The Challenge of Grace
The Challenge of Serving in Children’s Work
Serving in children’s work is tough. Youngsters running around screaming – not listening to you. Evenings spent cutting cards ready for the craft on Sunday. Runny noses that are sure to make you ill – while the little ones don’t even notice. It takes a lot to be a kid's worker, and we asked for even more last weekend. Servers travelled for hours and hours to meet up in Winchester on Saturday morning – and despite the early starts and long drives there were smiles all around as we came together for what was going to be a transformative day.
A Deeply Committed Team
Children’s work needs some of the most committed Christians - those who love God so much that they want to share this news with the next generation. Gather a hundred of these workers and you’ll feel a powerful desire to meet with God. Our times of worship and praise definitely reflected that. God’s presence was a refreshing oasis for a team who have been serving, and giving so regularly.
Grace as Our Foundation
Becky encouraged us from the very start of the day to rely on God’s grace – the undeserved gift from God that we cannot earn nor deserve – and that message continued to challenge us throughout the day. This grace comes with the challenge not to abuse it, nor use it as an excuse – but we can know this grace will allow us to be used, despite our failings. Whether it was Ed’s encouragement to boast in our weaknesses, because that is where God’s power is seen most; or Chris’ message of the acceptance of God’s love, giving us immense value even when we feel like we have none – we know that we rely on this grace to continue.
Tackling Real-Life Challenges
We had excellent seminar topics as well: challenges of a changing culture and how the Gospel can break in; challenges of tricky children who won’t behave like we want; challenges of an imperfect church and how we need to work with its quirks; and challenges of the risky parts of Christian living and how children can engage with the spiritual and charismatic moments. With each message, we saw how we must rely on God’s grace – and can be carriers of His grace wherever we go. A Q&A panel answered many of our big questions, opening our eyes to new ways to support and engage with children.
Stories, Resources and Fellowship
From the start to the end we shared stories of what God has been doing in our local churches. Tales of baptisms, news of multiplication in children’s ministry, stories of community ‘tots groups’ bringing families into the local church – just a small selection of what children’s workers are seeing across Commission. Breaks were filled with discussions of encouragement and ideas as people talked about the challenges they’re facing, and sharing stories and wisdom with new friends from across the Commission family. A few freebies were handed out during the day, and a well-sourced bookstall that held some great new resources for children, equipped us for the work ahead of us.
A Fitting End
So much to fit into one day, I don’t quite know how we managed it, but in true kidswork style we kept going. It was a fitting thank you to all those who serve the youngest in our Commission churches – with a passionate thank you from one of those children who has been served by the local church, and Commission Events – now grown up and committed to serving the next group of children. What better way to end than to fix our eyes on God and praise Him.
