Resources, Tips and Content for Children's Ministry and Family Life Leaders

Keeping Kids Safe

August 9, 2013 by

As a Children’s Ministry Leader, safekeeping is always the one thing expected of you at all times—whether spoken or unspoken—and it requires much more than common sense on your part and the part of others.

Keeping kids safe requires planning, policies, training and continual re-assessment. It demands an intentionality so well done, that hopefully, it will go unnoticed.

If you are going to be ferocious about one area of ministry over all others, this is it. It only takes one child or one parent one incidence for uncertainty to set in and put the reputation of your church at risk. If kids don’t feel safe, they will make it difficult for their parents to leave them; and if parents don’t feel safe, they will choose alternatives. Either way, you will limit your opportunities to share the gospel and impact families for eternity.

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7 Practices of Effective Ministry

7 PracticesIf you are ready to rethink your ministry, evaluate it’s practices and re-establish a clear pathway, then you are ready for the 7 Practices of Effective Ministry.

Stanley, Joiner and Jones, three members of the North Point Ministry team, unpack the practices of their ministry success using both a baseball analogy and by pulling pages from their own staff play-book. Information shared will inspire and benefit your entire team.

Andy Stanley, Reggie Joiner, Lane Jones
Multnomah Publishers, Inc. 2004 North Point Ministries, Inc.

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The Big Picture

July 5, 2013 by

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!

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SMART Goals

May 21, 2013 by

SMART Goals can help you improve your ministry and get Better Before Bigger. Once you’ve clarified what you want or need to do and have evaluated where you are, write SMART Goals to help you get there.

SMART Goals

Better Before Bigger

May 16, 2013 by

It should always be our goal to get better. After all, we work for the God of the universe who is creative and loves excellence. In fact, our efforts are just another way to honor Him, offer praise and glorify His Name. Becoming “Bigger” does not have to be the goal of our efforts, but according to the Bible, it tends to be a natural result for those who are faithful with what has been entrusted to them. (Matthew 25:14-28, The Parable of the Talents)

In their first season of real serious competition, Truett Cathy, founder of Chick-fil-A, challenged his staff, stating, “If we get better, our customers will demand that we get bigger.” This became the organization’s new strategy allowing them to beat out the competition and increase their sales numbers significantly. [Read more…]