RELEVANT CHILDREN'S MINISTRY

Across the U.S. there are many children's ministries that are in decline.  

This article is not meant to be negative.  There are some children's ministries that are growing and we would do well to take a close look at what they are doing.

What we do know is for every growing children's ministry, there are hundreds of ministries that are in decline.

As we take an honest look at what is happening in churches, we can identify some of the reasons why ministries are in decline and seek to find answers that will turn things around.  Let's start the discussion.

Reason #1 - Families are attending less often.  Families that used to attend every week are now attending 2-3 times a month.  Families that used to attend 2 times a month are now attending once a month or even less.

Reason #2 - Families have different priorities.  Church used to be a top priority.  Families used to wake up on Sunday morning and it was a given they were going to church.  No discussion.  Church was their top priority.

Not anymore.  Families wake up on Sunday morning and if nothing else is going on, they decide to come to church.  If there's not a ballgame or an event or a trip to the lake or a new movie to see or dinner with grandparents or something else, they will show up.  Many times church doesn't make it to the top of the list.

Reason #3 - Work schedules.  The number of people who work on weekends has increased.  This causes parents to not be able to take their children to church.  And many times both parents are working this schedule to make ends meet. 

Reason #4 - The pace of life for today's families.  Life is busier than ever.  Families rush to work.  Rush to the ball game.  Practices for sports can take up several nights a week and then games on Saturday and Sunday.  Sit down dinners have been replaced by running through the drive through for dinner.  Families finally get home exhausted and start the pace against the next morning.

Sunday has become a catch up day.  Sunday rolls around and if they don't have a ball game or other event on the schedule, they use Sunday as a catch up day.  Catch up on the laundry.  Catch up with cleaning the house.  Catch up on rest.  Catch up on spending time together.

They weigh the time it will take out of their Sunday to go to church and many come to the conclusion that they need to stay home or run errands.  They deem that having to get the kids up and dressed, driving to the church and getting home after lunch is not worth it.

Reason #5 - They watch online.  The convenience of watching the service from home is just too tempting.  Why spend the time getting dressed and driving to church, when you can watch online in the comfort of your own home, sitting in your pj's and sipping a cup of coffee.

Now that we've identified some of the big reasons why children's ministries are in decline, let's discuss some strategies we can take to help families attend more frequently.

Offer services other than just Sunday morning.  Sunday night service?  Wednesday night service?  Saturday service?  This will enable parents who work on Sunday morning, more options to bring their family to a service.

Teach parents the importance of making church a top priority in their family's life.  One great opportunity you have to do this is when young parents are bringing their baby for child dedication. 

Attach a class to the dedication and in the class share the importance of making church a top priority.  If you need a child dedication class, then check out this one.  It is being used by many churches across the country and is making a big difference. 

Get families involved in serving together at church.  Families who serve, attend church more often.  Growth comes from engaging people in serving others.  Kids can take the lead in this, by asking their parents to serve with them. 

I remember the Sunday we announced that the next Sunday, we would have tents set up so after the service, families would have the opportunity to put together food supplies for families that were hurting.  The next weekend came and attendance spiked.  Why?  Because we gave families the opportunity to serve together. 

Make a list of serving opportunities that families can get involved in together.  Families who serve together are faithful and consistent in their attendance.

Get kids and parents in a small group where they will be missed if they are not at church.  They should be known by name.  They should be prayed for by name each week.  They should be missed when they are not at church and contacted by their small group.  Relationships are a key to seeing families come to church more often. 

Each week should be like a family reunion that families don't want to miss.

Get kids excited about coming to church.  When kids love coming to church, they will drag their parents with them.  I was recently talking with a father and he said, "Yeah...I didn't want to come today.  I was going to stay home and watch it online.  But my daughter kept begging me to bring her, so here we are." 

Today's kids have lots of input and influence when it comes to family decisions.  Get kids dragging their parents to church and you will see your attendance start to grow.

Your turn?  Why do you think many children's ministries are in decline?  What can we do to help families become more active?  Share your thoughts with us in the comment section below.

For the last decade, there has been a shift taking place in how often families attend church. 

The percentage of families who say they regularly attend church has been declining. 

But the percentage of people who attend church a few times a year, seldom or never, has been growing. 

I often tell churches, if you want to know how many people you minister to over the course of a month, look at your Easter and Christmas attendance.  Easter and Christmas are the two times a year when everyone who attends your church (regularly or irregularly) shows up at the same time. 

In a recent Pew Research survey, families who attend on a regular basis, say they attend church for the following reasons.

• to feel closer to God (81%)

• so their children can have a moral foundation (69%)

• to be a better person (68%)

Notice the second biggest reason why families attend regularly.  It's because they want their children to have a moral foundation.  As I saw that stat, I was reminded of the many times in Scripture, where people came to Jesus for one reason.  For their children.  They needed their child to be healed by Jesus and so they came to Him.

I believe the best way to reach and disciple families is through their children.  When kids attend a church and have a great experience, they will come back...dragging their parents with them.  I have personally seen this happen time and time again. 

When you take a child by the hand, you take a parent by the heart.

If you want to get my attention, do something nice for my kids.  And it's the same way for families who either never or seldom attend.  If you engage their children, you will engage them.  Children's ministry leaders, take note of this.  Your ministry is a key part of your church being able to reach families and see them attend on a regular basis.

But what about those who do not attend on a regular basis?  Why do they only drop in once or twice a year?  30% say they do not go on a regular basis because they are not believers.  They show up at Christmas and Easter not because they believe, but because it's expected of them by their family.  They are expected to attend church that day with their kids or grandkids, etc.

Here are some other big reasons why families say they don't attend church regularly.

• They practice their faith in other ways. 

• Haven't found a church they like.

• Haven't found a church that makes them feel welcome.

• Don't like the minister and his/her sermons.

• Poor health.

• Too busy.

When you create exciting, engaging and excellent environments for kids, you will see those excuses lessen.  If little Reginald or Alice loves coming to church and doesn't want to miss, parents will follow.  Today's young families with kids tend to parent as a democracy.  The kids have just as much say about what the family will be doing for the weekend as the parents do.  Make your children's ministry irresistible for the kids and mom and dad will follow them.

And then think about some ways you can see kids attend faithfully.  Use those methods with the kids.  Kids don't drive themselves, dad and mom will bring them. 

I remember when we opened a new indoor playground for our children's ministry.  Not long after we opened it, I walked in that area and noticed a mom crying.  I approached her and asked if she needed anything or if we could help her. 

She quickly pointed out that the tears were actually tears of joy.  She pointed over to the playground to a father and daughter playing together.  She said the two were her husband and daughter.  She shared with me that she had been asking her husband (who was not a believer) to come to church for 7 years.  He said "no" each time, so she went on with their young daughter.  She had been faithful to love him and invite him to church over the years. 

When the new playground opened, their daughter was so excited.  She started asking her father to attend with them so they could play together on the new playground after service.  How could dad say no to that?  And so he came.

Through her tears of joy, the mother shared how she could see during the service that God was working in his heart.  She believed he would soon become a follower of Jesus. 

Churches must understand the vital role that children's ministry plays in reaching families and seeing them grow in their faith.  And churches must understand the vital role that children's ministry plays in seeing families attend services regularly rather than sporadically.                                                               

Last week, I shared an article entitled "5 Big Reasons Families Are Attending Church Less Often."  Now let's talk about how we can change that trend in our churches and see families start attending more often.

Let's jump into it.

Reason 1 - Families are busier and tired. 

Since families are busier, the last thing we need to do is add more events and programs to their already over scheduled lives.  Instead, focus on doing a few things well and point families to it.  

Families are only going to give you so much time.  If you want that time to be Sunday morning, then don't ask for lots of time outside of Sunday morning.  If you have a big event on a Friday or Saturday, watch what happens on the Sunday after.  Attendance will most likely dip.  Why?  Because in the average family's thinking, the time they gave you on Friday or Saturday was their "church" time for the week.  They don't differentiate that time being on a Sunday or an event or program outside of Sunday.

Does this mean you shouldn't do any events or programs outside of Sunday?  I'm not saying that, but I am saying they should be focused and limited.  This requires each area of the church working together to have a streamlined master calendar.

Reason 2 - Erosion of trust.

Since today's parents don't automatically trust authority, it must be earned.  Especially when it comes to the safety and security of their children.

This is accomplished by having a safe and secure check-in system in place, making sure every volunteer has been through an on-boarding process, having windows so parents can see into each room, having a security team in place and making sure no one is ever alone with a child. 

I can't emphasize this enough.  When it comes to the safety and security of their children, parents are no longer going to fill the gap with trust.  There must not be a gap if you want to see families come back and attend consistently.  You can get help with earning parent's trust with this resource.

People are also going to be more committed when they have a clear vision they can put their trust in.  People long to be part of something that really matters.  They want to make an impact with their life.  They want to leave a legacy.  Show them how they can do that through the vision of your ministry and they will be all in.

In a day when scandals, moral failures and lying is common among leaders, families are looking for genuine leaders.  Transparency in finances, decision-making and processes helps people buy in and be more faithful.

As I said, all of this is based on earned trust and that takes time.  

Reason 3 - Involvement in other activities.

Since families have lots of other options, you have to make your church services irresistible for kids and their parents.  So irresistible that they choose church first.

In children's ministry, you can use cliff hangers in your lessons to bring kids back the next week.

I also believe that many parents get bored when they hear warmed over sermons on topics they've heard 10,000 times already.  Why go back next week and sleep through another sermon?  They can sleep in at home instead, right?  When the messages are fresh, relevant and engaging, it will help parents attend more often.

I hit on the fact in the previously mentioned article that families' social lives are no longer centered around the church.  When they rush in and out on Sunday, without any real, deep connections, they are less prone to be consistent in their attendance.  When no one will even notice when they aren't there, why should they bother to come?

But, the more kids and families we are able to help establish deep connections through small groups and serving, the more consistent attendance we will see.  We'll talk more about serving in reason 5.  

Reason 4 - More blended families.

We talked about, with more blended families, many children are only able to attend every other week as they split their time between parents.  If they miss one of the weeks they could have attended, that means at best they will attend 2 out of 5 weeks. 

What causes a child to not want to miss church?  Even more than fun environments and engaging lessons, it's relationships.  When a child has a caring adult volunteer who knows his/her name, takes a personal interest in him/her, a child will not want to miss.  When a child has friends at church, he/she will not want to miss. 

This is made possible by having a solid team of committed, consistent volunteers who invest in the lives of the children.  Let me clarify that.  It means having enough volunteers to enable the proper ratios to take place.  A child cannot be known if there are 20 other kids in his or her group vying for the attention of a volunteer.

When a child is absent, he/she should receive a handwritten miss you card and then an appropriate phone call to the parents if he/she misses more than two weeks in a row.   

Reason 5 - Lower expectations.

I think one reason people are attending church less frequently is because we have lowered the expectations of what it means to be part of a local church.  Have we asked for less commitment and gotten exactly what we've asked for?  Perhaps.

One step we can take is to speak into the lives of young parents.  Here's an example.  Shift "baby dedication" to being "parent & baby dedication."  Make the dedication just as much about the parents as you do the child.  Attach a class that parents must go through before their child is dedicated.  And in the class, talk not only about what the dedication means, but also about the benefits that come from attending church faithfully.  If we can help parents grasp this and set their priorities when their children are young, we can see more families be committed to faithful church attendance.

I've saved this next point for last, because I personally believe it is the biggest factor in seeing families attend church consistently.  It's a simple step that can have a profound effect on families' attendance patterns. 

Think with me for a minute.  Which families in your church attend the most consistently?  It's the ones who serve.  When people engage in serving, they are much more consistent in their attendance, right? 

I believe one of the best ways to see families attend church more often is to enlist them to serve.  Through serving, relationships are made.  Through serving, a heart for others is developed.   Through serving, expectations are raised.  Through serving, commitment levels are brought up.

How can you make this happen?  It starts by creating a church culture that makes serving a core value.  It's the old saying "every member is a minister."  If you are going to part of our church family, then you are expected to serve.  That's what family does. 

As I work with churches across the country, this is what I am observing.  The churches that are seeing families attend consistently, are the churches that involve families in serving. 

I remember one weekend when we decided to shorten the worship service and have a service project afterwards.  Families would come out of the service and help put together meal kits that would be shipped to a country in need.  We announced it for a few weeks leading up to the day and guess what happened?  Families came out by the droves and attendance shot up.  Why?  We involved them in serving. 

Serving = more consistent church attendance. 

Let's take it a step further.  Kids love to volunteer, don't they?  Ask a group of kids who wants to help and nearly every single child will raise their hand.  What if you taught kids the important of serving and then shared with them serving opportunities they could do with their parents?  

Remember...a child shall lead them?  I believe it.  If we will get kids excited about serving with their parents, they will enlist their parents to serve with them.  

Here's an example.  You set a goal to have 10 new families be greeters each week.  You share the opportunity with your elementary kids to be a greeter with their parents and then encourage them to talk with their parents about it.  You then follow up with the parents of the kids who were interested and invite them to be volunteer greeters as a family.  You could see great results from it.

There used to be a day when sitting on the church pew and listening to a sermon was enough to see families attend consistently.  Not any more.  Today it takes engaging families in serving and forming deeper relationships to see them attend consistently.  

Okay.  It's your turn.  How can we see families attend more consistently?  I'd love to see your thoughts in the comment section below. 

I grew up attending church.  If the doors were open, we were there.  That meant a minimum of Sunday morning, Sunday night and Wednesday night.

And when there were "revival services" it meant every night of the week for an entire week.

Years ago, this was the norm for many families who attended church.  3 times a week.  4 weeks a month.  12 months a year.  The only times you missed were when you were sick or on vacation.

There was even an attendance chart in your Sunday School classroom and the goal was to fill it with 52 stars.

Fast forward to the 2000's.  Sunday night and Wednesday night church attendance became less and less of a priority for many families.  They still came on Sunday mornings, but attending regularly was now considered attending 3 out of 4 Sunday mornings a month.

As we moved into the 2010's, church attendance patterns gradually slid to where it is now.  Regular attendance for the average family is once a month.  Simply put...families are attending church less often.

Why?  Let's look at 5 big reasons.

Reason 1 - Families are busier and more tired.  
Families are busier than ever.  They run all week with little to no margin in their lives.  And by the time Sunday rolls around, they are exhausted.  And so they use Sunday as their margin.  It literally becomes a "day of rest" for them.

When you are worn out, it can seem like too much trouble to get the kids up and dressed for church.  When you are tired, you don't feel like driving to church...at least not every weekend.  And so families are opting to sleep in, spend time together at home and perhaps even watch church online.

And when you have no margin in your life, you may also use Sunday to do chores, clean the house, wash the car,  buy groceries and other stuff you can't get to during the week.

Reason 2 - Erosion of trust in authority.  
This is a reflection of the erosion of trust for all things authoritarian.   Look at these trends.

• 1970's - 70% of Americans believes they could trust institutions to do the right thing.  In 2016, it had fallen to 32%.

• Trust in Congress feel from 49% to 9% during the same time frame.

• Trust in the church fell from 65% to 41% during the same time frame.

• A 2015 Harvard study revealed that 86% of people distrust financial institutions. 

• 88% of people sometimes or never trust the media.  Can you say "fake news?"

Couple that with widespread sexual abuse in the entertainment industry, politics and yes...even the church, and it's understandable why families do not trust authority.

Reason 3 - Involvement in other activities.  The church used to be the center of families' social lives.  Their friends were at church.  Their families outings and activities were tied to the church.  Their weekends revolved around what was happening at church.

But today's families are involved in more weekend activities outside of the church.  An example is sports.  There used to be a day when kid's sports teams didn't play on Sunday so families could be in church.  Not anymore.  Go to the local sports fields in your community on a Sunday morning and you'll find tons of kids and families playing soccer, baseball and football.  And traveling sports' teams pull families away from church for weeks on end.

Reason 4 - More blended families.  The U.S. Bureau of Census says 1,300 new step-families are forming every day.  Over 50% of families are remarried or re-coupled.  Obviously this breaks up the flow of kids being able to attend church every week as they alternate between parents on weekends.

Reason 5 - Lower expectations.  There was a humorous statement that people used years ago about church attendance.  It was this.

"People who like the church attend Sunday morning services.  People who come back on Sunday night for service love the Pastor.  And people who also attend on Wednesday nights love Jesus."

The unspoken expectation behind that statement was that families who were serious about following Jesus should be in church every time the doors were open...every week.  Families felt guilty when they had to miss.

Today the unspoken expectation is much lower.  Families don't think twice about missing church and don't feel guilty when they do.  Expectations have been lowered.

If you're reading this, your church's attendance has probably been affected by all of these reasons.

So, how can we encourage families to make church attendance a priority?  How can we see families adjust their schedules so they can attend more frequently?

Stay tuned.  Next week, I'll share an article entitled "How to See Families Attend Church More Often."  We'll share specific steps you can take to see families begin attending more frequently.

Your turn.  The floor is yours.  What attendance patterns do you see in your church?  What other factors do you think are contributing to less frequent church attendance?  Share your thoughts with us in the comment section below.

Families are attending church less frequently.  "Consistent attendance" used to be 3 to 4 times a month.  Now it's 1 to 2 times a month.  As I talk with churches across the country, I have found that this is the new norm.  This makes it challenging to disciple kids and parents.  It's hard to provide solid discipleship when a family is missing 50 to 75% of the teaching. 

One factor that is contributing to this is churches providing their services online.  I can't tell you how many times I have heard families say, "we just stayed home and watched online last week."  While online church is a great tool and can be used to reach and teach people who otherwise might never walk in the doors of a church or to provide a way for families to watch when they are out-of-town or sick, it's no substitute for attending in person. 

As we think about this, we have to pull back and realize that it is a reflection of how life in general is changing in an increasingly online world.  Let's look at a prime example.  Physically going to a store versus shopping online.  Shopping online has doubled since 2009.  A recent survey shows that online shopping makes up more than half of shopper's purchases.  Amazon's sales are up 28% over last year.  Why go to a store when you can have anything from socks to laundry detergent to a new television delivered right to your doorstep?

This has caused the number of people walking into a physical store to decrease dramatically.  In the same time period, department store sales have plunged 17%.  Just a few months ago, Macy's said it would be closing 100 of their stores.  Nordstroms, Kohl's and J.C. Penny's recently posted disappointing quarterly results.  According to experts, half of the U.S. regional malls will close over the next decade.  Amazon and Ebay are singing the funeral song for going to the mall. 

But...there are some malls that are beating this trend and doing well.  Here's a case study.  The Pueblo Mall in Pueblo, Colorado, is booming.  On weekends, it's 3,000 parking spots are full and attendance is up 5% over last year.  Let's see what they are doing and what the church can learn from it.

A Social Center
The mall in Pueblo is a place where people can meet up with friends and family.  It has become the social hub for the city.  It's the town's "town square."  Here's what Steve Francis, a regular at the mall, said about this.

“Any time I go to the mall, I guarantee that within an hour or so, I’m going to run into someone I know.  You take your family, your neighbors, and you make a day of it."

Yes, families can chat and interact in an online church experience, but it doesn't adequately fill the longing that people have for personal, face-to-face connection with other believers.  We must provide families with opportunities to connect and build relationships while they are at church.  This can be a challenge when you have multiple services with a quick turnaround time between services.  If we are not careful, families will begin to feel like cattle being quickly hurried in and out.  When kids and families don't make deep relational connections at church, they begin thinking, "why not just watch the service at home?" 

If we are going to see families attend church in person more often, we must create a place where they are known, have friends they look forward to seeing and are missed when they are absent.  I remember when a young family left a church I was serving at and started attending another church in the area.  I was surprised.  We had the best facilities, the most exciting services and the best programming.  When I asked why they left, he said, "At this other church, when we miss a Sunday, they know it and call and check on us." 

Take a look at your church schedule, programming and strategy?  Do families have the opportunity to be known and develop deep relationships?  If we want them to show up in person, the church must become the center of their social life.

Host Community Family Events
The Pueblo mall regularly hosts events that draws families in.  A few examples are Halloween trick or treating, health fairs, school concerts, family exercise walking programs, Easter eggs, Christmas events and more.  Think about ways your church can tie in family events to your weekend services.  I know one church that ties it's Fall Festival into the weekend service and draws in hundreds of new families.  It's one of their biggest church weekends of the year.  Father's Day - what could you tie to that?  Mother's Day?  4th of July?  Memorial Day?  Labor Day?  Christmas?  Easter? 

Another type of family event you can host on a weekend is a serving event.  An example would be giving families the opportunity after service to assemble food kits that will be delivered to a needy country.  Families love to serve together and will show up for this.  When we did this, our attendance always went up.

Creating events tied to weekend services can be a catalyst for seeing families show up in person rather than staying home.

Playground   
One big factor in families attending church less frequently is Millennial parents.  They are the young parents you are trying to get in the doors.  But Millennials are attending church less frequently than any previous generation.  This reflects their bent toward not showing up in person.  In the retail world, they make 54% of their purchases online.  They are digital natives and see smartphones, tablets, social media and physical stores as one big ecosystem.  This bleeds over into their church attendance as well.  They see online church and showing up physically at a building as the same thing.

But there is something that will get them to show up in person with their kids in tow.  A playground.  They will get out and drive to take their children to a playground.  The Pueblo Mall knows this and built an indoor playground.  A young father interviewed at the mall said this.

“When I went to the mall as a kid, it was like ‘Yes!’ and sort of a big deal.  But when I was a kid, there was no playground.  My son really loves it."

I have personally seen this be effective.  When we build a new children's building, we installed an indoor playground.  It became a place for kids and families to hang out before and after the service.  Many parents told me, "I wanted to stay home today, but my child drug me to church so they could play on the playground."  

Think about how you could create a playground area at your church if you don't have one already.  Even if you can't do an indoor playground, perhaps you could build one outdoors?  Or purchase some smaller, more affordable, portable playground pieces for indoors?
 
Food
Several people mentioned they come to the Pueblo mall because of the places to eat there.  Families like to eat out together.  Especially at places that offer kids' meals.  Would families attend more frequently if you offered food for purchase before or after the service?  More than likely.  What if you offered very affordable kids' meals on top of that?  Families are going to go out to eat together.   Let it be at your church. 

Movies
Many malls have started putting in movie theaters.  They know it will get families in the doors.  Families love to attend movies together.  This will work at church as well.  I know several churches that offer free family movies after their Saturday night service and see more families attend.  And even during the summer, a time when families usually don't attend church as frequently, we did an "At the Movies" series and saw attendance skyrocket.   

Ownership  
Civic pride and tradition also plays a role at the Pueblo mall.  One person who goes there said, "It reinforces ‘this is our mall, this is our city, let’s shop there'."  When people have a pride of ownership, you will have better buy-in and thus more consistency in attendance.  Churches that create a culture of "this is my church" and "I love my church" and "this is my church home," will see families attend more frequently. 

Sports
The Pueblo mall also draws in lots of kids and families on weekends after sporting events.  One lady said, "It's not unusual to see teams walking around the mall together after soccer or basketball games."

We often lament the negative impact sports has on church attendance.  Many Sunday mornings you will find kids and families at the ball field rather than at church.  And traveling teams can cause kids and parents to miss church for weeks on end.  This is simply not going to change.  But think with me, how could you bring the two together?  Upward Sports has seen some success in doing this.  But is there more that we can do to bridge the gap? 

Think with me.  Professional sports teams often have chaplains and offer services before the game.  Could churches do the same thing for kids and families?  Could churches host the games on their ball fields and offer a service before the game on the field?  Could churches do this at some of the public ball fields where games are played? 

Stuff You Just Can't Get Online
Malls that are thriving are bringing in things you simply can't get online.  Barber shops, hair salons, gyms, etc.  Think about it.  What are some things that you can offer at church that families simply can't get by watching online?  What are some things that will cause families to go to the trouble of getting the kids up and ready and driving to a building?  Make your list and focus on these things.  

Kids and families attending consistently will continue to be a challenge for churches.  But churches that are willing to rethink their approaches and strategies can still effectively engage families and see them walk through the church doors on a more regular basis.

Last week I attended a round table discussion with some of the top children's ministry leaders in the nation.  One thing we discussed was some of the challenges we see children's ministries facing.

From this discussion and as I talk with other children's ministries leaders across the country, here are 10 of the biggest challenges facing children's ministries.

Challenge #1 - Volunteers.  Volunteers are the biggest asset of a children's ministry.  There is no children's ministry without them.  And yet I've never seen a children's ministry that didn't need more volunteers.  The challenge?  How do you enlist them?  How do you equip them?  How do you keep them?

If you are facing this challenge, here's help.  This is how I built a volunteer team of over 2,600 people.  You can also get help from my new book "The Formula for Building Great Volunteer Teams."

Challenge #2 - Less frequent attendance patterns.  Families are attending church less frequently.  Whereas "faithful attendance" used to be 3-4 times a month, now it's once a month.  Some of this is due to kids splitting time between divorced parents, sports programs and extremely busy schedules.

If you are facing this challenge, you can get more help and insight here, here and here.

Challenge #3 - Shallow faith.  50% of people who have walked away from their faith say it's because they simply don't believe any more.  Their faith was shallow and when it was put to the test, it wilted away.

You can read more about this and how to change this pattern here and here.

Challenge #4 - Equipping parents to disciple their kids.  In the last decade, there has been a greater emphasis placed on equipping parents to be the primary spiritual leaders of their children.  While there have been lots of great resources developed, it's still a big challenge to find resources that parents will actually use on a weekly basis.

You can read more about this and get some ideas here and here.

Challenge #5 - Changing family dynamics.  "Family" is no longer just defined as the traditional unit of a husband, wife and two kids.  You must know how to effectively minister to single parent families, blended families, grandfamilies, foster families and more.

You can get help with this here, here, and here.

Challenge #6 - LGBT issues.  How will you respond when someone in a same-sex relationship wants to volunteer?  How will you respond and minister to a child who says he or she is transgender?  Will you dedicate the baby of a same-sex couple?  These are real situations that you will face if you haven't already.

Here and here is some help navigating this. 

Challenge #7 -  Seeing guest families return.  Even churches that have lots of guests coming, struggle to see a good percentage of them return.  How do you get them back?  How do you get them involved?  How do you get them connected?

Here, here and here are some ideas that will help you see guests families come back.

Challenge #8 - Developing layers of volunteer leaders -  As the ministry grows, it becomes critical to raise up volunteers who can care for and lead other volunteers.  Establishing this next level of volunteers can be a challenge.  It requires more in-depth training, investment and development of volunteers.

If you are facing this challenge, here and here are some ways to develop layers of volunteer leaders.

Challenge #9 - Multi-site challenges.  Multi-site churches are now the norm.  There is a multi-site church in every major city in the country.  Many of you reading this are leading a multi-site children's ministry or will be called upon to do so in the future.  Multi-site children's ministry helps you reach many more kids and families, but it also comes with its own unique challenges.  If you need help with multi-site, check out this and this.

Challenge #10 - Erosion of truth - Postmodernism has led us down the path to "there is no absolute truth."  Truth is based on individual preferences.  What is right for you is right for you and what is right for me is right for me.  Tolerance is the mantra. 

We must face this challenge by helping kids see that the Bible is the final authority in all matters.  You can get help with this here and here.

The good news is these challenges present us with great opportunities to show kids and families that Jesus is the answer.  He is everything they need.  As we lift Him up, they can have a life-changing relationship with Him.  Let's walk boldly in this promise as we navigate these challenges.

The floor is yours.  What are some other challenges you see children's ministry facing?  What are you doing to meet these challenges?  Share your thoughts and insight with us in the comment section below. 

Did you know the average child that attends church only comes once a month?

One of the major reasons for this is parents teaching their children to worship the sports gods on Sunday instead of being at church worshiping God.

They probably wouldn't agree with this assessment, but actions speak louder than words.  What you put first in your life is what you worship.  And what you put first in your life is what your kids will put first in their lives.

I'm not anti-sports.  I played Little League as a kid and other sports all the way through school...but not during church.  My parents taught me that sports were beneficial, but not something to put before my commitment to God's house.

And it seemed that the leagues I played in agreed as well.  Games were not scheduled on Sundays.  Fast forward to today and that's often not the case.  Sunday is just another day to fill with games.  And parents, who want to make sure their kids don't miss out on anything, make the choice to skip church and head to the sport's field.

For many it becomes a slippery slope, enrolling their kids in 2 to 3 sports at a time.  Before they know it, sports has taken over their entire life and they are spending every Saturday and Sunday at the field.

Each year, parents are spending an average of $671 per child on youth sports with 20% spending $1000 or more.