The day offering went from a funeral to a wedding setting.

            It was a normal Sunday morning in kid’s church.  The service had gotten off to a great start.  The sword drill, the praise songs, the game and large group all went great but then it was time for the offering.  You know the offering I am talking about, the one where it seems like you are attending a funeral and play somber music and ask them to dig deep and if they love God then they need to give part of their money back to God.  The service was going great, but the mood had changed.  The funeral had started and prayer had just ended and we were asking the kids to give.  Something had to change!  Something had to be different!  This is not what God intended for offering I thought to myself, things have to change next week.

 

            The following Sunday started off great again, things were happening just as scheduled.  The mood in kid’s church was happy and joyful, kids were enjoying their time through sword drill, praise, games, big group and then came the test, offering.  Approaching the stage the leader looked different, looked happy and upbeat, excited to be a part of service today.  The leader explained that today we were taking up an offering for God and it was such a great opportunity we had to obey what He asked us to do which was to give a part back to Him.  The leader went on to explain what was about to happen and how after they prayed for the offering that we would have a chance to get up and give and, and DANCE!  WHAT?  That’s right, we were going to get up and dance to a fun song, no more of this somber music that made you feel really sad about what was happening.  Its time to enjoy the idea, the fact, the promises, and the blessings of giving back to God and in doing so we should act like it with upbeat music and dancing.  That’s right, that’s going down! 

 

            In Jesus name, Amen.  That’s how the prayer ended but that is where it started.  It was a hit, kids were up dancing around, singing loudly and excited about giving to God.  Did our offering rise as a result of it, of course it did.  Did we do all of this to get more offering, no chance in this world.  The reason for this change was not to gain more money but in-fact it was to build joy, excitement, the hope for promises and blessings in their lives from God for just being obedient.  This was the day we took offering from a funeral to a wedding setting.