Here Am I

by Tim McCracken

Children's Ministry MagazineJuly/August 2007

   I found a seat in the back of our church after the service had already begun, the pressing issues in the children’s department at last put to rest. As I settled in, our missions pastor was introducing the people who were going on various short-term mission trips in the coming summer. As he described the sacrifice these people were making to go overseas to minister for a week, I was touched by their desire to spread the gospel to the ends of the earth. Then a thought struck me” Why don’t we ask people to volunteer for a missions trip to our children’s department?

     It made sense from many perspectives: These missionaries wouldn’t need passports, they wouldn’t have to raise financial support, and the only travel required was down the hall to spread the gospel to an entirely different culture.

   Children’s ministry, a different culture?

     Yes, indeed. A culture, after all, is defined as a group of people sharing a set of attitudes, values, goals, and social norms. And the kids in our ministries fit that description perfectly, In fact, they represent a variety of cultures within the very walls of our Sunday schools. We have cultures where a preschooler’s biggest concern is that someone just stole his toy and now, he’s seeking “frontier” justice. In another culture, a preteen struggles with new feelings she’s having toward boys and doesn’t know if they’re okay. And in yet another culture, elementary kids sift through Harry Potter and SpongeBob SquarePants and wonder where Jesus fits in and whether he’s too different from them.