15 Keys: How to have an unremarkable children’s ministry

Greg Baird, founder of KidMin360, provides the following article entitled 15 Ways to Have an Average Children’s Ministry.
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“I get to work with lots of churches to help them create healthy children’s ministry. Sometimes, at the beginning of the coaching/consulting/assessment process, I will ask them:

“Do you want to have an average children’s ministry?”

I’ve gotten a “yes” only once, and that was in jest because she felt like her ministry was so bad that “average” sounded great!

We don’t want “average”! But so many children’s ministry leaders do things that keep their ministry “average”, at best. Here are a few of the ways I’ve seen that church maintain “average” instead of healthy and excellent (in no particular order):

Recruit volunteers to a need rather than invite them to a vision.
Plan from week to week instead of strategically.
Fail to equip & engage parents, not recognizing that they are the primary spiritual influencers in a child’s life.
Neglect equipping (teaching people to do better) and developing (helping people to be better) of leaders.
Believe that bigger is always better and that numbers equate to effectiveness.
Allow rogue volunteers to continue being…rogue.
Dismiss the value of creating, maintaining and improving efficient systems.
Focus on fun at the expense of teaching the Gospel and the rest of scripture.
Fail to make teaching the Gospel and the rest of scripture fun.
Forget that our ministry must flow from our own relationship with God, not become our relationship with Him.
Do everything ourselves.
Never share the stories of life change with other staff, especially the lead & executive pastors.
Keep all our ministry inside the walls of the church.
Put off taking our day off until next week…or maybe the week after that.
Expect our families to be “Plan B” when volunteers don’t show up, or when we have a big event to plan, or when we need someone to run sound for kids church.

Used with permission. Greg Baird. KidMin360.

7 Keys: Building a remarkable ministry

1. Make training a Kingdom investment. Training takes time and resources, but remember to view each session as a long-term investment in building Kingdom relationships. This will help keep workers motivated and involved.

2. Determine your needs. Numerous training programs are available. With today’s technology and along with ever shrinking budgets, it helps to plan ahead. Think about your needs in light of God’s vision and mission. Consider what would best help your volunteers grow, not only in ministry skills, but also in Christ-likeness. Ask, “How will this training nurture and grow these workers in Christ’s image?”

3. Create a learning culture. The Greek word for “disciple” is mathetes. It simply means “learner.” By effectively and intentionally communicating your training plans, your team members will grow in Christ-likeness, hone their skills, and help children become all that God wants them to become. Provide needed resources to help your volunteers accomplish the goals God has given you.

4. Involve leadership. After you’ve developed a prioritized list of training topics and dates, get church leadership and staff involved. Explain your plans during staff meetings or … Continue Article

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