Showing posts with label encouraging. Show all posts
Showing posts with label encouraging. Show all posts

Wandering Around Your Children's Ministry

9:31 AM  Dale Hudson  

As a children's ministry director/pastor, how should you spend your time on weekends?  Teaching elementary kids?  In a preschool room helping with crafts?  Running a check-in station?  Walking new families to their classes?

All of these are good things, but they are not the best way to spend your time on weekends. 

As the leader, you should spend your time wandering around your children's ministry. 

Wandering?  Yes.  But not wandering just to be wandering around, but rather, wandering around with a purpose.  Wandering around will take you up to 30,000 ft. so you can see what's coming, what needs to be changed, what to invest time and attention toward and what has the potential to thrive.

Wander by the nursery.  What is the atmosphere?  Is it relaxed?  Are the hand-offs from parents to volunteers going well?  Are the ratios being met? 
 
Wander by the check-in area.  Are greeters smiling?  Is check-in going smooth?  Are our volunteers walking them to their classrooms.  Shake hands with a few of the first-time guests and thank them for coming. 

Wander over to the preschool area.  Thank the volunteers for their heart for the next generation.  Smile at the preschoolers.

Wander over by the elementary area.  Listen to the lesson.  Watch the kids response to the message.

Wander over to the kids who are helping lead worship and let them know how proud you are of them.

Wander by the pre-teen area and sit in on a small group for a few minutes.  Are the kids connecting?  Is dialogue happening?  Thank volunteers for serving.

Wander around and look at the facilities.  Anything need tweaked?  Anything need adjusting?  Anything need changed or replaced? 

Wander around after the service and connect with parents.  How was their week?  How are the kids doing?  Anything I can pray about for you? 

Wander around outside of the kid's ministry area.  Connect with adults.  Recruit new volunteers.  Encourage parents. 

Wander.  Wander.  Wander.  When you begin wandering, you will make a bigger impact for the ministry.  Remember your calling is to equip, empower and release people to do the work of the ministry. 

I know what some of you are thinking. 

" I can't get free to wander right now because I have been stuck in a classroom teaching ever since the previous volunteer quit? "

or

"I want to be in the classroom with the kids."

or

"I don't have enough volunteers to wander."

I am reminded of an amazing leader who was on a team that I led.  She always had lots of smiling, positive volunteers in her area.  I asked her what her secret was for building such an awesome team? 

She responded by saying she sees her role as a flight attendant.  She "wanders" around her area and encourages, equips and empowers her volunteers.  She finds out what their favorite dessert is and cooks it and brings it to them.  She gives her personal phone number to each volunteer and lets them know they can call her any time they need something. 

Why does she have such an amazing team?  Because she wanders from room to room in her area.

Here's my challenge to you.  Try to increase your "wandering" time this weekend.  Be very intentional about it.  Start somewhere.  Record what results you got. 

Do this and track your progress for a few months.

There are lots of improvements, updates and changes you should be making.  But you have to wander to see them. 

There are lots of volunteers that need you to encourage them.  But it will only happen when you start wandering.

I "wonder" what can happen if you start wandering? 

p.s. If want more proven ways to build and lead a volunteer team, get my book "The Secret Formula for Building Volunteer Teams.  Here's the link for it.

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11 Keys to Effectively Leading Volunteers

5:35 AM  Unknown  

“To lead people, walk beside them… As for the best leaders, the people do not notice their existence. The next best, the people honor and praise. The next, the people fear; and the next, the people hate …When the best leader’s work is done the people say, ‘We did it ourselves!”
Lao-Tsu

Key #1 – Lead by serving. The Bible reminds us in Matthew 23 that effective leadership is found in serving others. Great leadership is not measured by how many people are serving you, but instead by how many people you are serving. 

Key #2 - Lead by relationship. People do not follow a title. They follow someone they love and respect. This does not happen overnight, but as you take time to build relationships with people. 

Key #3 - Lead by following. To be an effective leader, you must first be an effectively follower. This means following the vision and direction of the Pastor and church you serve. This means not becoming a ministry silo, but instead coordinating with the other ministries in your church.

Key #4 - Lead by encouraging. 65% of workers say they have received no recognition or appreciation in the past 12 months. Be an intentional encourager. Walk around and personally thank your volunteers each week for serving. Keep a stack of note cards by your desk and discipline yourself to write thank you notes regularly. 

Key #5 - Lead by learning. Effective leaders are always in school. They listen to their volunteers. They ask their volunteers for input and feedback.

Key #6 - Lead by equipping. An effective leader is an equipper. They realize their priority is to equip volunteers for the work of the ministry and they are constantly helping others reach their potential. They pour into others instead of trying to do everything themselves. They can step back into the shadows and everything will run smoothly without them.

Key #7 - Lead by praying. Nothing of eternal value is ever accomplished without prayer. Let your public leadership be a reflection of the private time you spend in prayer. 

Key #8 - Lead by growing spiritually. You cannot take people where you have not been. An effective leader has a growing relationship with Jesus. This includes spending time in God’s Word on a daily basis. Each week you should have a fresh truth from God’s Word to share with your volunteers. 

Key #9 - Lead by having character. Character means keeping your word and delivering on what you promise. It means having integrity and honesty. It means being trustworthy and reliable.

Key #10 – Lead by putting others in the spotlight. They would rather see their volunteers shine than themselves. They are quick to give others the credit for the victory and quick to take the blame for failure. 

Key #11 – Lead by humility. The Bible reminds us again in Matthew 23 that an effective leader is someone who is humble. If you think you’re a great leader…then you’re not. Pride will drive away volunteers, while humility will attract them.

I don’t know about you, but I have a lot of work to do in all of these areas. Let’s strive to become more effective leaders for Christ.

Posted by Dale Hudson

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