unlimited

Last weekend we went up to Christchurch for a children's ministry conference called 'unlimited'. We took up 4 other leaders, and for most of them it was the first kids conference the've ever been to. It wasn't a "skills" conference, where once again we learn how to do object lessons, learn new games, how to use music, how to make puppets, and some really great craft ideas. The emphasis was on changing the culture of kids programs to providing space for the Spirit to lead what we're doing.

The theme was that God is unlimited, the possibilities and potenial are unlimited, even the sky cant limit God. The guest speaker was Andrew Shepherd. He's currently leading a childrens minisry at Crossway Baptist Church in Melbourne that has 600-700 kids each Sunday, plus all the kids and families that are reached every week through schools and commuity programs. Before that he was heading up the kids ministry at Paradise Church, Adelaide (otherwise know as Guy Sebastians Church!).

What he talked about really confirmed my thoughts about childrens ministry over the past few years. He put a massive emphasis on ministering out of a full cup, meaning that we need to be hanging out with God ourselves, so we actually have something fresh to offer kids. I like! We totally minister to kids out of our experience through the week. If we have met with God ourselves during the week, then we have so much to offer kids on Sundays.

So we did a midnight mission drive back down from Christchurch on Saturday, arriving back in Dunedin at about 3:15AM. The girls were keen as to do an all night thing cos they were so excited, but we really needed the sleep!

Man it's so encouraging to know that my leaders have "got it". It's not just me trying to explaining something, but they have themselves a revelation of what our kids program can look like.

I've learnt something about leadership too. I always kinda thought that as a leader there are different stages that we get to in our leadership skills. And I guess there are. But it's not about how effective I am at communicating, sharing vision, delegating etc. It's actually about the capacity that I have to let God do His thing through me. The simple fact that I am human limits what God can do through me. And if building an effective children's ministry is what He is doing through me, then the growth of that ministry is limited by ME.

The difference is by like one dregree, it's quite subtle, but it dramatically changes the way I see things. It's not as much about getting more skilled, and measuring my progress against some kind of scale. But actually, I need to get a picture of what God wants us to look like as a kids ministry, identify what it is that is limiting that, and doing whatever it takes to take away those limitations. It's a lot more simple that way. And it takes a lot of the pressure off me to perform as a leader. The load is taken off becasue I know that God is unlimited, and as I submit my limitations to Him, I know that He can supernaturally work through me.