LifeWay

Kids Ministry

Dedicated to helping Kids Ministry leaders in their mission of making disciples

Discipleship, Kids Ministry, Leadership

Whom Are You Discipling?

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Ministry is time-consuming. There are so many details to handle, and daily interruptions often distract us. Yet, Jesus reminds us in Matthew 28:19-20 that our primary purpose is to “make disciples.” As KidMin leaders we have the opportunity to be disciple-makers of at least four groups.

  • Preschoolers:  A true disciple is a follower of Christ, so how can preschoolers become disciples before they receive Jesus as their Lord and Savior? They can’t, but they can learn about who Jesus is and how Jesus wants us to live. When we allow God to use us to build these spiritual foundations in the lives of preschoolers, we are preparing young children for a life of discipleship.
  • Elementary Kids:  Similar to preschoolers who are not yet believers, we can teach kids the foundations of the faith. Once a child becomes a Christian, we have the responsibility of helping them grow in their faith by developing healthy spiritual habits such as Bible reading and prayer.
  • Parents:  One of the ways we can disciple parents is by providing them with resources to disciple their own children. Also, we can encourage parents to develop their own personal spiritual habits. Remember, however, that some parents may not be believers. Part of the disciple-making process includes sharing the gospel with them.
  • Volunteers:  God calls us to equip volunteers, which we do with resources, training, and encouragement. But, what about discipling volunteers? We can do this one-on-one and in group settings when we talk about what God is doing in our church and in our kids ministry. Also, we can encourage volunteers to develop healthy spiritual habits, including studying the Bible and worshipping with other adult believers. You might even consider starting a small group just for preschool and children’s teachers in your church.

Look back over the list. You may already be doing some of these things as part of your ministry. If not, consider making a few adjustments to reclaim your purpose as a disciple-maker. 

Landry Holmes is the Manager of LifeWay Kids Ministry Publishing, Nashville, TN. A graduate of Howard Payne University and Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Landry served on church staffs before coming to LifeWay. He is a church leader, writer, workshop facilitator, and publisher.  Landry also teaches children at his church in Middle Tennessee. He and his wife Janetta are the grandparents of three adorable grandbabies.

 

Encouragement, Kids Ministry, Leadership

When Leadership is Followership

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Are you a leader or a follower? The correct answer is, “Yes.” Sometimes God calls us to lead, and at other times God calls us to follow. Knowing the difference is key to being an effective preschool and/or children’s ministry leader. 

  • Recognize that everyone has a leader. You may lead a paid staff and/or a group of volunteers. However, your immediate supervisor is your leader whether you’re a volunteer or on the church payroll. And your supervisor is under the authority of his/her leader. To take this concept to its logical conclusion the only church leader not under the authority of someone else is Jesus, the head of the church. (See Ephesians 4:15-16).
  • Adapt your role to the situation. When you’re in a church staff meeting you are probably a follower unless you’re the senior or executive pastor. You will want to yield to the authority over you, and when you disagree you can do so with love and Christlike deference to your leader. (See Romans 12:3-8,10).
  • Step back and let others lead. As a leader of people, I have to remind myself that I don’t always have to be in charge. I learned this from a colleague who models followership. When he asks someone to coordinate the setup and take-down of an event, my friend places himself under the authority of that individual. If you assign a volunteer to coordinate a KidMin event at church, then empower that person to tell you what to do. This simple, yet difficult act is what Jesus instructed us to do when He washed His disciples’ feet. (See John 13:13-15.)

Young children are prone to exclaim, “You’re not the boss of me!” Sometimes as adults we think the same thing. Nevertheless, in reality, every KidMin leader is a follower. Whom are you following? Are you modeling followership to the people you lead?

The Bible says to “clothe yourselves with humility toward one another because God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble.” (1 Peter 5:5) Volunteers will more likely continue to follow a leader who is also a humble follower than someone who acts like the boss of everyone.

Landry Holmes is the Manager of LifeWay Kids Ministry Publishing, Nashville, TN. A graduate of Howard Payne University and Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Landry served on church staffs before coming to LifeWay. He is a church leader, writer, workshop facilitator, and publisher.  Landry also teaches children at his church in Middle Tennessee. He and his wife Janetta are the grandparents of three adorable grandbabies.

Kids Ministry, Leadership

4 Tips for Focusing on Both People and Results in KidMin

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In a previous blog post, I posed the question, “Should KidMin leaders focus on people or results?” The conclusion was that Jesus’s love for us and others drives us to serve Him to the glory of God. When we do that, God will use us to accomplish His results.

In other words, when we as KidMin leaders follow Jesus, God will direct us to focus on both people and ministry results. So, what are some practical ways to achieve that balance? Here are some suggestions:

  1. Focus on Jesus. Okay, I know that sounds like the church answer, but I believe it’s true. One way we focus on Jesus is by staying in God’s Word. By doing so we “trust in the Lord with all” our “heart, and do not rely” on our “own understanding.” (Proverbs 3:5-6). Prayer is another way we focus on Jesus. The Bible is clear that we are to “pray constantly.” (1 Thessalonians 5:17) How can we expect God to work through us for His glory if we’re not in communication with Him, through His Son Jesus? Moreover, when we pray for others, God often guides us to minister to them. When we focus on Jesus God will certainly accomplish His will through us, including ministering to people and achieving ministry results.
  2. Know your purpose. What is God calling you to do in the context of your church and community? Not sure? Start with what Jesus has already told us to do: “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you.” (Matthew 28:19-20) Out of that should come all our goals and plans. Otherwise, our plans are just that, our plans. 
  3. Work through others. As I mentioned in that other post, Jethro helped Moses see the value of working through others, using common sense organizational skills. When we do so, we empower and equip people to accomplish the work God has called them to do. (See Ephesians 4:12.)
  4. Keep working. Paul reminds us to “not get tired of doing good, for we will reap at the proper time if we don’t give up.” (Galatians 6:9) Sometimes we may not achieve the results we think we should; however, ultimately God is responsible for the outcome. Our job is to be faithful.

  The ideas above are not exhaustive, nor are they four easy steps to guaranteed success. However, I do believe that these tips represent biblical principles. And I think that obedience to God’s Word, through a personal relationship with Jesus, is how we achieve a balance of focusing on both God’s people and God’s results.

Landry Holmes is the Manager of LifeWay Kids Ministry Publishing, Nashville, TN. A graduate of Howard Payne University and Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Landry served on church staffs before coming to LifeWay. He is a church leader, writer, workshop facilitator, and publisher.  Landry also teaches children at his church in Middle Tennessee. He and his wife Janetta are grandparents to three precious grandchildren.

Bible Study, Kids Ministry, Leadership

Should KidMin Leaders Focus on People or Results?

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According to Ken Blanchard and Spencer Johnson in their ground-breaking work, The One Minute Manager, “Effective managers manage themselves and the people they work with so that both the organization and the people profit from their presence.” Some leaders seem more interested in results than people, while other leaders focus on people over results. As in most situations, what is needed is balance. Leaders would do well to focus on both people and results.

As ministry-minded people, I think we often err on the side of caring for people rather than focusing on results. However, the Bible teaches that both are important. Look at Moses, for example. When Moses’ father-in-law Jethro came for a visit, he decided to go to the office with Moses to see what his son-in-law did all day. What Jethro observed prompted him to give Moses some management advice.

Moses was trying to take care of the people all by himself, giving the impression that he placed people over results. Jethro said, as only a good father-in-law could, “What you’re doing is not good . . . You will certainly wear out both yourself and these people.” (Exodus 18:17-18) Jethro proceeded to instruct Moses on a better way to do his job, and Jethro predicted that the results would be endurance for Moses as the leader and satisfaction for the people. (See Exodus 18:23.)

In his attempt to put people ahead of results, Moses ultimately put both people and results at risk. Jethro’s solution, on the other hand, provided for the needs of people while achieving a desirable outcome—the resolution of the people’s disputes.

Another biblical example is that of Paul, Barnabas, and John Mark. Paul was ticked that John Mark had abandoned him on the annual church mission trip, so it was one-and-done as far as Paul was concerned. Barnabas, however, wanted to give John Mark a second chance. In His sovereignty, God used Paul and Barnabas’ dispute to spread the gospel, while redeeming John Mark. Again, we see results and people in balance. (See Acts 15:36–41.)

As KidMin leaders we want to strive for that kind of balance. A word of warning though. When we invest in people sometimes they will let us down, just as John Mark disappointed Paul. Furthermore, like Moses, Jethro, Paul, and Barnabas can attest, investing in people takes emotional energy.

No one knew this better than Jesus. Jesus declared that He came “to seek and save the lost.” (Luke 19:10) However, not everyone welcomed Jesus. He was “despised and rejected.” (Isaiah 53:3) Jesus performed miracles for God’s glory and showed people He cared while focusing on His mission to the point of exhaustion.

Jesus’s love for people drove the intended result of redemption. (See John 3:16; 15:13; Romans 5:8.) And, as KidMin leaders, isn’t Jesus’s love for us and others what drives us to serve Him to the glory of God? When we do that, God will use us to accomplish His results.

Landry Holmes is the Manager of LifeWay Kids Ministry Publishing, Nashville, TN. A graduate of Howard Payne University and Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Landry served on church staffs before coming to LifeWay. He is a church leader, writer, workshop facilitator, and publisher.  Landry also teaches children at his church in Middle Tennessee. He and his wife Janetta are the grandparents of three adorable grandbabies.

Kids Ministry, Leadership

It’s December 31, 2019. What Does Your Kids Ministry Look Like?

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I’m not sure who initially stated this truism, “Plan with the end in mind,” and I’m not always good at following that advice. However, as we begin 2019 (it’s still January, so I’m assuming we’re at the start of 2019 although most of us already feel behind), we would be wise to imagine what the year will look like in retrospect.

Let’s pretend we’re in our last staff meeting of the year and are evaluating our respective ministry areas. Here are some questions we might want to answer:

  1. What was our biggest ministry accomplishment? To answer this question, we’ll need to know what “ministry accomplishment” looks like. In other words, do we measure accomplishment by weekly attendance, how many big events we hosted, accolades from parents, number of resulting baptisms? In order to know if we accomplished anything, we need to set goals before we begin.
  2. What actions did we take each quarter to reach families with the gospel? Again, without advance planning, we often are not very intentional with the primary purpose of our ministry’s existence.
  3. How many new volunteers did we recruit? Often, we are in survival mode week-to-week and don’t have a strategy of enlisting and developing new kids ministry leaders. Instead, we wait until there’s a vacancy and then scramble to get a warm body in a room of preschoolers or elementary children.
  4. How many new and experienced leaders did we train? Training events give us the opportunity to show appreciation to our volunteers, as well as provide inspiration and education. We should all be learning continuously. However, like with almost everything else, if we don’t plan training opportunities they most likely won’t happen.
  5. What is one thing we stopped doing this year? Most of us are not good at killing programs or events. However, what worked well for us in the past is not necessarily what we need to keep doing in perpetuity.
  6. What is one new thing we did this year? I’ve heard that before we hang new clothes in our closet, we should donate an equal number of garments already taking up space in our wardrobe. We need to be doing new things in our ministry in order to keep reaching families. Nevertheless, unless we stop doing some things we have little room in our volunteer “closet” for anything new.

I’m excited about what God wants to do in and through us this year. And, I know that we cannot plan for everything that God has in store for our ministries. However, I do believe that we honor God when we take time now to set goals, make plans, and set in motion ways to implement those plans. After all God’s Word tells us, “Whatever you do, do it from the heart, as something done for the Lord.” (Colossians 3:23)

Landry Holmes is the Manager of LifeWay Kids Ministry Publishing, Nashville, TN. A graduate of Howard Payne University and Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Landry served on church staffs before coming to LifeWay. He is a church leader, writer, workshop facilitator, and publisher.  Landry also teaches children at his church in Middle Tennessee. He and his wife Janetta are the grandparents of three adorable grandbabies.

Bible Study, Kids Ministry, Leadership, Preschoolers

Help! What Do I Do with Preschoolers in Large Group?

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Chaos. Pandemonium. Loud. Hectic. Anxiety-inducing. Do these words surface like an enemy submarine when you think about leading preschoolers in a large-group experience? If so, keep reading. If not, go drink some hot tea or coffee and pray for the rest of us.

Most of us experience some level of anxiety, at least occasionally, when faced with the prospect of teaching preschoolers in a setting that requires squirming little bodies to “sit and listen” as a group. Perhaps armed with a better understanding of our purpose and recognizing how preschoolers learn best, we can thrive the next time we’re in front of eager faces.

Before reading further, recall your favorite Bible verse or passage on the subject of worship. Do you have one in mind? Moses often reminded the obstinate Israelites to worship God: “And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God ask of you except to fear the Lord your God by walking in all his ways, to love him, and to worship the Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul?” (Deuteronomy 10:12)

God doesn’t just want us to worship Him. God requires us to worship Him. Moreover, as believers, our desire to worship God comes not from obligation but from a natural response to what Jesus has done for us through His life, death, burial, and resurrection. Think about that. You and I are invited to worship the Creator of all there is. And, we are expected to teach children to love and worship God.

So, what does that look like with a group of preschoolers? Let’s start with what to avoid:

  • Expecting preschoolers to act like miniature adults
  • Being too rigid
  • Being too random
  • Forcing preschoolers to do activities beyond their abilities
  • Creating a miniature adult worship service
  • Ignoring the opportunity to prepare preschoolers for intergenerational worship experiences
  • Preventing yourself from worshiping with the preschoolers

Instead of attempting to lead preschoolers to worship the One True God like teenagers and adults, try doing this:

  • Building in predictability and structure, and allowing for flexibility of that structure
  • Providing for a variety of learning approaches
  • Alternating sedentary activities with activities that incorporate gross motor skills
  • Listening to background music
  • Singing
  • Praying
  • Listening to a Bible story
  • Giving an offering
  • Learning a Bible verse
  • Learning a Bible truth
  • Learning about missions
  • Playing games
  • Alternating small-group activities with large-group activities

Now, you may be asking how a preschooler who is not a Christian can worship God. I don’t know the complete answer, but this I do know: God has “prepared praise from the mouths of infants and nursing babies.” (Matt 21:16)  So, the next time you dread leading preschoolers in a large-group environment, give thanks to God that He allows you to help facilitate “praise from the mouths of infants and nursing babies.”

Landry Holmes is the Manager of LifeWay Kids Ministry Publishing, Nashville, TN. A graduate of Howard Payne University and Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Landry served on church staffs before coming to LifeWay. He is a church leader, writer, workshop facilitator, and publisher. Landry also teaches children at his church in Middle Tennessee. He and his wife Janetta are the grandparents of thee adorable grandbabies.

Bible Skills, Bible Study, Bibles, Kids Ministry, Leadership

Don’t Take My Word for It

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Ironic, isn’t it? We have access to more information than the generations that came before us, yet we distrust that information with increasing cynicism. There was a time when we believed what we read or heard until the information was proven false. Now, we assume most of the things we read on the Internet are suspect until authenticated.

This is the world in which our kids are living. However, there is one source of information that is absolutely true all the time—God’s Word. Our challenge is to teach kids the Bible is authoritative. It’s the one book we can trust and not question. Congruous to that challenge, is the need to guide children to accept as truth only that which they can verify for themselves in Scripture. Such was the case for people from Josiah to Timothy.

  • Kids need their own copy of the Bible. During a dark period of church history, common people were denied access to the Scriptures. What they knew of God’s Word was limited to whatever the professional clergy chose to tell them. People were not allowed to question what they heard, and they had no personal access to the Bible. This, however, was never God’s plan, as illustrated by both Josiah and Ezra’s public reading of the Scriptures. (See 2 Kings 23 and Nehemiah 8.) God intends for kids to hear and read the actual words of the Bible for themselves.
  • Kids can trust the historicity of the Bible. If you are like I am, you often may skip over the introductory matter of some Bible books. Doing so when reading the gospel of Luke can cause you to miss an important insight. God inspired Luke to write his gospel based on “carefully investigated” truth, in order for Theophilus to “know the certainty of the things about which” he had “been instructed.” (Luke 1:3-4) Every historical fact in the Bible is true, and many are based on eyewitness accounts.
  • Kids should learn Bible skills. One of my favorite, obscure Bible stories is the one of the Bereans in Acts 17. These synagogue-goers did not accept at face value what Paul and his companions taught. They refused to be gullible. Instead, the Bereans “examined the Scriptures daily” to make sure Paul’s teachings were true. (Acts 17:11) When we provide kids with practical Bible skills, they will be equipped for the rest of their lives to test what they hear against the truth of God’s Word.
  • We must teach kids the Bible. Paul gives a clear, yet indirect, mandate to teach kids the Bible while they are still young. What a gracious reminder Paul provides Timothy when he says, “But as for you, continue in what you have learned and firmly believed. You know those who taught you, and you know that from infancy you have known the sacred Scriptures, which are able to give you wisdom for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.” (2 Tim 3:14-15) Don’t miss that last part. God’s Word points us to Jesus. The same Jesus who wants to rescue the kids you teach.

Ultimately, the reason you and I are called to guide kids to explore the Bible and understand the truths of God’s Word for themselves is so that they can meet and know the God of the Bible through His Son Jesus. We can and must accept this challenge. But, as in the closing words of that children’s television program, Reading Rainbow, “You don’t have to take my word for it.”

Landry Holmes is the Manager of LifeWay Kids Ministry Publishing, Nashville, TN. A graduate of Howard Payne University and Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Landry served on church staffs before coming to LifeWay. He is a church leader, writer, workshop facilitator, and publisher.  Landry also teaches children at his church in Middle Tennessee. He and his wife Janetta are the grandparents of two adorable grandbabies.

Encouragement, Kids Ministry, Leadership

When Church Work is Hard

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It was one of those Sundays. Actually, it was one of a series of those Sundays. You know what I’m talking about. You arrived at church extra early, and you stayed late. While everyone else was eating pancakes for breakfast or ordering lunch at a restaurant, you were setting up or cleaning up so their preschoolers and elementary kids could have a positive experience at church. However, the experience didn’t feel positive to you. In fact, you dragged your weary self out to your car in the empty church parking lot, thinking that all your work was for naught. But, was it?

Well, that depends. Whose work was it and why did you do it? If your Sunday toiling is your work and you do it out of extrinsic or selfish motivation (guilt, pride, ego, etc.), then maybe it is for naught. However, if you show up every week because of what Jesus did for you on the cross and because the work is not yours but God’s, then you do not labor in vain.

I have been part of kids ministry all my adult life as either a volunteer, a paid church staff member, or the spouse of a staff member. In each of those roles, I have found church work to be challenging and downright hard. There are days I want to quit. As a volunteer sometimes I’m tempted to say, “I’m just a volunteer; why do I put up with this mess?”   

Sure, the 10-year-old girl hurt your feelings or the 3-year-old boy punched you in the face, and some kids didn’t show up because their parents had “something better” to do; however, Jesus experienced far worse. And, Christians all over the world are persecuted every day for their faith. I say that not to induce guilt, but to remind you to place your misery in perspective.

Satan wants you to quit. The more you show love to children in Jesus’ name and point them to our Heavenly Father, the more Satan tries to tempt you to quit with thoughts of despair. What do those thoughts do? They distract you from focusing on Jesus and the kids He loves, and they cause you to doubt your Kingdom effectiveness.

What should you do when your body, mind, and spirit are exhausted and screaming for you to give up? Scripture is quite clear. “Let us not get tired of doing good, for we will reap at the proper time if we don’t give up. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us work for the good of all, especially for those who belong to the household of faith.” (Galatians 6:9-10)

Church work is hard. Kids ministry is hard. We are living in a fallen world inhabited by sinful people, including you and me. By God’s grace, we can get out of bed before daylight on Sunday morning and stay until the last child is out the door. And maybe, just maybe, we can go home, take a nap, and start all over the next week.

Landry Holmes is the Manager of LifeWay Kids Ministry Publishing, Nashville, TN. A graduate of Howard Payne University and Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Landry served on church staffs before coming to LifeWay. He is a church leader, writer, workshop facilitator, and publisher.  Landry also teaches children at his church in Middle Tennessee. He and his wife Janetta are the grandparents of two adorable grandbabies.

Encouragement, Kids Ministry, Leadership

Unintentional Influence

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Do you think of yourself as an influencer? Leadership expert John C. Maxwell explains, “Leadership is not about titles, positions or flowcharts. It is about one life influencing another.” As kids ministry leaders, we have influence. As believers, we have influence.

Many times, we intentionally try to exercise influence through meetings, training sessions, one-on-one conversations, emails, and social media. However, you may be surprised at how many times you influence people without realizing you are doing so.

If you don’t believe me, think about people who have unintentionally influenced you. The neighbor who uses organic-only lawn care products. The friend who reads a genre of books you haven’t thought about reading. The co-worker who brings her lunch to the office in order to save money.

Lately, I’ve been thinking about people whom I may have influenced in ways unbeknownst to me. For example, a few years ago I was invited by a colleague to meet with a young man who wanted to know more about the work of LifeWay’s Kids Ministry Publishing and how he might engage with us. He was attending college, majoring in graphic design. I explained that, at the time,  there might be more future employment opportunities in the editorial field than in design. He returned to the university and added a second major in English. Now is he is on the team I lead as a versatile graphic designer.

Almost 20 years ago, my wife and I taught a preschooler in Sunday School who clung to her mother’s leg almost every Sunday morning. As a teenager, she helped us teach preschoolers in VBS, and as a college student, she is a full-fledged Sunday School teacher. She even changed her major to early childhood development.

More recently I taught a workshop related to kids ministry. Among those participating were a mother and her teenage son. As I often do when teaching leaders, I used the teen’s name as part of an illustration. Several days later, his mom sent me a thank-you note and mentioned the positive impact of my acknowledging him as a preschool teacher.

I did not set out to influence those three individuals, but I believe God places us in the right place at the right time to encourage and influence others for His glory. God used Paul in this way. In fact, Paul reminds the younger Timothy, “What you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, commit to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.” (2 Timothy 2:2)

The enemy tries to convince us that we don’t provide positive influence, that what we do doesn’t matter or have a lasting impact. But we know better. When I get discouraged and wonder if what I’m doing in kids ministry is making a difference, I remember those whom I’ve influenced to “teach others also.”  Whom have you influenced? Thank God for the opportunity to influence others for His glory.

Landry Holmes is the Manager of LifeWay Kids Ministry Publishing, Nashville, TN. A graduate of Howard Payne University and Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Landry served on church staffs before coming to LifeWay. He is a church leader, writer, workshop facilitator, and publisher. Landry also teaches children at his church in Middle Tennessee. He and his wife Janetta are the grandparents of two adorable grandbabies.

Kids Ministry, Leadership

Help Kids Navigate a GoFundMe® World

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We live in the age of the crowd. Need a lot of people to help with an idea or project? Try crowdsourcing. Need to raise money for yourself or an organization? Use an online crowdfunding platform.

Merriam-Webster defines crowdfunding as “the practice of obtaining needed funding (as for a new business) by soliciting contributions from a large number of people especially from the online community.” While the term crowdfunding may be new, the concept is not.

The New Testament church in Acts knew firsthand what it meant to provide necessary funding for those in need: “Now all the believers were together and held all things in common. They sold their possessions and property and distributed the proceeds to all, as any had need.” (Acts 2:44-45)

What does this have to do with kids ministry? Almost daily, our kids and their families are asked to give to various causes. The Internet has provided well-meaning, as well as unscrupulous, individuals an easy entry into our wallets. Door-to-door solicitation and plastic collection jars at the cash register are being replaced by online GoFundMe® campaigns. Some of these fundraising efforts are legitimate, others are not.

Nothing is inherently wrong with GoFundMe® and other crowdfunding mechanisms. They definitely have been used for good. The question for us, however, is, “How can we teach kids about godly financial stewardship, regardless of the manner in which funds are collected?” Consider guiding kids to learn these biblical principles:

    • The church is responsible for its impoverished members. (See Acts 6:1-7.)
    • Giving is a voluntary and cheerful privilege. (See 2 Corinthians 9:7.)
    • A sense of entitlement does not glorify God. (See Philippians 4:10-20.)
    • If we can work, we should work. (See Proverbs 6:6-11.)

God’s plan for caring for the physical needs of Jesus’ followers in the New Testament was simple. Those in the church who had financial resources were to share them with believers who needed help. Those who chose to follow their own plan faced dire consequences. Just ask Ananias and Sapphira. This husband and wife duo sold some property, decided to keep some for themselves rather than share with fellow church members, and collaborated a lie about their offering. As a result, Ananias and Sapphire both “dropped dead” because they dishonored God. (See Acts 5:1-11.)

Crowdfunding worked for the fledgling church when its members glorified God with their gifts. And, why did most of them give cheerfully? Because God gave the ultimate gift of His Son, Jesus Christ. Isn’t that what we want kids to learn and practice? If this generation of kids learns to give in response to God’s amazing love and not out of guilt or a sense of obligation, then who knows, maybe we won’t need secular crowdfunding.

Landry Holmes is the Manager of LifeWay Kids Ministry Publishing, Nashville, TN. A graduate of Howard Payne University and Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Landry served on church staffs before coming to LifeWay. He is a church leader, writer, workshop facilitator, and publisher.  Landry also teaches children at his church in Middle Tennessee. He and his wife Janetta are the grandparents of two adorable grandbabies.

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