Well-Equipped Volunteer: Train & Grow Your Children's Ministry Volunteers

I have found that there are plenty of things to be anxious about when you’re involved in children’s ministry.

There is the constant recruiting – will there be enough teachers for Sunday School? Will we be able to run our club program this year? Do we have enough subs in case teachers or volunteers get ill?

There is the worry about discipline issues and whether the kids are really learning and falling in love with Jesus.

It can be too easy to feel anxious about whether your volunteers are getting the training and support they need. Or if you are a volunteer, you may be feeling anxious that you are not skilled enough for the role you are playing.

Then there is the mess of relationships. Are you able to help, support, and encourage those volunteers in your children’s ministry or your fellow volunteers? What about when something happens with a  child in your class or their family?

Being involved in children’s ministry can cause a lot of anxiety. So, let me encourage you.

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.  And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:6-7

The Bible has encouragement for those of us feeling anxious and maybe even overwhelmed. And an action plan.

First, don’t be anxious.

Instead pray about everything with a thankful heart. Bringing everything that is causing anxiety to the throne of God means that you are trusting Him to handle the things that you can’t. And doing it with thanksgiving shows a faith that He can and will listen to you.

As we bring our requests to God with thankful hearts, the peace of God takes over. Peace that doesn’t make any sense to us. How we can have peace in the situation we are currently facing is baffling. But that’s why Paul writes that this peace from God transcends all understanding. To transcend means to go beyond or exceed. This peace from God goes beyond our understanding and it will guard our hearts and our minds in Christ Jesus.

The peace of God will guard our hearts and our minds from overwhelming anxiety.

There is a 3 step action plan in these verses. 1. Don't be anxious. 2. Pray about everything with thanksgiving. 3. Accept the peace of God that exceeds our understanding and let it guard your heart and your mind.

So we have a choice. We can live lives filled with anxiety or we can choose to take everything to God and let His peace which goes beyond our understanding to fill us and guard us.