Let the Children Come: 40 Years of Preschool Ministry

Aug 09, 2026

Devotional

Day 1: Little Eyes Watching How We Worship

Children absorb faith by observing adults sing, pray, and engage in community. Their presence in worship spaces isn’t a distraction but a sacred apprenticeship. When adults model authentic joy, reverence, and connection during services, children internalize these rhythms as natural expressions of belonging to God’s family. This intergenerational witness plants seeds that mature across a lifetime of seeking Christ. [52:58]

“Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” And he took the children in his arms, placed his hands on them and blessed them. (Mark 10:14-16, ESV)

Reflection: What specific worship habit (singing, praying, serving) do you most want children to imitate from your example? How might you engage more intentionally in that practice this week?

Day 2: Foundations Built By Forty Years of Hands

Generations of families have shaped this ministry through sacrifice, creativity, and steadfast care. Like stones passed hand-to-hand to build a wall, each volunteer’s effort, teacher’s lesson, and parent’s prayer fortifies a legacy of faith. These collective acts create spaces where children encounter Christ’s love through crayons, laughter, and patient guidance. The work continues as new hands receive the calling. [01:05:14]

We will not hide these truths from our children; we will tell the next generation about the glorious deeds of the Lord, about his power and his mighty wonders… so the next generation might know them—even the children not yet born—and they in turn will teach their own children. (Psalm 78:4-6, ESV)

Reflection: Who poured spiritual foundation into your life? How will you “pass the stone” by investing in someone younger this month?

Day 3: Kneeling to Meet Eyes at Their Level

Jesus disrupted social norms by physically lowering himself to address children face-to-face. His posture declared their worthiness to receive divine attention without intermediaries. This intentional proximity—eye contact, shared laughter, focused presence—still dismantles barriers between generations. True ministry happens not from podiums but folded knees on grass-stained floors. [01:24:00]

People were bringing little children to Jesus for him to place his hands on them, but the disciples rebuked them. When Jesus saw this, he was indignant. He said to them, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.” (Mark 10:13-14, ESV)

Reflection: When have you felt “kept at arm’s length” from spiritual community? How might you create welcoming spaces for others this week?

Day 4: Toy Trucks and Theological Teachers

A child explaining playground dynamics or dinosaur facts often reveals God’s wonder through unfiltered curiosity. Intergenerational friendships become mutual discipleship—adults share life experience while children expose hardened hearts to fresh awe. These exchanges require humility to recognize Christ’s image in both wrinkled and dimpled hands. [01:29:58]

Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity. (1 Timothy 4:12, ESV)

Reflection: What surprising insight about God, relationships, or joy have you learned from someone decades younger? How will you seek such exchanges this week?

Day 5: Backpack Zippers and Daily Reminders

Blessing school supplies sanctifies ordinary routines as holy ground. Lunchboxes, math homework, and recess become touchpoints to remember “Jesus is with me.” This ritual roots children (and adults) in awareness that God inhabits every moment—not just Sunday services—equipping us to face challenges with courage and curiosity. [01:34:03]

These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. (Deuteronomy 6:6-7, ESV)

Reflection: What daily routine (commuting, chores, meals) could become a prompt to remember God’s presence? How might you mark that moment today?

Sermon Summary

Jesus travels all over the land telling people the good news of God's love, and the crowd gathers on the grassy hill with children stretching on tiptoes or sitting on shoulders just to see him. Jesus says, “God loves you and you and you,” and the parents move closer because the children need to hear that word too. The children tug at Jesus’ robe, and Jesus bends down, smiles, holds their hands, looks into their eyes, and makes room for them right there in the middle of what God is doing.

The disciples do not get it. The disciples treat Jesus as too important and too busy for children, and that old idea that children should be “seen and not heard” becomes a wall between little ones and the Lord. Jesus stands up for the children because Jesus is always standing up for people kept just beyond arm’s length of proper society. Jesus says that the children are as important as the grown ups, and Jesus refuses to let anyone make distance where God is offering welcome.

The text presses the whole room to remember something simple and deep: every grown up was once a baby, and every grown up knows what it feels like to be a child. A child knows the joy of being included and the ache of being rejected. A child can look into the eyes of a grown up and know love and welcome, or can feel the cold distance of being kept away. Jesus gives the church no permission to forget that memory.

Relationship becomes the center of the whole thing. Relationship draws adults alongside children, where children learn from adults and adults learn from children. A child can open up a world, a toy, a question, a way of seeing that grown ups may not have noticed in years. The children are not only the future. The children are the present, shaping the church even as the church helps shape them.

Intergenerational life becomes one of the few gifts the wider culture does not often make room for. Intergenerational friendship is not extra programming, but a faithful way to let the walls go down. The preschool’s forty years bear witness to faith, education, community, and learning being passed from one generation to the next. God’s love meets children in worship, in classrooms, in backpacks, in anxieties, in hopes, and in every ordinary step of a new school year: “Jesus is with me.”

Key Takeaways

1. Children belong close to Jesus. Jesus does not receive children as a distraction from important work. Jesus bends down, looks them in the eye, and blesses them with the same seriousness given to any grown up in the crowd. The nearness of children to Jesus reveals something true about the kingdom: access to God is not earned by age, polish, status, or being easy to manage. [84:00]
2. Barriers often sound responsible. The disciples think they are protecting Jesus, but their protection becomes exclusion. A wall can be built with very reasonable words, especially when someone is judged too small, too noisy, too inconvenient, or too far beyond arm’s length. Jesus exposes the danger of good intentions that keep people from receiving love face to face. [83:26]
3. Children are present, not future. Children are not only becoming something later. Children are already seeing, shaping, asking, learning, and teaching in the life of the church right now. A community that treats children only as the future misses the holy work God is already doing through their wonder, honesty, and presence. [89:09]
4. Generations need one another. Relationship across generations gives children models to watch and gives adults fresh eyes for the world. The church becomes one of the rare places where people of many ages can become actual friends, not just share a room. That kind of life takes down walls and lets ministry happen in relationship. [89:58]
5. Jesus meets ordinary school days. The blessing of the backpacks places God’s presence inside the simple rhythms of school: clothes picked out, breakfast eaten, teachers met, friends made, fears carried. Hopes and anxieties both come honestly before God at the start of a new year. “Jesus is with me” becomes a quiet truth for classrooms, playgrounds, car rides, and bedtime prayers.

## [93:47]

Youtube Chapters

[00:00] - Welcome
[52:25] - Pray Ground and Preschool Sunday
[54:00] - Ways to Connect and Grow
[55:22] - Preschool Anniversary Celebration Invitation
[58:40] - Forty Years of Preschool Ministry
[69:08] - Scripture in Narrative Form
[82:06] - Jesus Welcomes the Children
[85:26] - Every Grown Up Was a Child
[87:44] - Jesus Removes the Barriers
[89:33] - Generations Learning in Relationship
[92:50] - Blessing of the Backpacks
[99:00] - Prayer Across Past, Present, and Future
[105:58] - Charge, Benediction, and Celebration

Bible Study Guide

Bible Reading

Mark 10:13-16
“And they were bringing children to him that he might touch them, and the disciples rebuked them. But when Jesus saw it, he was indignant and said to them, ‘Let the children come to me; do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God. Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.’ And he took them in his arms and blessed them, laying his hands on them.” [01:22:06]

Matthew 19:13-15
“Then children were brought to him that he might lay his hands on them and pray. The disciples rebuked the people, but Jesus said, ‘Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven.’ And he laid his hands on them and went away.” [01:23:26]

Luke 18:15-17
“Now they were bringing even infants to him that he might touch them. And when the disciples saw it, they rebuked them. But Jesus called them to him, saying, ‘Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God. Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.’” [01:24:23]

Observation questions

In these Gospel passages, what are the disciples doing when people bring children to Jesus, and how does Jesus respond to them? [01:23:26]
What details in the story show Jesus giving children his full attention rather than treating them like an interruption? [01:24:00]
What words or images help show what it feels like for a child to be welcomed, and what words or images show what it feels like to be kept at a distance? [01:27:00]
What examples are given of children and adults learning alongside one another in relationship? [01:28:23]

Interpretation questions

Jesus says, “Do not hinder” the children. What kinds of barriers can look reasonable or responsible on the surface, yet still keep people from the welcome of Christ? [01:27:44]
Jesus does not only allow children to be nearby; he places them right at the center of God’s family. What does that suggest about how the kingdom of God measures importance differently from the world? [01:24:23]
Jesus says that the kingdom belongs to such as these and that it must be received like a child. What might childlike receiving look like in real life without becoming childish or naïve? [01:25:17]
The church is one of the few places where deep friendships can grow across generations. Why might that kind of relationship matter so much for faith, belonging, and growth? [01:29:58]

Application questions

When has it been easy to assume that children should stay on the edge of church life rather than close to the center? What might need to change in attitude, habit, or expectation? [52:55]
Every adult knows both the joy of being welcomed and the pain of being kept at arm’s length. Where has that memory surfaced recently, and how might it help shape the way others are treated now? [01:27:19]
Jesus removes barriers instead of building them. Who might be quietly experiencing distance in church, school, family, or community life because they seem too small, too noisy, too inconvenient, or too different? [01:30:30]
Children are not only the future; they are also part of the present. What is one thing a child has taught or revealed recently about joy, honesty, trust, or wonder? [01:29:09]
Relationship across generations is a gift. What might it look like this week to spend meaningful time with someone from a different generation and really listen to them? [01:29:45]
A new school year brings both hopes and anxieties. Which part of ordinary daily life most needs the reminder, “Jesus is with me,” right now: preparation, friendships, learning, safety, or rest? [01:33:47]
God’s presence meets people in ordinary rhythms like classrooms, car rides, recess, conversations at home, and bedtime prayers. Which everyday moment is hardest to see as holy, and how could it be received differently this week? [01:34:02]

Sermon Clips

76s

#StandWithChildren

“And you also know the opposite of that. You know what it's like to be rejected. You know what it's like to be kept at arm's length. You know what it's like to be in a space where you do not feel welcome. Today, we heard a scripture about what it was like when other adults thinking that they were saying and doing the right things put barriers between children and Jesus, and Jesus rightly stood up for the children. He was always standing up for people who were just beyond arm's length of proper society. This kind of idea that children were to be seen and not heard, that was the disciples idea, Keep them at arm's length from Jesus. But Jesus had other plans. He reminded them that life is all about relationship and that when you draw alongside a child, you have the opportunity to learn from them, and they have the opportunity to learn from you.”

44s

#BreakBarriersForKids

“Today, we heard a scripture about what it was like when other adults thinking that they were saying and doing the right things put barriers between children and Jesus, and Jesus rightly stood up for the children. He was always standing up for people who were just beyond arm's length of proper society. This kind of idea that children were to be seen and not heard, that was the disciples idea, Keep them at arm's length from Jesus. But Jesus had other plans.”

63s

#LearnFromChildren

“This kind of idea that children were to be seen and not heard, that was the disciples idea, Keep them at arm's length from Jesus. But Jesus had other plans. He reminded them that life is all about relationship and that when you draw alongside a child, you have the opportunity to learn from them, and they have the opportunity to learn from you. Because I can absolutely guarantee you that if you spend more than five minutes with any of these children today, you would learn something new. Something new about a toy that you may not have even known existed. Something about the way they're seeing something or perceiving the world that you have never thought of before or maybe had not thought of in dozens of years.”

40s

#ChurchUnitesGenerations

“The church is one of the very few places in our greater culture and society where we have the opportunity to integrate a wide variety of generations. This is one of the very few places where people get to know one another across the generations and to truly engage as friends. It can be an incredible blessing. Let us remember Jesus words to us today not to keep children or anybody at arm's length, but to let them come in.”

71s

#InvestInFutureGenerations

“We know that we cannot go back in time, but what we can do is provide a future that is meaningful and hopeful and good. And that's what we're seeking to do in relationship every single day with one another. And in this place where this ministry can flourish. I invite you, my friends, each of you, to spend some time not only today, but in this coming week getting to know someone of a different generation because it can blow your mind. And as I've been reminded by people in churches for about twenty years now, The church is one of the very few places in our greater culture and society where we have the opportunity to integrate a wide variety of generations. This is one of the very few places where people get to know one another across the generations and to truly engage as friends. It can be an incredible blessing.”

49s

#RelationshipsTeachUs

“He reminded them that life is all about relationship and that when you draw alongside a child, you have the opportunity to learn from them, and they have the opportunity to learn from you. Because I can absolutely guarantee you that if you spend more than five minutes with any of these children today, you would learn something new. Something new about a toy that you may not have even known existed. Something about the way they're seeing something or perceiving the world that you have never thought of before or maybe had not thought of in dozens of years.”

65s

#KidsTeachAdults

“Because I can absolutely guarantee you that if you spend more than five minutes with any of these children today, you would learn something new. Something new about a toy that you may not have even known existed. Something about the way they're seeing something or perceiving the world that you have never thought of before or maybe had not thought of in dozens of years. My friends, not only are we looking at the future, we are also looking at the present. The way that these minds are shaped and the ways in which they are shaping us. We know that we cannot go back in time, but what we can do is provide a future that is meaningful and hopeful and good. And that's what we're seeking to do in relationship every single day with one another.”

78s

#SeenAndHeard

“You get it, don't you? You know what it's like to be a child. You know what it's like to try to interact in a world that can feel both familiar and strange. You know what it's like to be included by other people, by peers, by adults. In fact, you know exactly what it's like to look into the eyes of a grown up and to know that you are loved and you are welcome just the way that you are. And you also know the opposite of that. You know what it's like to be rejected. You know what it's like to be kept at arm's length. You know what it's like to be in a space where you do not feel welcome. Today, we heard a scripture about what it was like when other adults thinking that they were saying and doing the right things put barriers between children and Jesus, and Jesus rightly stood up for the children. He was always standing up for people who were just beyond arm's length of proper society.”

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