When Jessica Aquino became the children’s ministry director at New Life Community, Dinuba, California, in 2021, the ministry was small, consisting of only a few children besides her own.
Since then, the program has grown to around 40 students in kindergarten through sixth grade, with about another 15 in the youth program. With that growth also came the need for more volunteers to assist in classrooms on Sunday mornings and other events throughout the year.
Aquino has therefore focused much of her time on recruiting and mentoring volunteers who are often new to the faith themselves or who did not grow up in the church.
“Usually, I’ll get to know someone first over coffee or my family will have their family over for a meal, so it starts with a conversation like that,” says Aquino. “I’ll just try to learn about their spiritual journey. After getting to know them, I will ask if they’re interested in coming to help.”
Learning the ropes
Once a volunteer has cleared a background check, Aquino places them in a classroom alongside a more experienced teacher to learn the ropes and gain confidence. She also uses bigger ministry events throughout the year as opportunities to uncover volunteers’ particular skills and giftings.
“When we do our events and it’s ‘all hands on deck,’ I will have people who might lead a station, and that’s where I’ve found some people that have gifts in teaching who maybe didn’t realize it,” she says.
Melissa Celaya is one of those volunteers who never thought she’d find herself teaching in front of a class of youth in a church.
“It’s brought out a side of me that I didn’t know I had,” says Celaya. “I always thought I was a follower, but I’ve realized I’m a leader, and I didn’t know that without being open to helping.”
Celaya was not involved in church growing up, aside from occasionally visiting with friends who were mostly of the Catholic faith. She was in her late 20s when she first realized the significance of Easter as the resurrection of Christ.
“I had a friend invite me to her church one time…and I didn’t know at the time what it was, but the Holy Spirit definitely grabbed ahold of me and said this was something I needed,” says Celaya. “I just had that urgency to go back—that yearning.”
Shortly after she began attending New Life Community (NLC) about four years ago, Celaya told Aquino she was ready to volunteer in the children’s ministry. She began in the nursery and transitioned last year to the youth class that consists of seventh through 12th grade students.
“I don’t want them to grow up the way I did, without knowing God or thinking that Easter is about the Easter bunny,” she says. “I’m trying to plant those seeds into them sooner than they were planted in me.”
Celaya says that she and Aquino meet regularly to discuss ideas for the ministry and to pray Celaya says that she and Aquino meet regularly to discuss ideas for the ministry and to pray together.
“(Jessica) is just such a big encourager, and she’s really good about bringing out things in you that you don’t see in yourself,” says Celaya.
Growing in faith
Amelia Villareal, currently a student at Reedley College, echoes the importance of having a mentor who offers encouragement as she grows in her faith.
Villareal says that she didn’t feel like she had a personal relationship with God growing up, but that serving in the children’s ministry at NLC has helped her immensely in her faith journey.
She did an internship in the summer of 2024 where she shadowed Aquino while helping with outreach projects, doing community service and praying over the town. She now helps lead a classroom of preschool and early elementary students and says that the kids themselves also encourage and develop her faith.
“My favorite part of our day is prayer, because it’s a time where they’re truly just honest and open,” says Villareal. “That’s helped me grow in my faith because I feel like I can be very closed off, but they’ve been helping me to be more honest and have a more kid-like faith.”
Celaya also says that her fellow volunteers and teachers have been instrumental in her faith journey.
“It’s so nice to see other people and to learn from them with an open mind and open heart,” she says.
Aquino says the biggest challenge for her is simply finding the time she wants to be able to invest in mentoring and encouraging her volunteers, but that the effort is worth it.
“It takes a lot of time, but seeing their growth from one year to the next is amazing,” says Aquino. “I’m only one person, and I know that I can’t do everything, so if I’m investing in another person, we can reach a lot more people than if I’m just doing it by myself.”
Jessica Vix Allen is a freelance writer living in Blue Springs, Missouri. She and her husband, Joel, are both graduates of Tabor College. The couple has three children.
