This year I have become more involved with the children’s ministry at my church. Although I am supposed to be the one teaching, these kindergarten to eighth grade kids have taught me two very important lessons about people and theology:
1. Kids are smarter than you think.
Many adults see kids, especially middle school kids, as annoying and too silly to deal with. The pastor at my church explains this behavior as putting their radars up. Kids are constantly testing their behaviors on the people around them and asking, “Will you accept me now? Will you love me if I do this?” Kids are smart enough to know that adults think they are annoying, but the truth is that they are not doing anything wrong—they
are simply learning and developing. They simply need to hear that they are normal, valuable, loved, and capable.When kids start to hear these truths about themselves, they can achieve better things, especially in theology. It’s interesting that adults think we need to design simple Bible lessons for children. We use story Bibles and cartoon illustrations to bring God’s Word to their “lower level.” Somehow we forget that the Bible is God’s Word, so if God can bring His Word down to humans, the gap between adults and children is minuscule.
2. Adults aren’t always as smart as you think.
Adults have their radars up too. We have learned to hide it a little better, but we still test out behaviors to see what other people will think of them. We are still insecure on the inside, and we still just want to be accepted. We are not as emotionally mature as we think, and we also aren’t always so theologically mature.
Sometimes as adults, we are convinced that we need something more academically challenging or emotionally deep. However, we often miss the depth of the simplicity of the gospel. My pastor uses the same material in the middle school youth group as he does in the regular church services, and these are some of the best sermons I have ever heard. I need to hear what I think I have mastered, because I forget the fundamental pieces of the gospel, and without those my whole faith falls apart.
The last night of elementary camp, when the cabin was dark and everyone was about to fall asleep, one of my fifth grade campers said softly, “Do you guys ever wonder what heaven will be like?” Without any guidance from me or my co-counselor, the girls talked about how heaven was scary, but it was also the place where God’s love would never run out – “Like how you are never done cleaning your room, God is never done loving you.”
While they talked, I made a realization about kids and adults: The difference is slight when it comes to the work of the Holy Spirit. God doesn’t discriminate based on age. He can work in amazing ways in a fifth grader at the same time as a college senior, reminding us that He is the only one who produces spiritual maturity.
But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children crying out in the temple, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” they were indignant, and they said to him, “Do you hear what these are saying?” And Jesus said to them, “Yes; have you never read, ‘Out of the mouth of infants and nursing babies you have prepared praise’?”
-Matthew 21:15-16
