How Dylan wrestled with God – and ended up in children’s ministry

‘Kids’ minister? I'd never even considered pursuing this as a job. I wrestled with God about it, saying “I don't want to do this. I want to be creative.” His reply? “Be creative for the children.”’

Dylan Hughes became a kids' church volunteer leader at St Matt’s Manly in 2021, but he'd never really considered any sort of ministry pathway. After moving to Sydney from the UK in early 2020, Dylan established his freelance videography career. Church friends encouraged him to attend LIT (Leaders in Training) and he loved it so much he returned to the conference the following year. It was there he had a transformative moment, while walking alone in the dark back to his cabin one evening. Dylan decided to pray a simple prayer they’d just been taught at LIT – "God help me” – even though he wasn’t particularly looking for help.

‘As soon as I prayed, it was like an arrow struck a bullseye in my chest with the thought of ‘kids’ minister’. It just came out of nowhere, and I know it wasn't my thought, because I've never even considered pursuing this as a job.’

Back in his cabin, Dylan wrestled with God about this revelation. Dylan had just finished his film maker website and his future freelance career was looking promising. 

‘I said to God, “I don't want to do this. I want to be creative.” His reply? “Be creative for the children.” I then countered with “God, I want to spend my life telling stories.” His response? “Tell my story.” It felt like putting on a pair of shoes that fit.’

In retrospect Dylan realised that much of his life had been leading up to kids’ ministry – he just couldn't see it. He grew up with younger brothers, has always loved looking after kids, worked in different camp ministries in the UK – and add to this mix his passion for creativity. After returning home from LIT, Dylan was excited to tell his church ministry team that God wanted him to become a kids’ minister. It wasn’t a surprise for any of them, nor for his close friends! They had all been waiting very patiently for him to come to that realisation himself. Things moved quickly after that; St Matt’s wanted to send Dylan to Youthworks College to get him equipped for serving in kids’ ministry.

As a non-Australian citizen, getting to college wasn’t an easy pathway for Dylan. A lot of people from his church worked hard behind the scenes to figure out a way for Dylan to get a student visa so he could start his ministry training. In January this year, he began an Advanced Diploma in Ministry at Youthworks College, and he is still in awe at the way God parted oceans to get him to this point. Dylan acknowledges the privilege it is:

‘I've already seen so much flourishing so quickly in what I'm doing. It's my job to think about how best to teach kids about Jesus, and then how to pass it on to families as well. All the stuff that I learn in class is amazing, given that I study something on a Monday, and then on the Wednesday of the same week I get to put it into practice at church.’

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Find out more about Youthworks College programs and LIT conferences.