What is the Plan of Divorce Ministry 4 Kids?

Yesterday, we took a first look at the mission statement of Divorce Ministry 4 Kids which is:

To honor God by standing up for the child of divorce (including children whose parents were never married and are no longer together) by

1. Teaching people about the effects of divorce on children;
2. Equipping those who work with children to serve these kids more effectively;
3. Calling the church to serve, support and minister to these children and their families; and
4. Serving children of divorce and their families as the hands and feet of Jesus Christ.

We also looked at a definition of children of divorce for purposes of our mission statement.  Today, we want to look at our four pronged approach to serving the children of divorce.  As indicated in our mission statement, those four prongs are Teaching, Equipping, Calling and Serving.  Let’s have a look at each one a little more closely.

Teaching people about the effects of divorce on children.

Part of our mission at Divorce Ministry to Kids is to educate people about the effect that divorce has on children.  Despite the popular, and widely held, notion that kids are resilient and bounce back from their parents’ divorce, there have been a multitude of studies that show the emotional impact that divorce has on children at the time of the divorce, throughout their childhoods, and into adulthood.  Part of our mission at Divorce Ministry 4 Kids is to combat the mistaken notions about the impact of divorce on kids by educating people about the effects of divorce on children.  Initially, we intend to do this primarily through articles here on this blog, through Facebook, Twitter and other social networks.  We hope that this mission will take the form of a discussion whereby we can engage people in conversation about this important issue.  Eventually, we hope to spread our teaching ministry to live events and other venues for even greater reach.

Equipping those who work with children to serve these kids more effectively

This ministry was born, in part, based on my work in children’s ministry.  Another part of our mission at Divorce Ministry 4 Kids is to equip those who work with kids to serve them better.  This includes, primarily, children’s ministers and children’s ministry volunteers, but also extends to anyone who works with kids (teachers, counselors, parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, family friends and more).  Our goal if to educate these people about what children of divorce are experiencing, and give them tools to more effectively serve the children of divorce.  As with our general teaching ministry, our equipping ministry will, at least initially, be accomplished here on this blog and in various social media.  This will include information about who to relate to these children, how to deal with their emotions and actions, resources and information about children of divorce and links to other online resources.  In the future, we may take the equipping ministry further by engaging in live teaching events.

Calling the church to serve, support and minister to these children and their families.

For far too many years, many churches have sat idly by and ignored the issue of divorce.  That have either failed to see the problem or purposely avoided it for fear of alienating their congregations.  This extends to ignoring the impact that divorce has on children.  It is past time that the church stood up and actively served those suffering through divorce.  At Divorce Care 4 Kids, part of our mission is to call churches to do just that.  We will accomplish that goal through both our teaching and equipping ministries which we hope will serve to spark the conversation that needs to be had.  We also hope to feature churches who have stepped up to serve the children of divorce and single parent families.  By highlighting these churches, we hope that other local churches will be inspired to serve this oft neglected part of their congregations.

Serving children of divorce and their families as the hands and feet of Jesus Christ.

At Divorce Ministry 4 Kids, we believe that we have been called to teach, equip and call others to serve the children of divorce and their families.  However, we would be remise is we did not, as a ministry and as individuals, do what we can do personally to serve the children of divorce and their families.  We will serve children and their families on this website by featuring resources and articles specifically geared towards helping them through the situation they find themselves in.  As individuals, we also pledge to do what we can to help the children of divorce in our churches and communities.  Whether that is simply engaging them in conversation, starting a support group like Divorce Care 4 Kids, or simply loving on a child from a single parent family, we never want to be accused of simply teaching and preaching without practicing what we are encouraging others to do.