"She Knows Me"

Last week I heard Chap Clark speak. He has written several books and I am presently reading Hurt. He is a lively, entertaining speaker. Most of Clark’s work is with adolescents. He spent a lot of time explaining that adolescence begins at about 12 years old and goes to 22 years old today. He said that one way to reach our kids today is to have five people who really know each child. As I thought about this I realized that if teens need five people to really know them, we should begin when they are children.

In my own church I can think of a couple of examples. There is a family with children the same age as mine. We teamed up for carpooling for the kids’ sport teams and church activities. It seemed like all the games our kids were involved in were at the same time so I would take the boys to Little League and she would take the girls to softball or visa versa. About 4 years ago, their high school aged daughter brought a boyfriend to church. She introduced me to her friend and said, “This is Mrs. Keeley. She knows me.”

My son is applying for a youth director position at another church. He was asked about how the church should minister to young people. He talked about how he used to play baseball and one church member, Mr. Mulder would talk to him about baseball often – in fact, he would come to a couple of our sons’ games. He knows my son.

There are two things I’m thinking about here. I need to help the members of my church by coming up with more opportunities for them to make these kinds of connections with kids. My job in children’s ministries is to foster more of these kinds of connections. I also personally need to make sure that I know a couple of kids. It’s important. The church is place where we should know each other, a place where we belong.

What are other ways that we as a church can get to know our children? What ways have other church members come to know children in your ministry?