RELEVANT CHILDREN'S MINISTRY

If you want to see your children's ministry grow, then I have a book for you. 

The book is entitled "100 Best Ideas to Grow Your Children's Ministry."

It was written by my friend Scott Werner and myself. When we wrote this book together, we were both leading children's ministries in large, fast growing churches.

Scott was the children's pastor at Life Church in Edmond. He helped the children's ministry there grow by leaps and bounds as he served under the leadership of Craig Groeschel.  

I was the children's pastor at Central Church in Las Vegas. I wrote this book during the time when the children's ministry and church there were exploding with growth.  We grew by thousands of people during this time. 

The 100 ideas you will encounter in this book are proven ministry philosophies and methods that have been used to grow children's ministries.  No matter your church size, these ideas can help you see and experience significant growth.

Great children’s ministries don’t happen by accident - they happen on purpose. This book brings together 100 practical, proven, timeless ideas that help kids grow in their faith, help leaders lead with confidence, and help churches create environments where families feel loved and supported.

Build strong volunteer teams.
 

Leading with clarity and vision.
 

Creating engaging environments for kids.
 

Partnering with parents.
 

Designing systems that support long-term growth.
 

Whether you’re new to children’s ministry or a seasoned leader, these ideas will help you
strengthen your ministry and elevate your impact. 

This book is also a great resource that you can take your staff and volunteer team through.  Order 5 or more copies and you can get a 20% discount. You can contact Dale about this at dale@buildingchildrensministry.com.

You can get your copy today at this link. Grab this book and watch your ministry grow...grow...grow!

About 10 years ago, I started a children's ministry round table discussion group. 

I invited the largest, fastest growing children's ministries in the nation to come and spend 2 days just talking about children's ministry.  

As I listened to these successful children's ministry leaders talk about their ministry, I took notes. 

I wrote down what they said works for them.  I wrote down what hasn't worked for them. I wrote down what caused them to grow rapidly. I wrote down obstacles and growth pains they had experienced.

I'd like to share 10 of the things I wrote down that I believe can benefit all of us. Here we go.

1.  Multi-site. 

Without exception, every church there had a multi-site ministry model.  This is how they continue to grow and see success year after year.  If you are going to reach your city or community, you need to start new campuses on a regular basis.

2. Clear, compelling vision.

Each children's ministry has a clear, compelling vision.  They are committed to the vision.  Volunteers know the vision.  Parents know the vision.  The vision is short and easy to remember.  The vision is memorable.  

There are clear steps in place to help the vision become reality.  

3. It is evident that the church cares about children's ministry.

The church as a whole cares about the next generation and is committed to reaching them.  This is made evident through the church's budget allocations.  This is made evident through the church's calendar.  This is made evident through the church's priorities. This is made evident through the church's programing.

4. The church has a strong children's ministry volunteer team.

The best, most committed volunteers serve in children's ministry. The church consistently funnels new volunteers into children's ministry.  It's an honor to serve in children's ministry.  

5. They focus on having a great guest services team. 

They go the second mile when it comes to making guests feel welcomed, accepted, and cared for.  This makes a big impact and they see many guests return and get connected to the church.

6. They share the Gospel on a regular basis.

They understand the timeline for accepting Jesus as Lord and Savior....knowing that 85% of people do so before the age of 18.  They know it all comes down to whether kids accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior early in life,  They area aware is the most important lesson they will ever teach.

7. They are committed to doing things with excellence.

Everything walks the talk for them.  They realize that excellence is found in the small details done well. While they are not perfect, they strive for things to be so. They pay fantastic attention to detail.

8. They have clear processes. 

They have a clear process for joining the volunteer team. A clear process for sharing the Gospel.  A clear process for training their team members.  A clear process for discipleship.  A clear process for a child being baptized.  A clear process for dedicating children.  

9.  They know they haven't arrived yet.

Even though they are larger churches with great success, they still have the heart and posture of a learning church.  They are always looking for ways to improve and get better.  They ask more questions than they give answers.  They learn from everyone they come in contact with.  

10. They acknowledge the "it" factor.  

For some reason, God has decided to bless there ministry in-spite of them. They are very aware of this and realize that without the hand of God, none of this would be happening.  They are growing and achieving ministry success because of God's blessings.  

They know that ministry success only comes from God's anointing and power.  Without the "it" factor, they would flounder and see that nothing of eternal value happens without prayer.

Is your children's ministry stuck?  No matter what you do, you just can't seem to grow.  

You are not alone.  The vast majority of children's ministries are plateaued.  

What is causing this?  Let's look at 10 reasons why your children's ministry is not growing. See if you can identify with any of these. 

You live in a scarcely populated area.   

It's hard to see your children's ministry grow when you live in an area where the population is minimum. This is not an excuse for not growing, but it is a factor.  It's hard to reach over 100 children when you only have 150 children living in your community.

God does not call every one to minister in a metropolitan area.  He also calls people to small communities.  Often people ministering in small, rural areas reach more kids percentage wise than people who are ministering in highly populated areas.  

The key is to stay faithful no matter where God leads you to minister.  People in smaller communities need Jesus just as much as people living in heavily populated areas.  Be diligent to share the Gospel wherever you are and you will grow. 

You are not having guests visit your children's ministry.  

A ministry obviously grows when they have guests come on a regular basis.  Create a culture where kids and parents have an "invest and invite" mentality.  They invest in building relationships with the people around them who don't know Jesus and then they invite them to come to church with them. 

You are not having guests return and become assimilated into the ministry.

It is a challenge to get guests to return for a second visit.  The national average of guests returning for a second visit is about 7%.  If you want to grow, you will need to better than that.  Here are some ideas to get more guests to return.

You are at the 85% point.  

The rule is once you hit a capacity of 85% you will stop growing.  In other words, if your worship space will hold 100 people, when you start averaging 85 people in that space, you will stop growing.  If you want to continue to grow, then you have two options.  You can build more space or you can add another worship service.  This rule is for both children's space and adult space. 

You are hanging on to old traditions that don't resonate with the next generation.  

A healthy, growing church will have all generations represented.  Grandparents.  Parents.  Young couples.  Single adults.  Students.  Children.  Babies.  If you are not growing and your attendance is headed the wrong direction, it maybe because you are not reaching all generations.  The senior adults must will be willing to change or do some things differently to reach the coming generation.  If they are not willing to change for the sake of the next generation, that church will eventually spiral and have to close.

You don't have a good children's ministry.  

When you see a growing church, you can be sure they have a solid children's ministry.  In today's culture, the children usually have the final say about which church the family will attend.  A good children's ministry will be a major growth engine for the church.  A floundering children's ministry will have the opposite effect.

You have grown comfortable where you are.

The comfort zone is where dreams go to die.

I would add that the comfort zone is where children's ministries go to become ineffective and irrelevant.  This is where the "hold on faithful until Jesus returns" mentality comes from.  If you want your children's ministry to grow, then you must be willing to change, stretch yourself, take a hard look at what you are currently doing and find some ways to get outside of the box you find yourself stuck in.

You are not reaching out to your community.

Children's ministries that are growing are involved in their community.  They connect with local schools and serve them.  They find ways they can bless their community.  They spend major time serving outside of the walls of the church.

You are not spending time talking with Jesus and asking Him to send a harvest.

Jesus wants your children's ministry to grow. Jesus wants to anoint you and open doors for you to reach your community.  Jesus told us to pray for volunteers for the harvest fields.  He said the fields are "white unto harvest."  He goes on to say "pray to the Lord of the harvest, that He would send you laborers for the harvest."

When you spend significant time with Jesus by reading His Word and talking to Him in prayer, His anointing and blessings will fall on you and your ministry.  

Nothing of eternal value happens without prayer.

God responds to prayer.  God will send a great harvest when you pray.  God's hand will be on your life and your church when you seek Him. 

I pray you will take some time to look over these 10 reasons carefully.  Is there anything you need to change?  Is there anything you need to start doing?  Have you become complacent?  Now is the time.  You are the person God has anointed.  You are the person to bring growth to your church's children's ministry.

Seize the opportunity and see what God does.

God wants your children's ministry to grow.

"Then the master told his servant, 'Go out to the roads and country lanes and compel them to come in, so that my house will be full.'" Luke 14

Let's look at some tips that can help your children's ministry grow. 

Tip #1 - Give guest kids and families a great first experience.  A first impression is a lasting impression.  If you want to see guests return, then you need to meet or even exceed their expectations.  Their first impression will be the sum of their experience with your greeter team, check-in process and teachers.  Pay close attention to these areas and make sure they are done with excellence.

Tip #2 - Guest return ratio.  The national average for guests who return for a second visit is 7%.  This obviously means only 7 out of a 100 guests will return.  Not a great ratio if you want to grow.  Think about how you can increase the 7% return rate.  One thing that I have seen work is offering guests a free gift on their second visit.  I decided to make that gift a T-shirt with our kids' ministry logo on it.  When we did this, our return rate jumped to 38%. 

Tip #3 - Make sure guest families take everything personal.  Not in a bad sense.  Make their experience as personal as you can.  This means learning and saying their names.  Finding out about their interests.  Asking about their family.  They must feel comfortable, known and made to feel at home.

Tip #4 - Help people get connected relationally.  Introduce them to people they can become friends with.  This means you should have people from every stage of life that they can connect with.  A young couple wants to connect with other young couples.  If a church only has senior adults, it will have a hard time attracting young couples. If no one in the church has kids still at home, it will be challenging for them to attract families who have children living at home. 

A church that is growing will have all generations of people attending and helping new families get connected relationally.  

Tip #5 - Encourage people to invite their friends, neighbors, schoolmates, co-workers, teammates, and other connections they have with people who do not attend church.  If you see your children's ministry start to grow, it will be because the children and families begin inviting and bringing people to church.  Teach your church to invest in building relationships with people who don't attend church.  Invest and then invite.  If the entire church catches hold of this, your children's ministry will begin to grow.

Tip #6 - Make sure your ratios are in order.  If you have 30 preschoolers in a room with only 2 volunteers, you are going to have a hard time growing.  Follow these ratios if you want to grow. This may mean splitting some classes.

• Infants - 1 to 2
• Crawlers - 1 to 3
• Toddlers - 1 to 4
• 2-year-olds - 1 to 4
• 3-year-olds - 1 to 6-8
• 4-year-olds - 1 to 8
• 5 year-olds through 5th grade - 1 to 8
  

Tip #7 - Adequate room to grow.  In order to grow, you need to have no areas that are more than 85% full.  This includes the adult worship auditorium and your children's ministry areas.  Once you hit 85% you will be capped.  When this happens you will need to start another service or create more space.

Tip #8 - Make it fun.  Church should be an environment that kids love to attend.  Doctrine can be taught in a fun way.  Apologetics can be taught in a happy environment.  You don't have to sacrifice one for the other.  This is not about what you teach.  It's about how you teach.  

Create environments that kids get so excited to attend that they are dragging their parents to church.  If the opposite is true, you will have a hard time getting kids excited about attending a "boring" environment. Their parents may drag them to church, but as they get older and can decide for themselves, the opposite of growth will happen...they will check out.

Tip #9 - Prayer.  God is the one who grows a church.  We are to prepare the soil and then watch as God brings the increase.  You should work like everything depends on you and pray like everything depends upon God...because it does.

"I planted the seed in your hearts, and Apollos watered it, but it was God who made it grow. It’s not important who does the planting, or who does the watering. What’s important is that God makes the seed grow. The one who plants and the one who waters work together with the same purpose. And both will be rewarded for their own hard work."  I Corinthians 3:6-8 

Pray for your community.  Pray for your schools.  Pray for your neighbors.  Pray for your city.  Pray for those you work with.  Remember...

Nothing of eternal value happens without prayer.  And that includes growing a children's ministry.

Tip #10 - Grow your volunteer team.  If you want to grow, you must be prepared for the growth by having a solid volunteer team in place.  Jesus emphasizes this in Matthew 9:38. 

"So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest; ask him to send more workers into his fields.”

Pray and work hard to increase your volunteer team.  God will see this and send you a harvest of children and families.  I have personally seen this happen time and time again.  We prayed and prepared and God grew the ministry exponentially with thousands of new children.

Pray. Believe God's promises. Work hard to create exciting environments that kids love to attend. Align your vision with God's vision.  Care what God cares about...people who don't know Him. 

Your children's ministry can grow.  That is my prayer for you and your ministry today.

p.s. My book "Lead Well in Children's Ministry" has lots of more tips on how to build and lead a great children and family ministry.  You can get it at this link.

1.  North Point Community Church - Waumba Land and Upstreet and Kidstuf

2.  Gateway Kids 

3.  Eagle Brook Kids' Ministry  

4.  Saddleback Kids 

5.  Mount Zion Kid's Ministry 

6.  Second Baptist Kids' Ministry 

7.  New Life Kids

8.  Flat Irons Kids

9.  LCBC Kids 

10.  Community Bible Church Kids' Ministry

11.  Lake Pointe Kids 

12.  World Overcomers Church / Kids' Extreme Team  

13.  Family Christian Center

14.  North Coast Kids' Ministry 

15.  Rock Church Kids' Ministry

16.  Mariner's Kids

17.  Summit Kids 

18.  Pinelake Kids

19.  Northview Kids

20.  Eleven 22 Kids

21.  Shepherd Kids

22.  Grace Family Church

23.  Bayside Kids

24.  Sandals Church

25.  2/42 Community Church

A few years ago, I started a round table with the leaders of many of these children's ministries.  We get in a room together and share what's working, what's not working, current trends, challenges, new ministry ideas, how to continue to grow, etc.

We met this past February at Saddleback Church.  I took notes during the discussions.  If you would like a copy of the notes, I can send them to you.  Just drop me an email at dale@buildingchildrensministry.com.