APCE 2018: Children first rather than adults?

BY SARA PANTAZES

When considering how your church does outreach, do you ever consider children first rather than adults? This was the opening question of a workshop I attended at the 2018 APCE conference, “Children are Welcome Here! (Adults May Tag Along, Too).” The presenter’s theory was partially based on the idea that if we offer programming that appeals to children and brings them into the church, their parents may also eventually follow. I was challenged and inspired by the discussion that followed, as in all my work and learning about children’s ministry I have never thought about forming my ministry around the goal of outreach. The presenter first challenged us to consider why we would want children from our church’s community to come into our church and then to consider whether our congregation is ready for outreach and the enfolding of children. We completed a questionnaire that was designed to tease out whether our church is ready to sacrifice some of its own comfort in order to welcome outsiders.

The presenter than offered three challenges to consider in developing an outreach strategy. First, how do you make the first connection (what kind of events are right for your church and community)? Second, how do you offer a ministry that appeals (if someone comes to your Trunk or Treat, Sunday morning worship is probably not the next best step for them, so what could be the next step)? Finally, once you begin connecting with the children, how do you then move to enfold the whole family (consider what your parents want and need, how can you make meaningful connections with parents)?

I appreciated this framework that was presented for how to begin these conversations. Although outreach is not a specific part of my children’s ministry job description, I think this new way of thinking about outreach is going to remain in the back of my mind. We’ll see what God does with it!

Sara Pantazes is a M.A.C.E. student at Union Presbyterian Seminary.