I have given myself a challenge for the next 26 days – post the complete A-Z of Ministry to Children. (I almost pulled this off! Just missed yesterday through being a ‘little’ tired after Kidshaper Conference).

Z… zebra, zoology, zenith…

Z is for Zeta – A small room or closet in a church.

This might be a little heavy to finish this list on, but the final word for the A-Z of Ministry to Children is about safety and protection. The most pressing need of your Church is to safeguard your children!

The bottom line at Hillsong Church for our leaders is simply this: ‘never be alone with a child.’

Our toileting procedures is always in pairs (or groups), we don’t change nappies (diapers) and our new leader process is pretty blunt – you need to ask the hard questions up front.

There should be no Zeta’s in your church. No secret places, and no secretive volunteers (or pastors).

Our culture and society has seen enough abuse of children (rightly so). So your job is to avoid even the appearance of evil. Be diligent, be militant and proactive about the safety and care of your kids!

The next post will be a recap of this series. If you have enjoyed it or found it insightful or even remotely helpful then please push the retweet button on the side of the next post, or the facebook ‘like’ button at the bottom. Feel free to blog about it, tell your neighbours and your enemies, which of course you don’t, for you love all humanity and would want them to read this blog.

I have given myself a challenge for the next 26 days – post the complete A-Z of Ministry to Children.

Q… quit, queen, Qantas, quacksalver…

Q is for Question – Your kids have questions. Lots of them probably. They will ask the most random question at the most random times. I know that when I am with one of our KDG’s (Kids Discipleship Groups – small groups), and talking I can see certain kids brains veering wildly out of control on a tangent which inevitably leads to a question like “If God is my Father, then is Jesus my brother?”.

I talked in E is for Encouragement about this topic a little. Whatever happens, you do want to encourage questions because they show thought and intiative both things that kids have control over.

So I want to talk about the questions you ask as a leader and follower.

Asking questions shows:

1. That you are eager to learn
2. You care about other peoples worlds
3. You want to improve
4. You are aware of what is going on around you
5. That you are interested
6. You don’t think you have all the answers
7. You want to involve others in the answers

As a leader you need to ask the most questions in the room. There is so much that goes unsaid in a team, assumptions, traditions, the way that we do things that are never articulated. Even if you feel like everyone in the room has heard it all before, say it!

Beginner stand-up comedians will work on new jokes until they have a solid ‘five minutes‘ of material they know is funny. They may keep using those jokes for years and years as they develop. Jerry Seinfeld in the movie/documentary comedian restarts his stand-up career after TV by writing all new material, and it is painful to watch at times as he goes through the growing pains.

Say what you have to say as a leader and then say it again. It will make your whole team laser focussed and avoid all the questions you don’t want to hear.

The questions you hear reveal your weaknesses, and the questions you ask reveal your heart.

I have given myself a challenge for the next 26 days – post the complete A-Z of Ministry to Children.

P… Passion, people, pimples, palladiumizing…

P is for Paradigm – Here’s what you need, a shift in your paradigms. I hear you protest – “But I just had my paradigms rotated last month”, “these paradigms were meant to be good for at least 3,000 miles”.

I love the old school. But only when it is truly recognised as old school.

In fact if you are still rockin’ old school like it’s new school then you are not old school at all you are instead a roadblock to the purpose of God.

…

A little strong Dave?

- Tell that to Peter and his paradigm shifting food experience which paved the way for the salvation of Gentiles (Acts 10:9-23)

- Tell that to the children of Israel who walked the desert for a few years longer than they had to because they couldn’t quite get their heads around this God who provided for them everything they needed.

- Tell that to your senior Pastor when you suddenly become a pain in the butt, dragging your inability to change around like a wet blanket when a change in direction calls for all leaders to stand up and say, “Ah, we’re going this way… let’s go!”

Some of the questions, some of the methods, some of the answers that were relevant in your old paradigm are completely irrelevant now.

Deal with it, or get out of the way for someone who can.

P.S. Working with children and young people takes the MOST flexible leadership in the Church. Hope it’s you

I have given myself a challenge for the next 26 days – post the complete A-Z of Ministry to Children.

N… Naughty, nice, nothing, nautilus, numbers…

N is for New -  Sing to the LORD a new song; sing to the LORD, all the earth (Ps 96:1). It has been said the the only constant thing in life is change, and the reality of the time we live in is that change is speeding up.

The thing that drives a lot of this rapid change comes down to the bottom line… money. It’s capitalism all the way down.

Fashion is a great way to gauge how fast society has changed. It wasn’t really until the 1900′s that fashion trends began to emerge more rapidly, so now we see trends that might have lasted for years have a cycle of a single season.

I often (well once, when shopping with my wife) wonder if a few hundred years ago a dressmaker could make the same style of dress her whole life and still be trendsetting?

We don’t have the same pressures on us in Church life, so what is driving us to change and innovate the most important institution on earth?

For me the answer is leadership.

Leaders with vision and foresight. Leaders who see the call of God as too important to ever settle and coast alone. Leaders who hate the status quo and dream of ways to move beyond it. Just like stand-up comedians who consider a show wasted unless they at least try out a few new jokes in their set, ensure you are trying new things every event and ministry opportunity.

I have given myself a challenge for the next 26 days – post the complete A-Z of Ministry to Children.

M… monkey, miracle, mountain, miffed, moro…

M is for Mystery – The universe is pretty big, and with all that science has figured out I wonder if we have even scratched the surface of our ability to understand reality. So “I don’t know”, is a perfectly good answer for a lot of questions. Obviously not for “Where is the bathroom?”, or “How do I get Tommy out of the roof?”. But for many questions in life there are no answers, only more questions.

God has revealed a few secrets to us: “This message was kept secret for centuries and generations past, but now it has been revealed to God’s people. For God wanted them to know that the riches and glory of Christ are for you Gentiles, too. And this is the secret: Christ lives in you. This gives you assurance of sharing his glory” (Col 1:26,27).

But some things God keeps to himself: Deuteronomy 29:29 “The secret things belong unto the LORD…”

My wife watched Patrick Swayze in Dirty Dancing as a young teenager and then watching years later (I can neither confirm or deny if I watched it as well) suddenly realised she had completely missed the story line involving abortion the first time around. It was there right in front of her face, but she missed it hidden in plain view.

Our kids are certainly not ready to explore every mystery, there is a maturity and understanding that will grow with them. I love a mystery along with every human on earth and I truly believe that some of the mysteries and unanswered questions only help strengthen our faith not weaken it.

In this culture and time, make sure you pass on to your kids the mystery that God has revealed – Christ lives in you. But also the mysteries that make this life of faith an adventure that may forever be unexplained.

I have given myself a challenge for the next 26 days – post the complete A-Z of Ministry to Children.

K… kindness, kids, karate, King Kong…

K is for Kidology – Kidology is the study of kids! The Apostle Paul said he became all things to all men so that they might be reached. If you know the work of Karl Bastian, aka “The Kidologist” you know what I’m talking about. Karl founded Kidology.org and blogs at Kidologist.com and I am going to borrow his phrase for this entry.

Studying human behaviour is a fascinating insight for all pastors and leaders who want to understand just what makes people tick. What helps them to change and grow beyond their current circumstance. You don’t need to be a counsellor to use information like this to help others. A lot can be accomplished in a single conversation if you know what you’re doing.

You and I are immigrants into the world of kids. We are strangers in a foreign land seeking to understand the natives.

Have a sit down with your kids sometime and ask them about their world, find out what their interests are and what their accomplishments are… you will be surprised. When you bring toys to Church, bring your own. Buy a Nintendo DS for yourself, not your kids. Swap Wii games, trade football cards, give away your old stuffed toys. In short, kids love to see that you are interested in what they are interested in.

I am pretty comfortable conversing with a 7 year old, it no longer terrifies me, but there was a time where it seemed we spoke different languages. I needed to study this strange creature in its natural habitat, I needed to understand its strange ways and in time it grew to trust me.

Become a student of children and remember… you used to be one.

I have given myself a challenge for the next 26 days – post the complete A-Z of Ministry to Children.

H… hope, happiness, Harry, highjinks…

H is for House – There are two ‘houses’ in our lives, the ‘house’ of God and our own family. In a NT theology the house of God is the gathering of the Church, and there is always a tension between promoting a works based religion and a relationship with our saviour. Church attendance does not equal salvation, just like living in a garage doesn’t make you a car, just like eating a hamburger doesn’t make you Ronald MacDonald.

But then I began to see how little time we get with our kids as the Church and all the competing activities there are in the life of a family.

Faith without works is dead (James 2:20).

All of the examples I want to follow when it comes to family life just have so much in common, they are passionate about passing faith on to their kids AND live a life of service to their local Church.

If a family would simply model a life of dedicated service, our calling as pastors to children would be infinitely easier and far more powerful, impacting, fruitful and significant!

Just watch this very recent video of Benny Hinn talking about how he neglected his family. The home and the family NEED to work together.

If I lose my family in my pursuit of ‘ministry’, I have lost everything!

A Special Message from Pastor Benny Hinn

I have given myself a challenge for the next 26 days – post the complete A-Z of Ministry to Children.

E… Education, entertainment, Eric, eternal, effervescant…

E is for Encouragement – (I recently wrote a post at the official Hillsong Blog ‘Collected’ about this topic – have a read, but I want to talk about it here as it relates to kids).

I firmly believe that one word of encouragement to a child can literally set in motion the call of God on their life. I still remember the words both positive and negative that we spoken to me as a child about what I was capable of. You as a leader occupy an important place in the mind of a child, you’re not as present as a parent but you are around enough to have a big influence on the kids you minister to, in short, you can be a hero or a zero. Take the opportunity to speak words of life over their future every chance you get.

Research written about in the book NurtureShock has shown that some forms of praise can actually hold children back. Avoid praising children about their natural talent and giftings. eg. “You’re so brainy”, rather praise and encourage their efforts and hard work.

Emphasizing effort gives a child a variable that they can control,” she explains. “They come to see themselves as in control of their success. (Location 376 Kindle Edition)

There is a lot more to be said on this topic, but try it this weekend in your services at Church – watch how many times you encourage kids about innate ability rather than the attempt they have made.

I have given myself a challenge for the next 26 days – post the complete A-Z of Ministry to Children.

D… Doctrine, dynamic, Donald Duck, delusion, darts…

D is for Delegate – I have seen it over and over in our team and in myself. You find yourself with a new volunteer who has a lot of potential to carry great responsibility. But after a few weeks they have faded into the background and either settled or possibly disappeared. Not every leader is going to hop on your ‘bus’, but I find to often brilliant leaders are sitting in the back row when they could be helping you navigate!

The missing ingredient is often authority. You have been great in delegating responsibility, but like a lot of leaders cling onto the authority either because you like to ‘be the boss’ or you don’t trust anyone to ‘do it’ as good as you!

Hey – it used to be that you weren’t as good as you are now and the only reason you are where you are today is because someone took a chance on you.

Heres a simple little procedure to help someone reach their maximum potential:

1. Give them a simple task (very time specific) and follow up on it extremely diligently knowing that in the future you won’t have to be so thorough
2. Thank the person in a big way and ask if there is any way they think we (the team) could do it better.
3. Repeat a few times adding in the important ingredient - authority.
4. If they rise to the challenge they become a leader – simple as that.

(There is a lot more to it than this but you get the idea… simple right?)

Final thoughts from Jim Wideman and his blog series Delegate or die:

Delegation is not an option for those who want to succeed in ministry. But to succeed you must take inventory of where you are. Start small and go from there. I try to recruit my team one worker at a time. Ask yourself and your volunteers, “What do I need to do differently?” What volunteers do you see potential in? Commit to coach volunteers and let them learn by doing. What are you waiting on? Delegate or Die!

I have given myself a challenge for the next 26 days – post the complete A-Z of Ministry to Children.

C… Christ, cooking, craft, cookies, camping…

C is for Culture – Whether we want to accept it, ignore it, or use it–the reality is that our kids are growing up under the influence of a media-saturated culture.

If we refuse to engage young people in biblical discussions about what they’re watching and hearing, we make it easy for them to compartmentalize their faith and put it aside when they move beyond the church walls.

Through discussions that reveal either the gospel’s presence or absence in popular culture, we help young people develop a biblical filter that shines the light of Jesus’ truth on media messages, encourages them to live authentically at school and church, and engages the Holy Spirit’s discernment in their lives.

Knowledge of kids’ culture also enhances our efforts as missionaries within that culture.

I like to USE culture, when you use something you have power over it, you take away fear. I certainly don’t want my kids to be afraid of any forms of media. Book burnings should be left in the past lest they turn into iPad burnings!

Now in an effort to drum up comments… Harry Potter – discuss

(please don’t)

P.S. Hillsong Church now has an official Blog! VIsit Hillsong Collected and read my first post at the site - The Dispenser of Enthusiasm.