RELEVANT CHILDREN'S MINISTRY

What is a brand?  The dictionary says it's the name, term, design or symbol that identifies a seller's product.

In other words, it's the words, pictures, symbols and logo design that helps kids and families identify your ministry.

Your children's ministry branding is a big deal...so you want to make sure it's done well. 

Let's talk about 5 big keys to making your children's ministry branding excellent.

1. Make it kid-friendly.  Remember this.  Just because a brand appeals to parents, doesn't mean their children will like it as well.  Kids love bright, fun colors.  They are attracted to the brightest colors of the color wheel.  If you want your branding and design to catch the attention of kids, then you need to use kid-friendly colors.  Bright colors and advertising to kids goes hand-in-hand.

Some examples are:

yellow

green

blue

purple 

orange

red

2. Keep it simple.  Today's kids (and parents) are bombarded with information.  So much so that it can cause a big, noisy cloud over their head that makes it hard to get your message through to them.

The information bombardment has caused kids (and parents) to cope with the noise by scanning for information that appeals to them.  You only have a few seconds to catch their attention before they move on to the next thing that is coming at them.

But make a note to yourself and remember this.

Simple doesn't mean cheap. You should have your branding logo done by a professional company.  Kids and parents will immediately know if  the logo was "homemade" or if it was designed professionally,

A simple Google search can connect you with hundreds of freelance brand designers who can help you create an awesome look at an affordable price. 

3. Consider just calling it kids.   Back in the 90's, many churches decided to call their children's ministries cool names like KidQuest or Planet 45 or JClub or Promiseland or Adventure Island.  But in recent years, there has been a shift to branding children's ministry as simply "kids."  Here are some examples. 

Cross Church - Cross Kids
First Baptist Church - First Kids 
Saddleback Church - Saddleback Kids 

This makes it much easier for parents and kids to remember the name of the children's ministry and obviously it connects to the overall church branding.

 4.  Use social media.  Social media has obviously played a huge part in the rise of intentional branding.  This applies to your children's ministry's presence on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc.  Having a social media strategy is critical if you want today's kids and families to recognize your "brand."   Today's kids are being raised with social media as an intricate part of their life.  If you want an appealing brand, then you must meet them there. 
 
5. Incorporate a mascot.   There is a reason why kids and parents line up (in long lines) to have their picture taken with costumed characters at an amusement park.  Kids love cartoon characters.  This means you can use cartoon characters to promote your brand and build a strong connection to your ministry.  A mascot adds a face to your branding and makes it more memorable.  It helps your ministry have a personal connection to kids and families.  It adds a face and a personality to your ministry.

An example of this is Mario.  Nintendo made a smart move when they introduced this beloved character.  It tied kids to their brand in an amazing way.   You can do the same thing by creating a mascot for your ministry.  Some churches have even had a physical costume made of the mascot and he or she is there when kids come in - welcoming them and bringing lots of smiles.  That is genius!

So there you have it.  5 keys to creating a children's ministry brand.  Incorporate these into your ministry and it will help your children's ministry grow while also deepening your ministries connection to kids and families.

Your turn.  Love to hear about your branding.  Do you have a mascot?  Have you themed your children's ministry space with kid-friendly colors?  Are you using social media?  Are you keeping things simple?  

Share your thoughts and ideas in the comment section below.

You can walk into many children's ministries and it feels like you've stepped back in time.  It's like the ministry is frozen in time.

The songs are the same songs they sang in 1975. 

Flannel-graph is still used as a major teaching tool.

The decor hasn't been updated in decades.

Teachers communicate with lectures that far exceed kids' attention spans.

VHS tapes of Bibleman are playing in the background.

There is no check-in and security system.

Volunteers serve without background checks and some even serve alone in a room with kids.

Bulletin boards can be found in the hallways.

The ancient name "Sunday School" is still used to describe what happens on Sunday mornings.

Kids are told to sit quietly in rows of grey metal folding chairs.

It's as if social media hasn't been invented yet.

One-hour teacher meetings are held every week.

VBS is still called VBS.

Kids' choirs are accompanied by an organ.

Guests are asked to fill out forms by hand that are longer than doctor office forms.

The TV's still have large, heavy backs on them.

Curriculum still involves printed student booklets.

Using Captain Kangaroo as an illustration is considered cutting-edge.

There is little to no diversity.

Streaming is only something water does.

The ministry strategy is - the more programs we have and the more events we put on the church calendar, the more effective we will be.

Pre-teens are put in the same room as 1st graders.
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It's vital that we be willing to change as needed.
  

Our message is timeless...but our methods must be timely. 

This means we should constantly be evaluating what we are doing and how we are doing it.

Is our ministry effective?

Is it connecting with the kids?

Are kids excited about being a part of it?  

Are we still reaching unchurched kids and families?

Are we knowledgeable about today's kid culture?

Are we attracting young, Millennial parents?

Don't be frozen in the past...be focused on the future!

An example of this is the Borders chain of bookstores.  Borders was founded in 1971 by the Border brothers.  The company was highly successful through the 1990's.  But then they got stuck.  They developed their website and online sales too late in the game.  They continued to focus on CD's and DVD's while customers were shifting toward digital delivery of content.  In store sales dropped as people began to buy more hard copy books online and ebooks became popular.  Eventually they had to file bankruptcy and close all their stores.

I believe this is one of the biggest dangers of being frozen in time.  Eventually it causes you to become irrelevant and one day you look up and there is no one left.  Empty church buildings across the country are testimony of this.

Learn from the past.  Honor the past.  But don't get stuck in it.

Your best days of ministry are ahead of you!  God is ready to do a new work in you and through you!  Don't become frozen in time! 

We live in a unique time in history.  The next generation knows more than their parents and grandparents in some areas of life like technology.

Great leaders know this and not only learn from their elders, but from the next generation as well.

It's important to learn from those who have walked the path before you, but when it comes to learning about the future, you need the help of the next generation.

Reverse mentoring can be informal but takes intentionality.  You must spend time with the next generation and ask lots of questions.

What music are you listening to?

What technology are you using?

What movies are you watching?

What toys are you playing with?

What social media are you using?

What games are you playing?

Where do you spend time online?

Engaging in reverse mentoring has many benefits. 

• It's a shortcut to staying relevant to the culture.
• It helps you understand the next generation.
• It helps you connect with the next generation. 
• It makes your ministry more effective. 
• It extends your ministry.  

How do you connect with the next generation?  Share your thoughts with us in the comment section below.  

Visit Disney World a generation ago and Dumbo the Flying Elephant was considered a high tech ride.  But a simple, blue elephant going around in circles won't cut it with today's kids. 

Theme parks are updating their rides with the latest technology to tell detailed story lines.  Here's a few examples.

The World of Chima ride at Legoland is based on a building block play set and a Cartoon Network show about eight animal tribes, a crocodile king and magical vehicles called Speedorz.  The ride features epic battles over the Ancient Pool of Chi.

Universal's new Transformers ride is a detailed, 3-D, "interactive battle" between the Autobots and Decepticons.

Antarctica: Empire of the Penguin ride at Sea World Orlando is about a baby penguin who grows up, leaves his mom, is chased by a leopard seal through a psychedelic-looking world and then is reunited with his tribe of fellow birds.  Real, live penguins appear at the end of the ride.

Theme park owners realize they have to step up their game in the age of video games, smartphones and 3D TV's.  Today's kids are more sophisticated and are very keen to storytelling and genres.

Scott Thomas, VP of consumer marketing at Cartoon Network said, "Kids today have very high expectations.  Storylines are very complex in kids' media today."  

When Disney Imagineers create a ride they include a relevant narrative.  No detail is spared: lighting, architecture, sound, landscaping, costumes - all help tell the story. 

Walt Disney said it best when he said, "Storytelling has to be relevant to the culture."  When Disney theme parks first opened in California in 1955, Western themed-stories were popular, and so was the resulting Frontierland attraction.  Over the years, story lines and rides have been tweaked and changed to relate to the culture.

Children's ministries must also be intentional about updating their storytelling methods.  The message we share never changes, but how we share the message must change to be relevant to the culture we are trying to reach.

We must constantly be taking a hard look at how we communicate the truth and be willing to update as needed.  Flannelgraph won't cut it with this generation of high tech kids. 

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.

A recent article in USA Today asked the question, "Has the Sun Set on Sunday School?"

The article cites a report from Barna Research that says tens of thousands of Sunday School programs have closed in recent years.

From 2004 to 2010, Sunday School attendance has dropped nearly 40% among Evangelical Lutheran churches and 8% among Southern Baptist churches. 

There's no denying that some children's ministries are faltering and the article cites some very valid reasons why.  Let's look at these and talk about how a church with a declining children's ministry can turn things around. 

Factor #1 - Pace of Life
Parents and kids are very busy.  In most cases, both parents are working and the kids are involved in multiple activities.  The pace of life can be overwhelming, causing parents to see Sunday as one of the only times they can rest or spend time with their kids...so they skip church.

One mom in the article put it like this.  "You would go to church, and then an hour or hour 15 minutes of Sunday school.  It takes up all your morning.  It felt like more of a chore for them to go, when you're giving up some of your weekend and attending school during the week.  By the time they come home, it's 12 noon, and when you have a weekend, you want to play with your friends outside and be a kid."

How to Turn it Around...

• Don't over schedule your church calendar.  Families are only going to give you so much time.  Be very strategic in what you put on the calendar and when you put it on the calendar. 

• Teach parents the importance of consistent attendance.  We are finding that in most churches kids are only attending 1-2 times a month...and in some cases even less.  This is a factor in declining attendance.  Kids are still attending...they are just attending less often.  A key time you can teach young parents about consistent church attendance is when they go through baby dedication.  In this post, I talk about other key milestones in families' lives when you can emphasize church attendance.  Pastors and adult ministry leaders also have direct access to parents and can speak into their lives about this from the pulpit, in small groups, Bible study classes, etc. 

• Offer more service times.  When families go to a movie theater, they have the option of going any day of the week with various times throughout the day.  The same can translate into church.  If you only offer families one option to attend, you limit how many can come.  More service options will enable more families to attend. 

Factor #2 - Competition for Families' Time.
There used to be a time when families centered their weekends around the church.  Stores were closed and church was the place to be on Sunday.  For the overall culture, this is a thing of the past.

Today kids are involved in sports, events, trips and more on Sundays.  There is a lot competing for the time and attention of the families you are trying to reach.  I talk more about how being a part of a traveling kid's sport team will take families out of church for weeks on end in this post. 

 How to Turn it Around... 

• Create environments that have kids dragging their parents to church.  Church should be the thing kids look forward to all week.  It should be more fun and exciting than sports, events and trips.   

• Help kids feel loved, connected and known.  When a child knows Mr. _____ or Mrs. _______is waiting to see them at church, they will want to be there.  When they are connected to friends at church, they will want to be there. 

• Teach kids and their parents to follow Matthew 6:33 in every area of their lives.  Seek God and His kingdom first.  There is nothing wrong with families being involved in activities, sports, and events...as long as it doesn't replace God at the top of the list.  And where you're at on Sunday shows where God is on your list.

Factor #3 - No Room for Questions
One person quoted in the article said that he was shunned when he started asking questions and demanding evidence to back up what He was being taught in Sunday School. 

How to Turn it Around... 

• Give kids room to grapple with their faith.  Kids must own their faith for themselves.  And many kids need to go through a time of questioning on their journey.  Welcome this. 

• Teach beyond the facts.   I talk more about this here. 

• Ask and answer the questions kids are thinking about but may be hesitant to ask.  What are the big questions kids might have about the doctrines of the faith?  Bring them up.  Be proactive in guiding kids through tough questions like, "Why do bad things happen to good people?" or "Why does God allow evil on the earth?" or "Is creation really true?"

Factor #4 - Abuse in the Church
Another factor the article highlighted was abuse in the church.  We live in an era where parents are very concerned about the well-being of their children and go the second mile to make sure they are safe.  Couple that with sex-abuse cases in churches and you've got parents hesitant about letting their child attend.

One mother quoted said, "They're (teachers) not vetted properly.  That's a valid concern in my book.  The sign-up process was done very quickly.  It's like, 'Have you been in jail before?' — the generic questions, like on a job application.  They don't really check your background as much as they should when you're dealing with young children."

How to Turn it Around... 

• Make sure you have a thorough process for on-boarding new volunteers.  I talk more about how to do this in this post. 

• Make sure your children's areas are safe and secure.  I give tips on how to do this in this post.

• Make sure you follow a "no-exceptions" check-in and check-out policy where parents must present a matching number to pick up their child.

• Make sure you explain your safety plan to first-time families.  Let them know that everyone in the room has been through a background check, training, etc.  Explain the measures you have in place to keep kids safe.

• Never allow anyone to be alone with a child.  Only open a room when you have a minimum of two volunteers present.

Factor #5 - Unwillingness to Change
I found it interesting that the article says, "The institutional inertia that churches are famous for has made it difficult for them to adapt to the times.  Change is always difficult in a 2,000-year-old institution."

We know churches and children's ministries that aren't willing to change will die a slow death.  You can't reach the kids and families of 2015 acting like it's still 1965.  When a ministry finds itself talking more about the past than the future...things are going downhill. 

How to Turn it Around... 

• Stay anchored to the truth...but geared for the times.  I often use this example.  The box that holds the McDonald's kid's meal changes based on what is going on in the culture.  If Pirates of the Caribbean is popular, then that's what you'll find on the box.  If Superman is popular, then that's what you'll find on the box.  The food stays the same, but the container that holds it changes to remain relevant to kids.  And so it is with presenting God's Word to kids and families.  Our message (the meal) doesn't change, but how we package it does change to stay relevant to the kids and families we are trying to reach. 

• Ask the hard questions about what you're doing.   Every year take a look at what you are doing and ask the hard questions.  Is it reaching people?  Is it effectively helping people take spiritual steps?  Has it run it's course?  What do we need to change?  What do we need to tweak?  What do we need to stop?

Yes...there is no denying that some children's ministries are dying.  But be encouraged.  Some of the greatest children's ministries ever are being built right now.  There are churches and children's ministries that are exploding with growth.  Just because the sun is setting on some churches, doesn't mean it is setting on all churches.  God is doing some fresh, new things.  And He wants you to be right in the middle of it. 

Let me preface this post by saying I love the wisdom, faithfulness, and depth that older Christ-followers bring to a church.  At 47, I have some gray hair myself.

That being said, if your church is primarily made up of people with gray hair, it is not a healthy situation.  Here's why...

1. Healthy families are made up of all generations - grandparents...parents...teenagers...kids...
grandkids.  It's the same with healthy churches.

2. A predominately gray-haired church is not reaching the next generation.  We are called to reach the next generation with the Gospel.

3.  A gray-haired church has more than likely lost touch with the culture.  Most gray-haired churches were once relevant and were reaching young families.  But as the culture changed, they keep doing things the same way they did them to reach young families....in the 70's & 80's.

The result...the young families they reached back then have aged into senior adults, but they have reached very few, if any, young families in today's culture.

4.  Many gray-haired churches are living on past blessings.  If you talk more about what God USED to do in your church than about what He IS doing now, things are unhealthy. 

5.  A church that only has a few, if any, kids is not healthy.  A healthy church will be made up of at least 15-20% kids.  That means if you have 100 people attending your church, at least 15-20 of them should be kids.

6.  Many gray-haired churches have older pastors.  This is not a blanket statement.  There are churches with older pastors who are reaching young families.  But in many cases where the church is not reaching the next generation, the pastor is in his 60's.  Normally a pastor will draw adults who are either 10 years younger or older than he is.  Young pastors reach young families. 

I want to challenge you to take a look at your church.  How much gray-hair do you see?  Hopefully lots.  But hopefully you also see just as many people who are younger.

How do you attract young families to your church?  In Magnetic Family Ministry I share some principals that wlil help you reach young families.  You can check it out at this link.

So what do you think?  Is a gray-haired congregation unhealthy?  If so, what can they do to reach the next generation?  Share your thoughts with us below.