How do you build a children's ministry? What factors are involved in a thriving children's ministry? How do you see your children's ministry succeed?
Let's take a look at 7 secrets to a successful children's ministry.
A solid volunteer team.
The success of your children's ministry rises and falls on the strength of your volunteer team.
When people ask me about building a successful children's ministry, I always tells them to focus on building a great volunteer team. A great volunteer team equals a great children's ministry.
This being the case, how much time are you spending each week with enlisting, equipping, and empowering volunteers? You should be investing a large chunk of your time each week in building your volunteer team. If you've never read my book "The Formula for Building a Great Volunteer Team," get your copy today at this link.
Partnering with parents.
The greatest influence in a child's life is his or her parents. If you want to be successful in children's ministry, then get really good at influencing the influencers.
Always be thinking about parents. How can I equip parents to disciple their children? How can I help parents grow in their faith which will result in their children growing in their faith? What discipleship tools do I need to provide for parents?
Successful churches have successful children's ministries. When you build parents in the faith you are building your church.
The Fun Factor.
Should children have fun at church? Absolutely. In fact, I'd say successful children's ministries have something in common. They are fun places to be.
For clarity, when I say "fun" I am not just talking about running around acting silly.
When I say "fun" here is what I am referring to.
Fun is singing upbeat, high energy songs that have lots of motions.
Fun is playing challenging review games.
Fun is using hands-on, active, engaging lessons to capture kids' attention. Check out Connect12 curriculum for this.
Fun is giving kids time to get to know each other through discussions and icebreakers.
Fun is taking the Bible story and helping kids apply it to their life.
Fun is talking to and listening to God.
Prayer
A few years ago, I went to speak at a conference in Jakarta, Indonesia. At the time, Indonesia was 98% Muslim. I was hoping to not get my head cut off while I was there. They had a guard at the church with a machine gun and we had to go through a metal detector.
The church that was hosting the conference has over 12,000 people that attend for weekened services. They only have 2 staff members for that number of people. Crazy right? Why did this church grow so fast in a predominantly Muslim population?
They took me down stairs to some rooms. In one of the rooms, there was a group of kids praying for the service and worshiping Jesus. In another room, there was a large group of adults praying for the services.
They also require volunteers who are going to serve in children's ministry to come and pray for an hour before they start serving.
Remember this...nothing of eternal value happens without prayer. Success in children's ministry originates from prayer.
Less is more.
Success in children's ministry is not found in busyness, but in productivity. Just because you have a full calendar doesn't mean your ministry will be successful. Sometimes the best thing you can put on your ministry calendar is eraser marks.
Children's ministries that are successful normally focus on doing a few things well. You can do a lot of things mediocre or you can do a few things with excellence.
Determine what your ministry can be really good at and pour your time, resources, staffing, and energy into those things.
Communication.
I have often said this - don't expect your volunteers to shine on Sunday if you are keeping them in the dark during the week.
Successful children's ministries communicate consistently with volunteers, parents, and other ministries in the church.
Vision
People are drawn toward a compelling vision. A successful children's ministry knows how to regularly cast vision. They inspire the people on their team. They inspire parents. They inspire the kids.
Put your vision in writing. Make it known to those who follow. Successful children's ministries have a vision in writing. Their team knows what the vision is. Parents know what the vision is. Kids in the ministry know what the vision is.
Put these simple secrets into action and you can build a thriving children's ministry.
Your turn. What are some other secrets that are necessary for building a successful children's ministry? Share in the comment section below.
