RELEVANT CHILDREN'S MINISTRY

Children's Ministry brings life, families and growth. 

The secular world understands this.  Companies like Netflix, Amazon, HBO and Hulu have recently made children's programming a major focus.  Netflix has already launched 20 kid and family originals this year and has 15 more coming.  Amazon has produced as many original kids' shows as it has comedies and twice the number of dramas.  HBO recently struck a deal for the iconic show "Sesame Street."

These companies are making these big investments because they know parents will keep subscribing when their kids are engaged.  Amazon's VP of digital video, Michael Paull, told Business Insider that "once your child is a huge fan of program, it's relatively harder to cancel the service."

Churches must understand this if they want to reach their communities.  The best way to reach families is through children's ministry.  The way to a parent's heart is through their child.  

I was reminded of this recently when one of our campus pastors was sharing something with me.  His campus has a video feed for the message each week.  Many families have told him that they prefer a live message, but the reason they keep coming is because their kids love the children's ministry. 

Churches that make children's ministry a priority will reap the benefits many times over.  Let's keep championing children's ministry!  

If you want to connect with and reach pre-teens, it's vital you know their culture.

When you care enough to find out what they like and can talk with them about it knowledgeably, they will open their heart and let you inside.

That's a big reason why we recently started giving our pre-teen volunteers a monthly "what's trending with kids" list that gives them talking points.  You can read more about that here.

Okay...now back to this post.  Recently Business Insider, surveyed a group of 60 students to find out what they thought was "cool."  In other words...what was popular with them.  Here are the findings.

Smartphones - the average kid gets their first smartphone at age 11.  They are spending an average of 6 hours a day on their smartphones.  The iPhone 6 and Galaxy S5 are the most popular phones.

Screens...screens...screens.  Mobile device screens.  TV screens.  Video game screens.  Computer screens.  On average, they spend 11 hours a day in front of screens.

Music.  Students who like music use Spotify as their preferred music streaming service.

Netflix.  Streaming is quickly replacing traditional TV programming.  Here's a chart with more specifics.

Neko Atsume.  You've probably never heard of this Japanese game, but numerous students they talked to were obsessed with it.  The game's name literally translates to "cat collecting," and that's exactly what you do in the game.

Color Switch. A bunch of students also mentioned this game.  In this game, you must follow each color pattern you're shown on each obstacle to progress.

Celebrities.  Some of the more popular names included Taylor Swift, Justin Timberlake, Jimmy Fallon, 5 Seconds of Summer, Kanye West, DJ Khaled, Justin Bieber, Kendall Jenner, Ruby Rose and One Direction.

YouTube Celebrities.  

A recent report from iKids Weekly says the U.S. population of “cord-cutters” grew by 44% between 2010 and 2013.

There are over 7.6 million households using high-speed internet for streaming or downloading videos today instead of watching traditional cable or satellite television, up from 5.1 million homes in 2010.

The percentage of these households grew from 4.5% to 6.5%, a relative increase of 44%.  Users of Netflix and Hulu are the most likely to be cord-cutters, the study found.
 
A third of Americans live in households with internet-connected TVs, giving them the option to stream or download video to the television either directly or with devices such as Kindle Fire TV.

48% of all US adults and 67% of young adults watch streaming or downloaded video during a typical week.  Mobile devices are the preferred platform for that activity, with 24% of all adults and 42% of smartphone owners watching streamed or downloaded video each week.

Video viewing on a smartphone jumps after the work day ends, with the most viewing occurring between 8 p.m. and 9 p.m.

While smartphone video viewing generally is lower during the day, there is clear evidence of a video “lunch” and a late-afternoon video “snack” break when smartphone video viewing spikes, especially among young adults.

The top three video properties across desktops and smartphones are YouTube, Netflix and CNN.