What is Good?
There are many good things happening here at Inspiration Church. I have to tell you about an outstanding idea which has become a reality after all kinds of consideration: our Kids’ Choir.
While considering how to bless our families here at Inspiration, I had initially thought about starting a Wednesday night children’s program. However, there are already many good Wednesday night programs that are well established here in our community. Given how supportive our evangelical churches are in Wahpeton/Breckenridge, there is a good amount of trust built into any programs we might share. And then there’s the difficulty of finding staff for another children’s ministry. We already have many needs to fill in our current programs and I felt that to add more to the already busy lives of those in our care would not be wise. Like many other churches, most of our leaders here at Inspiration are tapped into such a variety of roles that adding more would lead to being spread too thin; burnout comes shortly after that.
So, in the busyness of this young congregation that God has placed here in Central MN/Southeast ND, we have been seeking ways to accomplish as much as possible in ministry with minimal amount of volunteer effort needed. The goal is simply to not overwhelm my people any more than they already are. Looking around my community, much like any other community, our children have a variety of activities to choose from: dance, sports of all kinds, gymnastics, music lessons and the list goes on and on; not to mention other church activities that our families take part in at other trusted churches in our towns. So, we thought, “What if we could create something here that encouraged the talents of our children and added to the already positive things that engaged them. What if we could organize these children into a respected group of performing singers within our community?” And the obvious bonus here is that all along the way we get to teach them Christ-centered songs based on scriptural truths.
Now remember, to add more to these busy lives might create a quit-culture, so we wanted an activity that would engage our children in something unique and special in our community, something that even children outside our church family would want to be part of. Here is what I shared with my leadership, “I have a few free hours on Wednesday afternoons, I have a great connection with musicians and performing arts professionals in town. I love kids’ worship, I love children, and it doesn’t take many helpers to lead songs!” That made the decision easy, let’s tap into all of this and let the children learn some songs and bless our community, in performance, on stages around the area and then make a connection back to Inspiration Church.
We call it “Inspire Kids Choir.” We have been blessed with 25 children ages 5-12 who come together every Wednesday after school to learn songs, sing loud and let’s admit it, burn off some energy. Maybe you have something you love? Maybe your church can benefit from doing more with minimal volunteer effort? Maybe this success story is a spark for you? Go inspire your neighborhood and let Jesus be lifted high.
Tim Collins - Pastor at Inspiration Lutheran Brethren Church