RELEVANT CHILDREN'S MINISTRY

I believe children's ministry should be one of the most important ministries in the local church.  It should be a top priority.

Sadly, in many churches, it is not.  Children's ministry is looked at as childcare.  When it comes to budget, the ministry gets inadequate funding.  Facilities for children are an afterthought.  There is little to no paid staff.  Only a few people are willing to volunteer in the ministry.

The result?  The entire church suffers.  Potential growth is hindered.  Children's ministry staff and volunteers get discouraged.  The church misses out on reaching the greatest harvest field....children and their families.

We want to help churches make children's ministry a priority.  And so we are bringing this webinar opportunity for you. 

We'll start by laying out the Biblical reasons WHY children's ministry must be a priority in the local church.  You'll be given the compelling evidence you can use to help your church see why it's vital to focus on children''s ministry.

Then we'll lay out practical steps you can take to make children's ministry a priority in your church.  You'll get the HOW to make it happen in your church.

Below is more information about the webinar.  Space is limited.  You can register now at this link.  We hope you'll join us for this event.  It could be a game changer for your ministry and church.

Twice a year, I take our children's ministry staff on a retreat.  One is held in January as we prepare for a new year of ministry and one is held in the summer as we prepare for the fall season of ministry.

We just finished up our 2016 summer staff retreat last week.  The word God had given me for this retreat was "Thirsty" from Isaiah 44:3 that says, "I will pour water on him who is thirsty."
We talked about staying thirsty for God to move in our personal lives and in our ministry.

The retreat featured 5 sessions plus a fun team building activity in the afternoon.  Today I'll share the notes from the first 3 sessions and share the final two tomorrow.  

Session 1 - Thirsty for Personal Growth

James & Lisa Duvall
(James is the the Executive Director of Ministries at our church and Lisa is the Director of Women's Programs)

• Take care of yourself physically.  Your physical body is connected to your spiritual body.  If we are not physically strong, we will be emotionally and spiritually weak.
• Read - leaders are readers.
• Stay curious.  Ask why.
• Just like Jesus kept growing, we need to keep growing. (Luke 2:52) 
• Spend more time on your character than on your gifts and talents. 
• Be the best version of yourself instead of trying to become someone else.
• Nothing changes if nothing changes
• Grow in your favor with others. 
• Be a note taker.
• Growth is painful but always worth it.
• If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.  Not planning is a plan itself. 
• Don't become complacent in your comfort zone. 
• Stay teachable. 
• Make peace with people right away. 
• Expect pain.  It's part of growth. 
• Work on being likeable.
• Strive to be a peacemaker. 
• Become good at being a conversation starter.
• Grow in favor with God through reading His Word and prayer.
• Work on your spiritual disciplines. 
• Challenge yourself daily.
• Commit to excercise. 
• Don't take offense at every little comment. 
• Learn to be still. 

Session 2 - Thirsty for Volunteers

Frank Bealer
(Director of Ministries at Elevation Church)

• Follow up with volunteers when they miss and let them know you missed them.  This includes when you know they are going to be gone (example - vacation).
• High retention of volunteers is centered on making it personal.
• Have your coordinators take snacks to the volunteers in the room.
• Take good care of staff and volunteers' kids. 
• Contact at least 3 volunteers a week.
• Communicate the ministries' values to volunteers and have them memorize them. 
• When the lines between staff and volunteers is blurred, you have become effective. 
• Identify leaders you can call up to lead other volunteers. 
• Provide every volunteer with a clear job description.
• Encourage volunteers individually.
• Schedule random times to thank volunteers.
• Give your volunteers a voice.  Provide them with ways to give you feedback.
• Embrace your limitations.
• Your core values should guide your decision making.
• Thank your volunteers when you don't have to.
• Get to know your volunteers personally.
• People want to be known and loved. 
• Meet with your volunteers when you don't need anything from them. 
• Help your volunteers see why they are doing what they are doing. 
• Send your volunteers a text message to let them know you are thinking about them and don't ask for anything. 

Session 3 - Thirsty for Outreach

Allyson Evans
Next Gen Director at Life Church

• Make sure you are personally reaching out to people and inviting them to church. 
• Keep a commitment to excellence.
• Tell stories.  Develop a story-telling culture.
• Keep your relationship with God fresh.
• Treat every weekend, every service, like it's your first. 
• Don't seclude yourself.
• Stay refreshed in Jesus.
• Put people over tasks by giving the tasks to people.
• Every weekend is your Super Bowl.
• Remember why and when God called you into ministry.
• Our role is to put people before ourselves.
• No matter how large your church is...it's just a micro percentage of the number of people who are still lost.  Be a micro church with a mega vision.
• Keep your eyes open to people's needs. 
• Write down what God is teaching you and reflect on it. 
• Pay attention and listen to what God is doing around you.
• Replace yourself.
• Walk slowly through the crowd and connect with kids and families.
• Be intentional about finding and telling stories. 
• Identify what you can give away.

Stay tuned for sessions 4 & 5 tomorrow.  Have a great day. 

Congratulations to Wade Lodge.  He is the winner o the KidMin Ministry Manual.  Wade is the Associate Pastor at The Summit Church in Ontario, Canada.

Thanks to everyone who entered the contest.  Stay tuned for another giveaway coming next week.

If you'd like to order the KidMin Ministry Manual, it is available for only $29 at www.resources4kidmin.com.  This 200+ page manual includes...

• Volunteer interviews
• Volunteer roles and job descriptions
• Volunteer to child ratios
• Volunteer on-boarding process
• Core values
• Leadership values
• Staff roles
• Staff hiring strategy and structure
• Guest services and follow-up processes
• Multi-site strategy and structure
• Safety and security processes
• Special Needs ministry
• Child wellness policies
• Discipline strategies
• Budget processes
• Parental involvement strategy
• ...and much more.

The manual is delivered to you in Word and PDF format so you can edit and adapt for your ministry. 

As I mentioned yesterday, I recently created a Pastor's tool kit for children's ministry.  Another tool the kit includes is 10 ways Pastors can support their children's ministry.

I can promise you that your Pastor wants to do his or her best to support the children's ministry.  This tool can provide him or her with some practical ways to do this. 

My prayer is this will make its way into the hands of pastors across the country and world.

Here's the 10 ways... 

1. Help shepherd the spiritual and emotional health of your children's ministry staff. 
2. Help your children's ministry staff grow as leaders.
3. Meet with your children's ministry director at least once a month.
4. Encourage people to serve in children's ministry.
5. Encourage the people who serve in children's ministry.
6. Encourage families to get their kids involved in children's ministry.
7. Visit the children's ministry environments at least once a quarter and offer feedback, insight and ideas.
8. Be present at family events such as child dedications, baptisms, etc. and celebrate with families.
9. Rally the church to support big children's ministry events such as camps, fall festivals, etc.
10. Help your children's ministry director identify and remove growth barriers.

"How many paid children's ministry staff members should our church have?"  I often get asked this question by churches.  Here's my answer.

Our church is multi-site which means we have campuses of all sizes.  We are also opening new campuses on a regular basis.

Because of this, we created a template that helps us determine how many paid children's ministry staff members we need at existing campuses and at new campuses when we launch them.

Below is the template.  This is the results of lots of discussions, brainstorming and trial / error.  You will see that it's based on ratios.  It has been a huge help to us and takes the guess work out of how many staff we need.

I trust it will be a help to you and your ministry.  Feel free to download it if you'd like.  Blessings.

I've been in serving in children's ministry full-time for over 25 years now.  At 47, I'm definitely middle-aged.  And I'm starting to turn around and look behind me.

What I see alarms me.  There has always been a void of children's pastors.  Don't think so?  Just go check the open job listings on any church staffing site and you'll see the largest number of empty positions are children's pastors.

But as I look behind me, I see an even greater void of young children's pastors.  Don't get me wrong, there are some great young children's ministry leaders emerging.  But the number of leaders pales in comparison to the harvest fields that are riping all arround us.

We must raise up young leaders who will reach the next generation for Christ.

We must pray for the Lord to call young men and women into children's ministry. 
Jesus told us to pray for workers for the harvest.  Let's ask God to move in the hearts of young people and call them into children's ministry.  Jesus wouldn't tell us to ask for something God didn't want to give us.

Christian universities and seminaries must prepare young people for children's ministry.
Very few institutions of higher learning that prepare people for ministry have degrees in children's ministry.  Some do...but it is minimal and nowhere near the number needed.

Churches must raise up children's ministry leaders. 
When churches make children's ministry a priority, children's ministry leaders will emerge.  Out of our children's ministry staff of over 50, only a small handful were brought to our church from the outside.  The vast majority were volunteers that we have poured into and raised up as staff members.

Churches must provide internships in children's ministry.
Internships are a great time to solidify those who God is calling into children's ministry.  I know of several churches that do this very well and have seen God use it to call dozens of young adults into children's ministry.

Children's Pastor's must be intentional about investing in the next generation of leaders.
We must gather young leaders around us and mentor them.  We must begin handing off leadership to them.  They are the future of children's ministry.