RELEVANT CHILDREN'S MINISTRY

5 Things People Won't Tell You About Children's Ministry

11:17 AM Dale Hudson

Here are five things people won't tell you about Children's Ministry. I learned these things the hard way...ministry trial and error.

Hopefully, I can save you some frustrating time and energy by sharing these things with you now.

If you are a rookie, these may be surprising to you. If you are a veteran in children's ministry, it is helpful to be reminded of these things.

Ready? Let's talk about these five things .

Children's ministry is more about leading volunteers than it is about children.

I often say this...

The success of your children's ministry rises and falls on the strength of your volunteer team.

You can be great with kids, but if you can't build and lead a volunteer team, you will have a hard time building a children's ministry.

You should spend as much or even more time investing in volunteers than you do investing in children.

Learn how to enlist volunteers.

Learn how to equip volunteers.

Learn how to engage volunteers.

Learn how to encourage volunteers.

Learn how to empower volunteers.

If you haven't read my book "The Formula for Building Great Volunteer Teams" then get your copy today. It will reveal how I built a team of over 2,000 volunteers in a local church. It will give you valuable ideas and insight on how to build a great volunteer team. It is available at this link.

You should spent a big percentage of your time connecting with and engaging parents in your ministry.

Think about it. Parents have the greatest influence in a child's life.

If you want to influence kids, then you have to influence their parents.

Always be thinking about parents.

How can you engage them?

How can you equip them?

How can you influence them?

One big way you can influence parents is by involving them in key milestone moments.

Parent and child dedication. Salvation. Baptism. Spiritual growth. Transition into middle school.

You can get more info. about Milestones kits at this link.

No matter what you do...some families and volunteers will walk away from you.

Volunteers you have poured your time and energy into will quit serving.

Families that you have invested in will leave the church.

Get used to it. It's going to happen and often there is nothing you can do about it. You have to let them go.

If you want to grow the ministry, you have to grow yourself first.

You can't have a 10 children's ministry, if you are a 5 leader.

Look what Rick Warren said.

Years ago I stopped worrying about how to grow our church and instead focused on growing me. As I grew, our church grew.

Growing churches require growing pastors. The moment you stop growing, your church stops growing.

Focus on your own personal leadership growth. Read leadership blogs. Listen to podcasts that will help you grow. Read leadership books. Attend conferences. Join a coaching group.

I have a 6 month coaching experience designed specifically to help children's ministry leaders grow. You can get more information at this link.

Families will only attend your ministry one to two times a month.

This can be frustrating, but it is reality.

The average family only shows up a few times a month.

Parents will make unwise decisions by putting their children in sports' leagues that play on Sunday.

The family dynamics of divorce will cause children to only be able to attend every other weekend.

Families' will have wrong priorities that hinders their church attendance patterns.

Then we wonder why children grow up and don't make church attendance a priority.

Encourage families to be faithful and consistent in their church attendance, but don't be surprised when they continue to make unwise decisions regarding this.

May God continue to give you wisdom and insight as you serve in children's ministry.

How to Leave a Legacy That Outlives You

8:26 AM Dale Hudson

"What we do for ourselves dies with us. What we do for others and the world remains and is immortal."

Albert Pike

At times, we lose sight of the long-term impact our life can have.

Why does this happen? Often it is because we forget that we have the opportunity to make a long-term impact and leave a legacy.

When it comes to leaving a legacy, we must have faith that all the time and resources we put into helping kids will bear fruit now and later as well.

"Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen, it gives us assurance about things we cannot see."
Hebrews 11:1

We hope that the Bible lessons we share will come to mind when kids are making decisions. We hope that the Bible verses we help kids memorize will guide them one day. We hope that the small group discussions we have will help kids walk with Jesus. We hope that the prayers we pray will be heard and help kids follow Jesus when they are older. We hope the time we invest in parents will help them guide their children spiritually as they grow up.

As the verse says, we must have faith that God is using us to make a long-term impact in people’s lives. It's important to remind yourself of this on a regular basis. If you are only looking short-term, you can get discouraged. Especially on those days when it seems the kids are not listening and every take home paper you passed out is blowing across the parking lot.

Remember the opportunity you have to leave a legacy. It's important to remember that serving is an opportunity to leave a true legacy that will outlive you.

“The great use of life is to spend it for something that will outlast it.”
William James

I have a friend who is from China…born and raised. He has been one of the leading people who helps the underground church in China train and equip volunteers to reach and disciple children. Our correspondence was cautious to say the least. If the government found out he was helping the underground churches, he could have been arrested. At one time, he was training and equipping over 89,000 volunteers online. This translates into millions of children that are being impacted with the Gospel.

Recently, he shared with me that the police had come and arrested some of the volunteer leaders in the churches because they were doing Vacation Bible School. But he remains steadfast and faithful.

I was curious how he came to Christ having been raised in an atheistic society. He shared with me that decades ago, a missionary from Houston, Texas had come to China and led his great, great, great grandfather to Jesus. He is a fifth-generation believer. Think about that. One person from Houston…decades ago…planted one seed. From that seed has come tens of thousands of believers. What a legacy that man from Houston has made. His legacy has long outlived him.

You just never know what God will do with you. You just never know what kind of legacy you can leave when you obey God’s call. When you decide you will radically obey Jesus a legacy is born and that far outlive you when you are obedient.

“Leaving a legacy is about planting seeds in a garden you will never get to see in full blossom”
Lin Manuel-Miranda

Thirty-six years ago, when I was in college, I was part of a ministry that reached children and their families in the inner city of Chicago. Each Saturday morning, we would go out and share the Gospel with kids and parents and invite them to church. The next day, we would pick them up and take them to church.

One of the little girls we reached was named Veronica. We knocked on her door and invited her to come to church. Her parents agreed that she could come and so she began attending church with us.

She invited Jesus into her life and began following Him. After college, I moved away and lost contact with her and her family. Then, about a year ago, I got a message on Facebook from her. She asked if I was the Dale who invited her to church when I ministered in Chicago decades ago? Long story short, she has continued to attend church and grow in her faith for all these years. She is now married and lives in Orlando.

She is a children's ministry volunteer at a great church there. Recently her son came to Christ as well. It was a great reminder for me that our investments will outlive us. When I am gone, her son will be carrying the message to his generation.

One day in heaven, you will be able to see the full impact your legacy has made. Until then, keep giving. Keep sharing. Keep investing. Keep mentoring. Keep caring. Keep praying. Do this and your investment will outlive you.

Long after you and I are in Heaven, the investment we made here on earth will continue to grow and reach people you won't meet until they are in Heaven with you. You are sending a message into the future through the people you reach and disciple.

Determine to leave a legacy that will outlive you.

Have you gotten a copy of my new book yet? It's called "Legacy...How to Leave Your Mark on This World." It is available at this link.

10 Things You Should Be Praying for Your Children's Ministry

9:24 AM Dale Hudson

Think about this with me - nothing of eternal value happens without prayer.

It is crucial that you and your team spend significant time praying for your children's ministry.

When you pray, here are 10 things you should ask God for.

More volunteers.

In Luke 10:2, Jesus tells us to pray for this.

"The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest."

Every single day, I pray this for the children's ministry that I lead. This past week, God answered that prayer for me and sent me two more volunteers.

If you want to grow your volunteer team, start with praying for it.

Anointing on the ministry.

We will accomplish nothing if we depend on our own strength. We must have the anointing of the Holy Spirit on our ministry. Zacharias echoes this when he says...

"Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit."

This means that human strength or personal ability are insufficient for God's work. Only divine empowerment through the Holy Spirit can accomplish His purposes. It takes complete reliance on God's spiritual provision over worldly resources for success in His kingdom.

New children and families.

God grows the church. Pray that God would send new children and families that you can reach and minister to. How many guests you have may often correlate with time spent in prayer. There are children and families in your community that God is working on. Pray and tell God that you want to be the instrument He uses to reach them.

Safety and protection.

There is an enemy that wants to kill, steal, and destroy your ministry. We see examples of this when there is a church shooting. We see examples of this when there is abuse.

We must do everything in our power to protect the ministry with background checks, safety and security rules, and pro-active guidelines.

But we must also spend time praying for God to protect the ministry.

Spiritual growth.

We want to see the kids in our ministry grow in their faith. We want to see the families in our ministry grow in their faith. We want to see our volunteers grow in their faith.

Pray that God would create a hunger and thirst in their lives for the things of God.

Pray that God would use your lessons to grow kids' faith.

Pray that God would use the lessons to grow the faith of your volunteers. I often hear volunteers say that they learned as much as the kids did as they prepared and shared their lesson.

Unity.

Jesus says this in John 17.

"My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one— I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me."

Jesus prayed for unity. We should pray for unity.

It takes unity to grow a ministry. It takes unity to have the power of God. It takes unity to show the world that our faith is real.

We often have to make changes and adjustments in the ministry. Sometimes people have a hard time dealing with change. Disunity can try to sneak in and disrupt your ministry. Pray for unity.

Vision.

Pray that God would give you vision. Pray that people would catch the vision God gives you for the ministry.

We know that without vision people perish. Without vision volunteers grow complacent. Without vision the ministry will grow stagnant.

People will engage with and follow a God-sized vision.

Wisdom.

It takes wisdom to lead a ministry. It takes wisdom to make critical decisions. It takes wisdom to navigate choppy waters.

The good news...God says in James that if we ask for wisdom, He will give it to us.

Pray for it every day.

Strength.

Are you tired? Do you feel like you are running a ministry marathon and you are out of breath? Are you dangerously depleted?

We all get there at times.

The answer: spend time with Jesus in prayer.

Isaiah 40:31 tells us that "Those who wait on the Lord will renew their strength. they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint."

Relying on God brings revitalized power, endurance, and spiritual uplift. It enables believers to overcome challenges with supernatural resilience, like soaring eagles or tireless runners. This "waiting" isn't passive but an active posture of dependence.

Salvation.

Ask God to draw kids and parents to Jesus. Ask Him to give them a heart to repent and believe. Make sharing the Gospel a top priority. Intercede for people to be saved.

Praying these things will bring God's blessings to your life and ministry.

18 and Under...Why This Number Is So Important

9:46 AM Dale Hudson

18. What's so important about that number? Let's talk about it.

Research from Dr. George Barna has revealed that the vast majority of people who accept Jesus as their Savior do so before the age of 18.

64-68% of all believers in the U.S. come to Christ before their 18th birthday.

Not sure about that? Do this. The next time you are with a group of believers ask them how many of them came to Christ before the age of 18. The vast majority of them will raise their hands.

Every time I stand in front of a group of kids, I feel the burden of this. Will they come to Christ while their hearts are tender and open to the things of God?

If you have heard me speak, you know that I often use the analogy of cement and concrete. Wet cement is impressionable. You can easily write on it, make impressions on it, and shape it. Contrast that with concrete. Concrete is hard to write on or make impressions on. You have to use a hammer, chisels, etc.

We often here it said, "children are like wet cement." It is true. While they are young, they are very impressionable and mold-able. But soon the wet cement turns to concrete. You only have a small window of time before this happens.

We must reach children now.

We must consistently share the Gospel with children. Make sure...make sure...make sure your curriculum is sharing the Gospel with the children God sends your way. More than character traits....the children you interact with and teach need to come to Christ for their salvation.

Go all out to reach children. Make the Great Commission your primary marching orders. Be passionate about it. It's what God is passionate about. He is not willing that anyone perishes, but that everyone comes to salvation.

I believe those who serve in children's ministry are laboring in the greatest harvest field in the world. God has entrusted you with reaching the next generation.

One of the proven ways to reach children is by having a salvation milestone. When kids show an interest in Jesus, invite them to attend a class with their parents. In this class, thoroughly share the Gospel with them. At the end of the class invite their parents to lead their children to Jesus.

The proven class that I use is called Starting Point. I have seen thousands of kids and many parents come to Christ in this milestone class. In one year, in a local church, I saw over 430 children (and many parents) attend this class and come to Christ and follow Him in baptism. You can get more information about the class at this link - it is called Starting Point.

430 kids may seem like a lot of kids and I rejoice in what happened. But...that is not the number we should focus on. The number we must stay focused on is the number of kids in our community...in our city...in our area who don't know Jesus. We are surrounded by many, many kids who don't know Jesus. That is the number that should keep us on our knees praying and that is the number that should keep us faithfully sharing the Gospel.

18...time is short...let's reach kids.