One of the things we’ve been working on here at High Desert Church is better articulating our teaching outcomes for kids. In other words, we’re trying to better answer the question: “What are the essentials our kids MUST know by the time they leave our ministry?”

There’s lots we’d LIKE them to know (chronology of Scripture, difference between salvation and baptism, how to use their Bible, etc). And there are a few things we’d like them to do.

But at the end of the day what are absolute, non-negotiable, truths they MUST know? Here’s what we’ve landed on:

I don’t think this is the end-all, be-all for every church, but it’s what I think is going to work best in our setting right now.

What are the absolute, non-negotiable, truths your kids MUST know by the time they leave your ministry?

A few weeks ago I came across this tweet from Bill Murray:

While being hilarious (and true) I think there’s a nugget of wisdom in this tweet for those of us in ministry, and it’s this:

It’s not what you have; it’s what you do with what you have that matters.

Sometimes it can be easy to focus on the things we don’t, but would like, to have:

More kids.
More volunteers.
A better building.
A larger budget.
More time.

But at the end of the day, as nice as it all sounds (and it does sound pretty nice), you don’t necessarily need more to do better. Great stuff can happen without all the flash. Lives can still be changed whether or not you’re in a great building, or have tons of volunteers, or iPads at check-in.

On days when you’re feeling discouraged you don’t have more, or bigger, or better, spend some time thinking about this one thing that will NEVER change in Children’s Ministry:

Children + Caring Adults + Christ = World Change