RELEVANT CHILDREN'S MINISTRY

Do you want to see your ministry grow this year? 

How can you see this happen?

Here is a practical guide to growing your children's ministry.  

I have personally seen these factors work as I have led in some of the largest and fastest growing churches in the country. One of the churches where I served grew from 6,000 to 16,00 in three years. Sounds crazy, doesn't it.  It was quite a  ride for sure. Serving in churches like this has helped me see the key factors to growing a ministry.  

Here are some practical tips to growing your ministry. 

Make room to grow.  

Do you have room to grow? If your space is 85% full, your growth will be capped.  This includes both adult space (adult auditorium) and kids' space. When you hit 85% in either of these areas you will stop growing. The answer - start more services or build more space. 

Go multi-site.

The largest, fastest growing ministries have something in common. They are multi-site.  I have experienced this having started many new campuses for churches.  In every case, we grew when we started new campuses.  

Connect with parents. 

Kids don't drive themselves to church.  If you are going to grow, then you have to reach parents as well. 

When you reach a child you change a life. When you reach parents you change a family. Always be looking for ways you can connect with parents and influence them.  The greatest influence in a child's life is his or her parents. If you want to influence kids, then you have to influence their parents. 

One of the best ways I have found to do this...especially with parents who are new to your church, is to meet them for coffee or lunch.  I contact fathers who have visited our church with their children and invite the father to lunch.  I call them on Monday and set up a time to meet them for lunch. Yes...it works. Most of the time when I do this, we end up seeing the family become a part of our church. 

Get really good at guest services. 

The first impression is truly a lasting impression. If you want to grow, then you have to give new families a great first experience. If they don't have a good experience, they will not return. You can call them, visit them, send them emails, text them or even show up at their house. All of this won't get them back if they don't have a great first experience.

Have you read my book "Be Our Church Guest?" It is full of proven ideas and insight that can help you give guests a great first experience.  You can get the book at this link. 

Grow your volunteer team. 

You must have a solid, growing team of volunteers who can minister to the children. Keep your ratios up to par. Without a growing volunteer team, there will not be ongoing growth. 

Need help growing your volunteer team?  Check out my book "The Formula for Building Great Volunteer Teams." You can get it here. 

Stay relevant. 

This is not 1970.  Children have changed. Childhood has changed.  It is crucial that you stay on top of how today's kids are wired and what they like. 

McDonald's practices this concept with their kids' meals. The food in the box stays the same. But the box and the toy inside changes to stay current with what is popular.  

This applies to our ministries. The food (God's Word) doesn't change. But how we present it must change to stay relevant with today's kids. 

We must stay anchored to the truth while being geared for the times. 

Focus groups.  

Twice a year, bring in a group of parents and ask them key questions to get their feedback.

What is working in our children's ministry?

How can we improve the ministry and be more effective?

How can we better support you as a parent?

What do we need to stop doing? What do we need to start doing?  

p.s. You can also do this with kids and get great feedback. 

*If you would like a list of focus group questions to ask parents and kids, you can email me 

Keep your eyes on what matters the most.  

If you are going to grow your ministry, then you must keep your eyes on what matters most to Jesus...kids and families who don't know Him. 

You are surrounded by kids and families who do not know Jesus. At the end of time...this is what will matter the most....saved or lost.

How can you reach lost kids and families?  Here are some of the proven ways I have seen unchurched kids and families come to Jesus.

VBS with an emphasis on having parents come for a "family night."

Sports leagues like Upward Sports can be effective at connecting with kids and families in your community. 

Fall festivals...trunk or treats...Easter egg hunts...Child Evangelism Fellowship...are also great ways to connect with and reach unchurched families. 

Milestones.

Milestones are key times in a families' life when they are open to your spiritual influence. Think about Abraham and Isaac and the experience they had together on the mountain. They remembered that for the rest of their life. 

I am a huge believer in milestones. In just the last month, I have seen two pre-teens follow Jesus in baptism whose families are not believers. But many of their family members came to see their baptism and heard the Gospel. 

I have five milestones that I use to reach and disciple families. You can get more information about Milestone kits at this link.

Have clear next steps.  

If you want to see kids and families get plugged into your ministry, then provide clear next steps for them to do so. A next step may be joining a Bible study, finding a place to serve, going to a milestone class, attending a new members class, etc. 

Do a few things well.  

You can do a lot of things mediocre or you can do a few things with excellence. Focus on a few things that you can provide for kids and families with excellence. Sometimes the best thing you can put on your ministry calendar is eraser marks. 

Remember...kids and families are drawn to excellence. 

Grow yourself. 

If you want to grow your ministry, it starts with you. 

If you want to lead a level 10 ministry, then you have to be a level 10 leader.  

As you grow spiritually and as a leader, you will see your ministry grow. 

Invest in yourself as a leader.  Read leadership books. Listen to podcasts. Go to conferences. Get a mentor. 

I offer a six month coaching program called Advance Coaching.  You can get more information about this at this link. 

The most important factor is prayer. 

God grows His church.  Our job is to be faithful to pray and be faithful to reach kids and families. 

Nothing of eternal value happens with out prayer. 

I believe God wants your ministry to grow. He is not willing that any should perish, but that all would come to repentance. 

Feel the heart of Jesus as He looks over the crowds and weeps for them.  May His tears flood our hearts and cause us to be passionate about what He is passionate about. 

It's 2026.  Time to get some momentum going as we head into the new year. 

What kind of impact do you want to make this year?

What is something new you've been thinking about trying?  

What has lost its momentum and needs to be replaced?

What needs to happen to see your ministry start growing?

Are you tired and seeking answers to move the ministry forward?

How are you going to invest in yourself this year? 

I'm here to help. Here are some new (and proven) resources that can help you move forward.  

Here we go...

Brand new book - Legacy...Leave Your Mark On This World.  Inspire yourself...inspire your staff...inspire your volunteers. Get it here. 

Live Online Webinar - register here. 

Advance Children's Ministry Coaching - take your leadership and ministry to the next level. Get more info. here.

 

For most children's ministries, it is also time to decide how you are going to spend your budget money for the new year. 

This is not about how large or small your budget is. It's about what percentage of your budget you will invest where.

Whether you have a large budget or a small budget, you must decide how you are going to allocate the budget money you have been entrusted with.   

What will you spend your ministry budget on this coming year?  Programs?  Events?  Outreach?  Milestones?  

Here's what I believe about this and what I do with the budget I have been given. 

I spend a large percent of my budget on volunteers.  I believe the wisest investment you can make with your budget is in your volunteers.  

Here's why.

Without volunteers, you have no children's ministry. The success of your children's ministry rises and falls on the strength of your volunteer team. Plain and simple. That's a fact. 

If volunteers are a high priority for you, then your budget should reflect this. 

A couple of weeks ago, I gave all of our volunteers a handwritten Christmas card with a Starbucks gift card in it. It ended up costing several hundred dollars. But it made a statement to my volunteers.  I value you.  I honor you. I care about you as a person. I believe you are a difference maker.  I thought of you. 

It was the best ministry investment I could make during the Christmas season.  

Remember this...where you spend your budget money reveals what you think is valuable and important.

Spend your budget money getting ministry shirts for your volunteers. 

Spend your budget money giving your volunteers small gifts at strategic times in your ministry calendar. 

Spend your budget money feeding your volunteers well at training meetings. 

Spend your budget money giving your volunteers a small gift on their birthday. 

Spend your budget money having coffee with your volunteers. 

One of best team members I ever had was one of our nursery coordinators. Every time I went to the nursery to check on things, I saw smiling, happy volunteers. Every room always had volunteers in place. I asked the coordinator what her secret was. How was she building such a strong volunteer team?

Her answer? She saw herself as an airlines stewardess. She went room to room encouraging and checking on each of her volunteers while they were serving. She brought them drinks and snacks.  And not just any snacks. She had a list of her volunteers favorite snacks and she cooked these and brought it to them.  She also gave her cell phone to all of her volunteers and told them to always feel free to call her if they needed anything.

Of course, I was thrilled with how she was spending her budget money.  

Any money you spend on volunteers is a win. 

What will you be spending your budget money on this coming year?   

2026 is just around the corner. I am sure you have started preparing your calendar for a new ministry year. 

Here are some tips that I use to plan my ministry calendar. 

Buy a big desk calendar. 

Spread out the months of the calendar on a table or other flat surface. This will enable you to see a physical copy of the whole year that is coming. 

Go through and start writing in ministry dates on the calendar. 

What do you need to write on the calendar for January?  February?  March?  

Write in recurring program dates like mid-week programming, Sunday morning Bible studies, etc. 

Next write in the dates for your milestone events such as salvation classes, baptism classes, parent and child dedication, etc. 

Then write in your big events like camp, vbs, trunk or treat, etc. 

More tips:

Make sure you are collaborating with the other ministries in your church. Show them your calendar and make sure there are no events on the same day. You don't want to have two big, competing events on the same day. An example would be avoiding a VBS volunteer training on the same date as a women's ministry event.  Plan together with other ministries to avoid silos when it comes to calendar planning.

Remember that less is more. Don't over plan your calendar.  You can do a few things with excellence or you can do a lot of things mediocre. Sometimes the best thing you can put on your calendar is eraser marks.  

Stay open to change.  The calendar shouldn't drive your ministry.  The ministry should drive your calendar.

Just because you did something in the past doesn't mean you should be doing it now. Take a hard look at everything you are doing.  Is it effective?  Are kids and families attending this (people vote with their feet)? Is it helping you reach and disciple kids and families?

Don't get stuck in the past. Be willing to change things that are not working. 

Plan out your entire year. You should always strive to be a year ahead on your calendar. Of course, there are occasionally a few exceptions to this that are out of your control, but the goal should be to stay a year ahead.

Start with the end in mind.  Where do you want to see the kids at spiritually when the year ends?  Your calendar should provide steps to seeing this accomplished. What do you want the kids to know about God and His Word at the end of the year?  Your teaching calendar should take them to that.

These simple steps can make your ministry calendar planning a lot less complicated and less stressful. It will also help your ministry be more effective. 

Your turn. How do you do your ministry calendar planning?  Share your thoughts and insight with us in the comment section below.