CE National would like to encourage each church to have a Children’s Sunday every year to honor children’s staff and the children in their congregation.
Children are very important to Jesus and they should be to the church. Scripture says that we must all come to Christ like a little child. Children’s Sunday is an opportunity to raise the awareness of the need of ministering using their God-given abilities. This day could be a time of sharing the vision of touching children’s hearts by noticing them, sensing their presence, caring about them and helping them understand how much they matter to God. This special day can be held whenever it fits best into the church’s calendar.
Children’s Sunday materials, Tag—You’re It! and other children’s resources are made available to your church through the capable work of children’s workers in many areas of the Charis Fellowship of Churches.
Children’s Sunday materials:
Riding Tall with The Son – Lead Kids on a Life-Changing Adventure With Jesus
Shout It From the Mountaintops! – Share God’s Good News
Finding God’s Treasure – Seeing Children Through HIS Eyes
GO FOR THE GOAL: Helping Kids Win the Ultimate Prize – Eternity with Jesus
Generation Next: Handing Children a Love for Jesus
Get on Board with Children’s Ministry
Tag–You’re It!
Evangelism curriculum for kids.
CE National wants to thank Donna Yost and her staff from Wooster Grace Brethren Church in Wooster, Ohio, who develop materials each year for Children’s Sunday.
Great Commission Children’s Ministry
The purpose of a Great Commission Children’s Ministry is to have a deliberate approach for reaching unchurched children, a plan for spiritual growth and a plan to connect children to the church, with the result of bringing unchurched children to spiritual maturity.
Matthew 28:18-20 (NIV) “Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
Rate your children’s ministry on a 1-10 scale (10 being best).
- A deliberate approach toward reaching unchurched children through cultivating relationships
- Developing relationships
Adults cultivating relationships with children who attend
Adults reaching out to unchurched children
Children reaching out to unchurched children - Planting the seed of God’s truth
Using tools to plant the seed (park program, Bible clubs, sports events and more) - Reaping a harvest by calling for a commitment to Christ
Ideally seeing children reaching children
Teaching children to reach other children for Christ using specific tools (Jesus video, Evangecube, etc.)
Providing events and opportunities to help children reach their friends for Christ
- Developing relationships
- A plan for spiritual growth to develop
- A love for Christ and others
Children knowing and loving Jesus - Knowledge and application of biblical truths
Children learning the Bible and applying biblical principles to their lives - A desire for serving and reaching out by utilizing their spiritual gifts
Children involved in loving and serving others - Leadership skills
Allowing children to be spiritual pace-setters
- A love for Christ and others
- An objective of connecting children to the church through…
- Relationship with caring adult believers
Adults enjoying and loving children-not merely doing a “job” - Relationships with peers within their own and other churches
Children enjoying being with other children who love and serve God - The obedience of baptism
Children who follow God are instructed in baptism and many other ways to obey God (church attendance, etc.)
- Relationship with caring adult believers
- The goal of producing children who are…
- Imitating Christ
Children being loving, obedient, bold, kind and caring - Ministering to others
Children demonstrating kindness such as volunteering, sitting with the handicapped or visitors or reaching out to Christians - Reaching their peers for Christ
Children being burdened for the salvation of their non-Christian friends by praying, inviting and sharing - Reaching families for Christ
Children’s ministries reaching into the homes of non-churched families - Obeying the whole counsel of God
Children are learning many things-not just the familiar Bible stories - Impacting the local church
Children’s ministries are visible, appreciated and seen as equally important as ministering to youth or adults
- Imitating Christ
Conclusion:
A. Note where you are strong and thank God.
B. Note where you are weak and prayerfully ask God (and other children’s workers) if you need to make changes. If so, how can these areas be strengthened?
