Do you want to be successful in children's ministry? God wants you to have success.
Look what He says to you...
Notice how God clarifies success. He says if you will follow Him and serve Him, then you can have "good" success.
There is a difference between success and good success. Good success happens when we follow God and fulfill His plan for our life.
The success that God is talking about also pertains to children's ministry success.
Children's ministry success is seeing your children's ministry grow.
God wants your children's ministry to reach children.
God wants your children's ministry to reach parents.
God wants your children's ministry volunteers to grow in their faith.
God wants the children in your ministry to be discipled.
God wants the parents in your ministry to become better parents.
God wants to use you and work through you to see good success.
Let's look at 5 steps you can take to see your children's ministry have good success:
1. Spend time with God.
God is the originator of good success. The more time you spend alone with Him, the more He will pour out His blessings on your ministry.
This has to be the first step if you want to see success. Nothing of eternal value happens without prayer. Look what God says about this in I Corinthians 3.
I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase.
When you spend time with God, you are inviting Him to anoint and bless the ministry He has called you to lead. You are asking Him to bless your ministry with good success.
2. Build your volunteer team.
Success in children's ministry doesn't happen flying solo. It takes a team. If I had to choose one word that indicates success in children's ministry, it would be volunteers.
Make building your volunteer team one of your top priorities.
NBA legend Michael Jordon said this...
Great players win games. Great teams win championships.
The success of your ministry rises and falls on the strength of the volunteer team you build. You might be able to build an okay ministry by yourself...but you will have to build a great team if you want to have good success.
3. Have a clear vision that permeates your ministry.
What does good success look like for your ministry?
Put the vision in writing.
Point your team toward the vision.
Continue to keep the vision front and center.
Make sure every person on the team knows the vision. You can't lead people toward good success if they don't know what defines good success.
Focus your team on the "why" before you share the "what." The vision lays out the pathway to good success.
4. Love and care for the families in your church.
Ministry is all about loving people. People whom Jesus loved and died for.
As you love and care for the families in your ministry, you see them begin to look to you as one of their shepherds. Of course, the senior pastor is their primary shepherd, but you will become the one who shepherds them on a day-by-day basis.
Be a good shepherd. Be there for the families in your church. Love them. Care for them. Be there for them when they go through hard times.
You've heard the saying...
People don't care how much you know until they know how much you care.
Good success is not about how many people serve you. Instead, it's about how many people you serve.
5. Focus on reaching kids and parents who need Jesus.
At the end of the day, what matters most is how many people we can point to Jesus. Jesus last commandment is our marching order. It's found in Acts 1:8.
Jesus' heart is for those who do not yet know Him. He is not willing that anyone should perish.
As your heart beats in sync with Jesus' heart, you will find that He will bless your ministry with good success.
As you have been reading this, I pray that God will stir your heart afresh and anew to pursue Him and live for the things that really matter.
I believe if you focus on these things, your ministry will see good success.