to ourselves. I for one refuse to be a part of that. Speak life, have life, live life – Kids need life not our whining.
