By Cara Engbers

Several weeks ago, I attended a ministry leader lunch where we were encouraged to celebrate what God has done in our church over the past year. The more I thought about it, the more I realized how many incredible things God has been doing through and in our kids. 

Although I have only been the Children’s Ministry Intern for a few weeks, I have had the opportunity to participate in children’s ministry with all ages throughout the year. And let me tell you: these kids are awesome. They are curious about God, willing to serve, and are experts at showing love to those around them. So here are just a few of the ministry highlights worth celebrating!

Sunday School

This year, I had the pleasure of teaching the age 2 – grade 1 Sunday School class. The wide range of ages brought with it plenty of challenges, but also many unexpected joys. 

Some of the littles who had a hard time staying at first now show up consistently and are excited to be there. Relationships were built between ages who were not normally paired together. And when we worked through the book Imaginative Prayer by Jared Patick Boyd, the kids were so engaged. I have a mental image of them sitting on their mats, hands folded, eyes squeezed shut, as we worked through the guided prayers.

Elevate

Elevate is a program through our church where kids memorize Bible verses to help cover the cost of summer camp. A handful of us had the joy of being the listeners as these kids said their verses, and I can say it is something I have deeply enjoyed. In total, over 625 verses were memorized and recited. 

The Bridge

The Bridge is a group for grades 4-6 that meets every other Tuesday. We split the time between games and Bible studies. This group is full of smart kids, so we were able to look at some harder topics, such as anxiety (through Jennie Allen’s You Are Not Alone), identifying false teachings, and what the core beliefs of the Christian faith are. This group has so many questions and a deep desire to know more about their faith. 

Sermon Notes

Each week during the service, our grade 3-6 kids fill out sermon notes, noting their favorite songs, questions, prayer requests, and much more. The next day, I read through these and have begun collecting the highlights in a binder, including bits of wisdom:

“We can all do our own thing, but we need to realize that Jesus saved us and let us become a group of believers.”

And

“We don’t use words such as envy, malice, hypocrisy, and more, but we still do them!”

Hilarious realizations such as:

“We are aliens.”

“Jared wore a skirt!”

Slight communications, including:

“We always want people to feel bad” (when asked what the application for the passage is)

And solid reminders that none of us are beyond grace:

“God did not say, ‘I am not going to fix you because I am holy and you are not’.”

Serving

These kids don’t just attend church, they are actively serving in a variety of areas: Baking snacks for youth and the Bridge, reading Scripture, prepping kids’ ministry materials, and doing skits for the younger Children’s Church classrooms.

Coming Soon: Art Camp and VBS

We have exciting things happening this summer! VBS is happening June 16-19, and Art Camp from July 8-10 and August 12-14. This year’s Art Camp is being led by artist Morgan Crane. From what I have seen of the crafts so far, this year is going to be amazing. We already have several registrations, including a handful of families who are not regular attenders at  PCC. We are excited to welcome back kids from previous years and meet some new ones!

These are just a few of the highlights from this past year, but you can probably get an idea of how incredible these kids are. The kids in our church contribute and do ministry in so many ways and are worth celebrating and learning from. Our church is much better because of them.

A note for the kids:

Thank you for being such an important part of our church. You teach us so much about Jesus and loving others. The joy and energy you bring to ministry are irreplaceable, and we appreciate you a lot!

Cara Engbers is the Children & Families Ministry Coordinator at Parliament Community Church in Regina, SK, located near Harbour Landing. As a church, we offer programs for all ages, from children to youth, young adults to Seniors who are part of our Heritage groups. We are also diverse in cultural backgrounds but share a desire to grow as disciples of Christ together.