Meet Joan Stevenson, Elementary Department Leader

“Children are at the very center of life in the kingdom of God.” These words from Mark 10:8 (The Message) changed my life recently. I see life with God as an adventure. I want to be in the middle of the action, not missing one thing God has for me. So as I sat one morning with Jesus, contemplating stepping back onto staff with our Children’s Ministry, these words spoke to me. 

My husband and I have called NCCC home since 1997. I ran our junior high ministry from 1997-2003 until my son was born. Since that time, my husband and I have served in every age and grade of our awesome Children’s Ministry. For the past two years I have also had the privilege of being part of our Kids Games Team. 

I love our Kindergarten – Third Grade children and their families. These kids have the most incredible insights into who God is and their relationship with them. They are not just the future of the church. They are the church!  You should step in and see worship. You should see them lean in to soak up all they can of the Bible in our large group teaching time. You should hear their responses in small group time. This is truly the “very center of life in the kingdom of God”. 

I look forward to meeting you and I invite you come check out what is happening in our Kindergarten – Third Grade classes. Step into the action of Promiseland!

Who's On Your Kid's Team?

See also Part 1 of this series: A Big Job Ahead,
and Part 2: It's God's Work.

"Let's stay away from those kids until they're 18 before we begin winning their hearts and minds" ...said no marketer, ever.

A number of years ago, the African proverb, "It takes a village to raise a child" re-entered public consciousness. Unfortunately, because of who the speaker was, the comment became a lightning rod for criticism and the phrase got tainted with political meaning. But call it what you will - a village, a team, a tribe - your kid needs one, and here's why.

As the "ecology" described by John Westerhoff (the interdependent network of institutions that propagated and nurtured Christian belief and values) eroded, what took its place was not nothing. Every society of every time period is governed by values. Today, we value choice, individualism, convenience, speed, quality...things which work against Christian spirituality and growth. And you don't have to consciously choose those values - just by living in 21st-century America, you absorb them!

This pic does not represent the culture we live in...

The point is, our lives are lived in the river of culture, not the lake. A lake is calm and peaceful. You can bob endlessly or float lazily on your air raft and never really go anywhere. But a river has current. Just trying to stay in one place takes effort. And moving upstream? It'll wear you out.

...But this one does!

Meanwhile, let's not forget that there's a team - no, an army - of people wanting your kid to buy into American consumer culture. The marketers have not taken a hands-off approach to your kid. Hollywood has a vested interest in winning your their hearts and minds at a very young age. Those who dictate style and fashion are not shy about telling your son or daughter what's stylish and fashionable. People who traffic - in sex, in drugs, in culture - are not conspiring to stay away from kids. Their very existence depends on getting your kid hooked.

Who's helping you paddle upstream? Who's in the village surrounding your kid? By "village" I mean the network of supportive adults and influences that are alongside you and your kid.

Is Miley Cyrus in the picture? Do you think she's working for your kid, or against them? How about the professional athlete your kid looks up to? The older kids at the skate park? Other kids' parents? Teachers? Coaches? They might be paddling your direction, or they might be shoving your kid into the current. But they're not neutral.

That's why you can't do it alone. And let me be clear what "it" is. In the past few years, it's become trendy for churches to assert that "parents should be the primary disciplers of their kids." Some have even gone so far as to advocate abolishing church youth and children's programs, claiming that scripture only supports "family-integrated" churches. It's a bogus distinction, because this is God's work. We don't own it - not parents, not churches. God's work, in the lives of God's kids. We are merely tending, not creating.

And an important part of the tending is creating an atmosphere (or environment, or village, or world - choose your favorite) that fosters growth by inclining your kid in the direction of God. Culture creation is a team sport. (Unless you are the exception. Great. But that doesn't mean someone else doesn't need you to be on their support team for their kid.) Who's on your kid's team?

It's God's Work

Ever been here? You've been put in charge of the details of an event or project. Shortly before it's due, the boss shows up and takes over. Your plan gets modified. Heavily. The whole thing, while in line with the boss' vision, looks quite different than what you'd laid you. Now, you feel A) annoyed (Why did I do all that work?), or B) relieved (This is gonna turn out great!).

By today's management standards, what I described above would not be a "best practice". It might just be a recipe for deflating morale! Good leadership means letting people take ownership of their work.

But who "owns" the work of kids' spiritual growth?

I think the Bible is really clear: it's God. (The answer is always "God" in church, right?) Consider what Paul said when the Christians in Corinth were fighting over their allegiance to Apollos, to Peter, and to Paul. Rather than lobbying for the "favorite pastor" award, Paul corrected them sharply - even going so far as to say that their quarrel revealed their worldliness. If they'd been seeing things as they actually were, they'd know that Paul, Apollos, Peter, and others were nothing but servants. Only God deserved the credit - because only God makes spiritual growth happen:

I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow. So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. (1 Corinthians 3:6-7)

What implications are there for us? If we're seeing with spiritual eyes, we recognize clearly that you and I and programs and curriculum and amazing camps and kid devotionals are only messengers and servants...but only God makes things grow.

The work of kids' spiritual growth is God's work. We just participate in it.

How? Last week I wrote about the particular "ecology" identified by John Westerhoff that supported Christianity and Christian spirituality, a cluster of institutions that included schools, schools, families, popular media, Sunday schools, and churches. A century ago, this ecology created a society that was very conducive to Christian thought and practice. Put simply, a person living then was constantly subjected to Christianizing influences.

To be sure, there were plenty of "cultural Christians" back then - people who embraced "Christian values" because it was all they knew. And while it may be tempting to accept that for your kid ("At least they have good morals and know right from wrong"), don't do it! Christianity that is only cultural and not personal lacks the power to transform. It claims the name, but underwhelms in its intensity.

Still, the "planting" and "watering" that Paul talks about is the work of ministry. Whether you are a parent, a ministry professional, a teacher, a mentor, or whoever - that is what we do: we create stable environments where things can grow. But - God makes them grow.

So we win when God wins, if our goals and priorities are aligned with his. If they're not, we need to check ourselves. Because to argue against what God is trying to do is foolish at best, and destructive at worst. "The wind blows wherever it pleases," Jesus said. "You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”

I'm very wary of publishers who forecast the results we can expect to see in kids as a result of using their curriculum. That is not for a publisher to say. That takes the work from God and makes it our work. Instead, curriculum is secondary to the environment we establish - the ecology that will either support or diminish our kids' spiritual growth.

(Note: Establishing a healthy ecology and putting kids in a "Christian bubble" are two very different things. For one thing, people who've tried will tell you - there is no bubble. You cannot hide entirely from the culture; don't try. We are keeping kids in a bubble when we shun involvement with the larger culture, whereas salt-and-light Christianity would have us engaging with that culture.)

We all know well-meaning Christian parents who pushed too hard - and their kids rejected Christianity. We've all sat through sermons that were long on gee-whiz Bible details, but left us dry and unmotivated to live it out. Maybe you know kids, as I do, who know lots and lots about the content of the Bible...and they also have zero personal desire to read it. Those are not victories!

When the ecology works right, it succeeds in fostering attitudes that incline kids toward God. It doesn't magically grow a Christian. It can't. Because that's God's work.

Greetings from our new 4th-6th Grade Director, James Walton

Hey Parents,

Wanted to first let you all know how excited and passionate I am about being able to pour into the lives of your fourth, fifth, and sixth graders. As I enter into this ministry and seek God's heart for vision, direction and strategy on how to impact your kids, I want to first take the opportunity to introduce myself on a more personal note.

Most of you may know who I am through my famous mother Debbie Walton, and rightfully so. I would not be the man I am today without her influence and example in my life. However, God has particularly done a unique work in my life beyond the influence of North Coast Calvary Chapel.

I grew up in the church, with great examples and love in my life, but I did not find a personal love and devotion for my Savior until after I graduated high school in 2009. The summer after graduating I took a flight down to Chile, South America, and joined a school with a missions organization named "Youth with a Mission" (YWAM). The Lord really took hold of my heart in the first week and began a discipleship process in my life. I spent the next three months receiving great teaching from passionate and committed missionaries and then putting into practice everything that I had learned in the following two months.

Over the next four years I would spend about half the year ministering and serving with YWAM and the other half serving as an intern in the sport ministry here at North Coast Calvary. Between both ministries I have served in about seven different countries (USA, Mexico, Egypt, England, Chile, Argentina, Peru) and have had the privilege to see God move in different ways in each of them. I continued studying with YWAM through their "University of the Nations," where I completed a leadership training school and the school of the fundamentals of biblical counseling.

One of the aspects of this new opportunity to serve that excites me is the role I will have of imparting a lifestyle of discipleship to the hearts of your kids. I hope that through my own personal experiences and lifestyle, they will take to a deeper relationship with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Thanks for your support and prayers and I look forward to serving with you in the discipleship of your kids.

A Big Job Ahead

What does it take to "go into all the world and preach the gospel" when the corner of the world where you are is diverse and pluralistic, and the people are busy, transient, and subject to a constant stream of marketers who want their time and attention?

That's a big job, and it calls for a big effort.

This business of disciple-making in Christianity has never been an easy one, even when times were simpler and there was a lot less for people to do. If you believe - as I do - that God is real and that spiritual forces exist, it's understandable why. Every living thing - God included - has wants, and so the matter of what will capture someone's heart-and-mind allegiance comes down to a contest.

As significant figures in the lives of kids - parents, grandparents, aunts & uncles, coaches, teachers, mentors, and ministry workers - what's our role? How can we work most effectively and faithfully? Those are some questions I hope to explore in this space in the weeks to come.

But there are some really key things we need to acknowledge, beyond that disciple-making is hard. They are specific to our culture, and they're truths some people don't want to confront.

The first is that just bringing kids to church isn't enough. Church programming, while really, really important, cannot take the place of a loving home environment, and it cannot supply the well-rounded package of support needed to produce full-orbed disciples. Instead, kids must be intentionally trained, and that training needs to happen not just in church, but at home, in school, on the soccer field - everywhere.

Secondly, there are kids in our culture who will never, ever set foot in a church, yet we are called to reach them, too. If we don't, churches become clubs, catering to their own. It's true that church is not a store. We're not open 24 hours for people's convenience; we don't have drive-thru windows. But if we don't stay mindful of who's "out there", in a few generations, there's no one left. I don't know if you've ever been a part of a dying church, but it's a real thing, and it's painful. Our church right now is healthy and growing, which is great, but America is full of emptying churches that were thriving half a century ago. The perpetuation of a church is never a sure thing.

So, here's the catch: a couple of generations ago, all a church needed to do was its share. Everyone went to church, so if this church and that church and the one down the street each did programs for kids: ta-da! Every kid was being reached.

But we live in a different time. And it calls for a different strategy, both inside the church and outside its walls.

The great Christian Educator John Westerhoff wrote that American churches used to belong to a special "ecology" of institutions, each interacting with the others, that supported spiritual development. This ecology consisted of:
1. Homogeneous communities (everyone thinks and acts like us)
2. Stable nuclear families
3. Public schools (which started the day with prayer and Bible reading)
4. Popular media (popular magazines were often from religious publishers, while stories from the Bible served as the subject for many Hollywood films)
5. Sunday schools (which were an important weekly ritual)
6. Churches (which were hubs of intergenerational social activities)

What's happened to this ecology? Communities grew diverse; family makeup changed. Schools did away with religious rituals; the number and variety of entertainment choices for families exploded. And as we became more mobile and busier, church attendance declined. Sunday schools (children's ministries) were left to shoulder the burden all alone.

To put it another way, what kids received when they went to church used to be the icing on the cake. All week long kids would take in a steady diet of Christian history, symbols, and thought. Church teaching merely reinforced agreed-upon social values. Now though, children's ministry programs are often relied on to accomplish what it used to take a cluster of institutions to do.

What can we do to rebuild that ecology? Is it even possible? Desirable? More next week.