Today, we're pleased to share with you an audio essay written and read by Jared Kennedy

entitled Five Myths About Children's Ministry.

Jared is the author of Keeping Your Children's Ministry on Mission,

Practical Strategies for Discipling the Next Generation from Crossway.

Five Myths. the next generation from Crossway. Five myths about children's ministry, written and read by Jared Kennedy.

Myth number one, it's best left to professionals.

Christian parents are sometimes tempted to think that God can't use them to reach their kids.

Instead, they need professionally trained children's and youth leaders who are better equipped

to evangelize and disciple the next generation. The result is a drop-off mentality. Here's how

Timothy Paul Jones describes it. School teachers are perceived as the person's responsible to grow the

children's minds. Coaches are employed to train children's bodies, and specialized ministers at church

ought to develop their souls. The truth is that this temptation isn't new. During the Reformation,

Martin Luther confronted a similar clergy-laity divide within the Roman Catholic Church.

But God has given parents the primary responsibility to train their children in the faith.

We see that in Deuteronomy 6 in Psalm 78.

And the good news is that he has also given moms and dads his word and his spirit.

As parents, we can always sharpen our

skills, but we can also confidently teach the good news to our children, trusting that in Christ

we have everything we need. Myth number two, we don't need it. In recent years, some church

leaders have decided that age-graded children's ministry

programming is no longer necessary. Their desire is to empower parents as disciple makers and also to

help kids build relationships with people of all ages in the church. These are good and biblical

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