I serve at the Carolina Missionary Baptist Church, a predominately African American congregation, in Fort Washington, Maryland and my “view from the balcony” of our ministry led me in many different directions initially. While contemplating which direction the ministry should take in its next most faithful steps, I was overwhelmingly moved to focus entirely on youth and children of the ministry. The three next most faithful steps I propose are (1) Developing Mission oriented children and youth, (2) Incorporating Children and Youth into the Corporate Worship and (3) Growing the Faith of Children and Youth. Although these components are connected, each one can be incorporated individually.
Developing Mission Oriented Youth Our ministry currently is not intentional to encourage and nurture young people in discerning their purpose and destiny. Destiny and purpose are talked about on the surface but there is no deliberate infiltration of this model into the culture of the ministry.…show more content… In addition to pre-worship preparation, children and youth can be incorporated into the actual worship service by allowing them to take on active leadership roles in segments of worship. These roles can include leading the call to worship, invocation, Bible creed (responsive reading) and reading the scripture before the sermon, serving as greeters or ushers. Currently children and youth perform these roles on “Youth Sunday” once per month. In an effort to incorporate children and youth into the fabric of worship this step proposes to ask them to serve more often. Each Sunday a youth can be asked to serve in one or more areas of worship. The goal of this step is for all age groups to be actively engaged in all aspects of the worship experience, thereby building community where relationships are nurtured and flourish. As relationships are cultivated the next faithful step is
