Wednesday Wisdom: Follow Up on a Comment

I wrote about the future of children’s ministry last week and absolutely loved where people’s minds got to go through the post.

I got a follow up comment from paulthinkingoutloud. Go back and read the comment here

Paul brought up an excellent point. This is been something that I heard alot about a few months ago throughout the CM world. The “memory verse”, everyone knows about it and it is an incredible tool that is probably not being used in the most effective way right now. I think Paul is right that scripture memory is very important. We know that the Word of God doesn’t come back void and I think that those that don’t like rote memorization of scripture aren’t giving God’s word enough justice to let it permeate mind and spirit of those that digest it.

However, I don’t think that the most important thing is scripture memory. The most important thing is getting kids to know Christ in a personal way. A way that leads to development and growth and I think that scripture is a part of that but that can’t be our end goal. Paul is also doing things to promote spiritual development in the home with his children. This is very key. I am not a parent so I cannot fully impart meaningful knowledge on parenting and guiding kids in their spiritual development as a parent. But I do know that parents need to be the ones leading the way on leading their kids in Christ.

It’s funny how parents want to be an influence on a kids life in seemingly every area except the spiritual one. And yes that is a blanket statement because not all parents are like this. But I think the next big step in Children’s ministry really has little to do with kids and more to do with parents. How can we get the parents to be the ones leading the charge in seeing their kids to know Christ?

How can CM connect with parents in a way that provides meaningful resources to them that helps them in their spiritual leadership roles? How can we provide a forum to allow us to know where parents are missing the mark? How can we create a partnership with parents that allows us to be the secondary spiritual leaders in their kids’ lives?

This is a big issue in the next step of CM. Let me know if there is a way out there already or if you’ve got something to add to the discussion.

And thanks to paulthinkingoutloud for the push to remember the scripture when we are teaching kids and not just the relationship. (both are extremely important)