RELEVANT CHILDREN'S MINISTRY

Your volunteers are busy...very busy.  Between working long hours, taking their kids to practices, keeping up with school activities, running errands and just doing life, they are always on the go.

Time is one of their most precious commodities and they have very little to spare.  It's a blessing that they give their time to serve...and then we ask them to attend training on top of that.

The majority want to come to training.  Some make it...some don't.  That's just the way it is.

But what if you provided them with training they could access while getting ready, eating breakfast or lunch, cooking dinner, running on the treadmill or any other time during the day when they have 3 minutes available?

Here's a simple way to take the training to your volunteers.

• Grab your phone. 
• Shoot a 3-minute training video about a topic.         (after 3 minutes people start tuning out)
• The video doesn't have to be a highly polished, professionally edited masterpiece.  Just point, shoot and record. 
• Load the video to YouTube or Vimeo for free.
• Email the video link to your volunteers.  
• They can then watch it on their computer, smartphone or tablet. 
• Do this once a month and you've delivered 12 trainings to your volunteers in one year.

Here are a few examples.

Can you stay over and serve for the next service?  One of the other volunteers called in sick.

I have faith in you.  You can handle this class of twenty 3-year-olds by yourself.

It's okay.  You can go ahead and start serving.  We can run your background check later.

Sorry, I wasn't able to email you the lesson until Saturday night.  It was a busy week.

I know you said you wanted to serve in the nursery, but I really need you to teach 5th grade boys.

Don't worry about attending the adult service.  Serving will provide you with all the spiritual growth you need.

We will be having volunteer training every week and I need you to be there.

You're serving in two different ministries already?  I'm sure you can handle one more.

We don't have any budget money set aside for snacks for volunteers while they're serving...but you're welcome to bring your own.

I know it's your very first week serving...but I need you to be the leader in the room.  You'll figure it out as you go.

The floor is yours...
What are some other things you should never say to volunteers?  Share them in the comment section below.

There's one word that will make you a better children's ministry leader...and the word is probably not what you think.

The word is...NO.

One of the secrets of great leaders is they have learned to say "no" to most things.  Listen to what Steve Jobs said.

"People think focus means saying yes to the things you've got to focus on.  But that's not what it means at all.  It means saying no to the hundred other good ideas that there are.  You have to pick carefully.  I'm actually as proud of the things we haven't done as the things I have done.  Innovation is saying no to a 1,000 things."

Saying "no" has just as much, if not more power than saying "yes."  Why?  Saying "no" allows you to say "yes" to what is most important.  But saying "yes" can keep you from what is most important.

Saying no allows you to do what only you can do.

Saying no allows you to be productive instead of just busy.

Saying no allows you to avoid doing what doesn't line up with you ministry's mission.

Saying no allows you to spend your time with the people that you should be spending your time with.

Saying no allows you to focus on your strengths.

Saying no allows you to do a few things with excellence instead of doing a lot of things with mediocrity.

Saying no helps you keep your personal and family life in balance.

Saying no means avoiding something good so something great can happen.

How do you determine what to say no to?

In this post, I share steps that will help you know what to say "no" to and what to say "yes" to.

Time is one of your most precious commodities.  And it seems there's never enough of it to accomplish everything God has placed in your heart.

Ephesians 5:16 tells us to "make the most of our time."  Though we can't add hours to the clock, we can have a plan that will help us make the most of the time we do have.  Here's 10 tips to help you get the most out of your time.

1.  Keep a "do not do" list.
What you don't do is just as important as what you do.  Do what only you can do and say no thanks to everything else.  This list should constantly be growing.

2.  Focus on being "productive" instead of "busy."
Make a list of things that will enable you to have the biggest impact and spend your time there.  It's not how much you get done, it's what you get done.

3.  Don't strive for perfection. 
Most of the time, 85% is good enough.  It's the last 15% that eats up all your time.

4. Spend the best time of your day on your most important task.  
Are you a morning person?  Focus on your most important task in the morning.  Do you do your best work at night?  Spend that time on your priority.

5.  Have one priority task each day. 
You may have several tasks to accomplish each day, but decide what your most important task for the day is and complete it for sure.

6.  Tackle one task at a time. 
Research shows that multi-tasking can be counter-productive.  List your tasks and then knock them out one at a time.

7.  Block your time each day.  
Allot a specific time for each task.  This includes starting and stopping times for meetings.

8.  Watch out for people who are time grabbers.
People must be our first priority and I'm not saying don't make time for them...but I am saying be careful with someone who constantly wants to stop by and just "shoot the breeze."

9.  Remember energy translates into time.
You can work when you are tired, but you won't get as much done.  The temptation is to keep going when you've hit your limit, thinking you will get more done.  But in the end, you'll get more done by stopping to rest and refuel.

10.  Schedule time to think and plan.  
Don't fall into the trap of leaving no margin for thinking and planning.  Block time for this just like you would any other task.

11.  Have specific times to check your email.  
If you check email throughout the day, you will get sidetracked from priority tasks.  Block times to check your email and resist the urge to check it all the time.

12.  Balance your life.
When you spend all your time working, it will hurt your creativity...and most importantly your personal life and family.

The floor is yours.  What other tips do you have for time management?  Share with us in the comment section below.  

The natural tendency in Children's Ministry is to be a "doer-in-chief."  There are always lots of tasks that need to be accomplished.

So...what do we do?  We get busy and we get it done...even if it means working extra hours, missing some sleep, or sacrificing in other areas of our life.  We get things done...no matter what it takes.

There's only one problem.  That's not what our primary calling is.  Our primary calling is to "equip God's people for the work of the ministry."  In other words, we are called to lead others and empower them to be the "doers-in chief."

If that's the case, then why do we spend so much time doing instead of leading?

One reason is because it's easier and faster to just do it ourselves in the short term than it is to keep the long term in mind and equip others to be the doers-in-chief.

Yes, you can go faster alone...but you can go further together.  In the long run, switching to being a commander-in-chief will result in a much stronger, healthier children's ministry.  It will help you build a sustainable ministry that will accomplish so much more than you could have done by yourself.

Another reason we lean toward being a doer-in-chief is because of insecurity.  We are insecure as a leader and are afraid if someone else does a better job than us, our worth will be diminished or we might even lose our position.

Nothing could be farther from the truth.  Great leaders intentionally surround themselves with people who are better than they are.  Great leaders have a goal of helping the people around them become better and more effective than they are personally.  Don't worry.  If you can work yourself out of a job...you will always have a job.

Many times we also swing toward being a "doer-in-chief" because we like the spotlight.  We like the praise...we like to be seen as the person who "goes the second mile."  We like the fact that the success of the ministry rises and falls on us.

Yes...you can do this, but you will become the lid that keeps the ministry from growing and moving forward.  A great leader can be gone on a Sunday or a weekend and the ministry goes right on without him or her.  A great leader can lead from the shadows.

Becoming a commander-in-chief instead of a doer-in-chief may be just what you need to take your ministry to a new level.

The lesson this past weekend for the kids was based on the story of Mary and Martha.

As usual, God used the lesson to not only teach the kids, but me as well.

You know what happened.  Mary and Martha have Jesus over.  Martha is busy...running around preparing dinner.  She gets ticked off because Mary is talking with Jesus instead of helping with the work.

She approaches Jesus and asks Him to "encourage" Mary to get off her duff and help get dinner prepared.

Here's Jesus' response.

"Martha, Martha," the Lord answered, "you are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed - or indeed only one.  Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her."  - Luke 10

How many times are we like Martha?  So busy doing work for Jesus that we don't spend time being with Jesus?  It's easy to do, isn't it.

There's always work to do.  The weekend always rolls back around.  I call it the relentless return of the Sabbath.  It always returns and you have to be ready.

You keep telling yourself it will slow down...and when it does...then you'll have time to spend with Jesus.  But let's face reality.  It will never slow down.  There will always be another volunteer to bring on the team...another lesson to prepare...another craft to get ready...another event to pull off....another online order to place.  Another email hitting your inbox.

The best thing you can do for your children's ministry is spend time with Jesus.  And for that to happen, you have to carve out time from your busy schedule.

Yes, the stuff has to be done.  But remember....a little bit of stuff with a whole lot of Jesus is far more effective than a whole lot of stuff with a little bit of Jesus.

Don't let the work of the ministry keep you from the Lord of the ministry.

Here are 10 lies that children's ministry leaders believe at times.  I know by experience.  There have been times I've believed them.  Even to this day, I occasionally hear them whispered in my ear.

"Deeper" primarily means more head knowledge.
It's important for kids to know what the Bible says, but it's also just as important for kids to live what the Bible says.

Knowledge without life transformation leads to lifeless, passionless Christianity.  If you want to take kids deeper, challenge them to live out what you teach them.  

People don't want to serve.
People want to serve...if they can be part of something bigger than themselves.  People are drawn to vision not desperation.  If the majority of people say "no" when you ask them to serve, then take a hard look at how you are asking.  The problem may be "how" you are asking them to serve.

People will follow me because I am the Children's Leader.
People don't follow a title.  They follow someone they love and respect.  And this takes time.  Be a servant leader and invest in your volunteers.  Get some change in your pocket and over time, they will be drawn to your leadership.

A full calendar is an effective calendar.
The goal is not to be busy, but to be effective.  Less is more.  Don't fall into the trap of programming families to death.  You'll burn them and yourself out.

It's easier to do it myself than it is to train others to do it.
It might be easier at first, but in the long run it's not best.  You'll put a lid on your ministry by doing everything yourself.  Your job is to train volunteer leaders to do the work of the ministry.

My ministry is not as important as so and so's.
Don't listen to the comparison lie.  God designed a course just for you.  No one can run it but you.  He wants to bless you and your ministry, not a copy of someone else.

I can't afford to take my day off...I'm too busy and have too much to do.
Listening to this lie will take you down the road to burnout.  You can't afford NOT to take your day off.  Remember this is a marathon...not a sprint.  You'll get more done when you take your day off and stay refreshed rather than working on your day off and being tired from it.

What I do is not as important as what the student pastor or senior pastor does.
What you are doing is not "childcare."  You are ministering at the most critical time in a person's life.  You are ministering in the greatest harvest field...the hearts of children.  You're in good company.  Children's Ministry was a priority for Jesus.
 
The kids aren't getting it.  I'm not making a difference.
Yes, you are.  And yes...they are getting it.  Even when you don't think they are.  You'll see some fruit now, but you'll especially see it years from now when they are grown up and thank you for the impact you made in their lives. 

What I do on the weekends is more important than what parents do during the week. 
Sorry.  Don't mean to hurt your feelings...but no, it's not.  No one has more influence in a child's life than his or her parents.  If you really want to impact kid's lives, then equip their parents to lead them spiritually.

Your turn.  What are some other lies children's leaders believe?

Share your thoughts with us in the comment section below.

There's a good chance if you're reading this, you're a people pleaser.  Most people in ministry are.  It stems from our desire to help people.  The good side of this...God uses you to impact people.  The down side...you have a hard time saying "no."

The word "no" doesn't come easy, does it?  But you have to learn to use this word, if you're going to be effective for the long haul.

You gotta' say "no" to people who ask you to do something during your family time.

You gotta' say "no" to a crowded calendar.  Be focused on being productive...not on being busy.  They're not the same thing.

You gotta' say "no" to lots of good programs and events so a few programs and events can become great.

You gotta' say "no" to working on your day off.

You gotta' say "no" to people who constantly drain you.

You gotta' say "no" to good ideas so God ideas can thrive.

You gotta' say "no" to being away from your family every night of the week.

You gotta' say "no"  to being at every activity that happens at the church.

You gotta' say "no" to church events that conflict with an important event in your child's life.

You gotta' say "no" to trying to make everyone happy.  Accept the fact that no matter what you do, someone will be unhappy.

Go ahead...say it.  NO.  It's a word that will make or break you in ministry.

Is your calendar so busy that it's killing your Children's Ministry through exhaustion?  Here's 13 warning signs to watch for.

1. You don't have time to stop and celebrate the wins.
2. You often have to use your day off to get everything done.
3. You can't find a free week to take vacation or the only way you can take vacation is by missing something.
4. You don't have time to stop and evaluate what you're doing.
5. You often ask families to be at the church campus more than one night a week.
6. Ministries compete for use of rooms.
7. Ministries have big events that are too close together or even overlap. 
8. Families often have to "divide and conquer" to be a part of multiple things going on at the same time.
9. Families sometimes skip weekend services because they are worn out from weekday programs or special events.
10. You have more than one special event per quarter.
11. The quality of weekend services suffers because of weekday programs.
12. Instead of having a few programs that are well-staffed by volunteers, you have lots of programs that are understaffed by volunteers.
13. Volunteers are serving in more than one program in your Children's Ministry.

Remember...the goal is not to be busy.  The goal is to be effective.  It's better to be effective at a few things than ineffective at a lot of things.

The best thing you can put on your calendar may be some eraser marks.  

Are you too busy to pray?

Are you too busy to relax?

Are you too busy to take a day off?

Are you too busy to read your Bible?

Are you too busy to spend time with your kids?

Are you too busy to dream new dreams?

Are you too busy to attend adult worship?

Are you too busy to write a thank you note?

Are you too busy to just sit and think?

Are you too busy to celebrate the victory?

Are you too busy to use your vacation time?

Are you too busy to enjoy the blessing God sent your way?

Are you too busy to call your parents just to say I love you?

Are you too busy to evaluate what you're currently doing?

Are you too busy to read in order to grow?

Are you too busy to enjoy your favorite hobby?

Are you too busy to take a lunch break?

Are you too busy to go to your child's program at school?

Are you too busy to get proper sleep?

Are you too busy to build your team?

Are you too busy to raise up other leaders?

Are you too busy to just talk to someone in the hallway with no agenda?

Are you too busy to go on a date with your spouse?

Guess what?  Things are not going to slow down.  Maybe it's time to slow yourself down. 

Don't be so busy that you miss the little things in life that are really the big things.