Connecting the Christian faith with Children - section nine - part four (ministry)

- Where’s the Minister?

Many of our ministers have little or no input into the planning of the children's work in their churches. Most never attend the children's groups, and they certainly never teach the children themselves.
Both the minister and the main children's worker were asked to fill in a version of the survey form. And where they did that, it was telling to note how many of their answers disagreed or even conflicted. Some of the ministers couldn't even tell me how many children's workers there are in their church (or they got the number wrong)!

It seems fair, then, to draw the conclusion that many of our ministers have, and show, very little interest in what goes on in Sunday School or their other children's groups. (Some have said to me that it is not their 'gifting'. To which I want to respond: 'What's your gifting got to do with it? Surely you have a responsibility ...?')

As we have read, many of the great figures of the Christian faith made the teaching of children a personal priority (see the excellent set of essays in 'The Child in Christian Thought' edited by Marcia J. Bunge). Charles Spurgeon once said (something like) he would rather have the letters SST (for Sunday School Teacher) after his name than a Ph.D. They all knew the importance of working with children.

Ishmael, speaking at Spring Harvest 2007, talked about how most children's workers are gifted pastorally, and that our children have a desperate need for gifted Bible teachers. So where are the ministers? How can we give children's ministry the same value and recognition as the other ministries in our churches? When will we realise that the children are just as (if not more!) important than the adults? They are the church of today without whom there will be no church of tomorrow!