Dora The Explorer Does Discipleship

It’s something I rejected but now embrace.  I use to get frustrated by the fact that student ministry and children’s ministry had to share space.  It meant compromise, something I’m not very good at doing…I like the idea of it, but to actually do it for me is like pulling teeth.  But then I realized that student ministry doesn’t need space in the same way that kids need the space, that students could meet in a dark damp room and could still connect with Christ, because they aren’t looking for an awesome building, they are looking for authentic relationships.  With that said I would still like to have our own space; however, the mature thing for me to do is embrace the children’s programs as much as possible. After all the success of student ministry relies heavily on the success of children’s.
Today I have my first Students/Kids Ministry meeting with Lisa our Director of Children’s Programming.  We have a few major items on the agenda; however, long term we need to look at what we are teaching and developing in children’s and how that affects students.  Basically looking at what our path of discipleship look like for ages 6 months to 18 years old.  We’ll have to look at:

• Components of each program (i.e. small groups, worship band)
• Habits we want them to develop 
• Faith Basics for each age group

As we identify those areas we can then look at how they link together, to create a clear discipleship path.  Obviously there will be kids and students entering our ministries at different points of their faith journey; however, that’s a separate challenge on their own.  As we compile these components, habits and faith basics I would definitely be interested to hear what others think.
What do you think are essential habits, faith basics and components a kids and students ministry should obtain?