When we’re looking to recruit volunteers, we often turn to the parents of children in our ministry. They are the most likely candidates since their kids benefit from what we do on Sundays and mid-week services. We also look for teens to help. But there is an untapped generation of people in our churches we often overlook. Whether grandparents of the children in your ministry or the older generation in your church, there is a needed role for them to step into.

One of the hardest things we face as youth leaders is watching some of our former students walk away from church or their faith or once they leave our ministry to head off to college or whatever path they choose to take after graduating high school. We pour so much of our time, energy, blood, sweat, and tears into developing both environments and relationships to help them grow a strong, maturing faith, and more often than we want, it feels like it doesn’t stick.

At various times in my childhood, I experienced things that made me anxious. I was afraid of the dark, going to the basement at night, and being away from home, to name a few. One of the things that caused me panic was snakes; I was terrified of them. It didn’t matter to me that none of them were poisonous. I tried to avoid activities that made it more likely for me to come into contact with one.

Does this sound like the way a writer would begin a religious blog back in the first century? It definitely is not the way we talk to one another nowadays, but it is the way Paul began every letter he wrote that is found in the New Testament. It makes me think that those two words, grace and peace, must have great significance. Yet if we take a look around the world, our cities, our social media, the lives of our kids, and even our own lives, those two words would most likely not hit the top 10 list of words to describe the world in which we live.

In order to be able to connect the dots, a child relies on the adults around them to pay close attention to what the physical and behavioral changes are trying to say. As a children’s ministry leader, you are part of the team who can assist families when anxious feelings overwhelm a child. The following are ways you can help children and their parents find a path to bring hope and healing to the child’s hearts and minds.