**Originally in 2010 I completed an epic quest to write an A-Z of Children’s ministry, Now because of the epic fail detailed on an earlier blog post I am reposting an updated 2018 version!
G… granny, gigantic, gross, gravity…
G is for Growth – When I was a school child we had a backyard… this was a small town in New Zealand… everyone had a backyard.
And on this backyard we had a garden, and for a brief period of time I grew my own vegetables. Notice the use of the word brief… it was a school project and like most projects was abandoned upon getting a C+.
But the thing I realised in this project was healthy plants grow… and mine did not.
So many of the parables of Jesus were about seeds, planting etc. because he was part of an agrarian culture (thank you Bible college). As a farmer you don’t spend your time measuring the height of your crop each day, you just make sure that they get everything they need to grow. Sun, water, insecticide and whatever else helps a seed sprout.
Your job as leader is to make sure everything is healthy, because healthy things grow.
Even if you have reached every single family and individual in your community, if your Church is healthy the growth in the lives of the people will be evident.
We will often talk as a team about the kids in our ministry, comparing them to when they first started coming to Hillsong Kids compared to now and it is often amazing the growth that has taken place, because we work hard to ensure it is a healthy environment.
Just today in our Sunday 12pm service, I helped a first time 6 year old visitor who was clinging onto Mum and wailing about not wanting to leave her, come into our program and have a great time. I can’t wait to look back at the growth in his life over the next few months!
Here’s a great post from our Lead Pastor in Hillsong Australia Joel A’Bell – 5 Indicators of Church Health
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