Throughout the many years, the traditional children’s ministry has evolved in teaching method and design. One Smash Design worker remembers her time in church as a young child, just 17 years ago,
“My parents use to have to drag me to church. My friends and I would rather run wild in the hallways than sit through a dull Sunday class. Years later when I was a pre-teen, we switched churches and the transformation was like night and day. I walked into a ministry for young students where there were vintage diner seats and retro posters along with a jukebox and neon lights. I loved it!” –Brenda M.
Children’s ministries for churches once began as a way for parents to leave their children in care during the service. Why? Simply put: Children were seen as a distraction. However, over time it seems that church leaders realized that perhaps these young children were not a distraction at all. Instead, these were the young minds that could one day lead their home church (a scary thought for a church that didn’t have a children’s ministry to educate those future leaders). Behold, the children’s ministry was born.
Looking back on it, there were a few things that possibly drew Brenda into the ministry. In the rest of this blog, we will briefly cover the three things that we think work with children’s ministries, and how companies like Smash can be an additional source for churches to achieve this.
A children’s ministry presents kids with something fun to do.
As Brenda stated, she and her friends would rather run wild than solely pay attention. In many churches today, one can now take note of this: Play slides and obstacle courses for kids to let their energies out before or after a Sunday school lesson.
How Smash Design can be of service: Smash has created space ships and fun characters to insert into kid play zones.
A children’s ministry makes kids want to come to church.
Kids aren’t wired like adults. A child will not walk into a children’s museum to experience various earth tones, marble walls and fancy wood floors. Instead, children’s museums are designed to grab children’s attention through bright colors, fun activities, and creative elements that inspire the growth of imagination. In this Ministry to Children article, they state, “There is nothing wrong with having a program that appeals to the interests of children, especially when it brings more children to hear the Gospel.”
How Smash Design can be of service: Smash has created various airbrushed murals that portray fun themes and characters
A children’s ministry helps bring in new families to the church
If the kids are happy, everyone is happy! Need we say more?