Kids Ministry
KIDS MINISTRY consists of resourcing parents to disciple their kids and providing supplemental weekly events to bless kids. We offer two events for kids each week, which take place on Wednesday nights and Sunday mornings. On Wednesday nights at 7PM we partner with Fairview Heights Baptist Church on their campus and have AWANA for the kids and on Sunday mornings we have Kid’s Church at 10AM. We encourage parents to use these events in the discipleship of their kids as a means to reinforce what their kids are learning at home.
At Del Rey Church we firmly believe that kids are absolutely amazing! The Bible says they are gifts from God. In addition to being gifts, our kids are joyful responsibilities. When it comes to responsibility, the world immediately jumps to talking about material things, education and success. While these are not bad things per se, they are far from even getting close to what our real responsibility is in God’s eyes. God has given us these gifts to raise them for His glory. The Kids Ministry at Del Rey Church is committed to this vision for the glory of God.
We believe God is most glorified when parents see their children as gifts from God and for His glory. This means that the chief aim of a parent will be to humbly seek God to bless their active efforts in discipling their kids, so that their eyes may be opened to the gospel in His grace and so that they will be mature believers of substantive faith.
The Bible is clear on whose job it is to disciple children... parents. Hence, in having a so-called Kids Ministry, we want to be very clear that Kid’s Ministry is really not your kid’s ministry, because that is your joyful responsibility in the home as a parent. We must say this because many parents use church programs to relieve themselves of their discipleship duties and they become dependent on those who have taken over the job. And this is why we are losing 75-88% of Evangelical teens by the end of their freshman year in college. A church program for kids or weekly meeting for kids is not enough to disciple our children. Discipleship of our kids must take place at home. The rest that we do is just icing on the cake!
We encourage all parents at Del Rey Church to evangelize and disciple their kids. Don’t assume the gospel or the salvation of your home: rather, saturate everything in the truth of the gospel and God’s saving grace. Furthermore, equip your kids to reach their friends with the gospel and use your home as a ministry of hospitality and evangelism, in addition to being a place of family worship, catechism, and family discipleship. Overall, we want to communicate that while we have things for the kids at Del Rey Church, we do not place the responsibility of kid’s discipleship on the church’s staff or programs, rather, we equip and expect the parents to do it by the grace of God.
