Kids Ministry
What is our kids ministry for?
The vision of Southampton Vineyard is exactly the same for our children’s ministry.
“We believe that God has called us to nurture a passionate, worshipping family of believers, reaching out to a generation in need”.
Throughout Jesus’ ministry children were central; this was very much against the culture of the time where children, among others, were at the bottom of the social ladder. Constantly Jesus valued those who society had demoted, not just by making them equal but holding them as something to aspire to. He did not just say, “treat children equally”, he actually said, “you should be like these!”
Mark 10:13-16 – People were bringing little children to Jesus to have him touch them, but the disciples rebuked them. When Jesus saw this, he was indignant. He said to them, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” And he took the children in his arms, put his hands on them and blessed them.
It is our aim that our kids’ ministry should not, therefore, be a baby-sitting service so that the adults can do the real business or even that we should be teaching children how to “grow up” into followers of Jesus. It is our belief that children have a full and active part to play in the kingdom of God, now, as children.
It is our understanding that the way that we, as adults, do all these things is not necessarily a model that children should follow. In fact, Jesus is clear that actually we should learn from them. Children do not have the social limitations that we have, they do not have the prejudice that we have, and so we do not want them to be limited by our limitations. Luke 10:21- At that time Jesus, full of joy through the Holy Spirit, said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children.
As such, we believe that children should be allowed and released to be children and to do all these things as children do these things. Therefore, it is our intention to develop “church” for children. We want this to be a place where children can be encouraged in all these areas. We recognise that children do not do things the same as adults do but that this does not necessarily mean that it is not genuine and full of integrity. Our aim is to train, equip and release children to:
- Come to know and have a full relationship with Jesus.
- Worship Jesus with passion and devotion.
- Minister in the power of the Holy Spirit.
- Pray with power in the name of Jesus.
- Lead others to become followers of Jesus.
WHo’s in charge?
Our children’s ministry is lead and inspired by Judi Galbraith. Judi has two children and one husband – Rob. She works part-time for the church and is passionate about seeing children grow as disciples. Also, if we’re honest, she’s a bit crazy!
Why have the children separate for the sunday meeting?
As I said above, our vision is to release children to be children. Children like different things from adults and so we do not want them to have to be put in the position that they are forced to behave like we do. We do not have children out of the meeting because we want the children “out of the way”. In fact, the exact opposite is true; we want the adults out of the way so that we are not restricting the children. Our policy is not that children are not welcome in the main meeting but that adults are not welcome on the kids’ meeting!
We want to value children and not just give them second best. We want to develop a ministry that is built around kids and not built around our convenience. We want to develop times of singing that is just for children and is in their language with their music and in a way that they can relate to. They can make as much noise as they want, bang on whatever they want, sing however they want, roll around on the floor, run around the room, bounce up and down and wave things around and be kids!
Basically, we do not think that children should have to put up with what the adults do!
Will that mean that the kids are not mixing with rest of the church?
It will mean that the children are not mixing in the formal parts of the Sunday meetings but that is not the same thing. There is always time at the beginning and the end of the meeting where there will be a lot of people hanging around and chatting. In one sense, this is as important, or even more important than other parts of the Sunday meetings. The children will be around for this part of the meeting and so there will be plenty of chance to get to know them.
Also, as has been said very often, “church” is not the Sunday meetings but the people and relationships and so, in one sense, it is our view that the hour and a half on Sundays is not the most important time. Having said that, all leaders and housegroup leaders will be on the kids’ minstry rota because we believe that it is important for them to get to know the children and for the children to know that they are valued within the church. Also, to be honest (which is important if you are a Christian… well, important whoever you are) I think that we may well have a lot to learn from the kids.
Are the children safe?
It is hope that parents can know that their children are as safe as we can possibly make them whilst they are in our care. For this reason the church has developed a child protection policy that was developed using existing policies from other churches with additional expert input from social workers working with children and families. It is our aim that all kids’ ministry workers have been or are being put through an official “police check”. There may be times when this is not the case but this is down to administrative delays dealing with the CRB rather than any policy on our part.
From a medical perspective, there are several first-aiders on hand for the kids’ ministry as well as some that are trained specifically for first aid with children.
If you are a parent and you have any concerns then please let us know.
Our commitment
The development of children’s ministry in this church is currently one of our highest priorities and so we want to do all that we can to make this the best ministry that we can possibly make it. We have had to develop this ministry from scratch and so we do ask for your patience and understanding as we do this. It may well be that some of the things that we set out to do are not realistic and so they will end up being changed.
Our commitment is that we will set out to develop the best and safest kids’ ministry that we are able to, built around the core value of children being central and fully respected within the Kingdom of God. We want to welcome children in the way that Jesus would have us welcome them!
Mark 9:36-37 – He took a little child and had him stand among them. Taking him in his arms, he said to them, “Whoever welcomes one of these little children in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me does not welcome me but the one who sent me.”
