Children's work - there's no such thing as just a helper

“I just pour out the juice, and help with cutting and sticking”,
“I’m only on the rota twice a term”,
“I’m not one of the leaders – I’m just a helper.”

I hear these so often at training events. But the Bible doesn’t see it that way – and neither do the children in our groups.

You won’t find any direct reference to children’s work in the Bible. Children were taught the faith in their families. And the responsibility for the spiritual education of children still lies with their parents, and especially fathers (eg: Deuteronomy 6 v 4-9; 6 v 17-25; 32 v 46; Psalm 78 v 1-8; Proverbs 1 v 8; 22 v 6; Ephesians 6 v 4; 2 Timothy 3 v 14-15)..

(By the way, that means children’s and youth workers are in a partnership with parents and should always be looking for ways to support parents in fulfilling their spiritual responsibilities.).

But while we don’t find children’s workers in the Bible, Scripture has plenty to say about the importance of what we teach, and the impact of how we live. Paul was training a young pastor, Timothy, when he wrote: “Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers.” (1 Timothy 4 v 16) Elsewhere in his letter, Paul warns Timothy about the danger of false teaching, and urges him to be diligent in the public reading of Scripture, and in preaching and teaching (1 v 3-7; 4 v 11-16)..

Of course, being in a children’s team is very different from pastoring a church – but we too need to “watch our lives and doctrine closely”. We have the same responsibility to ensure we teach biblical truth. Our lives have a huge impact on the children in our care. And both apply whether we’re the overall leader, an occasional session leader, or “just” a helper..

When we chat with a child during “news” time, or talk about the Bible story while they do some craft, the child doesn’t differentiate between leaders and helpers. They don’t think: “I won’t worry that Dave just said something different about Jesus to what Sue said – because I know Dave’s only a helper”. They aren’t going to watch Sally and Clare gossiping in the corner, or Ben checking a text message during a prayer, and think their behaviour doesn’t matter because they only come once a month. As far as children are concerned, every adult in the room (and they will count teenage helpers as being adults) carries the same weight in what they say and how they act..

So even if we’re not running a session, telling the Bible story or leading the prayers – we are all Christian adults in that room, modelling what it is to know God as our heavenly Father and live for Him. If we’re there, we’re representing God to those children. So there’s no such thing as “just a helper”..