Kids Ministry: It's about the ROOTS and the FRUITS
Roots and fruits. This is what Kids Ministry is all about, isn't it? Planting seeds, nourishing and watering them a little bit week after week. Giving them sunlight and the right conditions to develop and take root. And over time little roots begin to grow. Hopefully deeper and deeper, extending and reaching and rooting themselves strongly. And in time, they start to develop fruit. Fruits that are from their own production, from their own understanding and relationship with God, something we've just had the privilege of helping to nourish, encourage and grow along the way, but not something any of us can take credit for. But it takes time. So much time. For all the rush and wild and fun and madness, Kids Ministry is the slow and faithful toil of week after week, year after year, tending.
Let’s back it up a little. The world of growing things is a little crazy if we take some time to think about it. Why? Because it’s impossible to make fruit grow. As in, we cannot will or force a tree to produce oranges. (I am imagining that scene though, but Jedi mind tricks won’t work on this) We know that fruit isn’t something we can produce because of our desire and will for it to be so; fruit is something that is produced out of something unseen and unknown going on inside of the tree itself. It’s the very same thing with Kids Ministry and working with our Sunday School kids. We cannot will or force our kids to produce fruit in their lives. Fruit can be a metaphor for a whole range of things. Of course it can mean the Fruit of the Spirit, that obviously just makes sense, but I’m also thinking of the fruit of a real relationship with God. This isn’t something we can produce in someone else’s life.
It doesn’t mean that we aren’t a part of it all. We need to plant seeds in good soil. We need to water and nourish and encourage growth. We need to give our little seeds everything they need to take root. We need to create an environment that makes for real growth. We need to faithfully tend to our little seeds week in and week out, even on the weeks we’re not scheduled to be in kids church. Because it’s more than just teaching from the front, though that is certainly part of it. It’s also creating an environment where questions can be asked and discussions about God and life (and probably Lego and mermaids) can be had, in class and also outside of it. It’s creating a space where kids can be invited and led to worship God and connect with Him for themselves. It’s giving kids resources and tools to understand God for themselves in their everyday real lives, and encouraging them to grow in their own relationship with God in their own way and time. If you’re thinking, this sounds a lot like discipleship, then we have arrived! That’s exactly what tending a little seed garden is!
We can only see the fruits when we've seen to the roots.
When fruit starts to show we can celebrate and encourage their continued growth. We must understand, though, that we’re not the ones that have produced the actual fruit. That process is a great mystery between seeds and trees and God Himself. It’s something we are privileged to play a part in, but not something we can take any credit for.
