I have found in ministry over the last 15 years that people rise to the occasion when you raise the bar. I have witnessed it in youth ministry, in missions and in children's ministry. Too often the church has decided that their main job is to entertain teens and children. However, number one, that is not the Biblical mandate of the church, number two, we don't do a good job at it and number three, teens and children crave something more. If church is boring it's, because we are not doing a very good job at teaching the splendour of God.
Children are little sponges and they can learn much in these very informative years! This is where the church needs to work alongside of parents to support them in what they are teaching.
At Harvest we believe that children should be motivated to climb to higher spiritual ground during their years in children's ministry.
The values of children's ministry at Harvest can be defined through C.L.I.M.B.
Communities - in our children's ministry we want to help children establish spiritually healthy friendships. (Acts 2:42)
Love - in our children's ministry we want our children to be loved and to provide opportunities for our children to serve others in love. (1 John 4:7,8)
Imitate - in our children's ministry we want our children to be imitators of Jesus Christ as they are discipled from the Bible.(Ephesians 5:1)
Magnify - in our children's ministry we want our children to magnify Jesus Christ through worship and prayer. (John 4:24 and Jeremiah 33:3)
Boldly - in our children's ministry we want our children to be bold in sharing their faith in Christ. (Romans 1:16)
As a father of two young girls it is such an encouragement to me to hear them excited about the things that they are learning in children's ministry. A great memory for me this last Easter was my youngest daughter (5) retelling to me all that Christ had suffered on the cross for our sins and how He had died and yet He rose again! She had just come from her time in children's ministry. She was so excited to share with us all that she had learned. I have also seen my oldest (7) learn much in her year's in children's ministry and she has made many great friends who she is still in contact with despite are moving to another city.
Children's ministry has been such a great support to what we have been teaching them and we are very thankful for it!
We are excited to see what God will do in and through these young lives in the years to come!