RELEVANT CHILDREN'S MINISTRY: #childrenspastor

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10 Things Senior Pastors Need to Know About Children's Ministry

10:23 AM Dale Hudson

Do you ever share articles with your Senior Pastor? Articles that explain the importance of children's ministry? This is one to share if you get the opportunity.

Here are 10 things that every senior pastor needs to know about children's ministry.

Children's ministry needs the support of the Senior Pastor.

Senior Pastors should be a top fan of children's ministry. They set the tone for the church when it comes to how people view children's ministry.

Does your senior pastor see it as an afterthought or as a vital ministry?

Is the success of children's ministry important to your senior pastor? How do they show that?

The children's ministry staff and volunteers need to know their senior pastor values children's ministry.

Children's ministry is a growth engine for the church.

Do you know the top two reasons people pick a church?

-How friendly are you?

-What do you have to offer my kids?

The fastest growing and largest churches in the nation have something in common. They all have dynamic children's ministries.

If you want to see your church grow, it will happen through reaching kids and their parents.

Why do you think parents drive past the steakhouse and eat at McDonald's instead? It has to do with something called a kids' meal. Dad and mom would rather eat at the steakhouse, but the kids want to go where there are kids' meals and playgrounds. Normally the kids win that battle. It is often the same situation with families and where they go to church.

Parents can have a great experience at a church, but if the kiddos come out and say they didn't like it...chances are they are going to find a place where their kids have a great experience.

Compensate your children's ministry person well.

If you are a senior pastor reading this, you may have a part-time person leading your children's ministry. They probably won't tell you this, but they are working a lot more than part-time hours. You are getting a full-time person for part-time pay. This is not fair. Compensate your children's person well. Pay them for what they are worth and for what they are investing in the ministry.

If you do have a full-time person, then pay them fairly. You want their attention to be on the ministry, not on how they are going to put food on the table.

What they do is invaluable for your ministry. The church will get back financial benefits from the families they help you reach.

Children's ministry leaders help you shepherd the flock.

Children's ministry leaders are a key part in shepherding the entire congregation. They shepherd children, parents, volunteers of all ages, and entire families. They help you carry the load of shepherding the flock.

Buildings and facilities speak volumes.

The physical space designated for children makes a major statement to families. You can say that you are for children's ministry, but if the facilities for children are subpar, then it says otherwise.

If you are trying to decide where to invest the church's money, children's ministry should be at the forefront. It is a mistake to build great facilities for students (teenagers) and adults and then stick the kids in the basement.

Your facilities say one of two things...either we believe in children's ministry or it is not a priority for us. Investing finances in children's ministry facilities and environments is always a win.

Make your children's ministry budget a top priority.

Money invested in children's ministry will return to the church many times over.

If you are spending money on new choir robes while your children's ministry has moldy carpet, then something is wrong.

If you are spending more on coffee than you are on goldfish crackers, something is off.

If you are remodeling the men and women's bathrooms while the children's ministry tables and chairs are falling apart, then something is out of sorts.

If you are building a new sanctuary while the children's ministry area is old and outdated, then priorities need to be looked at.

If you are spending big money on sound and LED walls for the sanctuary while the children's ministry rooms have old TV's and Veggie Tales VHS tapes, something is off.

If you have 3 full-time people on your worship staff, but only a part-time person in children's ministry, then your personnel budget needs to be adjusted.

I could go on and on and on, but you get the point. One of the biggest budgets in the church should be the

children's ministry budget. One of the biggest staff teams should be your children's ministry team.

Children's ministry is not easy, make sure you give them time off.

Children's ministry is no easy gig. It has so many moving parts. It has the pressure of always having volunteers ready and in place every Sunday. You know this. Sunday always comes back and your children's ministry person has to be ready.

Then there is the load of planning and pulling off events like VBS, camp, parent and child dedications, fall festivals, Christmas events, Easter egg hunts, Bible studies, trips, etc.

Simply put...it is a lot.

It is enough to burn your children's ministry person out if they don't get some R&R. Make sure you give them days off each week. Provide them with vacation time. Don't expect them to be at the church five nights a week. Give them plenty of margin to be wih their most important ministry...their family.

Ask for their input and advice when planning teaching series.

Your children's ministry person can help you make sermons relevant to today's parents and families. Are you doing a series about the home? Include your children's ministry person in the planning. Are you doing a series about serving? Get input from the person that helps lead one of the biggest volunteer bases in your church.

Your children's ministry person knows the pulse of the families. They can be a big resource to you when sermon planning. Does that mean you should use all of their ideas? No. Of course not. But it does mean you listen to them and use what will make your sermon connect better with families.

Summer is your children's ministry person's busiest time of the year.

When we hear adult ministries talk about how things slow down in the summer, we can't help but chuckle. Summer time is full of events and happenings in children's ministry. Then there is a tiny, small window of down time (like 3 days) before we have to jump right into the fall season of ministry.

Be aware of this and help your children's ministry person guard their time and comp them on a regular basis.

Children are not just the church of tomorrow. They are the church of today as well.

Yes. We are investing in their future...but we are also excited about seeing them come to Christ now, be discipled now, and growing in their faith now.

Children can make an impact now. They can serve now. They can be prayer warriors now. They can learn to tithe now. They can learn to pray and spend time with God now. They can share the Gospel now. They can be leaders now.

We tell children to sit still and be quiet and then we wonder why they sit still and are quiet when they grow up. It's because that's what we told them to do!

We often call kids out for what they have done wrong. What if we started calling them up...calling them up to what God wants them to be and do. Calling them up to make a difference. Calling them up to living lives of faithfulness, integrity, and spiritual obedience.

Yes...we are excited to see them grow up and be used by God...but we are just as excited about seeing how God can use them now.

Are you going to share this with your senior pastor? That's obviously up to you. It could get you fired (ha) or it could help you gain more support and influence for the children's ministry you lead.

It's not about us anyways. It's about reaching the next generation and their families. Share your heart with your senior pastor. He may have been waiting for a long time to hear this from you. You have to be the champion for children's ministry in your church. Lead strong my friend and be reminded of how important what you are doing is.

How to Make Your Children's Ministry 52 Times Better

8:02 AM Dale Hudson

Would you like to improve your children's ministry and make it 52 times better?

Here's a simple secret that can help you accomplish this.

Each week, make one thing better. Do this each week and you will see dramatic improvement in your children's ministry.

Some of the things may be big things like remodeling a room, while other things might be something like organizing your resource area or updating your ministry logo.

Here's an example. I recently became the Children and Family Pastor at a church in the Kansas City metro area. The volunteer room was piled up with left over VBS and camp supplies. The room looked junky. Not an area that volunteers would be proud to meet in.

So this past week, I cleared out the room, cleaned it, and organized it. One of the volunteers walked in and said, 'Wow! This looks a lot better." I did this because it will show our volunteers that we care enough about them to create a clean, organized space where they can meet for prayer and fellowship before they start serving. Mission accomplished. Our ministry is one times better than it was last week.

This week, I will look for something else that we can update, tweak, create or change that will make our ministry better.

Keep doing this simple step every week. Be intentional with this and in one year, you are going to be amazed how much better your ministry is. It may even be 52 times better!

20 Mistakes Children's Pastors Make

10:17 AM Dale Hudson

Here are 20 mistakes children's pastors make. I know this because I have made many of these.

If you are reading this, hopefully it will save you from making these mistakes.

Experience is a good teacher. You can avoid making the same mistake twice if you are teachable and learn from your mistakes.

Okay...let's take a look at 20 mistakes children's pastors make.

#1 - Doing more than equipping. Ephesians 4 makes it clear that our role is to equip people for the work of the ministry rather than trying to do it all by ourselves.

#2 - Not paying attention to the details. We had just gotten in new ministry shirts for our volunteers. One of our team members was assigned to send out an email to all of our volunteers to remind them to come by and pick up their shirt on Sunday. But the person missed one small detail in the email. Somehow she left the "r" out of shirt in the email. Yep. You got it. An email went out to all of our volunteers to come by and pick up their sh#t on Sunday. Details matter a lot. Even when it's something as small as one letter.

#3 - Skipping a quiet time because you have too much going on. You can get so busy that you start missing your time with Jesus. If you are not careful, you will end up working for Jesus, but not spending time with Jesus. This will lead to a powerless ministry. It is by spending time with Jesus that we experience God's anointing and power at work in us and through us.

#4 - Taking your eyes off of Jesus. Just like Peter trying to walk on the water, we can let the problems, issues, decisions, politics and doubt cause us to take our eyes off of Jesus. It's a fact. You will experience heartache, betrayal and disappointment in ministry. But don't let those things take your eyes off of Jesus.

#5 - Reacting instead of acting. I was away one weekend and when I came back to my office on Monday, it was filled with decorations. One of the ladies in the church had chose to put all her decorations in my office for a day or so. I could barely move around in the office. Instead of acting, I reacted. I took all her decorations out of my office and piled them up in the hallway. I even put a sign on the decorations that said, "Dale's office is not a storage room."

The lady came in and found out what I had done and started crying. I then realized how my reacting had caused drama and sadness. I should have acted by first calling her and asking if I could help her find a place for the decorations or better yet, let her know she could leave them in my office for as long as needed.

#6 - Trying to lead by your title. People don't follow a title. They follow someone they love and respect. The old saying is true - people don't care how much you know until they know how much you care.

#7 - Not following through on a promise. Your word should be your bond. When you make a promise to a staff member, parent, volunteer or child, make sure you follow through and do what you promised. People should know when you tell them you will take care of something that it will be done.

#8 - Bringing problems to your direct report without possible solutions. Just sharing a problem is whining and complaining. Sharing about a problem and bringing 2-3 possible fixes, is called leadership.

#9 - Not focusing on your #1 priority - building a great volunteer team. The success of your ministry will rise and fall on the strength of the volunteer team you build. If you had to sum up your job description in one word, that word should be "volunteers."

#10 - Not reading. Leaders are readers. Schedule yourself a minimum of 5 books to read per year and preferably 10 books a year.

#11 - Not attending the adult service. It's important to be part of the adult service so you can first and foremost grow spiritually. It will also help you keep in touch with the big picture of the church.

#12 - Not having mentors. You should have 3 mentors in your life. One mentor should be younger than you. They can help you stay in touch with current culture. Another mentor should be a person that has been in ministry about the same time as you. They face many of the same problems that you do. The final mentor should be someone who has been in ministry longer than you. They have been down the road farther than you and can help you navigate what is coming.

#13 - Working on your day off. Take your day off. Don't fall into the trap of working 7 days in a row and not taking a break. It will catch up with you. You can burn out doing what you love.

#14 - Not using your vacation time. This goes along with the previous point. Make sure you are using your vacation time. You need the time away.

#15 - Trying to save the world. A passion for reaching people who are far from God is so important in ministry. Your heart should break for the families in your community that don't know Jesus. But remember. you can't save them. That job has already been filled by Jesus. Your role is to sow faith seeds and then watch God bring the harvest.

#16 - Not setting a sustainable pace. Ministry is a marathon not a sprint. Find a steady pace that you can maintain for the distance.

#17 - Not getting parents involved. Parents are the number one influence in a child's life. Create a spiritual partnership with them. When you get parents teaching their children what you are teaching them at church, the impact is exponential.

#18 - Trying to copy 100% of what another ministry is doing. I used to go to conferences or visit churches and come home ready to put what I saw into action. The problem was in some cases it wasn't a fit for our church and I tried to force it. Learn from other churches. But be the church God has called to reach your community.

#19 - Trying to run in someone else's lane. Paul reminds us that he has finished His course...not someone else's. God has created a course just for you. Your only competition is yourself. You have unique abilities and gifts that God has given you. Always strive to be a better you. No one else can be you.

#20 - Not being flexible. Change. It's inevitable in ministry. Hold onto the ministry with open hands. Be ready to shift and adjust as needed.

Your turn.

What are some other mistakes children's pastor's make? Share your thoughts in the comment section below.