I’ve been talking about the two most significant questions asked in the hallways of our children’s ministry environments.
Did you have fun?
What did you learn?
If your’e just joining this conversation, you might think, “What’s so significant about these two questions?” Nothing really, at least from our perspective. They’re really not significant at all. When you get to the bottom of it, they’re absolutely not the questions we wish were asked in our environments. They’re shallow and automatic… meaningless even.
But, they’re significant because they represent an opportunity. We never had to ask a parent to ask these questions. Somewhere in the DNA of a parent, moms and dads are wired to ask these two questions. What compels the questions, we’ll never know. But how beautiful is it that every parent instinctually asks two questions and every church can be prepared.
How a child answers that question may determine if they come back again. Maybe I’m being a bit overdramatic, but the eternity of that child may depend on on how they answer that question. This could be the last time mom and dad try church. Maybe they’re looking for an excuse to make a new Sunday routine and the answer to this question may simply confirm what mom and dad are already feeling or it could challenge mom and dad to come again for another weekend.
“Mom and Dad, this place is so fun! Mr. Matt told the story and he kept saying Miss Lisa’s name wrong and he ran into the sign and fell down. Mr. matt is so funny. Can we come back tomorrow?”
Wow, my kid is excited about church? He’s never this excited about new places, maybe we should come back.
“Dad, did you know that Jesus walked on water? It wasn’t even frozen! He wasn’t even wearing boat shoes. I can’t walk on water, but Jesus did! If Jesus can walk on water, he can do anything!”
I think my kid learned more than I did today. I like that my son is learning about things that are important. We should bring him more often.
It’s not really about the questions. It’s about the opportunity. If it were other questions, we’d need to be ready with a different answer. Yes, the gospel needs to be communicated, verses need to be learned and snacks need to be dispensed, but make sure every kid has the time of his/her life and walks out clearly understanding one single point that matters!
Maybe I’m wrong for doing this, but I actually make it my goal each Sunday that these two things happen. I want them to have fun AND learn something. Both need to occur to have a successful Sunday in my book. If they only had fun (i.e. we played dodge ball for 90 minutes), I’ve failed. But if they only learned something (i.e. I lectured for 90 minutes), I’ve failed. Both need to happen.
When I think about “What did they learn?” the learning can come at different times and from different parts of the Sunday routine. It might be from the worship that they learn from one of the lyrics. It could be a more “spiritual” kind of learning, a sense of God’s presence and they learn that He is indeed “in this place” with them. It could be that they learn that “church is fun and I want to come back.”
I don’t limit the learning to the main point of the lesson. Though I work hard at making the one thing memorable.
Thanks for the great posts. I think I’ll turn this into a teacher training for my volunteer leaders. Good stuff.
Thanks for your comments Nick. Yes, I should probably make it into some kind of training session too.