Just the other day my friend shared about her husband’s one and only church experience when he was younger. The pastor pulled him aside and shared that the boy was probably going to hell because he was wearing baggy pants. For many years later, that is what the boy remembered and associated with church. Wow. Suppose a kid comes to any of your ministries and has zero religious background. What are the most urgent things your ministry
How many times have you heard a volunteer say that they want to quit serving because they feel disconnected from other adults? I know I’ve heard it more times than I can count. This is a legitimate need and most adult will eventually burn out if their connections to other adults is limited. Therefore, an important part of a leader’s job is to help adults connect with each other. This is often tougher than it might sound,
Very few churches reach younger families without a strong preschool ministry. Here are nine practical ways to expand the number of preschool children coming to your church. Don’t miss our free printable preschool Bible lessons and preschool coloring pages. 1. Do it well. It will be virtually impossible to grow your preschool ministry if you are doing it halfway. Evaluate, identify challenges, and then get busy with improvements. You can’t totally fix anything overnight, but any step
Whether your kids meet in small groups or Sunday school classes, one of your goals is likely for that group to experience community. In other words, you want them to build relationships and learn how important it is to have other believers in their lives. But you know as well as I do that just because some kids are in a room together does not guarantee that community is going to happen. Here are some things that
We all run into it at some point in ministry… discouragement. Sometimes it creeps in gradually and sometimes it hits us like a brick wall. It could be a particular situation that causes it, a season where things are tough, or it could come from nowhere. However, it is universal. Every person in kidmin will face discouragement in ministry. Here are ten ways fight to overcome discouragement. 1. Get back to the basics – It is quite
There is a brand new resource that you need to order today, if you haven’t already. Children’s ministry pioneer, Jim Wideman, has released Kidmin Leadership. This book is unique because it is filled with leadership lessons for children’s ministers written by children’s ministers, based on what was learned in two years of mentoring with Jim. I was privileged to be a part of this awesome group and contribute a couple of chapters. Here is why I think you
Whether a family is visiting or has been attending our church for a hundred years, my desire is that they feel welcomed in our ministry. This can be a struggle as volunteers are so busy and are focused on other things on Sunday mornings. Here are a few easy things to implement to up your friendliness factor: 1. Plant smiling greeters: Find some people whose only job is to stand in your hallway and say hello. They
I believe that VBS can still be a valuable tool for reaching new families. Vacation Bible School is still the largest kids ministry outreach in many churches. It all starts with getting the word out. Here are a few easy things we have tried to communicate with our community about VBS or other big events. 1. Postcard Invites – We mail very few mass mailings. Sometimes they can be effective, but what do you do with unsolicited
Previously, I wrote about several ways that being a school teacher prepared me for being a children’s minister. There were also a few things that did not transition well. What follows are some ways that my previous job did not prepare me for ministry. These are a few surprises I quickly discovered. Click here to leave a comment. 1. Ministry takes over your life. I worked a whole lot of hours as a teacher. I brought home papers to grade and wrote
It feels like a hundred years ago, but before I came on staff at Westwood I taught public school for two years. It was undoubtedly two of the hardest years of my life. I knew God had called me to ministry, but for two years that was my ministry. They were pretty intense days and I have both fond and not-so-fond memories. I’ll never forget sitting with 30 fourth graders the day after 9/11 trying to explain
Trying to engage a room of preschoolers is like herding cats. Every little one has his own idea of what fun looks like and it is usually different from yours! Try these quick tips for preschool classroom management and share own ideas. 1. Be extremely prepared. In preschool world, downtime is the enemy. While you pause to look for crayons your three-year olds may try to take over the world. Before class begins make sure that you have all of your
We all have them. Volunteers who agree to help, but only do the minimum. They arrive for their assignments with seconds to spare and leave right when it’s done. Of course we desire for them to be more committed than that. There is no magic bullet, but there are some things we can do to help move them to a higher commitment level. 1. Treat them as more than a name on a spreadsheet. Often volunteers live
This spring I experienced one of the most life-changing and ministry-changing weeks ever. We had the opportunity to take several families, including kids ages 7 – 14 on a mission trip to Belize. We partnered with David and Karen Rhodes of Kidz Konnect 4 Jesus to minister at Light of the Valley school, a school we have been sponsoring for the past year. I was apprehensive about how our kids would react to being in a foreign
Safety is non-negotiable in children’s ministry. You can have the very best curriculum, most creative activities, and dynamic decor, but if you have not made safety a priority, you could be headed for potential disaster. We can never fully protect our ministries or our kids from all impending harm, but it is our responsibility to be proactive when it comes to safety. The following list is good place to start. Click here to leave your feedback or share
