10 Things Senior Pastors Need to Know About Children's Ministry

Do you ever share articles with your Senior Pastor? Articles that explain the importance of children's ministry?  This is one to share if you get the opportunity. 

 

Here are 10 things that every senior pastor needs to know about children's ministry. 

 

Children's ministry needs the support of the Senior Pastor.

 

Senior Pastors should be a top fan of children's ministry. They set the tone for the church when it comes to how people view children's ministry.

 

Does your senior pastor see it as an afterthought or as a vital ministry?

 

Is the success of children's ministry important to your senior pastor?  How do they show that? 

 

The children's ministry staff and volunteers need to know their senior pastor values children's ministry. 

Children's ministry is a growth engine for the church.

 

Do you know the top two reasons people pick a church?

 

-How friendly are you?

 

-What do you have to offer my kids?

 

The fastest growing and largest churches in the nation have something in common. They all have dynamic children's ministries. 

 

If you want to see your church grow, it will happen through reaching kids and their parents.

 

Why do you think parents drive past the steakhouse and eat at McDonald's instead?  It has to do with something called a kids' meal.  Dad and mom would rather eat at the steakhouse, but the kids want to go where there are kids' meals and playgrounds. Normally the kids win that battle.  It is often the same situation with families and where they go to church. 

 

Parents can have a great experience at a church, but if the kiddos come out and say they didn't like it...chances are they are going to find a place where their kids have a great experience.

 

Compensate your children's ministry person well. 

 

If you are a senior pastor reading this, you may have a part-time person leading your children's ministry. They probably won't tell you this, but they are working a lot more than part-time hours.  You are getting a full-time person for part-time pay. This is not fair. Compensate your children's person well. Pay them for what they are worth and for what they are investing in the ministry. 

 

If you do have a full-time person, then pay them fairly. You want their attention to be on the ministry, not on how they are going to put food on the table.  

 

What they do is invaluable for your ministry.  The church will get back financial benefits from the families they help you reach.

 

Children's ministry leaders help you shepherd the flock. 

 

Children's ministry leaders are a key part in shepherding the entire congregation. They shepherd children, parents, volunteers of all ages, and entire families.  They help you carry the load of shepherding the flock.

 

Buildings and facilities speak volumes. 

 

The physical space designated for children makes a major statement to families. You can say that you are for children's ministry, but if the facilities for children are subpar, then it says otherwise.

 

If you are trying to decide where to invest the church's money, children's ministry should be at the forefront. It is a mistake to build great facilities for students (teenagers) and adults and then stick the kids in the basement. 

 

Your facilities say one of two things...either we believe in children's ministry or it is not a priority for us. Investing finances in children's ministry facilities and environments is always a win.  

 

Make your children's ministry budget a top priority.

 

Money invested in children's ministry will return to the church many times over.  

 

If you are spending money on new choir robes while your children's ministry has moldy carpet, then something is wrong. 

 

If you are spending more on coffee than you are on goldfish crackers, something is off. 

 

If you are remodeling the men and women's bathrooms while the children's ministry tables and chairs are falling apart, then something is out of sorts.

 

If you are building a new sanctuary while the children's ministry area is old and outdated, then priorities need to be looked at. 

 

If you are spending big money on sound and LED walls for the sanctuary while the children's ministry rooms have old TV's and Veggie Tales VHS tapes, something is off. 

 

If you have 3 full-time people on your worship staff, but only a part-time person in children's ministry, then your personnel budget needs to be adjusted.  

 

I could go on and on and on, but you get the point. One of the biggest budgets in the church should be the

children's ministry budget. One of the biggest staff teams should be your children's ministry team. 

Children's ministry is not easy, make sure you give them time off. 

Children's ministry is no easy gig.  It has so many moving parts. It has the pressure of always having volunteers ready and in place every Sunday. You know this. Sunday always comes back and your children's ministry person has to be ready.  

 

Then there is the load of planning and pulling off events like VBS, camp, parent and child dedications, fall festivals, Christmas events, Easter egg hunts, Bible studies, trips, etc. 

 

Simply put...it is a lot. 

 

It is enough to burn your children's ministry person out if they don't get some R&R.  Make sure you give them days off each week. Provide them with vacation time.  Don't expect them to be at the church five nights a week. Give them plenty of margin to be wih their most important ministry...their family.

 

Ask for their input and advice when planning teaching series. 

 

Your children's ministry person can help you make sermons relevant to today's parents and families. Are you doing a series about the home? Include your children's ministry person in the planning. Are you doing a series about serving?  Get input from the person that helps lead one of the biggest volunteer bases in your church.  

 

Your children's ministry person knows the pulse of the families. They can be a big resource to you when sermon planning. Does that mean you should use all of their ideas? No. Of course not. But it does mean you listen to them and use what will make your sermon connect better with families. 

 

Summer is your children's ministry person's busiest time of the year.  

 

When we hear adult ministries talk about how things slow down in the summer, we can't help but chuckle. Summer time is full of events and happenings in children's ministry.  Then there is a tiny, small window of down time (like 3 days) before we have to jump right into the fall season of ministry. 

 

Be aware of this and help your children's ministry person guard their time and comp them on a regular basis. 

 

Children are not just the church of tomorrow. They are the church of today as well. 

 

Yes. We are investing in their future...but we are also excited about seeing them come to Christ now, be discipled now, and growing in their faith now. 

 

Children can make an impact now. They can serve now. They can be prayer warriors now. They can learn to tithe now. They can learn to pray and spend time with God now. They can share the Gospel now. They can be leaders now. 

 

We tell children to sit still and be quiet and then we wonder why they sit still and are quiet when they grow up. It's because that's what we told them to do!

 

We often call kids out for what they have done wrong. What if we started calling them up...calling them up to what God wants them to be and do. Calling them up to make a difference. Calling them up to living lives of faithfulness, integrity, and spiritual obedience.

 

Yes...we are excited to see them grow up and be used by God...but we are just as excited about seeing how God can use them now.    

 

Are you going to share this with your senior pastor?  That's obviously up to you. It could get you fired (ha) or it could help you gain more support and influence for the children's ministry you lead. 

 

It's not about us anyways. It's about reaching the next generation and their families. Share your heart with your senior pastor. He may have been waiting for a long time to hear this from you. You have to be the champion for children's ministry in your church. Lead strong my friend and be reminded of how important what you are doing is. 

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5 Easy Ways to Teach Kids to Be Givers

This past Sunday we had an Easter Egg hunt for the kids. There were lots of smiling faces. 

The hunt was over and the kids were going back to their classrooms (we did the egg hunt during service time - it's amazing how fast kids can pick up thousands of eggs...literally just a couple of minutes). 

Anyways back to what happened.  As the kids were walking back to class, two girls can running in.  They had arrived late and all the eggs were picked up.  They burst into tears.  They were so upset that they were going to leave. 

Then something amazing happened. I asked the kids if anyone wanted to share some of their eggs with the two girls. The kids started surrounding the two girls and giving them some of their eggs. Soon the two girls' baskets were full of eggs. The tears turned into smiles. I was so proud of the kids living out what it means to be a giver. 

Watching this happen reminded me of something. It is important that we teach kids what it means to be a giver. 

Here are five easy ways you can teach kids to be givers. 

Share with them how Jesus modeled giving.

Jesus life can be summed up in two words. 

"...just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many." Matthew 20:28 

Time and time again, throughout His life, Jesus gave and gave and gave.  He gave the ultimate gift when He gave His life and died on the cross for our sins. 

Point kids to Jesus and encourage them to follow His example. This is a key part of discipleship. 

Give kids hands on activities that bring giving to the forefront.

Here's an example of how you can do this.  Prepare bags of candy and give one bag to each child. Let them know that the candy in the bag is theirs. Then share with them about some kids in your community or area that are in need. 

Give them a choice. They can keep the candy or they can give it back and you will deliver it to the kids. When you do this, you will feel the tension in the room rise. Kids will have mixed emotions as they ponder what they should do.  

Some kids will take their candy home...and that's okay. But you will see that many of the kids will make the choice to give the candy to someone else. 

These kind of activities are powerful ways to teach kids about giving. 

Take up an offering each week and teach the kids about giving tithes and offerings. 

Share with the kids a simple truth about being a giver before you take up the offering each week. Share with the kids what the Bible says about giving God part of the money He has entrusted them with. It will normally be small amounts at this age but if they can learn the principles of being a giver, it can help them live this out for the rest of their life and experience the joys and blessings of being a giver. 

Share teaching series that focus on giving.  

I have two curriculum series that I use to teach kids about giving. Click on the images below for more information. 

Encourage kids to participate in church-wide giving campaigns.

When your church engages in big projects like a building campaign, special Christmas offering, filling shoe boxes for kids, etc. make sure you include the kids. God can do great things when you do this. 

We were raising money for a new children's ministry building.  A 3rd grade boy had  made big birthday plans. His parents were going to take him to Florida for his birthday and he would be going to some amusement parks there. It was a big, big trip for him. The family had saved money for this trip for a year.

When he heard about the building campaign, the Lord began to do a work in his heart. He went to his parents and shared with them that God was leading him to forego the birthday trip and give the money toward the new children's building. His parents questioned him about this and he confirmed that it was something God was telling him to do. 

So he gave the money toward the building campaign. God used it and his giving inspired the entire church to sacrificially give toward to the new building. 

Your turn. What are some other ways you teach kids to be givers? Share in the comment section below. 

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The First 10 Seconds...Making a Great First Impression

Disney is excellent at making first impressions...especially in the first 10 seconds.

As you approach the front gates of the Magic Kingdom you are immersed in thousands of colorful flowers. 

The smell of freshly baked chocolate chip cookies floats your way. 

In the background, Disney songs are playing. 

Here's something that Disney understands that we need to take a cue from.

Your interaction with guests in their first 10 seconds forms the perception they will carry with them into your church. 

The first 10 seconds in your church may seem like a small thing but that tiny amount of time makes a lasting impression. 

Keep this in mind as well.  The first impression truly is a lasting impression...especially the first 10 seconds that guests come in contact with your ministry. 

Think through these questions...

What do you want guests to see in the first 10 seconds?

What do you want guests to be immersed in the first 10 seconds?

What do you want guests to experience in the first 10 seconds?

What do you want guests to hear in the first 10 seconds?  

Your answers to these questions will determine if guests return or not.

Here are some examples...

Sight. Make sure your greeters are happy people who naturally smile.  Have bright, fun colors in your decor.

Sounds. Have happy, fun music playing in the hallways. Music is a powerful force. I recently added music in our nursery and preschool hallway for this very reason.

Smell. Guests' sense of smell should be met with a clean, pleasant smell.  

Make a great impression in the first 10 seconds and you will see guests return for a second visit.

You can get more ideas for making a great first impression in my book "Be Our Church Guest." 

It is available at this link.  

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Bringing Children Into the Equivalent of a College Lecture at Church...Stop It Already?

Should children be brought into the "adult" worship service?  Should children have their own age appropriate worship service / class?  

Some would compare bringing a child into the adult worship service to bringing a child into a college lecture.  We agree that when it comes to education, children should be in an age appropriate class or experience. 6-year-olds go to a first grade class at school. 9-year-olds go to a 4th grade class at school.  They don't go to college at that point in their life because it is not age-appropriate and the child would get little to no benefit from the teaching. 

Here are some thoughts on this that I found online.

"I remember being in service as a kid. I remember absolutely nothing. Communion was cool because I got to eat Hawaiian bread or sourdough."

"Children can't handle a 30-45 minute sermon. But obviously a 30-45 minute sermon is the essential centerpiece of corporate worship."

"While we're at it let's skip kindergarten and start their education in college."

"Our last church, the pastor was adamant kids of all ages needed to be in church, then made services two hours long, right at lunch time (an hour plus of that was his sermon). My kids hated church. When it was time to get ready for church there were crying meltdowns. Not how I want my kids to feel about church. We moved, joined a better church, and now send our kids to children’s church during the sermon. They’re much happier, and we can listen to the sermon instead of trying to make them behave."

"I just don't get some of your reasoning. I respect your opinions, but it just seems disconnected from reality to me. Would you send your kids to a college lecture? No, because they wouldn't get hardly anything from it. They wouldn't understand 99% of it. That's why they work their way up. The same goes for church, IMO. Is having them in the main service distracting others when they are hardly going to take anything from it really worth it when they could be in Sunday school learning things at their own capacity? It's not worth it in my opinion. I understand doing it sometimes, but it just seems unrealistic to expect your kids to be in the main service every time. I think it's a lot more beneficial for them to be in a class that is geared towards them."

"As a parent of multiple children under the age of 10. My 3-year-old absolutely cannot sit through an entire sermon. There are some services throughout the year we attend as a family, especially Christmas. However, it is very difficult to focus, take notes, etc. on the service during those times. I do think there is validity to having your kids in service and worshiping as a family over the age of 12 or 13 or so. However, if you are talking about real topics in church (pornography, sex trafficking, etc.) these are topics I do not think I should be explaining to a curious 6-year-old."

"Young children simply do not learn the same ways that adults or older children do. There are children that can sit quietly and obediently during a service and retain absolutely nothing, just like many checked out, dissociating adults. There's something to be said for modelling, but this issue should really be decided at the level of local churches, where the context of the congregation is relevant to how involved kids could and should be on the general service."

I would have to say that I agree with much of this.

 

Over the years, I have met many people who say they will not step foot inside a church because they were made to go as a child.  

 

Newsflash...you don't have to make someone go where they enjoy being. The reason they were made to go was because they were bored. They were made to sit still and be quiet while they were lectured at a college level or higher. I've never met anyone who says they are not going to Disney World because they were made to go as a child. See the difference?

 

Don't get me wrong. I do respect the flip side of this philosophy. Parents are to be the primary spiritual influence in their child's life.  Sitting with their children and modeling what it means to worship and listen does have it's benefits. 

 

But when it comes to parents modeling the faith...I believe this should primarily be done at home during the week. 

 

I believe if you measure the benefits both ways...children having their own age appropriate worship service / class is more beneficial. 

 

Here is how I manage this tension in the church where I am the children's pastor. Kids' worship is for kids up to 4th grade. After that, kids attend worship with their parents. 

 

Your turn. What is your ministry philosophy about this?  Do you have kids in the adult service? Do you have separate worship services / classes for kids? Share your thoughts in the comment section below.

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