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Raising an army of disciple-makers is the most stressful aspect of leading a children’s ministry. It is also the most crucial in establishing an effective children’s ministry.

Paul writes to Timothy, a young leader, and instructs him to guard two things: ‘Watch your life and doctrine closely.’
(1 Timothy 4:16a).

Watch Your Life…

Timothy is instructed to guard the godly choices that he makes. He is called to live a transparent life.

A person’s character is his/her qualification for leadership in the church.

A person’s character is his/her qualification for leadership in the church. Anyone entrusted with a group of people to disciple, no matter the age of that group, must be a fully devoted disciple of Christ. Such devotion must to be evident in his/her daily walk.

Consequently, establishing an effective ministry to children begins with asking the question: To whom are we entrusting these young souls? Who they are will have an enormous impact on the children entrusted to them. The impact will be either for good or for ill.

Years ago I entrusted a group of Year 3 boys to a young male leader named Dom. Every week Dom would come with his hair parted and styled in a particular manner. I was fascinated to see that within a month Dom’s boys were coming to church with what I called the Dom haircut.

Modelling is powerful! No one understood this more than Paul. His mantra was, ‘model me as I model Christ.’

Your leaders teach children what it means to follow Christ by the very lives they live. Servant-hearted leaders make our servant-hearted Saviour attractive. Children are assured of the love of their Father in heaven, because they experience the love of their leaders here on earth.

I have often heard people speak about the Sunday School or SRE teacher who impacted them as children:

‘I can’t remember much of what she taught me, but I know she loved Jesus and she loved me… I can’t remember his name but I could see that it was God who made him different from all my other school teachers.’

Therefore…

  • What qualifications do you seek when placing people into positions of leadership in your various children’s ministries?
  • Does your church have a clearly articulated statement about what is required?
  • Do you accept volunteers who are willing, available, enthusiastic and express a love for children? (If this is your sole qualification, it is possible that you might find yourself handing your children over to a paedophile).
  • Where does giftedness fit into the equation?

Where does giftedness fit into the equation? It’s not as though it’s a choice—character versus competence—both are important. However, the order matters and is important.

​Watch Your Doctrine Closely…

Paul’s second instruction to Timothy is to ‘Watch your … doctrine closely.’ Earlier in the chapter, this is reflected in a devotion to the scriptures (e.g. verse 13; cf. 2 Timothy 3:14–17). He is to guard the truth and hold uncompromisingly to its message.

What your leaders believe matters. This is what they’ll pass on to your youngest disciples.

What your leaders believe matters. This is what they’ll pass on to your youngest disciples. The doctrine they believe will also shape their character—the very character that qualifies them for their role.

When I look back, the great leaders in our children’s ministry are those who love the truth and live the truth. I have never regretted stepping a godly person into leadership. My failure has been when I’ve compromised and stepped someone up when there has been uncertainty about their character, simply because I had a roster that needed to be filled.

Hear the implicit warning: (1 Timothy 4:16)

‘Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers.’ 

Who we step up matters!

So, with this principles in mind, here is a suggested checklist for recruiting your army of disciple-makers:

First, are all your present leaders Christian? If you’ve never asked them about their faith, ask them today.

Second, before stepping up a new leader…

  • Ask those around them about their character. Are they a Christian seeking to grow in their faith, regularly attending church and a small group, prayerful and personally doing business with God in his word? Are they someone who could be entrusted with children?
  • Get to know their story (‘Tell me about your faith story…’).
  • Get to know their love (‘What is it about Jesus that you love…’).
  • Diagnose their faith (‘If you were standing before God right now, and he asked you “Why should I let you into my heaven?”, what would you say?)

Third, briefly describe the privilege it is to disciple young children, then ask them to come and have at look at the ministry. Let them see the need and see the privilege set before them.

Fourth, encourage them to pray before stepping up into leadership.

There are many assumptions in these ‘steps’. They assume you have a discipleship model of children’s ministry. They assume that you have established a pattern of serving in children’s ministry that expects leaders to invest both time and energy into teaching and pastoring children. They assume you’ve established a structure that guards the personal growth and maturing of your leadership team.

Never forget that growing young disciples requires disciple-makers who are themselves growing.

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