RELEVANT CHILDREN'S MINISTRY

Every Monday morning, I ask our children's ministry team 3 questions.

#1 - What is one thing that went well in your area this past weekend?  I ask this question to find out what's working.

# 2 - What is one thing you saw that you can improve in your area?  I ask this question to find out what needs to be tweaked, changed, or dropped.

#3 - Is there a story about a kid's or family's life that was impacted this past weekend?  I ask this question to remember "why" we do children's ministry and to celebrate life change.

The answers we get are vital in helping us move the ministry forward and celebrate what God is doing.  We use them to plan, pray, and share with our senior leadership.

Our ministries are a work in progress...and always will be.

There are 3 simple steps you can take to improve your children's ministry.  Though simple, they can accelerate your ministry if implemented each week.

#1 - WALK
John F Kennedy said, "Walk slowly through the crowd."  It's a simple, but powerful principle.

Each weekend, make time to walk through your ministry and observe.  What do you see that's working?  What do you see that needs adjusting?  What do you see that needs replaced?  What do you see that needs repair work?  What do you see that needs updating?

Watch check-in.  Is it easy for families?  Watch dismissal.  Is it safe and secure?  Watch the services.  Are the kids engaged?  Watch your volunteers.  Are they smiling?  Are they connecting with kids and families?

#2 - TALK
Talk to kids.  Do they remember the main point of the lesson?  Are they having fun?

Talk to parents.  How can you improve the ministry?  What's an idea that would make the ministry better?

Talk to volunteers.  Do they feel empowered?  What needs to be fixed?  What can be done to improve the ministry?  What is missing?  What's one thing that would help them feel more empowered?  Is the curriculum effective and easy to use?

#3 - CHALK
In other words, write down all the ideas, input, and suggestions you gather.  Write it down as hear it...on the spot.

Then on Monday...transfer your notes to a list.  Work through the list.  Implement what needs to be implemented.  Tweak what needs to be tweaked.  Fix what needs to be fixed.

Follow these 3 steps every week and you will see a vast improvement in your children's ministry.  

Your car has a dashboard that tells you lots of important things.  It's a big indicator of the health of your car.

It's important to have a dashboard for your ministry.  Key elements that you check each week that help you determine the health of your ministry.

Here are 10 items I have on our ministry dashboard.  I check these every Monday morning.  They are not the only indicator of health...but they are key indicators of kids and families taking significant spiritual steps.

Overall church attendance
Are we growing?
How is our attendance compared to this time last year?
What percentage of the overall church attendance is children?

Children's Ministry attendance
Are we growing?
How is our attendance compared to this time last year?
How is the attendance in each area? (nursery, preschool, elementary, pre-teen, etc.)
How is the children's ministry growth compared to the overall church growth?

Small Groups
How many children did we enroll in a small group this week?
How many total children do we have enrolled in small groups?
What percentage of the overall children's ministry attendance is enrolled in a small group?

Volunteers
How many total volunteers served?
How many new volunteers joined the team this week?
How many volunteers do we have compared to this time last year?
What areas do we need more volunteers in?

New Believer's Class
How many children went through our new believer's class? (parents must attend with them)
How many children have been through the class this year?

Baptisms
How many children were baptized this week?
How many children have been baptized this year?

Kids serving
How many kids served this week as greeters, ushers, praise team, tech team, etc.?

Parent & Child Dedication
How many parents and children have we dedicated this year?

New families
How many first-time families did we register?
How many first-time families have we registered this year?

Returning new families (we have a system to track new families who return)
How many new families came back for the second time?
How many new families came back for the third time?
How many new families have returned this year?

What's on your dashboard?  What other indicators do you check?  Share your thoughts with us in the comment section below.