Reflections from Shepherds’ Conference from the Sonlight Coordinator

by Abram Kim

As the title suggests, this article has two main components. This was the third time I had the privilege to attend the annual Shepherds’ Conference at Grace Community Church. Most of the attendees are pastors. I am not. But this conference, which is designed for pastors and elders, also exalts God and His Word, and exhorts men to live in a way that honors God by lifting high His Word and the gospel of Jesus Christ. In this way, I returned from the conference excited and energized to live for His glory in my personal life and through any ministry I may be involved with. I am also LBCSD’s elementary ministry (aka “Sonlight”) coordinator, and this gives me a perspective unlike many others who attend the Shepherds’ Conference. I shared these very thoughts at our March 11 staff meeting to the children’s ministry staff (though a bit less prepared and coherent I’m sure!), but I pray that you who read this now will be encouraged by what I learned from this year’s conference.

The general sessions boasted world-class preachers who spoke powerfully and exposited God’s Word with clarity and skill. I especially enjoyed Voddie Baucham’s message through Ephesians 5, calling all the men to be the husbands and fathers that truly represent the gospel. But I want to focus our time here on two seminars that I attended. I will interweave thoughts from a youth ministry seminar discussing partnering with parents by Grace Community Church’s high school pastor, and the children’s ministry seminar by the lay elder at Grace who oversees their children’s ministry.

First off, I want to state how thankful I am for LBCSD’s philosophy of ministry regarding children. All men have sinned and fall short if the glory of God (Rom 3:23), including babies and kids. King David famously wrote that he was conceived in sin (Ps 51:5). Only God can save. Those whom He chose and elected will respond through repentance and faith and truly be saved. And though salvation is the work of God alone, God uses human instruments to faithfully minister the Word of God and to pray for the salvation of all people, including children. Parents have the primary responsibility to evangelize to their children. But the family must also be a part of the local church, so the church has a wonderful opportunity to partner with parents to evangelize to children by teaching the whole counsel of God, particularly the gospel of Jesus Christ and what He has accomplished through His death and resurrection. Ministry to children, in the end, is essentially no different than any other ministry in the local church. It is just geared towards very young minds still learning to read and hearts that are still forming, though still depraved to the core.

The goal of Sonlight is the same as parenting, namely the salvation of children. I was exhorted and encouraged to do the work of a minister. The burden of the eternal souls of every child in the Sonlight ministry weighed more heavily upon my heart. As a newly expecting father (12 weeks along, at the time of writing this article), the sensitivity to this responsibility has multiplied exponentially. Here are some great principles I was reminded of to maintain the proper perspective in ministry:

  • The gospel can be taught simply. But we must avoid the extremes of oversimplifying and making it confusing.
  • We must teach the whole counsel of God.
  • Make sure God is the main character in every Bible story.
  • Parents and ministry workers technically have nothing to do with salvation. We can’t regenerate them or make them more save-able.
  • Ministers are not judged on justification, but on what they do with the flock God has given them.
  • Children can embrace basic truths about God at a young age.
  • Children learn from the life of parents (and as an extension, the Sonlight staff) in addition to teaching.
  • Don’t assume that a child’s initial confession of faith is real. If you trust in the sovereignty of God in salvation, a child who is saved when they make a confession of faith will still be saved when they are older, when they are able to articulate their beliefs better and when their lives can show more fruit of the Spirit. It is usually not until the teenage years, when they are more independent from parental control, that the purpose of their life becomes more clear.
  • This is a time of cultivating faith, not expressing it. Often a child can’t express their thoughts fully. Don’t illicit any more information than they are comfortable sharing. But also be kind and enthusiastic about anything they say.
  • Structure ministry to be anti-hypocritical. Hypocrisy is knowing something about God that you don’t feel deeply about.
  • The children’s ministry must partner with parents in biblically shepherding children. Therefore, there should be a consistency in heart-focused teaching and discipline between a godly home and Sunday school. This includes rebuking sins in the home and Sunday school, though not heavy-handedly.
  • Discern between a sin issue and a wisdom issue. The Word of God has authority over parents on sin issues. Defer to parents on wisdom issues.
  • Speak regularly about honoring and obeying parents. The children’s ministry must not undermine parental authority (except if parental authority goes outside biblical authority, though even then with caution and wisdom). Children shouldn’t listen to the ministry staff to the exclusion of listening to their parents.

The seminar about partnering with parents gave a great exposition of nine indicatives in 2 Timothy 4:1-5 to exhort the pastor to do the work of biblical shepherding, as a means to help parents evangelize to their children. The indicatives given to the pastor are:

  • Preach the Word. This is the means God appointed to declare the Word of God with passion and clarity in the context of the local church. The pastor must proclaim the truths of God out of the well of their study.
  • Be ready, in season and out of season. Is the minister ready to address difficult sin issues? Is he available for graduations and birthdays?
  • Reprove. This is addressing the mind of children, showing them when they are wrong, and why, from the Scriptures.
  • Rebuke. This is addressing children at the heart level, with a compassion that seeks their repentance.
  • Exhort. This is the positive side of training, and includes encouraging, strengthening, and teaching. We ought not always major on the negatives.
  • Be sober. The minister is self-controlled and level-headed. He is exemplifying the fruit of the Spirit and is a Christ-like role model parents can lean on and trust.
  • Endure hardship. The more you care about souls, the more you will be engaged. And this leaves you vulnerable. A ministry is either fruitful and costly or shallow and easy.
  • Do the work of an evangelist. The minister can assure parents that they are not the only ones praying for the salvation and sanctification of their children. We may indeed be the instruments God uses to answer these prayers. May we genuinely cry out to God for the salvation of precious souls, to His glory.
  • Fulfill your ministry. The minister is called to do all the above, to the utmost of their abilities. God has called the minister for such a time as this.

These charges appeared to be directed right at me. God challenged me to think and act like a true minister of God’s Word and to really seek to shepherd the children, as well as the Sonlight staff.

God taught me much about His role in salvation and sanctification at the conference. Ultimately, we trust in His sovereignty in salvation and sanctification. Yet that in no way diminishes our work in making disciples of all nations, including children, in the context of the local church with love for God and people (MVP statement of LBC). I am excited to get back into ministry, to pray through all the ideas I have about Sonlight and to seek the salvation of every eternal soul in Sonlight.