Growing up in a small country church, it could have been
easy to come to the conclusion that church was a place for lots of little old
ladies to get together on a Sunday morning and make cups of tea for the mums of
the three or four families in the congregation. Aside from a monthly family
service on Saturday night, it certainly wasn’t a place for dads to hang out. If
anyone had suggested that one of our dads became involved in the Sunday School
lesson, our small band of kids would have laughed them out of the room – that
was a job solely for women of our mums’ generation. So, imagine my surprise the
first time I saw a dad from the St. Paul’s 9.30 congregation actively
participating in their children’s group at SALT Club!
We have a great team of people, both male and female,
involved in leading and assisting our children’s ministry program each week and
everyone does a fantastic job of engaging the kids in the bible &
discussing God’s love for us all. However, it must be said that having a man in
the room brings a certain x-factor to the session that we women just can’t
quite manage. Kids respond differently to men and women and it is great to have
that balance in the groups.
It is also really important for our kids (particularly boys)
to see that all this ‘church and bible stuff’ is not just the domain of women.
That learning about and sharing God’s promise of love truly is for the whole
family. Regular male involvement in all levels of SALT Club is one way to
provide our kids with this role model.
It is genuinely wonderful to be able to walk into SALT Club
each Sunday and see at least one Dad either assisting or (gasp) leading one of
our four groups. Personally, it my prayer that this continues to be the case
well into the future.
