The children who enter the children’s ministry classroom each week do not leave their baggage at the door. They arrive with all the feels accumulated throughout the week. They carry with them worries, sorrows, and cares from life lived in a fallen world.
One child might be worried about a test at school the next day. Another might bear anger toward a sibling for breaking a beloved toy earlier that morning. Still another might feel the weight of failure over a lost soccer game the day before.
Such emotions often feel heavy for children. They are seldom equipped to know how to respond to hard emotions. After all, understanding and responding to one’s emotions is something we all must learn. As a result, their responses might seem excessive or out of place to the adults around them. The tears shed when a child makes a mistake in her drawing during class seems exaggerated as does the angry response when a child doesn’t get to sit in his favorite seat next to his best friend.
That’s why it is helpful for children’s ministry staff and volunteers to not only teach and disciple children in God’s word, but also to help children learn what God has to say to their emotions. Throughout Scripture there are opportunities to teach children that God cares about them and calls them to bring their emotions to him in prayer…
Read the rest of this piece at the children’s ministry site, Grow.
