Children's Ministry is like Baseball

We've all heard of baseball and most of us have probably even played the game. A baseball team is made up of many players. An extremely important player is the pitcher. Ideally, the pitcher often has a lot of control over the starts and pauses during a game. When the pitcher is on the pitcher's mound with the ball, the game has to wait for him to throw the next pitch. Once the pitch is thrown the game is on and lots of different things can happen. The opposing team's batter could walk, get a hit, hit a home run or the team in the field can catch the ball or throw the ball and get the batter out.

A really good pitcher can often strike out the opposing team's batter. However, rarely can a pitcher win a game by striking out everyone that comes up to bat. The whole team is needed for a successful game and season. If a batter gets on base, he can steal to second, etc. Coaches are in charge of training and strategizing. However, it is important to remember that once the game begins it's up to the pitcher and the other players to make it a winning game. A coach can prepare and teach the players but she can't force them to remember what they've been taught, to come prepared or to stay focused when they are out on the field.

So how is Children's Ministry like baseball? Let's think about it this way.

Season = months worth of church services

Game = a particular service (Sun 11am on June 16th)

Field = classroom/hallway/playground

Ball = the children

Coaches = coordinators and directors

Pitcher = lead teacher

Other players = all the other youth and adult assistants in the classroom, registrars

The opposing team = crying, frustration, hunger, accidents, hitting, biting, talking too much, not paying attention, yelling, running, climbing, and many, many others

Sample 2yr old Game: Sunday service, 11:00am: