Children’s Ministry at RBC: Raise the Bar
As we begin the new school year and look at our schedules and our priorities, I would like to propose a challenge for you to consider.
NEW QUEST LOGO: It’s almost Fall, and change is in the air. You’ll notice that we have updated our logo for Quest. We did this because we feel the new design more closely reflects the heart of the ministry. As Christians, we are called to always SEEK after God. There is no “I’ve arrived” this side of glory. David was a man AFTER God’s own heart. He sought God diligently right up until the end. This is the Quest we want our children to embark on for the rest of their lives as well and the idea behind our new logo. We hope you’ll appreciate the other “adventurey” tweaks we’ve made to the Children’s Ministry space as well.
Foreign language training, math tutors, sport specific training, piano lessons, science camp… sound like the line-up for a sophomore in college? It’s actually a small sampling of the academic and sporting pursuits common amongst elementary school age children here in Northern Virginia. So many of the experts say it: “children have an amazing capability to learn at a very early age.” Very few of us would disagree.
Why is it, then, that so many parents are satisfied if their children can do little more than recite some basic facts about Noah and the flood, the birth of Jesus Christ, or the account of Daniel in the lion’s den – but can tell us nothing of what we learn about our God or our relationship to him through these accounts? Why are not more parents alarmed that many of our children can’t explain, in simple terms, the gospel of salvation beyond repeating back the lingo they’ve grown up hearing? Ask a child what they mean by “having Jesus in your heart” and you may be shocked by their response (or lack thereof.)
During my years in ministry I have had my eyes opened to an astonishing fact: children have an amazing capacity to learn the deeper things of God, to serve Him, and to have a vibrant spiritual life. In many ways, they are better equipped to bear fruit (Matthew 18:2-4) than we adults are. They are far less inhibited by personal baggage, held back by self-consciousness, or plagued with doubt than the average adult. The Holy Spirit is not age-limited in His work. Sadly, many Christian adults do not expect as much from their children in the spiritual arena as they do in the academic or athletic. Let this not be said about us at Reston Bible Church. Raise the bar! Help your child, no matter how young, begin to learn the basic doctrines of the faith. Help them live out their faith by taking them along while you live out yours. Serve with them, share your faith with them. “Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.” (Deuteronomy 11:19)
As new things begin to happen in Children’s Ministry at RBC, it will be helpful for parents and volunteers alike to have a context within which to place them. With that in mind, I would like to invite you, whether you are parent of young children or not, to take a moment and look over the Vision, Mission, and Guiding Lights of Children’s Ministry at RBC. Click here to download a PDF of our ministry vision, mission and guiding lights statement.
“After that whole generation had been gathered to their fathers, another generation grew up, who knew neither the Lord nor what he had done for Israel” (Judges 2:10). May God forbid these words be uttered about our legacy.
Raise the bar. Leave a legacy that will last.
To learn more about Quest and Children’s Ministry at Reston Bible Church, visit www.restonbible.org/kids or email Mike Meyers, Director of Children’s Ministry at RBC.