When I began volunteering in children’s church many years ago, I did it out of a sense of duty. I figured by giving up one Sunday a month to tend to everyone else’s kids, I’d gain three Sundays in church without my own. I envisioned myself soaking up biblical knowledge on those Sundays, unhampered by continuous whining and numerous trips to the bathroom. Not a bad deal.
Over the years I’ve come to realize, however, that for all I planned to learn in "adult" church, some of the most important lessons I’ve gleaned have come as I sat on a tiny plastic chair among a throng of sometimes jittery but always enlightening children.