As we researched the topic of Children in Worship we looked online for training or seminary programs specializing in chlldren’s ministry. We wanted to see what they had to offer on this topic.

We went to search engines and plugged in various combinations of key words — words like “seminary training for children’s ministry.” We found practically nothing — only a handful of seminars offered by independent religious trainers.

The closest matches were for youth ministers. Some denominations had a category called Children, Youth and Family Ministry.

It would appear that ministry to children is uncharted territory as a discipline of ministry.

Preaching to children does not appear to be an emphasis of theological training. We found a salary study that revealed that Associates in Ministry were sometimes filling this role. Salary packages were fairly low and have dropped in recent years.

Congregations do not tend to budget for Children’s Ministry. As congregations grow, the typical progression of staff development begins with a solo pastor and adding a visitation pastor (most likely concentrating on the elderly), and then adding an associate pastor who may double as youth pastor. The allocation of resources for children’s ministries is almost nonexistent.

The Church has traditionally relied on volunteers to provide leadership for teaching children. This approach is challenged by modern lifestyles — working parents and divorced parents all have less ability to commit their weekends. The volunteer pool is shallow. The need is greater than ever.

Small churches are the most challenged. Many cannot afford one full-time pastor much less pastors emphasizing children’s ministry. Any specialized help for children’s ministry is an unrealistic goal. Yet this is precisely the area of ministry small churches need to emphasize. Often, we do not get much encouragement from our denominations. They see a congregation with aging members and they determine that what these congregations need is a part-time pastor to tend to the needs of the elderly. They even have a term for it — caretaker ministries. While the needs of the aging must not be neglected, failure to concentrate on the potential of a congregation to reach young people in their neighborhoods is squandering opportunity.

The times are crying for a new approach to neighborhood ministry, but we seem to be locked into the mindset that teaching children should be the realm of volunteers and any programming should be run on shoestring budgets (in other words $0).

2×2 developed a program pioneering ministry to answer this need in aging congregations. We focused on beginning with summer outreach — the Vacation Bible School (www.vbsaid.com). This would be a short-term investment, something any church could try without fear of not being able to support it long-term.

VBSaid would bring a team of trained leaders to small congregations to lead a summer program and train congregational members to continue the programming, spending several months with each church to recruit teachers, students, provide training, run a two-week program, and work with each church to plan followup programming. The proposed cost was modest for the type of help offered — about $5000 per church. Calling a pastor dedicated to this type of work would cost at least $30,000.

Our first advertising for this program last summer drew responses from several congregations. None wanted to fund it. And so these congregations went another year without reaching out to the young.

We suspect that the Church is getting what it is willing to pay for. Sunday Schools are failing, VBS programs are being abandoned. Educational efforts are being fit into 40 minutes during worship. Congregations barely 100 years old are aging themselves out of existence without a viable plan to reach new generations with the Good News.

It is engrained in our thinking that successful mission must be done the way it was done for years. We are more willing to accept congregations failing than to find solutions. Nevertheless, 2×2 will continue to explore solutions. We invite your observations.