I had a front row seat to witness the profound results of a choice.
We’d just concluded the first week of summer Day Camp at North Pointe. The entire facility was turned over to our Children’s Ministry team so that kids to experience “Cave Quest: Following Jesus.”
North Pointe came alive with over 200 energetic campers and leaders on site.
North Pointe’s Children’s Ministry delivered a multi-media rich, entertaining and inspiring presentation entitled, “The Choice” on a Sunday morning.
Of the seventy plus participants, 90% are less than 5 feet tall on their tiptoes (that includes one of our vertically challenged adult leaders). They did us proud as they took us on a journey of choices from the first verse of the Bible, through to the New Testament and on to the realities of our lives today.
Because of a choice, on a Sunday morning in April 2016 our Anomaly Youth Ministry presented their 4th annual musical drama – “Out Of The Woods.” Teens and young adults communicated what was important to them about finding their way home.
Every Sunday our worship is led by a mix of adult and youth vocalists and instrumentalists. A good portion of the video techs behind the scenes are high school or undergrad students.
The Choice
Years ago we chose to see children and youth as the church of today, not the ones waiting in the wings for tomorrow.
Prior to this choice anything related to children or youth ministry was relegated to mid-week presentation times and anywhere else than the main meeting area in our facility.
We’re still not as good as we should be at living out this value but we are tenacious when it comes to doing the right thing.
As a result,
* More than 93% of our facility space is used primarily by children and youth (100% if you throw in the office space because that’s never off limits).
* Every one of our pastoral staff members is involved in some consistent way with ministry to children and youth.
* Well over half of our annual budget is associated with ministry to the under 18’s in our church family.
* In 2006 we had 29 families with children under the age of 12 attending our church. The average age of our church family was one of the highest in our city. Today, there are over 400 families at North Pointe with children under 12.
Happy For the Choice
After presenting “The Choice” I randomly asked adults in our foyer what they thought of the presentation. The responses of people who didn’t have any children involved sounded very much like those who did.
“As followers of Jesus we can never go wrong by investing in youth at any age.”
“I was so glad to see children involved.”
“To see my grandkids come with some hesitation at the beginning of Day Camp to them wanting to participate in all three services today was wonderful.
“It was a simple presentation of the message of Jesus by children and I loved it. They were so good.”
“You could see their heart for God in their innocence.”
“I appreciate how NP’s family services brings families and generations together again.”
Color us proud of the choice we made and each of the staff and volunteers who choose each week to minister to and with our children and youth.
There is room for YOU to get involved with the children’s ministry at North Pointe.
APPLICATION: What is your church doing to connect with youth and children? Please leave a comment below. Thank you.
I’m writing in order to help people grow their faith in Jesus, build strong relationships and make their leadership effective. If this material is helpful to you, please follow me.
- Subscribe. I’ll put helpful content into your email box on Mondays and Thursdays, as well as upcoming events at North Pointe Community Church, Edmonton, Alberta.
- Follow on Twitter. I daily tweet info I think you’ll be interested in.
- Friend on Facebook. If you “like” my page, let me know you found me here.
- Connect on Linkedin. I like this because it reminds me what people think I’m good at.
Thank you (church) for providing these opportunities for our kids. 8 of my 10 kids were involved over both of these productions (including 2 of my 4 over 18’s) and its terrific that they can not only “feel” like a part of the team, but that they can “be” valuable team members!!
Thanks Anita for contributing so much to North Pointe’s ministry base. You keep feeding them and we’ll keep engaging them.
I truly enjoyed being part of the leaders in the camps. I pray that I continue being a role model to the children and my daughter loved the camp last year and is excited about going this year.☺