Church Alive's Children's Ministry

Luke 18:16-17: Jesus says, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these". Reading recently, I came across someone who was discussing the common phrase, "The kids are our future." They were making the point that the children are here, now. They are the present. They aren't the Kingdom of God tomorrow, they are the Kingdom of God now. There is no Junior Holy Spirit. The time to teach Children the bible is now. When we focus on what we are doing for the children now, that seed will grow into the future.

Church Alive NWA’s mission statement for the Children’s Ministry is to EQUIP parents and children to learn and grow in their relationship with Christ. To ENCOURAGE them to love God, love people, and make disciples. To give them tools and resources to EVANGELIZE and EXTEND out to the community. 

Church Alive NWA’s vision statement for our Children’s Ministry is to see children and parents come to know Christ and be biblically discipled. 

Our focus within the Children's Ministry is to minister to the whole family. When parents and marriages are ministered to, you are reaching the children for the Kingdom of God. We have some fun things coming this year! One of them will be once we are moved to our new space, we will begin implementing "Parent's Night Out". This will be a Friday night date night for mom and dad, while the kids are at church with our awesome volunteers. Our focus for the kids on these evenings will be worship and prayer. I felt the Holy Spirit impress this desire to teach the children at Church Alive about worship and prayer, so that they can come to the Lord with thanksgiving and understand how to hallow the Lord. This will prepare them for worship with the whole body on Sundays and Home Groups, as well. 

“My people, hear my teaching; listen to the words of my mouth. I will open my mouth with a parable; I will utter hidden things, things from of old—things we have heard and known, things our ancestors have told us. We will not hide them from their descendants; we will tell the next generation the praiseworthy deeds of the Lord, his power, and the wonders he has done.” 

Psalm 78:1-4

On Sundays, the kids have been going through The Biggest Story Ever. We started with the "Gospels" this year, then we will move to "Poetry & The Prophets". As someone who has taught kids for years in swim, archery, and other activities, it has been such a blessing to see how much these kids can absorb and remember the Bible. It is amazing to see a three year old perfectly explain the story of Jonah, Noah, or Daniel. I encourage you, if you have considered volunteering to reach out. This curriculum is very easy to use, so you don't need to be a seasoned teacher. Each classroom has 1 teacher and 1 helper. If you would prefer not to teach, but would like to serve, being a helper or nursery volunteer is a great place to start. If you want to see what it is like, you are welcome to shadow a Sunday class.    

I do plan to interrupt the curriculum when a Jewish Holiday approaches. I believe it's important for kids to understand the festivals and traditions Jesus celebrated and why He celebrated them and how that ties back to the Gospel. These holidays were designed to point Jewish people back to God and remind them of everything God has done for them. We have a Messianic Jewish Children's Curriculum book that we will use to teach the children. 

I am so grateful and encouraged by our church body and our current volunteers. I ask that you continue to cover our families and their kids in prayer. The enemy is going after the foundations of marriage and family values in America. The enemy is going after our kids. We need to stand up strong against the enemy with all the weapons we have. So I ask that you continue to pray for our Kingdom Kids.