The temperature is dropping, pumpkins are appearing at grocery stores, and Walgreens flu shot commercials are airing—Fall is here! An event we hold at our church every October is Fall Festival. Planning meetings are starting up and we are beginning to line up the details for this event. Here are a few tips if you are thinking about having a Fall Festival: 1) Picking the Date: Do you want your festival to serve as an alternative for
At the beginning of the summer, my elementary teachers had the idea of having water games one Sunday morning for our elementary aged children. We decided to plan it after VBS with the intention of inviting our VBS attendees. “Splash Into School From VBS” took place during the Worship Service hour. Our kids loved it and it gave us the opportunity of reaching the parents by having them attend Worship during our event. I came up with games
That’s right, I said potlucks are a great ministry resource. Some churches call this a pitch-in dinner or covered dish supper. Whatever the name, this could be the key to your next children’s ministry training. I am at a smaller campus of our church and potlucks fit the informal atmosphere. It just feels right when everybody brings a covered dish and enjoys a time of fellowship. Typically, when you advertise a training meeting the same 5-10 dedicated volunteers show
Every summer my church holds a Kids Camp for our elementary aged children. This is one of the most fun events we have and I always look forward to those 3 days every year. Here are a few suggestions in getting your own kids camp up and running. Decide length of time and ages: Our camp leaves on Sunday afternoon and returns on Tuesday afternoon. We have found that two nights is about the extent of kids
Recently, my church hosted a conference which was open to our children’s ministry volunteers, as well as other local churches in the area. The conference was intended to not only encourage volunteers, but to train them as well. The Friday night through Saturday morning trainings focused on material entitled, CM:21, Children’s Ministry in the Twenty First Century. CM:21 was lead by Art Murphy, President of Arrow Ministries. It is evident that Art has a passion for children’s
I think one of the biggest challenges anyone faces in ministry is recruiting (and keeping) volunteers. Particularly as a children’s director, it sometimes feels like pulling teeth to get church members to even consider stepping foot into the children’s department! I think there are several things we can do as preschool and elementary directors to remove people’s preconceived ideas about helping with children, and in turn show them how beneficial volunteering in the children’s ministry can be:
A couple of months ago I scheduled a time to meet with my Sunday morning elementary volunteers. Having become the director of preschool through elementary at this church last summer, I had been taking my time to observe what was taking place and look for ways to improve the ministries. After taking a bit of time to see how things were functioning and running in our elementary area, I decided it was time to meet with my
Here are the notes from the final panel discussion. These are a rough summary and partial paraphrase of what the speakers said. For more details, be sure to watch the video from the Seminary website. Speakers included RANDY STINSON, SALLY MICHAEL, DAVID MICHAEL, JAY STROTHER, STEVE WRIGHT, RYAN RUSH. Watch it here: Closing Panel Discussion For more coverage of the 2010 Connecting Church & Home Conference visit our summary page. You can listen to audio from this
Here is my rough summary and paraphrase of the breakout session with Sally Michael. She and her husband, David, currently serve as the directors of Parenting and Children’s Discipleship at Bethlehem Baptist Church located in Minneapolis, MN. Sally is best known for her her role in writing curriculum for Children Desiring God. For more coverage of the 2010 Connecting Church & Home Conference visit our summary page. You can listen to audio from this conference on the
One of the breakout sessions I attended during the Connecting Church & Home Conference was lead by Dr. Timothy Jones, who currently serves as the Associate Professor of Leadership and Church Ministry at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, KY. Dr. Jones has written a number of books on the subject of family ministry and is one of the leading experts in the field of connecting the church and home. This particular breakout session focused on
Your VBS has come to a conclusion. After all the “de-decorating” has occurred one may think all he or she is left with are some traces of hay or sand, that yellow tacky left behind on the walls from posters, snack crumbs under the chairs, and all that leftover craft supplies that seem to always accumulate in that same corner until around Christmas time. But is there more to the aftermath of VBS? Listed below are some
One of the members at my church recently asked me if I knew of any good books for young children who were asking questions about spiritual matters. There is a plethora of children’s bibles and curriculum geared towards older children, but it can be difficult to find foundational materials that invest in younger children. A series with which I have been particularly impressed that is intended for ages four to seven is Big Thoughts for Little Thinkers,
For several years I served as the “baby wing” coordinator at my local church and oversaw the infant through one-year-old rooms on Sunday mornings. Part of my responsibility was to ensure my volunteers were teaching the curriculum provided. I found that most of my volunteers, upon entering the job, assumed that these rooms just provided childcare, and that one could only baby-sit these ages during the Sunday school and church service hours. One of my goals was
