Kids Ministry: My Journey of Becoming
by Liz Lewis
Kainos Creatives Overseer
When I was a young adult attending one of those big AG churches in Southern California, I wanted to get connected in church and I figured the easiest way to do that was to find a place to serve. The Holy Spirit asked me to serve in the kids ministry and my immediate reaction was NOPE! I was so intimidated by kids! I thought they were loud, sticky, unpredictable little terrors who loved to do the opposite of what you tell them to do (and I wasn’t wrong). Holy Spirit responded with, “Unless you learn from children, you will not be able to understand or experience what I have for you in this life.” I reluctantly signed up to volunteer on Sundays. At first, it was strictly my desire to be obedient that kept me there waiting to discover His point. It took me over a decade of faithfully serving in just about every volunteer role you could possibly serve in a kids department, working with every single one of the age groups, doing any task asked of me (and I mean ANY) before I realized I was actually still being disobedient. I missed the first part of what Holy Spirit said: learn FROM children.
Don’t get me wrong. That whole time I learned to LOVE doing kids ministry and I had SO much fun! I developed deep connections and friendships with so many people and kids, learned how to communicate and teach, developed administrative and leadership skillsets, gained an incredible amount of ministry and life experience, learned how to run community events and eventually learned how to run the department as a whole. All of that in and of itself was such a treasured gift that far exceeded any of my expectations when I first started, and yet, it was all rubbish compared to what I got in exchange when I yielded and was truly obedient to allow Holy Spirit and the children to be MY teachers.
I was completely undone, wrecked and humbled by the incredible journey into the heart of God that you can only access from loving and serving children from the place of being their student. From simply being present with His eyes to see the kingdom at play when they play. From being still to listen - really listen - to the wisdom (and humor) that comes out of their mouths. From loving them with a recklessness you know your heart will need to grieve when you need to let them go. Yes, these precious ones will unlock revelations about your value and identity in Christ that’s as tangible as it gets on this side of heaven. Holy Spirit used so many interactions to break open the fountains of scripture and make it living and active in my life, and I have had countless encounters with Him that came from those years of serving children.
One such encounter that He takes me back to often is when I was the director of the kid’s ministry at my former church. We leased our space from another church, so every service we had to completely set up and breakdown. On Memorial Day weekend, I had to set up three of the classrooms by myself because most of my team was out of town, and when I got there the rooms were completely wrecked from the previous occupants. There was trash scattered on the floor, broken toys left abandoned across the rooms, sticky tables, Play Doh in the carpet; you get the picture. I remember it being a day I was already completely exhausted from going to school and working all week, and I just didn't want to give anymore. I sat in the middle of the room staring at the mess and told God I didn't think I could do this, not tonight. So, Holy Spirit speaks to me and says, "I want you to set up the rooms as if Jesus Himself is going to walk down that hallway tonight." I had this inexplainable joy come on me that totally energized me so much so that I cleaned everything up top notch, put out all of our best toys and arranged them all OCD-like on the shelves and around the room. I picked out the best snacks we had in stock, put out brand new crayons and every single craft option and game we had in the closet. Jesus could have whatever He wanted! I went from classroom to classroom with a critical eye making sure everything was just right as if royalty was coming to receive and I wanted everything to be a reflection of honor to Him. Anticipation was high for whatever sign and wonder, glory cloud, or outpouring revival that was about to hit our kids ministry for whoever walked down the hallway that night!
I had one little preschool girl show up. ONE. For all three classrooms. ONE.
She had my undivided attention, and we did whatever her little heart desired with full access to the best our ministry had to offer if and when she wanted it. She had full permission to go to any classroom and explore as much as she wanted. My anticipation was still high for THE Holy Spirit encounter about to hit. Did she need a healing? Were we going to see Jesus physically and tangibly walk down the hallway together? Nope. Just your basic night of a fun playtime and spending quality one on one time with a sweet little girl. At the end of service after her mom picked her up, I remember laughing inside, and just waiting for what He was going to say. "I want you to do it for the ONE. That is My heart, so let it be yours." He taught me about His great love for the one He will joyfully and recklessly pursue without apology. Every time. He taught me Jesus walks down that hallway every service in the form of the son and daughter He paid the high price to make His royalty. Looking back, I learned a lot about how to be a daughter of God that night! I learned how His joy is not in what we are typically in awe of or get giddy over when it comes to supernatural encounters. No, it’s in simply being present with His beloved enjoying whatever delights us most as we freely experience and discover what He’s prepared for us to enjoy. His joy is in the full access to the best of His provision. His joy in getting down on the floor to play with His kids, unhindered by the separation of sin and death.
I can honestly say kids ministry is a place where I learned how to belong and be a part of the family of God and it helped me to understand the full revelation of God’s love that can only be accessed through serving others, because love needs an outlet. Love in action is worship multiplied. It was a place where I learned how to become. And even though there have been seasons throughout the last twenty years where He intentionally asks me to serve in other places in the church, He will always have my ready YES when it comes to kids ministry.