Do you want to know the greatest gift you have in kids’ ministry this fall?
It’s the ministry you currently have.
Hear me out:
So many of us spend week-in and week-out in kids’ ministry wishing that things were different.
Wishing for different kids, different families, a better facility, better volunteers, a better program.
We spend hours playing the game of comparison – scrolling through Facebook groups and Instagram feeds wishing we were some place else.
In this season though, I am convinced of this more than ever –
What you need isn’t a new place to serve, but a new perspective.
And that perspective starts with thankfulness – and gratitude for what God has given you, right here, right now.
I love the way Paul puts it in 1 Corinthians 7, as paraphrased in the Message:
And don’t be wishing you were someplace else or with someone else. Where you are right now is God’s place for you. Live and obey and love and believe right there.
1 Corinthians 7:17 (MSG)
Where you are right now is God’s place for you.
So this week, let me challenge you –
What are the gifts God has given you in this season in ministry? A connection with a parent, a chance to breathe, a kid who remembered what you taught? Even the small things are gifts!
What is unique about your ministry context? I can guarantee you there are things that you are able to do in your setting – big or small – that don’t happen anywhere else. Thank God for them!
Think about the kids in your ministry. Whether 5, or 500, they are gifts from God, and it is a gift to be a part of their discipleship journey. Focusing on THEM, and their familes, not everything else, helps keep things in perspective.
In our Creative Ideas for Family Ministry Course, we talk about the idea of “incarnational ministry.“
Incarnation literally means “in the flesh.”
We often refer to Jesus coming to earth and taking human form as the incarnation (See John 1:14 for example). When we refer to incarnational ministry, we are talking about “moving into the neighbourhoods” where we live and getting to know them – for the sake of ministry & the Gospel.
We can’t be fully present when we are constantly wishing we are someplace else.
WE can combat comparison with thankfulness and gratitude – and I challenge you to do that this week.
What are you thankful for in yor ministry?
Let us know!