5 Ways to Help Parents Get Their Priorities in Order

If you are like the majority of children's ministries, you are struggling to help parents get their priorities in order. 

I know I am. I have lots of families who only attend church once a month or so. The big question is how can I persuade them to be more consistent in their attendance? 

I have seen some success by using the following strategies.  Here are 5 ways to help parents get their priorities in the right order. 

Milestones emphasis. 

Milestones are big events in the life of a family. Here are 5 that I emphasize:

• Parent and Child Dedication
• Bible Presentation (going into 1st grade)
• Starting Point salvation class
• Baptism for Kids class
• Elementary Graduation  

In each of these classes, we talk about having our priorities in the right order. We have seen really good fruit in the Parent and Child Dedication class. I have found if we can catch the parents when they are young, we can help them get their priorities in order before their child gets in the flow of elementary life. 

Each of the these milestones are available at this link.  

Your teaching. 

When you are invited to teach parents, share a message / teaching about being faithful to God's house and keeping your priorities in order. 

We have a MomCo group in our ministry. We have around 11 moms in the program. I will be speaking to them in a few weeks. I will use this time to encourage them to have their priorities in the right order. 

Ask your Pastor to talk about keeping your priorities in the right order.  

It can have a big impact when your pastor talks about priorities in his messages. Keep him in the loop about how faithful families are or are not.  

Show parents the stats. 

A child that only comes to church once a month will be Biblically ignorant. They are missing 75% of the lessons. A child that only comes to church twice a month will struggle as well. They are missing 50% of the lessons.  Don't be surprised when these kids grow up and drop out of church.  These kind of attendance patterns leaves kids with a shallow faith. 

Sharing these stats with parents can be a wake-up call for many of them.

Get the parents and their children involved in serving. 

Who are the most faithful families in your church?  It is the families who are serving.  When families are serving, they show up.  Emphasizing serving will help parents get their priorities in the right order.

Here is a bonus tip. This is a great visual illustration you can show parents. 

Have parents draw a circle. 

Have parents draw a small circle in the middle of the circles...like the hub on a bicycle wheel. 

Have parents draw spokes from the hub to the outer edge of the big circle. 

On the spokes, have parents write down some of their families' priorities.  They may write things like trips together, holidays, church, meals together, etc. You might even have some parents who write down Jesus on one of the spokes.

Take them to Matthew 6:33.

"Seek first the kingdom of God and all these things will be added unto you."  

Explain to parents that Jesus doesn't want to just be a part of their life, He wants to be the very center of their life. The top priority in their home. 

Have them write "Jesus" in the middle of the hub at the center of wheel. 

Explain that Jesus wants to control every single part of their life. He wants to lead every aspect of their life. 

Explain that when you put Jesus in first place in your life, everything else falls in place. 

As we do this, we will see parents begin to "get it."  

The only hope for the next generation is to have good, parental examples of what it means to follow Jesus first and foremost. 

What an opportunity we have to be that example.  

Read More

7 Things You Must Do Every Week to Be Ready for Sunday

Guess what?  Sunday always returns and you have to be ready. 

Some call it the "relentless return of the sabbath."

Here are 7 things you must do each week to be ready for Sunday. 

Pray.

Prayer makes the difference. Nothing of eternal value happens without prayer. 

Each week you must spend time praying for your volunteers, the ministry, and God's anointing.  This verse always convicts me. 

He appointed twelve that they might be with Him and that He might send them out to preach. Mark 3:14

Our first priority must be prayer. Then out of our time with Jesus comes the ministry.  Prayer can often be something we are tempted to skip or go light on.  But if we are going to see God move, then we must first spend time with Him.

Volunteer communication. 

Don't expect your volunteers to shine on Sunday if you keep them in the dark during the week.  Make sure you are touching base with them during the week.  Phone calls. Emails. Text.  Social media.  Set your volunteers up for success through good communication.

Details promised. 

Did you promise a volunteer or parent that you would take care of something?  If you don't follow through and take care of it, then it will hurt your leadership. Keeping details is not easy.  I have to write everything down when I hear it.  Then I transfer it to my do list for that week. 

Here is an example. This past Sunday, one of my volunteers let me know that the clock in their room is broken. She asked me if we could get her a new clock. I wrote it down and then on Monday I ordered the clock.  When this volunteer walks into her room on Sunday and sees the new clock hanging on the wall, she will feel valued and heard. 

Details promised and kept will help you earn trust with your volunteers. Even the smallest of details make a statement when acknowledged and completed.

Follow up with guests. 

A phone call? A text message? An email? Have a follow-up plan in place. 

I have found a follow-up plan that is very effective. I contact our first-time male guests and invite them to have lunch with me one day that week.  Believe it or not, most people say "yes."  If I can have lunch with them and share the heart and vision of our church, there is a good chance they are going to return and join us. I have a lot of success stories with this strategy.

Write some thank you notes. 

Send a personal, handwritten note to some of your volunteers and families. This is another simple thing that makes a big impact. In the days of technology, a handwritten note is gold.

Go into the weekend with the little details already taken care of. 

Don't wait until Sunday morning to complete your tasks. Do them ahead of time. You want Sunday to be a time when you can spend time with your volunteers and guests.  But you can't do this if you are having to run around trying to finish details on Sunday morning.  

The more tasks you can take care of early, the more freedom you will have to spend your time with people on Sunday morning.  It will also make your Sunday mornings a lot less stressful.

Rest. 

Find some time each week to rest. Take your day off. Take your day off. Take your day off.  

Get the point?  

If you are going into the weekend with little or no rest, it will catch up to you.

Don't try to be superman or superwoman.  You will burn out and the "S" will fall off your shirt.

Create a rhythm of rest. If you are going to go the distance, this is essential. 

So there you have it. Seven things you must do every week to be ready for Sunday.  

What are some other things you do to prepare for Sunday?  Share your thoughts and insights in the comment section below.  

Read More

Handwriting for Kids...Why It Is Disappearing

Handwriting was a big deal when I was a kid. We spent hours upon hours trying to perfect our skills in this. 

But times have changed over the years. Today's kids aren't doing as much handwriting. 

The biggest reason is because of the shift to technology. 

Devices such as smart phones and laptops in schools has reduced the time children spend handwriting.

Today's kids spend a lot more time typing than they do handwriting.  

In today's culture, learning how to type on a key board is far more essential than learning to write out things by hand. Many schools have removed handwriting instruction since it is becoming less relevant than typing. While handwriting has not become completely obsolete yet, it is used less frequently due to digital communication. It appears that penmanship is going the way of a lost art.

Fast forward ahead and we will see talking overtaking typing. Voice assistants have led to a significant decrease in the amount of time people spend writing by hand.  Does this sound familiar?

"Hey Siri."

Hit the "mic" button and speak what you'd like to put in writing. 

Google and Android devices await your spoken command. 

Even today as an adult, it is rare that I write something out by hand.  The only time I come close to handwriting is when I sign a check at the restaurant or another hard copy paper that requires my signature.  Even then, I quickly scribble my name and it is not readable.  But it doesn't seem to matter in a digital world. 

It is like the telephone on the wall. Less and less used and then not there anymore. -Tracy Bendish, ABA therapist for Jefferson Public Schools in New Jersey.

These findings reveal changes that are gradually happening. Today's kids are growing up in a digital world which affects how we communicate with them.

In children's ministry, it is important that we keep tabs on these type of changes. This can affect how we successfully communicate God's Word with kids.  

Are we trying to do handwritten ministry in a digital, typing world?  Our message doesn't change...but how we share the message has to be adjusted at times to communicate effectively for today's kids and families.

Read More

Halloween...Should Churches Use This for Outreach?

There is always a debate about whether churches should use Halloween as outreach event. 

There are strong opinions on both sides of the fence.  Some take a hard stand and say that Halloween belongs to the evil one and Christians should not acknowledge it and stay far away. 

Others believe it is harmless and is a great opportunity to reach people for Christ. 

I personally fall on the side of the second category. While I do know that Halloween has some links to a dark past, I believe that it is now harmless and is a great opportunity to share the Gospel with neighbors, co-workers, teammates and other people outside the church. It gives us an opportunity that we wouldn't get otherwise. 

Here is how I use Halloween for outreach purposes. As people enter our building that night, they will be directed to our worship center. In the worship center, I will have a 5-10 minute "family-fun program." In this program, we will have a fun song that everyone knows, we will have a couple of large group family games on stage where guests will compete for prizes like a TV, movie tickets, family board games,etc. 

I will then share a short Gospel message and pray over the families.  Everyone needs prayer and this is a great opportunity to pray for the families and plant Gospel seeds.  

I will give everyone a glow-in-the-dark bracelet as well for coming.  

From there, families will go into the gym where we will have candy booths set up to pass out candy. 

We will repeat this same flow every 20 minutes until the last group has come in. 

I am praying we will see many families come to Christ that night and in the weeks afterwards. 

So...that is what I am doing for Halloween. 

What about you?  

Do you think Halloween is evil and we shouldn't do anything that night?

Do you think it's a great outreach opportunity and we should redeem it?  

Share your thoughts and ideas in the comment section below. 

Read More