Think about how much time you actually spend teaching children about God on any given Sunday. In most Sunday Schools, the time spent actually teaching is only about 15 minutes at the most. I remember when I was leading kid’s church regularly using a multi-teacher/segment system we were able to teach for 45 minutes, but that was really pushing it. Some folks might even look at that 45 minutes and think, “Wow, that’s a lot.” But not really when you look at it in the grand scheme of things, especially when you consider the average kid watches over 3,000 minutes of television, over 2,000 minutes at school and untold amounts of time on the Internet. Compared to those two numbers, our 45’s and 15’s are really quite small and, I hope this doesn’t sting to much, borderline irrelevant when considered as a percentage. For every minute your kids spends learning about the Bible in Sunday school, they spend another 100 minutes in front of the television. Ouch!

Also worth considering is that parents are supposed to be a child’s primary Bible teachers. Admittedly that can be a scary thought because not all children have the Godly parents that I had, my parents made ME read Bible stories to THEM before I went to sleep. If a child is only receiving instruction concerning the Bible from Sunday School teachers, that child will be severely deficient in his or her understanding of the Bible. 15-45 minutes once a week is simply not enough time to impart the Biblical knowledge necessary for a child’s spiritual growth and development. Lessons learned in Sunday School should be complimenting the instruction received at home. It would be foolish to believe that I could communicate the wealth of knowledge found in the Bible when my time allotted for teaching is so short.

So at this point you are probably wondering, “What’s the point?” If you are not wondering that: please reread the last three paragraphs because obviously you were just skimming. Making the lesson the focal point of a children’s ministry service is severely misguided in my view. The primary focus of our services should be to introduce children to Jesus, not tell them about Him.I am sorry, but telling kids about God in a lesson is NOT, in any way, an introduction.

It is way past time for a greater emphasis to be placed on introducing children to Jesus and creating opportunities for them to get to know Him. In all of the services that I have conducted there are always two segments that this is typically accomplished: Worship and Prayer for Needs. During these two segments children are granted the opportunity to approach God, get to know Him and also exercise their faith in His power. The thing about placing a greater emphasis on prayer and worship is that in some ways it requires the teachers to do something that most of us are uncomfortable doing: getting out of God’s way.

In my eleven years of children’s ministry, the most powerful moves of God have occurred before the teaching started. Most of the children that I have seen get the Holy Ghost actually got it while we were worshiping God, a phenomenon I did not really understand until I heard Bro. Doug Klinedinst speak at a men’s conference recently. He told us that “God wanted to do powerful things in our services but it required that we get out of His way so that He could work!” The concept is so fascinatingly simple but rings so true. Who am I to think I can do better then God? How foolish of me to act as if I thought that my words could accomplish more than a one-on-one interaction between a child and God. So how exactly do we promote the introduction? There are a few ways:

First: Lead worship. the majority of the songs that are sung in children’s services are not worship songs. “Pharaoh, Pharaoh,” “Father Abraham,” & “I Am a C” are not worship songs, they are praise songs at best. True worship songs need to be used, songs that inspire you to raise your hands towards God and exalt Him. But not just that, the teachers need to be leading the worship and setting the example for how to worship. In the Kid’s CREW we have powerful worship services because we are actually worshiping and providing an example for children to follow. You cannot expect the kids to worship if you are not, you are the example. If there is not a flow of the Holy Ghost, you need to examine your spirit and see if you are being a hindrance.

Second: Demonstrate a prayer life. How can these children know how to get a hold of God if no one is showing them? Children will follow your example. Have they ever seen you earnestly seek after God during a Sunday School class? They should see you do that every single week. In regards to prayer, there are three things that your students should see and here every single week: They should see you actively seeking after Jesus in prayer, they should be able to hear you seek after Him and they should hear you speak in tongues. Set the example and the children will follow.

Third: Do not be afraid to challenge children. I am not shy when it comes to children’s ministry. Children need to know and experience God early and often therefore I will do all I can to make sure that happens, including calling them out if I do not think they are giving it their all. I know that no amount of talking on my part can heal the wounds inflicted by divorce, but worship can heal those wounds. The only peace to be experienced after the death of a loved one or an abusive encounter is wrapped in the arms of Jesus. I know this, but the only way a child can know this is if they are introduced to Jesus so I have no problem telling children to pray and worship. I have no problem telling them that they need to give God more when their worship gets lazy. I know the power of prayer and worship and I challenge the children to experience it for themselves.

So what are the results focusing on introductions? I have seen children delivered from the bitterness associated with divorce. I have seen children find peace from the abusive homes they come from. I have seen children come to the altar during worship services and begin speaking in tongues before a teacher has even had a chance to pray for that child and I have seen other children mightily used of God as they ministered to their friends. There is no better experience for a child then to be introduced to Jesus, but we have to get out of God’s way in order for that to happen we must first get out of God’s way.

Introduce the children to Jesus. Create an opportunity for them to discover how real He is for themselves and when they are older they will have their own God to hold onto and not the God of their parents.

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