Pastor Taurai Emmanuel MaforoZEA Board on Discipleship Academy

13 February 2014 @ Resthaven Retreat Centre, Harare

Ministering to children is one critical aspect to the entire discipleship program as it lays foundations of Christian doctrine in the spirit of Prov. 22:6 “Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.”

The scope of this presentation therefore is focussed on exploring ways of unlocking talent in children for effective ministry through; discovering, developing, and deploying the young people.

Many children’s ministry specialists have made immense contributions to this arena and as such this presentation adds its voice to the existing.

This paper is not cast in concrete, but serves its purpose of engaging the Zimbabwe Episcopal Area BOD to widen its horizons in its discussion on creating a dynamic children’s ministry through discovering, developing, and deploying these energetic young people for the greater effective ministry of the church.

The suggestions in this presentation are not expected to bring out magical results like transforming Billy the Kid to Billy Graham in ten easy steps.

Here is a young man who was given an opportunity to tell the story of their life.

My colour is black and I have been unfortunate that both the positive and the negative have been marked for all to see.

Everyone that carried me handled me with leather gloves and a leather apron. Whenever a person wearing a suit came and looked at me he paid some money to the cashier and immediately another guy with a dark overall would carry me for him implying I can never be carried by a smart person but however I can be used by the smart man.

Do you want to even know me? Does anyone care? Who bothers?

After all when people drive their cars I am always hidden from the public.

But anyway I am not moved by that because the more they use me the more I get more power.

They want me but they hide me. My prayer is that I will never be left idle for a

long time lest I lose my energy. MY NAME IS BATTERY.

The same story can be said of children’s ministry in most of our local churches. Children’s ministry is left to be handled by those who are least trained and the rest feel too smart to serve that ministry yet they need it to function, or to a greater extent help the wheels of the church’s ministry turn. When there is a children’s camp pastors and Layleaders delegate individuals in perceived “lesser” offices.

a special natural ability or aptitude: a talent for drawing.

a capacity for achievement or success; ability: young men of talent.

to open (a lock), to open the lock of (a door, chest, etc.)

to let loose as if by opening a lock; release to make something available to be used in

order to increase its value or to make a profit from it: e.g. If we do not unlock the value of this business, someone else will.

NB – if we apply these definitions to the scope of this presentation. Unlocking children’s talents entails opening the door-ways for them and releasing them for ministry which in the process gives them an opportunity to increase their value through employing their God-endowed talents.

Human beings are not blank tablets – tabula rasa.

They bring to the Sunday school class some wealth of experience from the play centre, school bus, colourful classrooms.

They do not all skip ropes in the same way or go through tunnel crawling the same way.

They do not do the same poems in the same manner – some do sing-along, some rhymes.

There is need for some unlocking.

The children in church today are “Begging for REAL church”

Children in the church are begging for real church

King David in Psalm 37:25 says, “I have been young, and now am old; yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken or his children begging bread.”

Children in the church today are not necessarily beggars of bread but rather they are begging for REAL church.

Rev. Joseph Daniels believes a real church is one that is spiritually mature, alert, and perceptive and discerning

It is one that says; “We love you just the way you are, but too much to let you stay there”

Getting REALR RELEVANT-Acts 3(The beggar at the beautiful gate begging for

the church to become relevant). Young people, single, divorced, physically challenged are begging for relevance

E ENTHUSIASTIC - the term has a Greek origin meaning “possessed of God”. The church must be a place for leaders with, “...fire shut up in my bones” Jer. 20:9 who know how to unlock energies in children – enthused for children’s ministry

A AUTHENTIC - the church has to be genuine. Carries out the mission as – missio dei. We need to do away with preconceived notions and replace them with life-giving interactions

L LOVING - A real church creates a warm atmosphere of fellowship, breaks barriers, and builds bridges. Love is not love until we give it away. How much are we able to adjust adult activities for the benefit of Children’s Ministry program?

The role of the teaching ministry of the is not just to pass information or facts

It is to help people be formed as Disciples

Those involved in the formation process must understand that God has already done some work before their coming.

The child will look at the teacher and “tell” them – “Before you came God was here”

“For you created my inmost being; you

knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you for I am

fearfully and wonderfully made.” Psalms 139:13-14

“created” “inmost” – where no one can touch or disfigure

“knit” – well crafted “mother’s womb” – alive before life – you were before you were

Mary Shelley author of the famous novel Frankenstein – “Invention, it must be humbly admitted, does not consisting creating out of the void, but out of chaos; the materials must, in the first place, be afforded.”

Michel Foucault a French philosopher bursts into laughter at the thought of saying certain things are impossible. He questions, “Impossible by whose standards?” and “says who?”

The process of unlocking talent in children just as in adults is more of un-wrapping your spiritual gifts.

These gifts have to be discovered, developed and deployed, as no gift serves its own ends.

The Gift - Eph. 4:11 “And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;”

Take note here of the word – some This implies that we don't get the same

talents – refer the parable of talents

Purpose – Eph. 4:12 “For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, 13 Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ: 14 That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive;”

Discover DevelopDeploy

1Cor. 12:7 But to each one is given the manifestation of

the Spirit for the profit of all. (WEB)

Each one Manifestation of the spirit

Common good

Allow children to GROW into their

giftPractice makes

perfect

Send them outRelease them

Unleash

Use the BRING principle for effective children’s ministry

BRING

B Bless them with Jesus’ love.Bless them with: finances, time, space, atmosphere for growth

R Relate to them at their level.Reach out to children in the ways appropriate to their stages of development. Remember children are not small adults

I Involve them.Apprentice them by involvement in the life of the congregation – worship, fellowship, outreach

N Nurture themChildren’s ministry is about positive, supportive and encouraging relationships in the love of Christ. Create platforms for peer accountability programs. E.g. schools pick prefects amongst the children themselves

G Grant them. Children need to be granted increasing opportunities to minister in the church. As a way of harnessing talent the local church must not only observe Junior church Sunday as per calendar but rather allocate more Sundays for them.

As we unlock children’s talents through; discovering, developing, and deploying

them the church must therefore align these gifts with the church’s mission

The United Methodist Church in the Zimbabwe Episcopal Area is committed

to making disciples of Jesus Christ through:

outreaching, witnessing, networking

and nurturing for the transformation of the world.