Leon Blanchette

Family Ministry Reconsidered

The buzz word today is “family” ministry. Incorporating the word into the common language of the church has become routine and ordinary.  One can’t talk about ministry without talking about family ministry. The word can be found in magazines, curriculum, college classrooms, and even in ministry titles. I can remember about twelve or so years ago changing my title from Children’s Pastor to Pastor to Families with Children.  I wanted to be on the cutting edge of this new emphasis that recognized ministry to the whole family is much more glamorous than ministry to just children.  I believe my heart was in the right place and my intentions were to try to meet the needs of the entire family while still focusing on the children I had been called to serve.  I suppose it was a good start, but my understanding of what it meant to minister to the family was certainly lacking.  I think the same may be true today when many hear the phrase “family” ministry.

Kids in the Dark

I teach a children's ministry class at Olivet where students are required to do interviews with children. This is always an interesting project because we know from developmental theorists that children's verbal skills and vocabulary do not develop as quickly as their ability to understand and experience life. As part of the interview process, my students have children draw pictures of what they think God looks like and their understanding of the word, "church" (we have found that art is a great way for children to express themselves). One set of questions that the students ask include "Does God ever talk to you? Do you ever hear God speak? What does his voice sound like?" While one might expect kids to say they do not hear God talk, the truth is that many respond in the affirmative.

I realize there are a multitude of potential explanations for their responses, but one recurring comment has intrigued me. Many of the children of various ages have said that they hear God talk to them at night when they are in bed.  For five years I have collected student interviews of children of all ages and those who say God talks to them all say it is at night in bed. This has caused me to ask, why?  What is unique about bedtime?  Is there something special about being in bed?  Is there significance to the darkness of night? 

Celebrating Holy Days (revisited)

The Christmas season is a wonderful time of the year, filled with music, goodwill, lots of presents, and if you are lucky, lots of snow.  It is also a time that the church celebrates the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ.  Experience has shown that in many Nazarene churches we do a sufficient job of celebrating the Christmas event.  We have Christmas parties which include the telling of the story of Mary and Joseph's journey to Bethlehem, we have special worship services and musicals that focus on the real meaning of Christmas, and we may even show generosity to our community by working in the food pantry or visiting the local nursing home.  In the midst of all these good activities have we missed the opportunity to celebrate Christmas and the holy season so that they impact our children in ways that change their relationship with God?

The church has always celebrated "holy days."  These are days that the church recognizes as "set apart" and provide the opportunity for special observances and celebrations.  Holy days, or holy seasons, give occasion to help children understand the master story of God from beginning to end and allows for the building of traditions as these days are celebrated from one year to the next.  A listing of the holy days and seasons can be found in the Revised Common Lectionary.  An overview of Advent and Christmas will be the focus of this article

Mentoring: One Tool in the Development of Leaders

Those who have a passion for ministering to children often find themselves immersed in a multitude of programs while many around them watch from the sidelines, often cheering them on.  If we really do desire to help our children walk faithfully with God then we cannot afford to do everything ourselves while allowing those who God has sent to minister with us to sit and watch.  God has called us to become mentors to those who desire to serve our children.  Mentoring must become a focus of our ministry.

The purpose of this article is to provide brief history, types, and characteristics of mentoring.  The article, which is taken from a research paper on the topic, is not designed to be a "how-to", but rather to provide background that challenges the reader to consider such an endeavor.  A complete copy of the paper is available by emailing the author.

Where the Rubber Meets the Road

I'd like to thank my colleagues, Dr. Mark Quanstrom and Dr. Carl Leth, for an excellent job of laying before us the theological issues associated with infant baptism and infant dedication.  While their articles have helped us to think through the issues at stake and may have swayed many of us to reconsider our understanding of both rites, there remains the practical application of these theological understandings.  In a brief overview I would like to address the "what now?" questions that exist for the pastor who has to deal with these issues on a regular basis.  It is my hope that this ongoing conversation will help to establish some new patterns that will address the practical issues associated with infant baptism and infant dedication.

Celebrating Holy Days

Easter is a wonderful season filled with new life and excitement about warm weather and playing outside.  It is also a time that the church celebrates the passion, death, and resurrection of our Savior.  Experience has shown that in many Nazarene churches we do a sufficient job of celebrating the Easter event.  We have Easter Egg Hunts that include Resurrections Eggs that guide us toward the true meaning of Easter, we have special worship services that focus on the death and resurrection of Christ, and we may even have special parties.  In the midst of all this activity have we missed the opportunity to celebrate Easter and other holy days so that they impact our children in ways that change their relationship with God?

The church has always celebrated “holy days.”  These are days that the church recognizes as “set apart” and provide the opportunity for special observances and celebrations.  Holy days, or holy seasons, give occasion to help children understand the master story of God from beginning to end and allows for the building of traditions as these days are celebrated from one year to the next.  A listing of the holy days and seasons can be found in the Revised Common Lectionary.  An overview of some of these days will be the focus of this article.

The Role of Parents in the Spiritual Development of Children

Christians would agree that our children are extremely important. Christian parents invest their lives in providing for the needs and wants of their children with the desired outcome of a happy and successful life. Parents attend ball practices and games, work in concession stands, live through hours of piano practice and endure recitals, all to provide opportunities for their children to be their absolute best. Yet, often, the most important investment parents could make, an investment in the spiritual development of their children, is ignored (Beckwith 2004, 11). Barna expresses his frustration at this trend when he states the following: “I have been discouraged to discover that most American adults—including most parents—see spiritual development of children as a value-added proposition rather than the single most-important aspects of children’s development” (Beckwith 2004, 14). We must begin to recognize that the spiritual development of children is not only important but also mandated by Scripture. We must also recognize that the development of children’s spiritually is dependant upon the parents and adults of the faith community. The role of leaders is critical in the spiritual development of children.

Second-Generation Christians

The theological question that must be asked is at what point a child is capable of entering the journey to life? Horace Bushnell responds to this question with his earth-shaking proclamation “that the child is to grow up a Christian, and never know himself as being otherwise” (Bushnell 1953, 4). Bushnell’s response clearly communicates his belief that children are capable of entering this journey at a young age. Bushnell abhorred the modern idea that children should grow up in sin and be converted at a more “mature age” (Bushnell 1953, 4). While some accuse Bushnell of not taking the conversion process seriously based on his response, his intent is to champion the cause for children’s ability to love God from a very young age and to “grow up in Christ” (Bushnell 1953, 8).