Are you serving in the church? Does it feel hard sometimes because you have young kids? Friend, I’d love to encourage you with this blog post!
I was in the exact same boat! And the Lord graciously provided wisdom and encouragement to help us figure out how to serve with young kids.
Backstory
Since we’ve moved to Texas, this has become a huge passion of mine in the past couple of years. My husband and I love to serve the church.
We love serving in any capacity, not that we’re great at everything, but we just love serving the Church.
Our reasoning? Our hearts are so overwhelmed by the generosity of the Lord, that He’s given us a huge desire to serve. In my mind I’m like, “How can we not serve our Great God?”
BUT, we have three young kids four years old and under. Our hands are full and we have to be very wise and strategic with how we serve.
“God has called us to something vastly bigger than our happiness or that of our children.” -Gloria Furman, Treasuring Christ When Your Hands are Full
Live and Learned
Listen, I have learned the hard way how to serve and how to not serve. Trust me.
I have also learned that my definition of “serving the Church” was not healthy or helpful.
We could no longer serve, however, whenever, or wherever. We didn’t have the same flexibility as we used to when it was just us. Serving the church had to be strategic and it had to change.
Granted, we were coming from a smaller church, so naturally we served in more places because there weren’t as many helpers. Now that we’re a part of a bigger church, we’re thankful that’s not the case anymore.
Definition of Serving
My definition of serving the church was, serve as much as possible. Help wherever you can help and only say no if it’s absolutely impossible. But do your best to make it work!
Friend, this. is. wrong. We are finite. We are limited human beings and that is good. It is a sweet reminder that we are not God. We cannot serve everyone and we cannot see all needs.
Serving the church will look differently to every single family so please do not take these thoughts and ideas as a one size fits all. Prayerfully consider how you can serve the church with your family.
Let’s dive into a few ideas on how to serve the church with young kids!
Children’s Ministry
Y’all, this can be nursery, Sunday school, kids events, etc. This is the season of life you are in. These ministries are the perfect places for you to serve!
Nursery
I know, nursery is the one place that ALWAYS needs help. It’s also very true.
Think about it this way though: you can be with your kids, depending on their age and you can get to know other parents within the church.
It’s honestly a great way to connect and get to know other members and their kids.
If you struggle with getting yourself to serve in nursery, I would encourage you to pray and consider the reasons why.
If your reasons aren’t legitimate and/or selfish, then it’s probably a good indicator that this is where you need to serve.
I used to be in this place too! No worries here, we all need to consider and humbly bring ourselves before the Lord.
If you’re nervous about serving in the nursery because you have limited knowledge or experience, this was me by the way, talk to an older and wiser woman.
She’ll, more than likely, graciously answer any questions or concerns you have!
Sunday School
My husband and I are currently teaching the 2 year old class for Sunday school at our church and we LOVE IT.
The kids are precious, the lessons are simple, and we sing songs to the Lord. What could be better right?
If you’d like to help in Sunday school, this may require you helping, leading, or teaching a class.
Or if this is not something that is doable for your family, then that’s okay! I highly encourage you to participate by helping your kiddos by bringing their bibles, memorize their verses, etc.
You can also get involved with Sunday School classes by providing material/resources, provide worship time, or even offer to buy snacks.
If you belong to a larger church that has all of these smaller resources and activities provided for, you can definitely help your kids pray for other kids and teachers in their class!
There’s always ways to serve!
Events
I can think of many types of events that churches do for kids and they’re always looking for volunteers in every capacity!
Jump right in and ask where they need help!
There’s usually at least three types of volunteers or jobs at any church event with kids:
- Food volunteer
- Facilitator/teacher
- Music/tech volunteer
If you can commit to any of these, that’s awesome! You can bring your children to the event and participate in one of these three jobs, easy peasy.
Hospitality
I think this is my favorite way to serve. I’m not sure if I should have a favorite, but it’s probably the one that comes the easiest to me.
There are two types of hospitality that you can do with young kids.
- Inviting people into your home and making your home a useful space. This can be for simple play dates or big gatherings. Whatever home the Lord has given you, you can bring people in and guess what, you don’t have to gather all the kiddos to go anywhere!
- Join the hospitality team if your church has one! If your church has a specific team, then I’m assuming it’s pretty flexible and there are MANY types of opportunities to serve. Especially if you’re a SAHM, your days can be a little more flexible and you can meet needs during the day.
Giving
This is one you will use with wisdom and discernment! Of course, all things done with our kids must come with wisdom and discernment, right?
When I speak of giving, I’m specifically thinking of three categories:
- Giving money
- Giving food
- Giving clothing
Of course, there are more ways and items to give, but I’m just getting you started!
These are simple, practical, and easy ways to give to the church! Plus, you can bring the kids along in this process too!
There are always people in the church who need these things. Listen, look, and ask for people that you can serve in this way.
When you are looking to give, you can have your kids pray over the things you’re giving and you can tell them why it’s important we give, money, food, clothing, etc.
This is another way I love to serve with my girls because it gives me the opportunity to show that God gives us resources to share with others!
Prayer
This might sound a little cliché and like, “Well, of course”, but if you can’t serve the church in any capacity because of special circumstances, then pray.
I cannot emphasize enough how important prayer is to the local church.
This is something you can do with your young kids at home. You can ask your kids to help pray for the members of your church.
In my post, Teaching Kids to Pray, we use prayer sticks to help us pray for the church and other needs that arise!
Sweet friend, there are several ways we can serve the church with young kids. There are more ways than what I mentioned, but these are a few ideas to get you started!
What are your favorite ways to serve with your kids? Is there a place you’re looking to serve, but not sure if you can?
Let me know in the comments how I can encourage you in this!