Hi everyone, I’m Michelle Anthony. Welcome to Family Ministry Conversations. Today’s topic is God-centered ministries.
What do we mean by God-centered? Aren’t all of our ministries God centered?
Every time we teach children to put God at the center of the story, we are centering Him at the storyline that is actually His.
Of course, we might think so. But I can tell you from doing years of ministry with children, youth, and their parents—there were times when it became a little bit more centered around things other than God.
Making God the Center of His Story
One of the ways that we have found to make God the center of our ministry is by making Him the center of His story.
As we know, there’s one grand redemptive narrative or The Big God Story where God is at the center. He is the main character. And we all play a supporting actor or actress role to His story.
We make God the center by allowing Him to be the hero of every story.
Think about it. When we talk about Jonah and the whale, who do we think is the main character? Jonah. Or David fights Goliath. Who do we say as the main character of that story? David. We encourage children to be prayerful like Jonah or to be courageous like David.
But we switch that up and we make God the center of that story. It’s really not a story about Jonah. It’s a story about God and how God answers prayer. And it’s really not a story about David and telling kids to go be courageous like him. It’s a story about how God is victorious.
Every time we teach children to put God at the center of the story, whether it’s Jesus is compassionate, the Holy Spirit changes everything, or God is faithful, we are centering God at the storyline that is actually His.
Pray with God-Centered Statements
How we speak to one another also positions God at the center of our ministries. We pray with God-centered statements.
For example, I have somebody who is in need of prayer and they ask for healing or for protection, we can say, “God is healer, God is protector, God is provider.” We’re focusing not on the problem that we’re praying about, but we’re focusing on the God who hears our prayers.
When we affirm one another, we can say, “I see God’s generosity in you. I see God’s kindness in you.”
We’re centering our conversation, our teaching, and all of our life on God.
After all, God is at the center of His Word. He is at the center of our lives. And He is at the center of the gospel that we want to bring to children and their families for a lifetime.
8 At-Home Lessons for Families
8 At-Home Lessons for Families
