Theology of children’s ministry and doctrinal issues matter in a church. When I began in ministry, I was woefully ignorant about that. I was prepared to build a program around things like themes, games and environments. Each week, I spent hours upon hours preparing to tell kids about God. But I never took even five minutes to think about what I was actually teaching them about God!
I had bought into the myth that the theology of children’s ministry isn’t important. But I wasn’t the only one who believed this lie. I heard other kidmin leaders say things like:
“Kid just want to have fun!”
“Theology is boring. If you make it boring, new kids won’t come. And other kids won’t want to come back!”
“Children will hear theology when they get to the youth ministry.”
We need to make sure children are having fun and staying engaged as they’re learning. But that doesn’t require us to water down the message to puppets and a good moral to the story. And we can’t assume kids will learn what they need to know about God at a later time. Even if they do receive such teaching, many kids will have already formed opinions and views that aren’t rooted in who God is or what He’s done for us.
As I started digging into systematic theology for the first time, I remember saying aloud, “Wow, I wish someone had taught me this stuff years ago!” That was the lightbulb moment that helped me realize the value and importance of theology in children’s ministry.
3 Reasons the Theology of Children’s Ministry Matters
1. Theology of children’s ministry matters because it helps us clearly define what kids need to know.
We tend to focus a lot on how we teach but not enough on what we teach. Instead of assessing curriculum based on creativity or ease of use, we must examine what it’s actually teaching kids about God and salvation.
We’re all teaching kids something about God. But the real question is, do we know what? Building a children’s ministry on good theology helps us define what kids need to know. Then we can structure our programming, curriculum and events toward sharing that message with as many kids as possible.
2. Theology of children’s ministry matters because it pushes kids to want to know more.
Did you see the movie trailers for Star Wars? They were captivating yet never revealed any parts of the story! The trailers got people excited to see the entire film and to hear the full story.
