RELEVANT CHILDREN'S MINISTRY

Want to grow a huge children's ministry?  Here's 10 secrets that will help your children's ministry explode.

Go where lots of people live.
If you're going to grow a huge children's ministry, you have to be where there are lots of kids and families.  I am thankful for every church that ministers in a scarcely populated area.  We will not be rewarded for how many kids we reached, but for our faithfulness.  That being said...if you feel God is calling you to reach lots of kids, then go where they are.

Focus on those who are not attending. 
Keep your focus not on the number of kids who are attending, but on the number of kids in your community who are not attending.  That is the number that should keep you up at night.  Yes, we have thousands of kids coming each weekend to our services, but compared to the number of kids who live in our community, it's just a drop in the bucket.  We must stay consumed with reaching kids and families who are far from God.

Make room.
If you are going to reach lots of kids, you must have room for lots of kids.  If your space is 85% full, you will plateau until you build more space or start more services.  Don't let the size of your building be the determining factor in the size of your children's ministry.

Build a great volunteer team.
A huge children's ministry has the foundation of a great volunteer team.  The strength and size of your children's ministry depends on the strength and size of your volunteer team.

Teach kids to invite others.
We've had over 4,800 first-time guest families register for our children's ministry so far this year.  The vast majority of them were invited by another child or family who attend our church.  Constantly encourage kids to invite their friends and give them tools to do so.

Give first-time guests a great experience.
Families decide in the first 8 minutes if they are going to return to your church or not.  Go all out to make those first 8 minutes an experience they won't forget.  This includes great customer service, making them feel loved and comfortable, helping them get to their rooms, etc.  Excellence leads to growth.





Stay small.
The larger you get, the smaller you must get.  In other words, you have to help kids and families get connected to a small group of people who will know them and care for them.  People stay because of relationships and this happens in small groups of people.  Children's ministries that grow huge find a a way to maintain a "small church" feel. 

Be willing to change.
Children's ministries that grow huge are constantly evaluating, tweaking, and improving what they do.  They are grounded in the truth but are willing to change their methods to reach today's kids.

Realize it's not your job.
It's not your job to grow a huge children's ministry.  It's your job to simply reach kids and families for Christ.  You want to know how to grow a huge children's ministry?  You go out and you reach one family.  And then you reach another family and another family and another family and another family.  One day you'll look up and there will thousands of those kids and families that have been reached and are attending your church.

Stay humble. 
When you realize it's God's job to grow the children's ministry, you will not grow proud or take credit when it happens.  You will realize it's much bigger than anything you could accomplish on your own.  This leads to a humble Godfidence that is constantly dependent upon Him.

What are some other keys to growing a huge children's ministry?  Share your thoughts in the comment section below.

Have you ever been repulsed by someone who has bad breath?

You were kind, but inside you were echoing the donkey from Shrek's blunt proclamation.  "You need a Tic Tac!  Your breath stinks!!!

When you get contaminated by someone with bad breath, that's usually the main thing you remember about that person.

You definitely don't want your first-time guest families remembering bad breath.  It may seem like a small thing, but it can ruin their first experience.

Here's some ways to make sure you and your team have fresh breath instead of fungus breath.

Make sure your breath is fresh.  Avoid ordering onion rings at the drive thru on the way to church.

Keep mints with you at all times.  Pop one in before every service or when you will have close contact with people.

Provide mints for your team...especially for your greeters...and let them know they're available.

If someone repeatedly has bad breath, have a conversation with them...in private of course...and at a distance of 3 feet away.   Be kind and remember...you are doing them a favor.  They probably just don't know.  No one has had the courage to tell them.

Want to know if you have bad breath?  Here's 5 quick tests that will tell you.  And no...this is not an advertisement for "Testamints."

A secure and efficient check-in process has become a key part of successful Children's Ministry.  One of parent's top concerns when they visit your church is the safety and security of their child.

The Roll Call check-in system is a great solution. 

It runs on a Mac or PC locally on your network.  This is great for mobile churches that don’t have internet access.

The pricing is very affordable.  It's a one-time license fee for the software and is based on your church size.  You can get more pricing information at this link.

Flexibility is another great benefit of Roll Call.  It offers flexible check-in options.  You can decide how you'd like to check-in families.

• Use the keyboard or a touch screen monitor to type in the last name, last 4 of the phone number or a family number.  
• You can also use a bar code scanner with a badge (printed from within Roll Call) or key tags that can be customized with their logo.  
• If you really want to go high tech, you can use a biometric scanner (fingervein scanner).  
• Once you've identified the family that is checking in, it’s just a matter of highlighting the children checking in… and the name tags and parent tag is printed out.  
• With Mobile Check-in, you can even use an iPad, tablet or smart phone to check kids in.

As I mentioned earlier, security must be a top priority.  With Roll Call, you increase the security of your Children's Ministry area. 

• Prints the name tags and parent tags.  
• The child’s name tag can be printed with a random security number or family number on it.
• You can choose what information you want printed on the tag, including allergy information.  Then the parent tag just has the security number on it.  
• There is no other information about the children… so if the parent drops the tag… a stranger cannot pick up those children. 

Roll Call helps you effectively capture first-time guest information.  

• Its super fast and easy to check visitors into the system.  
• Since you’ll be gathering their contact information… it will be that much easier to follow up with them.  
• Plus it will give them added confidence about leaving their children in your care.  They know that you take security very seriously. 

Tracking attendance is another big benefit of Roll Call. 

• Attendance data is automatically recorded.  
• When you check someone into a class or event, attendance is recorded.  
• You can run all kinds of attendance statistics reports.  One of the nicest is the Absent/Present report.  It allows you to find folks that have not attended in a certain number of weeks… or those that have attended a certain number of times.  

You can download a free 30 day trial at this link.

Below is an informational videos about the software.  Check it out.  Roll Call may be just what you need to take your Children's Ministry to the next level.