Throughout my several years of teaching elementary students, early childhood students, and doing children’s-family ministry, I haven’t encountered any children who acted like or wanted to be the opposite gender than the one in which they were created. However, after reading 2 recent articles (this article and this article) on transgender children, it makes me think about what we are facing in 21st Century children’s ministry.
This isn’t a time of children’s ministry as in the 1980′s or even in the 1990′s. We cannot plan and develop small group classes like we used to. We must form groups to meet the needs of all children in attendance. Maybe segregated classes don’t meet children’s needs; maybe we should form co-ed classes with the occasional boys’ group and girls’ group. Of course, small group formation all depends on who is in attendance and the needs of the group and the needs of community. One region of the country may be dealing with different circumstances and needs than other regions.
We must do our research. Get out of the office. Talk to and meet people. Find out what they are dealing with and guide our churches and ministries to develop a plan to help.
