13 Then people brought little children to Jesus for him to place his hands on them and pray for them. But the disciples rebuked them. 14 Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” 15 When he had placed his hands on them, he went on from there. As we are setting out together on this exciting adventure with Jesus in leading Family Ministry at Freedom Church, we are reminded of the power that this story holds. The context of these verses is that people are bringing their families to Jesus, kids of different ages, but the disciples are basically telling them to go away. Perhaps they were trying to protect Jesus’s time, maybe the kids were were being too loud and too noisy whilst Jesus was trying to share some cool teaching (or just being loud in general!), perhaps there were unsettled babies, fussy toddlers and stressed out parents. Whatever the reason, the disciples were discouraging these families from being present. However, Jesus valued what these kids and families had to bring and does the complete opposite of what the disciples are asking and encourages the kids and families to come to Him. Not just stay and listen, but to actually come to Him so that he could bless them. Often we imagine what this story looks like with Jesus sitting with all these children surrounding Him, sitting on his knee and listening intently to His stories and His encouragement. We really feel that this story is going to be key for inspiring us as we take Family Ministry forward. People have been asking us “so what’s the plan for family ministry?” To be honest, we don’t know! But to quote Lizi - the vision is Jesus! That’s our plan. We want to grow this ministry to be one that actively encourages children and families to come to Jesus and have their own unique, special and transformational encounters with Jesus. To experience Jesus as their Way, their Truth and their Life. What’s more, in this verse Jesus is extending that invitation to come to Him to us as adults when he says “for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these” - there’s a challenge here to come to Jesus with that child-like faith. Have a think about the children around you that you have influence over in some way, shape or form - sons/daughters, nieces/nephews, grandchildren, God-children and the way in which they ask questions without embarrassment, don’t overthink things and include others who are on the outside. Ask God to challenge your way of thinking to be more child-like and to come to him just as you are, with all your thoughts and emotions and trust that He will be there with His loving arms open wide, ready to bless you, without trying to work out how He’s going to solve all your problems, but trusting that He is the answer to your prayers. We really feel that this starting point for us as we pick up Family Ministry, weaves in beautifully with the vision of Freedom Church for this year - as we regularly encourage one another to have more ‘Mary’ moments of listening to Jesus, leaning in and lacuna. During Freedom Kids and following on from their previous topic of worship, we will be encouraging kids to lean in through prayer - we’ll be following Pete Greig’s “How to Pray for young explorers”. We love the Parenting for Faith resources and we’ll be referring to these regularly. As we encourage our kids to come to Jesus, let’s create windows into our world of coming to Jesus, frame it for them, unwind any confusion, encourage kids to chat and catch with God, and our favourite - surf the waves - the moments will come and go, embrace them for however long they last! Muddy and Wild is such a great tool to facilitate this way of thinking and we want to encourage you parents, when you come out to this, to go on this journey with your kids. We want to encourage you to come on this journey with us. Perhaps you’ve been involved in children and families ministry for years and still have that spark - great! Stay with us! Perhaps you’ve never been part of it and want to know more - come and speak to one of us! Could you be part of a prayer support team for us? Being part of this ministry doesn’t mean you have to be down on the floor with the kids. We’re excited to be part of Freedom Church and everything that God has for us a Church, but specifically for Children and Families Ministry! Love, Steven and Naomi x