A few months ago, I attended a workshop led by Patty Smith, who is the Director of Children and Family Ministries for the TN Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church. The workshop was entitled Understanding Kid Culture. It was a great workshop. There were some words that spoke to me that day….Engage and relationships.
Patty spoke about the fact that the Children’s Ministries in our churches need to engage our children and develop relationships or partnerships between parents, leaders in the church, and the faith community. I began to ask myself the question if the Children’s Ministry at Franklin First UMC intentionally helped children to encounter God/Jesus on a regular basis. I began to ask if our Sunday school program helped children to know about God/Jesus or have a relationship with God/Jesus. I am still gathering information because I know many teachers help children experience the Bible stories in creative and wonderful ways. I believe that by experiencing the Bible stories where a child’s imagination is captured, a child will encounter God/Jesus.
Our culture pulls on the time and imaginations of both adults and children. Ivy Beckwith, in her book Formational Children’s Ministry writes: “So what must it take to capture our children’s imaginations, and then souls, through the hope and magnificent love of God’s kingdom?” When I look at my own life, I think I find the answer to her question. Someone told me the story about the amazing love of God through telling me the Bible stories; by having adults, Sunday school teachers and others who knew my name and offered guidance; a faith community that offered me opportunities to encounter God through worship. These are the things that helped to form my faith. I not only had knowledge of Bible stories, songs about Jesus, memorized Bible verses, but I knew Jesus as my Lord and Savior and God as a generous God of love and forgiveness.
Becky Peeler
Minister to Children, Franklin First UMC