by Rick Snodgrass

Now that we are in the new facility, I thought it would be good to express our views on having a building. This is from CTK International’s Founder and Lead Pastor Dave Browning’s book Deliberate Simplicty:

Many churches think “living room” instead of “family room” and send out the vibe: “Fake it ‘til you make it.” In a Deliberately Simple church we work hard to maintain a comfortable atmosphere. We encourage people to “make themselves at home.” We think “family room” when it comes to the places we meet and even the colors and styles we employ.

A Deliberately Simple church takes a very utilitarian view of facilities and their appointments. A building is just a tool. It is not the church. The people are the church. We could meet under a tree, and still be the church. The building is not our focal point. The people are. For this reason we don’t like to call the primary meeting place a “sanctuary.” We say “auditorium” or the “meeting room.” We “deinstitutionalize” the facility. We want our facilities to be neat, clean and functional and nothing else. What is special is not the place. What is special is what happens in the place. We don’t use a “pulpit.” A metal music stand will do. We don’t need fancy, just functional. We maintain utilitarian facilites. By making it clear that we are not fixated on the surroundings, we help to reinforce that “this is really about people.”

by Misti Sanders

The article “14 Ways Children’s Ministry Benefits The Children” from Ministry-to-children.com, is a valuable read and reminder of why children’s ministry is so very important in church. Your CTK teachers and helpers are looking forward to continuing to teach our CTK kids about the love of their Savior, Jesus Christ. 

It promotes their eternal happiness. I want my kids to find indestructible joy in Christ. 
• Children’s Ministry Tip: Constantly work to introduce them to Jesus. Make the good news plain in everything you do. We have a mural in our children’s worship room that summarizes the story of Jesus.

It helps them make sense out of life. Only understanding who made the world, what went wrong and God’s plan to fix it can explain this world we all experience. 
• Children’s Ministry Tip: Teach a Gospel-centered worldview with specific applications that will help them interpret life.

It’s their best chance to accept Christ. Research has proven that kids tend to be more receptive to the Gospel than any other age group. I want my children to have every opportunity to believe in Jesus. 
• Children’s Ministry Tip: Present the good news in age-appropriate ways all throughout childhood. I have different booklets that I give to different age groups to better target their comprehension level.

It helps avoid some negative outcomes of sin. Only God’s grace can change our hearts, but knowing the consequences of disobeying God is often a wake up call. When children understand the great price that Jesus paid for their salvation, they are more likely to stay on the way of the righteous.
• Children’s Ministry Tip: Be careful to teach both God’s law and God’s love, one doesn’t make sense without the other.

It can help counter balance worldly influences. Everyone knows the harmful influences present in our society. Kids need positive influences to tip the scale.
• Children’s Ministry Tip: Help them see where God’s values conflict with worldly values. For example, God say love other people and the world says “look out for yourself.”

It can help them learn to love others. The 2nd greatest commandment is to love your neighbor. We must teach this as a way of life, because it doesn’t comes naturally.
• Children’s Ministry Tip: Provide real life experiences for them to love other people. Some examples are mission trips, prayer partners, and ministry projects.

It is something fun to do. Do you know who invented fun? God did. Do you know why? For his own glory. While entertainment and fun seeking can become an idol, we should not think God is against fun.
• Children’s Ministry Tip: As a leader, your should be having fun too. Let the children know that you love ministering to them.

It helps kids want to come to church. 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.
• Children’s Ministry Tip: Make a list of the needs, interests and motivations of kids. Use these to inform (not dictate) how you will present God’s truth.

It helps them make new friends. Some of the best ones children will ever make is in the church.
• Children’s Ministry Tip: Allow time for group activities and relationship building in your programs.

It helps discover and intervene in abusive home situations. This is something we rarely address. But the church is often one of the few safe places on Earth for abused children.
• Children’s Ministry Tip: Pay attention to what kids are saying about their home life. Try to get to know every family. If you suspect abuse, you are legally (and morally) obligated to report it.

It helps children get to know their pastors. One of the best ways for ministers to connect with younger families is by working in the children’s programs.
• Children’s Ministry Tip: Draft pastors and staff ministers to serve VBS or other ministry programs.

It gives kids meaningful keepsakes. Those VBS and Sunday school crafts often become prized possessions. The Bible verses on their keepsakes will remind them of what they have learned for years to come.
• Children’s Ministry Tip Plan high value crafts that are worthy of keeping.

It gives children special memories. Think back to when you were a child in Sunday school. Can you remember a special teacher or event?
• Children’s Ministry Tip Take photos, make videos, or encourage kids to journal their memories.

It allows them to make friends with adult volunteers in safe context. In our culture child safety is a constant concern, and rightly so. But there is still great value in kids finding adult mentors in the church.
• Children’s Ministry Tip Design adult led small groups into our ministry times.

by Dave Underwood

I’ve benefitted so much from mentors. These thoughts in the article title Pie Crust Promises from my friend (and mentor from a distance), David Roper, remind me to include “God and His timing” within any and every “resolution.” Happy New Year CTK. I hope you enjoy this as much as I did. ​

I’m usually unsatisfied with my behavior no matter what time of the year it is. Nevertheless I make no resolutions for such promises, easily made, are easily broken. David learned that lesson well when, on one occasion, he resolved to hold his tongue...and couldn’t do it (Psalm 39). 

David was angry with God, yet he knew he shouldn’t vent his anger in the presence of God’s enemies. (It’s always wrong to speak against a friend, especially in the presence of antagonists.) So he resolved not to speak. “I will watch my ways and keep my tongue from sin,” he vowed. “I will put a muzzle on my mouth as long as the wicked are in my presence.”

For a short time he was able to restrain himself, but “the fire burned,” David fumed, erupted...and lamented: “Show me...my end, and the number of my days. Let me know how fleeting is my life. You have made my days a mere handbreadth; the span of my years is as nothing before you. Each man’s life is but a breath.” Thus failed resolve leads us to consider the brevity and frailty of our existence. 

We are eternal creatures with perfection in our hearts, and the perennial desire to move toward perfection. Yet we exist in time and space as imperfect, flawed human beings, utterly unable to keep our promises. “The Spirit is willing, but the flesh (our unaided humanity) is weak.” That’s why our resolve breaks down and we fall back to old habits and patterns of behavior.
There is but one way to make any real progress toward goodness: it is to know how frail and flawed we are. So David prays, “Cause me to know my limitations (vs. 4). Change begins with humility and the awareness that our resolve is mere “breath” (vs. 5). We voice our resolutions and they dissipate like breath into thin air.

Enduring change does not come by vows, decrees, New Year resolutions and strong resolve, but solely by the grace of God. Our part is to earnestly desire righteousness and to pray for it. God’s part is to bring it about in His own time and in His own way. “Man proposes; God disposes, an older generation of Christians used to say.

This David learned: “My hope is in you. Save me from all my transgressions... (Then) I was silent; I did not open my mouth, for you did it!” (vss. 7-9).

I hear an echo in Paul’s promise: “The one who calls you is faithful and he will do it!” (1 Thessalonians 5:24).