Welcoming Children
Minister’s Letter, from the Cathedral Newsletter, 13/01/2022
Friends in Christ, in remarks at my installation of Dean, I mentioned Karyn and my own thankfulness to Sunday School teachers and youth leaders, who ministered to us and to our kids at various times and places. And I stated that "A church without children is a church whose future may be under threat!"
This was no idle comment. And it is striking to me that there are hardly any children, and few youth at our Cathedral.
In no small measure, this may be because of the damaging impact of COVID on our ability to gather, combined with the unavailabiliy of Chapter House for much of last year, on top of the local CBD demographic which is not as child-friendly as the suburbs.
It would be a pity to use all this as an excuse for giving up.
We will spend much of the first half of 2022 preaching through the passages unique to Luke's Gospel. And it's noteworthy that Luke mentions chidlren more than any other New Testament book. In Luke 9:48, the Lord Jesus Christ himself made the welcome we give children a test of our own discipleship!
"Whoever welcomes this little child in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me." [NIVUK]
Later on, his disciples thought Jesus too important or too busy to stoop to blessing babies. But Jesus called the children to him and said no one should hinder them,
"for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these" (Luke 18:15-16).
This week, I also read an article by a church pastor and leadership consultant, entitled, "Healthy Churches Embrace Evangelism, Kids, and Chaos". The author had some helpful thoughts in regard to children's ministry with which I want to interact.
1. Understand that messy is normal and natural, even healthy. Children learning to take in God’s Word, to worship, and to love Jesus are going to be messy. Are you willing to embrace that?
2. Value noise over perfection. Children make noise in church. They cry. They laugh too loud. We may have to ask them to stop yelling at times.But the healthiest churches value the noise as it indicates there are little ones in our midst.
3. Protect them at all costs. Safe ministry with children is a critical discipleship issue. That's why – alongside issues of character and doctrine and gifting – we embrace child protection measures including significant screening and training. Volunteers who wish to work with children are greatly valued, not least for their sacrifice of time, but we all must willingly understand this requirement is essential.
4. Invest in children’s ministry. Does a church's children’s budget match your worship budget?
I am delighted to see Hannah Trevitt introduced this weekend, as our Sunday Student Minister with special responsibility for Youth. She is a gifted and godly graduate of Youthworks College, doing further study at SMBC. She will lead the high school youth Bible study group at our 10:30am Sunday services during school term. Please encourage the teenagers in your family to give that group a fresh go. I will be baking Toblerone Cheesecake for them to share at their first Sunday morning together!
However we still have a gap in our 'Cathedral Kids Sunday School', following Ramon's retirement after 8 years volunteer service!
My wife, Karyn, has committed to providing a 'kids church' class for Sundays at 10:30am. She is an experienced teacher and has sourced curriculum which could work, K-6. But we need to recruit a couple of teachers and/or helpers to assist, either on a rotating roster basis, or better still, on a permanent basis. (Under 18s can be eligible to serve as junior leaders or helpers.) Please contact me, or Karyn, or Malcolm if you'd like to know more. Every expression of interest is appreciated, but please understand that dependent on matters to do with point 3 above, and the general mix of the team, not every offer will be accepted.
We will also need to manage expectations that we ought not "despise the day of small things” (Zechariah 4:10). And so let's delight in even the smallest number of children attending, and be content if no children come one week, that we just postpone the week’s program until a later week.
5. Understand church at their level. A lot of churches seek the perspective of adults—and we should. But what about the children’s perspective? Have you ever asked them about their experiences, their feelings, their opinions? How do they find our music, our liturgy, our architecture? When we understand church at the level of a child, we are better positioned to guide them toward Jesus.
It is my daily prayer that ministry to young people can again thrive at the Cathedral post-COVID. Could you also make it your daily prayer? Children are a blessing from God. On the 'other side of tomorrow', a stronger church will embrace children, not just tolerate them.
Warmly in Christ,
Sandy Grant