The purpose of these devotions is for you as a leader to have some powerful thoughts from God’s Word to encourage your team members. Please feel free to adjust or adapt as you see fit.

Scripture

2 Corinthians 5:18-20 (English Standard Version)

18All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; 19that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. 20Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.

Devotion

This opening illustration can be used with odd or even numbers of people. Have pieces of construction paper ripped in half prior to the meeting. If you have an odd number of people, give everyone a half piece and another person a roll of tape. If you have an even number, give two people rolls of tape and the rest a ripped half of paper. Don’t give them any instructions, just tell them they need to figure out what to do next. Hopefully they will figure out that the tape people are supposed to help the torn pieces of paper be rejoined. The point is that the people with the tape had the tools of repair in their possession. II Corinthians 5 really harks on the fact that we are God’s agents of reconciliation between sinful man and God.

Our main task in children’s ministry is to be agents of reconciliation. Children who have not yet been saved are at odds with God. They need to be reconciled to Him. God made a way for that reconciliation to be accomplished through Jesus Christ. We also serve unsaved parents and siblings. They all need to be reconciled to God. II Corinthians 5:18-20 provides two insights about this reconciliation with which God calls us to help.

  1. Every believer is given the ministry of reconciliation. The evangelist is a special called office (Ephesians 4:11-13), but the call to evangelize is a calling on all believers. Our teaching in children’s ministry, our relational development, our curriculum design, should be structured around this calling.
  2. God equips us for this ministry by giving us the “word” of reconciliation. The word of reconciliation is very simple. It is the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of our sin. Kids are reconciled when they place faith in Jesus’ ability to forgive them.

God does not need us, but God chooses to use us out of His grace. It is a privilege and honor to serve as His ambassadors. You are not in children’s ministry because you have some inherent gift that God was grateful to have you serve in His kingdom. You are in it because you are an ambassador, a servant of God that He uses to spread the word of reconciliation to many children and families. Take the role seriously and utilize the emotion of “pleading” that Paul encourages in verse 20 to lead kids and families to Christ.

Related posts:

  1. Fire Them Up–I Corinthians 15:3-4
  2. Fire Them Up–Psalm 78:1-8
  3. Fire Them Up–II Timothy 2:10