Make the Choice to Get Your Child Involved in Children's Ministry

By: Sarah Hogue

“But, mom and dad, I don’t want to go!” Every parent has been there. You want your child to get involved in the children’s ministry at church, but for some reason they don’t want to go. Maybe they are nervous that they won’t know anybody, or maybe they are tired from the 1500 events that were crammed into your weekend schedule! Whatever the reason, as a parent you find yourself wondering, “Is this a battle I want to fight?”

I’ve been doing children’s ministry full-time for well over a decade now, and I can share numerous testimonies about why it’s worth pushing your kids to engage the church’s children’s ministry.

One teenager who has attended our children’s ministry since his earliest days, shared that initially his walk of faith was following his friend. If his friend was going to the children’s program, then he would go. If not, he wasn’t interested. Now, his faith has become his own, and he is ready, with a solid faith, to embark on his own path when he graduates this spring. He didn’t necessarily want to come to the children's ministry for the content, but he came anyway to be with his friend. He heard the Bible stories, experienced the community, and participated in the prayers. In ways he may not have realized, his faith was being formed.  

I have also seen instances when students complete confirmation and then struggle to connect with our student ministry. These are typically the students who have not formed friendships at church through the children's ministry. They feel like they “won’t know anyone,” and they don’t want to put themselves in an unfamiliar situation. I often wonder to myself, “what if their parents had pushed them to attend children’s ministry when they were younger? Would that have made them more likely to continue in the student ministry now that they are teenagers?” 

As parents, we have a precious window of time in which to be the chief influencers of our children’s faith. One of the best ways we can take advantage of that time is to get our kids connected to the church’s children’s ministry from a young age. At Dutilh Church, Fish Jr (1st - 3rd grades) and Fish (4th - 6th grades) meet on Sunday evenings. This is a perfect time for faith and friendships to form side-by-side. And I’ve noticed that children who participate in these programs develop the friendships that will carry them into student ministry. 

Parenting is hard. There are so many choices we have to make. I want to encourage every parent to make the conscious choice to get their child involved in children’s ministry at an early age - even if it means forcing them to go from time to time. It’s a choice that can set them up for a lifelong journey of faith.