Children’s Ministry—you think it’s about children, but it’s not!
Most people say, “Yes” to working in children’s ministry because they love children, have children, think working with children will be fun, or believe it may be the least stressful volunteer option that has been placed before them. As the leader, however, you know children are just the beginning. The job is much more.
Children’s Ministry is unlike any other educational ministry in the church in that it requires a large team of volunteers to make it happen. A Pastor can teach a room of a thousand adults standing alone on the front stage. Youth Pastors, Women’s Ministry Leaders and even Worship Pastors can do the same. But the moment you have that second infant handed to you, you’ve reached capacity, safekeeping becomes an issue and you find yourself outnumbered.
Leading Children’s Ministry is more about developing a team of volunteers than interacting with children. You might hold the vision, write the lesson plans, organize the supplies, lead the worship and greet families at the door, but if there aren’t other adults and helpers in the room who know each child by name and are prepared to assist, your desire to run an excellent program is at risk.
In fact, the reality is You serve 4 populations!
Your target is CHILDREN, but as stated above, that requires a Team of VOLUNTEERS. Those volunteers help you meet the expectations of PARENTS who are looking for a safe, quality, fun-filled program that moves their kids toward Jesus and obedience. And if that isn’t enough, your CHURCH STAFF is also highly dependent upon you.
I believe Children’s Ministry Leaders have the toughest job in the church, but of course, I’m biased. I also believe the job can be the most fun and rewarding. Success depends on people at all levels of expertise sharing a huge variety of gifts to lead kids to Jesus Christ and to teach them to be Christ followers.
It’s the only environment where a beginning guitar player, beginner storyteller, beginning worship leader, etc. can explore and develop their gifts. It’s a great first-step in ministry for thousands. The audience is pliable, forgiving and reacts immediately. If they’re bored they fidget, if they’re excited they chatter, if you’re funny they laugh out loud. But most importantly, children are the quickest to accept the gospel and put their faith in Jesus Christ.
CHILDREN attend because their parents bring them. They often have no choice in the matter. But weather that family stays, invites other families and attends activities beyond the weekend is fully dependent upon the experience you provide. Your program can’t just be quality, it also has to be relational, engaging and fun.
VOLUNTEERS sign up for a variety of reasons, but they stick and invest heavily when they know their purpose, feel needed, get connected and discover their giftedness.
PARENTS are happiest when they don’t have to think about safe-keeping and their children want to attend. Even though the goal is giving kids Jesus, you can’t reach it until you’ve provided a safe environment that is both relational and fun.
And while you are busy addressing the requirements of the three populations above, the needs of your CHURCH STAFF are changing—a third service is being added, women’s ministry needs midweek childcare, the adult ministry has a couples event that would swell in attendance if kids were cared for, and the youth program needs your space for a special weekend extravaganza! Being a flexible team player is essential and depends upon your ability to maintain a healthy team of volunteers who can flex and adjust with you to support the entire church community.
Is this really possible? I believe it is. But it requires acceptance on the part of the Children’s Ministry Leader to understand that they serve the whole church, not just a single population, and that they breathe that understanding into their team of volunteers while modeling a flexible and willing attitude to give their best to the big picture.
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