Over the years I’ve had many discussions with people about how Christian can their playgroup/ music group be? My answer to this is always, what is the aim of the group you are trying to run?
• Are you trying to connect with the community to build warm relationships?
• Are you trying to connect with people and share the gospel with them?
• Are you hoping to provide a bridge between playgroup and church?
There are many ways to run a preschool ministry and may I hasten to add no correct way to do it. Only you know the area and demographic of who lives there. Because of this you are the best judge of what is appropriate to share with your community.
We are long time residents of the Inner West of Sydney, a staunchly atheistic area. People feel they know what the Gospel is about and have consciously rejected living God's way. One could almost say that people feel they have moved beyond the need for God in their lives and are antagonistic and incredulous toward those who are believers.
About 13 years ago at CMS Summer School, William Taylor gave talks on the Parable of the Sower in Matthew 13. I really enjoyed the talks. One thing that has stuck with me, even 13 years later is the way that William encouraged the congregation that we need to scatter the seed everywhere - it is God who makes the growth and changes peoples hearts. We shouldn't be selective in where we sow. Share the word everywhere.
That really stuck with me. Who am I to be scared to share the message of salvation with people? Even people who are antagonistic? God can change anyone's heart and make them open to the good news about Jesus.
Since that time, despite the challenging area that we live in, we always have a Bible story and Christian message at It's Music Time, and we always have announcements about church, inviting people to come and find out more.
I will leave it for another blog post to discuss more ideas for connecting people into your church community. But I want to encourage you, to persist in preaching the Gospel in your Music and playgroup ministries. It is up to God to change people and we should not be stingy in sharing his message.
(This is a link to some talks William Taylor gave the same year, 2006, at his church in London as I couldn't find the Summer School talks)
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