I just walked out to plug in our old diesel church bus for its weekly mission trip around our town. Big Blue is beautiful but starting to show her age. This church has been running a bus ministry longer than I’ve been alive. We all know that longevity is not the test of a ministry’s value, so it’s good to re-think the pros and cons every so often.
Positives of Church Bus Ministry
- Kids come to our programs that otherwise would not. Bottom line, more children are coming to hear the gospel. About 30% of our Wednesday night kids come from the bus ministry.
- Our church is visible in neighborhoods where we have no members. Like many churches, most of our people come from the stable long-term neighborhoods of our city. The apartments and trailer parks, with their more transient populations, house almost none of our church members.
- It keeps our people outreach minded. Our volunteers get to know un-churched kids up close through this outreach ministry. We are constantly seeing new faces that remind us of the many children who are not active in church.
- It doesn’t cost much since we already own the bus and use volunteer maintenance.
- It opens new ways for people to serve. The bus ministry volunteers are pure gold.
Negatives of Church Bus Ministry
- Reaching parents is a problem. Very few churches, ours included, have really figured out how to get the families of our bus kids involved in our church.
- Bus discipline is a constant struggle. There are some frantic moments for the bus monitors; it takes special people to keep 25 excited kids safely in their seats.
- We reinforce poor parenting habits. We preach parental responsibility, but contradict it by picking up these kids while their parents stay home.
- The kids from the bus route are often our most disruptive.
- We see very few conversions. Bus kids are often very open to the Gospel, but we don’t see much long-term fruit. This may be because they move away or because the home environment counteracts what we teach.
- There are safety risks. Any child waiting for the bus after dark makes me nervous.
So what about you? Does your church run a bus ministry? Are the pros and cons I listed here a fair assessment?
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{ 25 comments… read them below or add one }
Our church has had a bus ministry for the last 40 years but now is in jeopardy of closing down due to lack of participation. I think our church has lost site of the pros and have focused on the cons. Please send prayers that Lord will take back control. The Children are to precious to ignore.
We have such an awesome responsibiity with the children who ride the church bus/van. A pastor’s wife at a church I attended in the past came from this type of minitry. Recently, as I was holding one of the toddlers in my arms while the mother was in line to get lunch following church, I thought to myself “I am doing what Jesus would do”. She has been attending for three weeks now (the mother) on the van with her children. It is precious! We welcome parents to sit with the children if they would prefer – a few have. It is work, work, work, but God is blessing the ministry.
Great testimony on these pages. I’m from a small rural church in England where our children’s work is successful enough, but a) we don’t have the room to properly run our three age-group Sunday school (up to 8s, 8-11s, 12 and up), so we’re looking into making space in a church with all kinds of conservation orders on it, when I thought perhaps a bus could partly serve as a new “classroom” for us, and b) we could reach the children in our un-reached areas of our little town with bus ministry. I’ll let you know how we get on: radical ideas outside the box don’t usually get a look-in, though!
Im just a little curious how there can be negatives to a bus program? Busses go out each week and pick up children who would otherwise never hear about God’s Plan of Salvation. Children who come from rough homes find a place to be loved and a place of sanctuary from the outside world. I have only been running a bus for a short time but within those 4 years I have seen 6 parents saved and now coming to church on their own. (Might I mention with their children) My Pastor was a bus kid. He then surrended to the call of God and now Pastors a growing, thriving church. If the bus has negatives then our church would not be growing to the ministry it is today. (500+ in attendance, a growing Bible College, and a Christian School) Yes children can get be disruptive but thats why we need to teach them how to act properly in a church environment. Yes children move I have had riders on my bus for 2 weeks and then vanish. But what if they learned something in those 2 Sundays that will stick with them later in life. Yes they might not have gotten saved, but when they are up agiasnt a wall and troubles are coming their way they will remember what they learned in church and hopefully find a good church.
SO SO TRUE!!!!I COULD NOT BELIEVE THIS!!!!!! Pros and cons of telling a child about JESUS!!!! The difference between going to Heaven OR Hell! As a child I was a bus kid they picked me up for ten years on the bus! now that I’m 18 i have the GREATEST HONOR of helping a bus route.They showed me how to get to heaven and how to love God! They NEVER put down my parents and they visit every Weekend to talk to me and my parents and they got to witness to them as well. All it takes is true patience and you can take a “disruptive” kid like I was and help them to grow. I agree!!!
Thanks for these positive comments! My wife and I just started visiting and getting ready to start a bus ministry at our church. God is with me on this mission! Please pray for me!
I have just started a research project into bus ministry and I’m trying to answer the question “Does bus ministry to children bring families back into the Church”.
Does any one know of any research that has been done on this subject?
I have been picking up kids and adults for about 5 years. There is a girl in a Christian college today, that use to ride the my van. I am at a different Church now, and have the opportunity to be the bus captain, getting new kids to come. I really want to bring kids to Church, part of that comes from being a bus kid myself.
What are some promotions that i can do, and what are some ways i can get kids interested in coming?
Thank you and may God bless your efforts, David Wyatt
Here is something to consider. I don’t think any of us like to use labels, but how many of us use the term bus kids? A bus kid is very much a label and we had a lot of problems with our kids that attend with their parents no accepting the “bus kids.” I might be a little biased because I was a “bus kid.” Also immediately as we stopped calling them “bus kids” and simply stated they were kids that road the bus, the attitude of our volunteers and kids changed. I oversee our bus ministry and I love the excitement that these kids bring to our church. Over half of the kids in our children church ride the bus to get there. They are not there because their parents made them go, they are there because they want to be there. That is exciting to me and excitement is contagious.
You all are invited to a Hall of Fame bus ministry Sunday on August 15,2010
Lewis Ave. Baptist Church, 6320 Lewis Ave.,Temperance,Mi.48182
Time 6:30 pm
This is the first and only Hall Fame for bus ministries across the USA
My husband and I run the bus ministry in a very little town of 20,000. When we started we had 10 kids coming a year later we have grown to an average of 35. Being a bus worker is such a blessing. At my church we also have trouble getting other members involved in the bus ministry. We even have an excellent visitation program, but never receive any prospects from the visitation program, It is very frustrating. But like I stated earlier It is such a wonderful blessing to be able to bring in God’s children into church. We need to remember “suffer not the little children to come unto me”.
Training workers is a necessity.Read 2 Timothy 2:2.Ask the most experienced workers to ride the bus and visit with the newer workers.There is a real need for the bus ministry to get passed on to the next generation.The older workers need to look at it as a legacy that must be passed on.This is one of the main reasons bus ministries die or become ineffective.God Bless
Kids for jesus ministry is a buzz word in our area. If you would be interested in starting a bus ministry contact me at ronnieaiton@hotmail.com From 6 children to 400 kids. Hang on tight expect the unexpected.
I’ve never done a bus ministry, but I have done attractional ministry for years. But that is changing for me. One of the things I am doing is going to the parents and their families where they live and doing life with them. Sure, we will continue to do occasional events on campus and have children’s ministries, including bringing kids from the neighborhood to our church on Sundays. But unless parents get to know us as real people, they aren’t going to have much motivation to check out our church, despite any interest their children might have. I seem to remember Jesus telling his disciples to go and make disciples. Evangelical churches largely try to get people to come to them. Where I live, it just doesn’t work anymore. So, I am learning to go to them. It’s really quite liberating. Just a thought.
fair. I started a Bus Ministry 4 years ago. With God’s help, our average this year is @ 44. (in a city of 5,000) Our staff is crazy! Our kids are crazy! We are radical about what we do. we run tons of good promotions, We have even done a float in the parade in our city the past 2 years. I think the whole key is to just stay excited. I have had to turn some help away because we have more than enough. another key is to always stay positive. No matter what. I’m interested in learning more about how everyone runs their Bus Ministries. -God bless
I really agree with the pros and cons of the bus ministry. This is what is going on with my route. It’s somewhat hard to reach the parents. And we don’t know what kind of discipline they are getting at home, so it’s also difficult to control some of them. But the best thing we can do is pray. Another thing that is lacking in our buses is teenagers. I think we focus the games and prizes on the kids more, and teens aren’t into that. So they think church is boring. They don’t sit up and pay attention, and that can lead to more problems. That has been an issue on our routes lately. I think if we had a balance of the Bible, not just in the classes, but on the bus as well, and teach the kids that the are there for God and the Bible, not for the candy. And to make sure they’re saved. Beacause if we spend all this time trying to reach them, and they die and go to hell, our labor was in vain. So, that is our main goal in the bus ministry, and any children’s ministry for that matter. It may be struggles and stress along the way, but it will be worth it all.
I came to this article through a discussion on the bus ministry from a message board I frequent. This article intrigued me, because I was a bus kid. I know I was a handful. I was being raised by my dad at the time, because our mother left. Dad used the bus ministry as a free babysitter I’m sure. But if it hadn’t been for the bus I would have never heard about or come to accept Christ. Eventually my dad did join us at church and accepted Christ also. Though I left church after I moved out of the house those seeds were planted and they would pick at my conscious. I eventually came back to God and I’m now actively involved in my church. My husband and I are raising our kids in church and for the Lord. My brothers and sister came to Christ through the bus ministry also. I just want to encourage the bus workers. You are planting seeds that will stay with those children forever. You may not see the results yourself but you are touching more lives than you know. I know it feels like your throwing rocks into a pond and there just sinking to the bottom. But they are sending ripples in the water that just keep going beyond what you can see. God sees it though. Yes bus kids can be a rough bunch but I’m so grateful that some one took the time to run one, so I could know about Jesus.
You will never know how much your post was needed today. (almost exactly 1 year later) amazing isn’t it? My church has a bus ministry that I am involved in. Wed. night was probably one of the worst nights ever. We have been picking kids up for about 3 years. After Wed. I was just about ready to say forget it. How can we teach these kids anything when we can’t even keep them under some sort of control? I was encouraged by your testimony…please pray for all the bus workers and teachers. I know that the devil does not like us showing the children a better way of life. God Bless you!
With reference to the first negative in your list – how to reach the parents. We have found that the only real successful way to bring these parents in is to involve the children in the sunday service at Christmas, Easter and other special events. Eg. Kids singing a song, doing a poem or reading, receiving an attendance prize – whatever. Parents, grandparents, aunties & uncles will go to church to see their kids on stage. Sneaky – but it works!!!!
While there are pro’s and con’s what I have found interesting is that these are some of our most faithful kids. Many of the children we pickup aren’t really involved in anything outside of school and this provides them with a positive influence. Management is tough but I think it is worth it to sow some seeds.
With all the pro’s and con’s that are present, this one thing I would like to say, it is worth the cost. Matt. 22:9, Luke14:23. Plainly tells us to go and bring them in. Always remember that the rewards are out of this world. Jesus loves the little children.
Could anyone help me know what a bus program is and how to go about setting up a nine week bus program with weekly promotions? Must do this for Bible College project and am up against a wall. Thanks
Kate I may be able to help you. I transport 200-300 riders a week to different churches. From pickel eating contest with whipcream on top…to basketball on the bus…Icecream…trips fishing…roller skating…bring a guest for a dollar/ more guest two dollars. Mr Ronnie.
Elizabeth – One of the hardest things in Children’s ministry is “maintaining” an existing program. It seems like things must always be moving forward with a new vision.
Here are some quick thoughts:
1. Pray for God’s support.
2. Share stories with the church that talk about the value of the ministry.
3. Find a bus ministry “evangelist” who will constantly remind the church how important and awesome a chance to reach some of these kids.
I would say that this is a fairly good list of pros and cons. I am a driver for my church’s bus program. With our program a huge pro is that it allows the children to see that the hopeless situations that are going on in their home life don’t have to dictate their future, and that they can make a change in their life, and it shows them that people really do care about them.
A con though at my church is that it has been around so long that the church has stopped getting involved. We are down to a handful of workers. Any ideas on how to recruit new workers and create a passion in the church for the Bus program?