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Initiatives in Children’s Ministry

Think children’s ministry is not important? Think again. Statistics show that most decisions for Jesus are made in the years prior to 18. So there is a need to make children’s ministry a high priority in our church and community. Children’s ministry is not something to be left to those who have no skills or aptitude for it. Children’s ministry needs to be taken seriously with the gospel message given at a level relevant to the age and experience of the child. Youthworks takes the issue of children’s ministry seriously. This organization, which started around seven years ago, recognized the … Continue reading →

How Important is Children’s Ministry? -Part 2

Times have changed. Are we changing with them? Friends and I were talking a few weeks back and the consensus was that years ago most children in Australia were sent to Sunday School, even if parents never went to church or only rarely attended. These days the situation is vastly different. A friend told me, and my own experience as an SRE teacher backs this up, that many children do not have the first idea about why we celebrate Easter. Some have never ever heard of Jesus. How are they going to hear unless we tell them? Unless you as … Continue reading →

How Important is Children’s Ministry?

Children are our future. They are also the future of the church. Children are important to Jesus as we see from Matthew 18:1-6 and Matthew 19:13-14. And yet, some churches seem to devalue children’s ministry by having poorly trained and inexperienced leaders working in children’s programs, by not taking an active role in training teachers or instituting programs that children do not want to be a part of. Information provided in Southern Cross magazine by Bible League Australia claims that Operation World says ‘every new generation needs to be evangelised afresh or the church soon becomes nominal.’ So to ensure … Continue reading →

Don’t Let Guilt Get the Better of You

Guilt can be a destructive emotion. It can take over and overwhelm us. Don’t let guilt get the better of you. It’s easy said but sometimes not so easy to do. We all feel at times that we let people down, or that we don’t behave the way we should. As we’ve no doubt discovered, there will always be those to criticize and heap guilt on you. This can happen when we don’t do what other people expect us to or think we should. It can happen when, despite our best intentions, plans don’t work out and we are not … Continue reading →

Prayer and Riches.

In Luke 6:12,after the confrontations with the Pharisees, Jesus went off alone and spent the whole night in prayer. Have you ever spent as long in concentrated prayer? I haven’t though I do find if I am awake at night, which happens fairly regularly to me, it is a good time to pray, right there where I am. We might wonder what Jesus was praying about. Was he praying about the opposition he was experiencing and the hardness of people’s hearts? Was he seeking the Father for strength for what he knew lay ahead of him? Maybe it was both. … Continue reading →

God Wants Workers not Shirkers

‘God wants workers not shirkers,’ that’s what a visiting minister told us one day in his sermon. Sadly, the case in too many churches is that too much is left to too few workers. This was never the way it was intended to work. Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 12:4 that there are varieties of gifts and God expects us to use them. There are varieties of ministries, 1 Corinthians 12:5. Some people have a real knack for one to one relationships and welcoming people, but ask them to play the piano or do some up front job and … Continue reading →

Getting it Wrong.

When you look at the bible, are you encouraged when you see how often the disciples got it wrong? I am. It assures me God won’t give up on me when I get it wrong, any more than he did with them. In Matthew 18:1 the disciples came to Jesus with the question, ‘Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?’ I wonder what answer the disciples were expecting. Whatever it was, I bet it wasn’t the answer they got. How often does the Lord answer our questions and our prayers in a way we don’t expect? Jesus called … Continue reading →

Vacation Times

Vacation times are a great opportunity for God’s people to become involved in the community. Are you prepared to give up some of your vacation time, perhaps one week, to reach others with the gospel? Each year in January in two areas of Sydney, a mission known as The Green Tent operates. The Green Tent provides a service certainly for working parents who can safely leave children in supervised care. But more importantly the aim of those from the churches involved is to present children with the gospel message in a fun and varied atmosphere that includes bible stories, games, … Continue reading →

Words of Encouragement

Since moving and after getting my arm out of plaster, I have joined tennis club. Being competitive by nature, I am pleased that the people in this tennis club are all players of a good standard, who enjoy the strategy and competitiveness of tennis. It may be social but everyone is out on the court to win the game. That’s not to say that it is not carried on in an attitude of sportsmanship and friendliness. It is common for those on the opposite side of the net to acknowledge a good shot and offer words of encouragement. Today on … Continue reading →