I believe ministry to children is an indispensable part of a church.
It is not just a matter of the adults in the church need a place for their children to be while they participate in spiritual exercises. It is also that the children as they grow need to learn their own spiritual nature. And it is also that the church has a responsibility before God, to minister to children.
The church must always remember children are important to God. He made this clear by including them and emphasizing their importance during His earthly ministry. He also made it clear the faith of a child is a precious and special faith, which is not to be wasted or depreciated.
So ministry to children should be more than just childcare. Even for the youngest of children, special care should be taken to make them feel safe, loved and to train them in Christianity. This means teaching them to love God and to serve God through the church. Their ministry be carefully planned and intentionally structured. The spiritual lessons should be carefully ordered and presented.
Since children are important to God, they must be important to us too.
Charles W. Short 
You’re absolutely right. This is a fact that some churches just don’t understand. Also another aspect that too many churches overlook is providing a ministry for young adults. They may have adult ministries, children’s ministries, and teen ministries, but no ministry for college students and young adults. Young adults could especially use this because of the place where they are in their lives.
You are right that YAGz (What we call our Young Adult Group) is important. A big part of the problem there is that today’s young adult is different than in past years, even just a few years ago. Our failures to deal well with children’s ministry has caused the problems to stretch into adulthood.
One of the key challenges is the gentrification of churches. In the part of Arizona I am in we joke that anyone under 55 is a young adult. (55-70 is middle aged, seniors are 70+) being in the retirement belt can make children’s ministry all that much harder.
I am thinking a great deal about children’s ministry as we prepare for VBS to Start on Monday.
Good luck with VBS. God bless.
Thanks, Charles, for your important words. I traveled with my husband to do ministry for years. Many churches do not have a trained teacher but instead have a babysitter and playtime. My strong feeling is that the one hour a week that a child has in church should be managed well in Bible teaching. We need to reach children at every age. Our teaching may be the only spiritual words they ever get.
Amen, even down to bed babies, I prefer a teacher that hugs, sings hymns, reads bible verses and sees her task as ministry rather than childcare.
True, and I echo the previous comments, every age group needs to be included.