Ministry Involvement Pre and Post Children

I don't know about you, but lots of things in our life changed after having kids! One of those was our ministry involvement within our local church. We weren't able to serve in all the ways we had prior to having kids, but found new ways that worked better as a young family. I think Leah F. touched on this, but I wanted to share what my involvement has been pre and post kids.

Before having kids, my involvement was mainly with the youth at our church. I led a small group during the week and was a counselor at our summer camp. We even traveled to central asia with our church to be counselors for the youth at a conference for those serving overseas. (I was actually 10 weeks pregnant with my first during that trip! So technically we had a child. :) We also served occasionally as subs in the children's ministry on Sunday mornings. If I could go back, I would spend more time serving with the children before we had our own.

After having kids, our time was simply more limited. I worked full time and my husband was in school full time and working almost full time as well. Taking a week away from our son wasn't an option, especially when he was still nursing. Weeknights were much more difficult to coordinate. So I took a year off from leading a small group.

The next year, we both led again but this time my mother in law watched Will every Wednesday evening for us. This was do-able with one child, but once our second came along I have not done youth ministry since. Without my in-laws help serving us, we wouldn't have been able to serve in that way during that time.

In the years since our second was born, I have sort of phased out of youth ministry and learned that in this season of life shorter term committments are best for me. Serving on Sunday mornings is a better option with kids as we are already there and they have somewhere to be - their own class. Weeknight committments are just more difficult (but not impossible) when you have small children. We spent one year teaching my son's 2 year old class and that was a blast. Since then, we have substituted a few times on Sunday mornings and I have also subbed at AWANA (that Will already attends) as well.

I think that maybe it is natural for us to progress in the areas we serve based on the ages of our children. My husband's parents led his Sunday School class from about 7th grade through 12th grade. I would love to do that some day and really know the children my kids will grow up with! So someday we may return to youth ministry! For now, we'll stick with the preschoolers. :)

I've also enjoyed having a once a year involvement in a specific Women's Ministry event called Holidays Fit for the King. It just took place this year and is a morning event where we serve breakfast, have a speaker and attend seminars all geared towards preparing our hearts for holidays. I have loved serving in this way because it is so flexible! All of my work in registration was done at home, when I had time. Aside from that there was a little prep time at church before the event and then the day of. One of the event's highlights is the decorated tables. They are each decorated by a different (and very talented) lady. Because I know you will enjoy seeing them, here is a slideshow of all the tables from this year! :)

(Thanks to my friend, Rockie for the slideshow! I forgot my camera and she shared her pics with me.)