JamieDoyle(dot)com

Something that I think is a good idea is to give several different times to respond during various services. These times are as follows… but no limited to:

Salvation

• First, how will the children in your church ever get saved unless you give them a chance to respond? Jesus wants your kids to know Him! I never want to be known as the guy who taught a lot about Jesus and was entertaining – only to have the children I’ve encountered pass on into eternity without knowing Christ. My time and their time is too short – and God’s time is too valuable.

• Second, I have found that God will send more unsaved and searching families to the churches I’ve been, when I put a regular emphasis on Christ’s saving power. That’s the goal of the church, isn’t it? In Acts, it says that they added to their numbers daily. We’ve got to get ahold of that!

• Third, my Pastor, no matter what topic or message he is speaking on, always brings it back to Jesus Christ and the price He paid for us. When it’s all said and done, It’s all about Jesus – enough said.

Message Application

This is a special time for you to make sure that your children are really having a Jesus-experience that drives home the topic or emphasis for the day. This can be an amazing moment that happens… and I usually find that it happens immediately after I sense the kids have “gotten” it. (see this blog post for my short essay on this topic). Sometimes, I will have kids pray about these things on their own, other times, I’ll have others pray with the kids. Sometimes it calls for worship and singing, other times we need to lead the kids in a prayer of commitment.

Felt Needs

I hear the jokes – not the need you have for some Betty Lukens felt-board stories. This will be an important time for children to lay before the Lord’s feet their needs and requests. Kids have needs and they need the power of God to intervene! You might think that a lost puppy or a cat that died isn’t important in the grand scheme of things. But that’s the grand scheme in “your world”. In a “Kids’ World”, the grand scheme is different. In a “Kids’ World”, their economy is different. In a “Kids’ World”, what speaks to them is different. If we are called to reach kids, we’d better have a greater understanding of “Their World” After all, Jesus understood it, called the kids to Himself and regularly entered it. He still understands it, calls kids to Himself and regularly enters it.

Enough to chew on?