Kidmin is tough. Often times, it is really, really tough. There is tremendous pressure to be lots of things and the responsibility is obviously huge. We are trusted with helping lead children to Christ. We do this directly, but also indirectly in how we lead those who lead kids. We sometimes have to overcome years of bad parenting and poor teaching. We are entrusted with kids for only a few years and yet are tasked with teaching them lifelong lessons. We must be masters of creating fun things while still maintaining an atmosphere of learning. Our strategies for accomplishing our mission often must resemble Bobby Fisher in a chess match, thinking multiple moves ahead and accounting for many unseen scenarios. We must consider legal implications, safety of our kids, and church policies, but not let those things hinder the move of the Spirit and the life transformation.
There are days I feel like Ethan Hunt (from the Mission Impossible movies) taking on one of his impossible missions. If you’ve ever seen the movies, you know that even when the plan has a minimal margin for error, something always seems to go wrong. The tech breaks down, someone doesn’t make it to the right place at the right time, an unforeseen event takes place. Sound familiar? Just another Sunday, right?
We in children’s ministry shoulder a tremendous burden. It can be a lonely place and it can feel like the world is against us. The world is against us, but listen to these words from Jesus. “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” These words from John 16:33 have served to encourage me in some of the darkest moments in my life and ministry. Trouble is to be expected and planned for. The spies in the IMF know this, but their objective is so small in comparison. They simply must save the world. Our mission is bigger, but our Jesus is bigger still. We can reach the lost. We can help children and their families enter into a lifelong relationship with Jesus.
Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to serve faithfully. To go into the darkest place and shine a light. To share the love of Christ with a broken world. And you will succeed, because that’s what we do. We are the Impossible Missions Force.
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