When dozens of children tried out for Amped, Blue Ridge’s children’s musical worship team, in the fall, Kids Community leaders knew they had a fantastic problem. There were more children wanting to serve God than open spots on the team.
Logistically there was no way to have so many kids on Amped, and not all kids were a good fit for the team, which includes high-energy singing and dancing. That’s where a challenge intersected with a dream God had already planted in leaders’ hearts to help children learn more about Him and grow through serving.
KidServe was born.
“We’d been praying for a long time for God to show us how to go deeper with kids who have said they want to follow Jesus,” said JoHannah McKinney, Kidstuf small group director.
JoHannah had helped to lead a small discipleship pilot and saw how kids loved it. She prayed, “We see this is something the kids are eating up, what direction do You have for us?”
God showed the path in finding alternative ways to serve, which were infused with discipleship, with KidServe. The leaders’ desire is for the children to understand that serving God in their relationship with Him is a way to grow closer to Him.
KidServe is open to 2nd-5th graders. All children are interviewed as part of the process of joining one of three teams:
Reach
Reach is focused on missions, beginning with our local community. These children helped with sorting donations and packing backpacks for children in need at Christmas. The team of Christ-following kids seeks out ways to serve God in our local community and share the love of Christ.
Equip
Equip brings together children to serve by equipping our rooms for Sunday mornings. These children prepare games, crafts and other projects used in Kids Community. Children are challenged to discover and live out their relationship with God. They do not have to be Christ followers to join.
Reach and Equip welcome new children quarterly. The official launch for these teams happened in early April.
Amped
Amped holds auditions once a year and is open to children who have chosen to follow Jesus and live out their faith by leading other children in musical worship.
Amped, Reach and Equip use the same curriculum to disciple the children. They meet once a week in the evening, as well as on Sundays for prayer. The children are encouraged to also serve on Sunday by greeting new children and making them feel at home.
Want to learn more about being an adult leader with Reach or Equip? Email JoHannah at jmckinney@blue-ridge.org.
Want to learn more about how your children can be involved in Reach, Equip or Amped? Visit this webpage and sign up for the next round of interviews.