I feel that my generation has an amazing chance to reach out and change the world.  Our postmodern generation has gone from avoiding “religion” all together to seeking it out and wanting to know more.  They’ve seen where the isolationism and hopelessness characteristic of “Generation X” landed them, and don’t want to have it happen again.  We need to take hold of that passion, and take our kids from apathetic to involved in and excited about ministry.

1 Timothy 4:12 is really my life verse.  Its exhortation to lead while young has been my driving passion.  And I believe that if you could light a fire of leadership under our generation of kids, they would be amazing agents of change in society.  So many times my generation is portrayed as spaced-out carefree kids, but we’re not.  We have as much stress in our lives as some adults I know.  Give us something to cling to, and we will.

The important thing is to take these ideas from ifs to action.  One thing the book “Be the Change” by Zach Hunter (already reviewed for our Super-Ultra-Amazing-Must-Read Book List!) points out is how often the church says “Wouldn’t it be great if…”, or “If only we could…”.  Don’t stop there!  It’s lovely to talk about these things, yes, but if you don’t put them into practice now, another generation of kids will not be dealing with the issues in their lives.

Rather than your kids having to tell you what their skills are, go to them and learn what they enjoy.  You may be surprised at what your kids can do and how they can help you if you just ask.  That’s how I developed to who I am today.  I asked Ryan if I could make PowerPoints for our kids choir that he directed at the time.  He approved.  Over time, he began asking me to do little bits more at a time, until I got to where I am today.  Four years ago if you told me if I was going to be the Technology Director for KidzMatter and our church’s children’s ministry, author on a children’s ministry blog, and traveling to conferences all over the country, I would have laughed you into the next century.  But passion leads to calling.  And my calling is children’s ministry.

Tonight I was coming home and had the local Christian radio station playing. I just caught the end of yesterdays’s Adventures in Odyssey episode by Focus on the Family. I would normally just change the channel to another Christian station, but a couple of quotes from the episode roped me in. They were:
“The problem is what is exciting and trendy now probably won’t be tomorrow. What I saw…was timeless, going past the trends and the fads, to reach kids where they are.”

“We work hard, and we do our best, but we don’t feel like it’s enough. Then we begin to second guess what God wants us to do. We wonder if we should make changes, or do things the same way. The answers aren’t always easy, and can only be found through prayer and God’s Word.”

Many ministries have been dumped by many local churches as “irrelevant”, though they still hold amazing power with kids. There are many things in the church like this. While it is important to keep up with times and not simply ignore them, it is also important to not forget the timeless things that kids always enjoy. For kids it’s not always the latest and greatest, but relationships and things that may seem trivial to you that are most important.

I like to put major ministry initiatives that I see through my “timeless” filter: In 5 years, will this initiative be relevant barring unforseen circumstances? In 10 years, will the kids still be standing up for Christ? In 20 years, will anyone remember it?

So how do your initiatives stand up?