Last night, as my local Awana club kicked off the new club year, I was struck anew with the awesome responsibility God has given me, and others in ministry. There were 42 children and 14 leaders looking to me for guidance and training. Including some regulars from last year that I expect to return, nearly 70 people are watching me every week, watching to see if I live what I say I believe, looking to see how a man of faith is support to live. More importantly, they are looking for a reason to live godly lives instead of following the crowd. That is a humbling, terrifying, and awesome realization, and it’s a task I will never fully live up to this side of Heaven.
This is a challenge to myself, and to every man involved in children’s ministries: We may be fathers, grandfathers, teachers, Sunday School leaders, Awana volunteers, youth pastors, or some role I have not thought of, but regardless we are role models. Children are watching us, emulating us, imitating us. What example are we setting? Let’s set an example worth imitating.
- As an Awana Commander, am I setting an example of scripture memorization? This year I commit to completing an Awana handbook alongside my clubbers.
- As a father, am I setting an example that my faith comes before sporting events? Or if I allow sports to take me away from church one Sunday, is with purpose? Do I actively use athletics as a means to take Christ into the world of someone that may not come into the church to meet Christ?
- As a church member, am I modeling service? Is life all about me, or do children around me see an example of serving others?
- Do my children see in me a man that prays? John Lawry of Petra once wrote of the power of a praying man. Do we demonstrate that power to our children? Or do we let them accept the secular world’s view that prayer is for the weak?
I wrote last Spring about my passion for children’s ministry, and for Awana in particular. Passion is a great motivator, but without purpose, it can’t accomplish much on its own. Passion that leads to action is powerful though.
A quick aside – I am writing specifically to men today. That is not to knock women serving God faithfully, in fact quite the opposite. I see many times women serving, while men either sit out, or are too “busy” to contribute to ministry. I see too many families where the man has willingly set aside the role of spiritual leader. I am specifically challenging men to step up and show our children, our wives, our churches, our co-workers, and our nation what God can do with a fully committed man of faith.
