The Challenges and Rewards of Children's Ministry

It's amazing how quickly a program can transform by God's grace when the right tools and the right people are in place. A year ago, our children's ministry program was described as "Another year has come and gone and still we have very few kids. There is a possibility of 5 for the roll, but there is an average of 1 or 2 attending with some weeks having no children attending". Now, we have an average of 15-20 kids each week, and the classrooms are filled with life, laughter, and a whole lot of learning. Praise God! I invite you to journey with us as we continue to explore the challenges and rewards of children's ministry. We will sample new curriculum, weeding out the bad and delighting in the good. We will listen to the heart cries of the children as they work to claim their faith as their own. We will open our eyes to see the plans God has for them, and we will be amazed when we see what unfolds. Let us share our knowledge together so we can make a greater impact for this generation.

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This weekend, I attended a children's ministry conference at a local church. The conference was put on by Group publishing, and I was very excited to attend. However, about five minutes into the conference, I was having second thoughts. First, we all had to sing and do the motions to one of Group's DVD praise sessions. It suddenly occured to me why our older kids were not that interested in doing things like this. Next, we had to make special signs with our hands to describe our ministry and walk around the room until we found someone with a different sign -- not exactly my idea of productive. I know that part of the point of conferences is to network and discover what others are doing that you could improve on, but we only had about four minutes for this "sign" activity -- no in depth conversations there.

As the conference progressed, there were certainly grains of truth that I could glean and take back to our program. I don't have my packet with me now, but I will highlight some of those things later. My co-worker attended with me, and she felt a lot of the presentation was propaganda for Group's products and curriculum, and many of the activities did seem to lean this way. Maybe it was my personal preference, but if I'm going to go to a conference, I want someone to set up a nice powerpoint and teach me some things. I'm not big on the object lessons, and moving around, and acting out funny scenes. I do that every week with the kids, surely I don't need to spend my weekend with a bunch of adults doing the same thing.

Now, don't get me wrong, I do love Group Publishing. I eat up every book they publish and have a great rep (Les Britingham) that serves our church to the best of his ability. We use Group curriculum, and for the most part really enjoy it, but I was just disappointed with this conference. Then again, I'm not really a conference sort of girl!

I would like to share what I learned, so check back again soon, and I'll have those notes posted. One thing that really stuck with me was staying current with culture. They listed the top 10 things kids are into right now, and asked if we knew anything about these things. The presenter emphasized using these cultural hot-points to build a bridge between Scripture and what the kids already know and love. I agree, and this is something we have been slacking on. I am going to work harder to keep current with kid culture, and hope to keep you updated here as well!

One of the things we did that was very help was a pre-teen breakout session. At our church, we will be starting a pre-teen group in about a month, so I wanted to get some feedback on what others are doing. I've been having the hardest time decided on what to do for a curriculum. I want something engaging, yet fun. Something a little more meater, yet not over their heads. I couldn't find any curriculum I was really wild about, so I ordered a few seperate books and will teach out of those for the first few months.

However, I did hear from others in this break-out session that Grapple Curriculum (From Group Publishing) was a real hit. I had browsed this curriculum on Group's website, but wasn't thrilled. For one, the online reviews didn't drive me to excitement. The whole "unique" factor of this curriculum is that the teens involved would have their own Grapple website to go to, play games, learn more about the lesson, and blog. However, none of the online reviewers' groups were doing much online activity. Likewise, at the breakout, none of their pre-teens interacted with the website. But, I got to thinking, maybe the curriculum is good withouth the website. I ordered a sample, and will let you know how it goes. If anyone else has used this, leave a comment and let me know about i!

Okay, I have to admit-- I wasn't a fan of YouTube -- all I heard was stories about monkeys falling off trees and recaps of American Idol, and frankly I didn't think it was worth my time. I didn't need one more media source sucking my life away. However, as I was working on my hub about the recent Children's Conference, I stumbled upon several videos about parables Jesus taught. They were entertaining, and I think they would be a hit with our kids, especially the older ones. I displayed one such video below.

Now, I am cautious about using this because I don't want kids to randomly go surfing YouTube to see what they can find. Who knows what they might run into! But, if I can pick up a few applicable videos and use them to connect with kids (this is a form of building bridges to their culture, right), it might be worth a shot.

I'll let you know how it goes!

Last night was another night at Kids Club. The evening started off a little slow, but a few more kids trickled in late. Can't get those kids to show up on time! We've talked about having a dinner for the families so they wouldn't have to worry about feeding everyone before they headed to church, but our facility doesn't have the resources for that...just yet. Our new church building should be done in May, Lord willing! I know other churches have dinners before their Wednesday night programs and it's a big hit.

Last night we learned about the Samaritan woman and how Jesus loves everyone. We gave the kids each a bag full of rice crispies and some marshmallow fluff. We said that the fluff was Jesus' love and they had to get it to all the people. It was tough to reach "all the people", but eventually we did! It made for a good analogy too, because some people are harder to reach for Christ, people that are far away, people that aren't like us, but we have to keep trying. After we mixed, we squeezed out the concoction onto a cookie sheet and cut out heart shaped rice crispie treats. A big hit!

We didn't do journal time because we were working on learning a new verse. I would say there were no profound vision moments last night, but some good friendship building, which is also important.

Review of Bridge to Terabithia (Movie) (Rated PG)

By Plugged in Online (Focus on the Family)

As the story begins, all of Jess', an artistic seventh-grader, energies are directed at winning a playground footrace. But he's beaten in the contest by an eccentric and free-spirited new girl. The race proves an unlikely start to friendship between Jess and Leslie, who encourages his creativity. Leslie is plenty creative herself and together the two conjure the magical world of Terabithia, a land of castles and trolls that appears when, in Leslie's words, "you close your eyes but keep your mind wide open."

In detailing their many get-togethers, the film offers a strong model for friendship in Jess and Leslie. The two are sensitive to one another's problems, particularly their difficulties in fitting in at school. We also see several broken relationships mended. Jesse Sr. is a sometimes gruff man, impatient with his son over the slightest misstep. The story's main conflict shapes him into a more nurturing father, able to be soft-spoken and tender when his son needs it most. There's also a powerful case made for helping those who hurt you (a biblical concept found in Matthew 5:44). At school, Jess, Leslie and Maybelle learn to show compassion toward an eighth-grade bully named Janice, who is suffering at the hands of an abusive father. The three youngsters eventually see through Janice's tough-as-nails act and find sympathy for her.

While Terabithia has the look of a mystical world, it is consistently shown to be the product of the children's imaginations. That's not to say there's little spiritual content in Bridge to Terabithia. To the contrary. Leslie seems thrilled to attend church with Jess' family. After singing "The Old Rugged Cross" and listening to the sermon, she gushes to Jess and Maybelle that the "whole Jesus thing is interesting ... I think it's beautiful."

There are a number of put-downs and crude words in this movie, earning it it's PG rating. Though, no drug or alcohol content. For full details, please visit: http://www.pluggedinonline.com/movies/movies/a0003081.cfm

In this movie, Jess and Leslie value kindness, compassion, forgiveness and not just courage, but moral courage. But by introducing the subject of death, the film will naturally force families to think a little bit harder before rounding up everybody including little Sarah Jane and heading to the mall. Families faced with their own tragic loss may consider Terabithia a bridge to therapeutic discussion. But parents whose children have been spared such pain may not be ready for a Hollywood tearjerker to introduce it to them. And, indeed, this coming-of-age tale about a dreamer's positive influence raises more questions than it answers, and it leaves a lingering sadness.

Additionally, Movie Ministry Weekly, states that Bridge to Terebitha is one of the most realistic looks at playground cruelty the trials of adolescence and may open doors to further discussion with your children about what happens in their school. They call it mindful entertainment and encourage parents to view.

This last Saturday, we had some outings for the kids in our program. The two younger groups (ages 4-5) had a pajama party at the church from 6-8pm. The kids came in their pajamas, we played some games, read some stories, had some snacks and then they went home. It was open to everyone, but we only had girls attending. It was a very pink party to say the least. I, being a highly-type-A person, had everything planned. However, I overestimated the attention span of a 4 year old. I planned a pillow-case race, similar to a sack race, and that was to last about 10 minutes, but in reality, it lasted about 45 seconds. Oops! The night continued in this manner, but the girls came up with some ideas on their own, from hide-and-seek, to curling up in their sleeping bags and pretending they were catepillars in cocoons, to long balloon fights. It was a blast, though not what I planned. I got a lot of game ideas from Family Fun online, and a great cake idea as well.

The oldest boy group went on a "Camping Adventure". One of our leaders has a connection to someone with some old property with old cars laying around, so the boys went there, built a fire, had some hot dogs and others snacks, and ran around, and smashed some cars. Not exactly an event I would have planned, but the boys seemed to love it.

We've also had a egg-decorating party and a brunch with the older girls. Both were hits.

June 1, 2008

I love our baptismal services. You get to hear people's life stories and you get to hear how uniquely God has worked in each of their lives. This baptismal was no different. There were several people in our church, eight actually, who were baptized tonight. Some I know a little, some I didn't recognize at all.

One woman got up, and I don't remember ever seeing her. She told about her parents religion growing up, how she respected it, but she just didn't think it was for her. She wandered from faith most of her life, but then a blessing in disguise came. Her mother, who attended our church, broke her shoulder. Because this woman knew how much her mother loved church, she committed to taking her every week. By the end of the first month, she knew she needed Christ. She went forward, accepted the Lord and was now getting baptized! How exciting! My husband and I were just talking about how we couldn't remember the last time someone was saved in our church, but here we had one!

The young girl at Mt. Ebal was also baptized! She claims that night at the revival was the night she accepted Christ as her Savior! She was too shy to say anything at the baptismal (a little stage fright I suspect), but it was still so exciting to see her enter into this relationship with Christ. I can't wait to see what God's power will do through her.

For the past few weeks, we've only had one in attendance for our Adventure group (ages 11-14) due to softball and baseball, and other sports. I felt bad because this girl had no one to hang out with, but I made special effort to adapt the lesson to her life and to talk about what was going on. There are only about 4 that regularly attend in this age bracket, so it wasn't a huge absent problem, but no one likes to be alone, right?

Well, after last week, I shot this girl off an email to thank her for attending and I said "I hope you had fun". She wrote back right away and said she had "sooooo" much fun and can't wait till next week. I just wanted to send out a word of encouragement for all those who suffer with low attendance in the summer. Those that are still coming value your time. You are still making an impact, maybe an even bigger one because you have one-on-one time. Keep it up!

I've always wanted a library in our church, but there's never been enough space to dedicate a room to it or anything. I knew there were great books out there that I wanted our students to be reading, so instead of waiting for the space, we've started a mini library for our Adventure Group. We gathered up a few of our own personal books, some books donated by congregational members who have preteens, and we grabbed some at a local book sale. I just put the books in the room, on one shelf in our cupboards, and I told the Sunday School teacher about it. Sunday I noticed, one of the girls had already borrowed one of the books! This just goes to show, you don't have to wait for a big project to get something started. Just start. One or two books, 20 or 30, it doesn't matter, as long as they are reading and learning more about Christ! There will be lots of opportunity in the summer to gather up books from big book sales at libraries or schools or at garage sales. Keep your eyes open. If you're not sure about a book, buy it and check online for reviews. Books are normally only around 50 cents, and you could find some great resources!

I found this video on youtube, and it's a good (not too long) one to review a few key elements in Children's Ministry, such as key training events and times, vision, and core values. Good resource to view before you run your own Team training meeting.

Well put together - worth taking a look at.

Kids in our program are generally excited about bringing their friends to the program, until they turn 11 that is, especially if they are a boy! We need to find some way to combat this (if anyone has any suggestions, feel free to leave a comment). I am hoping to turn the leadership of the Adventure group over to one of our men (Adventure group is ages 11-14), and to make it a little more active/sports oriented. That's step one, but I know there has to be more that we can do to draw these kids in. Pre-teen is a crucial age and we need to make sure we are keeping kids actively involved so they will know how to fight against the tricks of Satan.

June 18, 2008

Well, I think I have actually found a completely online training program. I watched a sample video, and it was insightful, inspirational, and helpful. I browsed over the course content, and it looked like there was lots to learn through this program. Apparently, this is a site sponsored by a college, so students of this program are actually students of the Bible college (more details on the website). The registration fee is $25 and then courses are $90 a credit. Very reasonable, especially if the accredidation claim is valid. I will have to do some digging into this. The samples and free workshops seem very promising, and could be great for training purposes. The course work is comprised of online lectures and assignments -- estimated time each week is 5-7 hours per course. Might be something worth taking a look at.

June 18, 2008

Tonight we moved onto a new subject. I finished passing out the Narnia promo materials. We had two guests in our Adventure Group, and they were happy to get some cool posters too. We started talking about prayer tonight with the "Prove It Prayer" book. The first chapter talks about how we can tune out at dinner and not hear what's going on -- even if we are with people. They same is true with God. Just because He is always with us does not mean we are tuned in to what he is saying. The kids were all doodling on notebook paper, which of course, I found disconcerning. I have read that this age group (preteen and under) are classic multitaskers and they actually listen better when their hands are occupied, so I let them doodle as long as they weren't talking to each other. They seem to interact well, always had an answer for the questions I asked and seem to really contemplate the various quotes I wanted them to think about and reflect on. Of course, it didn't seem like they were paying attention, but maybe they were. This is definately an "old school/new school" tension, and I consider myself pretty new school. I can see why it's hard to keep up on children's education and ministry!

Anyway, the lesson went well, and we went outside to play a game. We had a boy guest, and he was the only one who didn't really participate in the running. I found out later that it was because he had a cut on his foot.

After the game, we joined the adults in prayer meeting, which was the first time we had ever done anything like this. We took prayer requests before we went in, and wrote them down. We also took a copy of the adult prayer requests. I told the kids we would go to the altar and if they wanted to pray out loud, fine, if they wanted to pray silently, that was okay too. I was a little nervous about this activity, because we would be spending about eight minutes in prayer -- a long time to these kids. I thought it would be great exposure for our regulars, but what would our guests think? I had to just rely on God. I prayed about the night's schedule and I felt like this is what He wanted us to do. I prayed out loud when we got to the altar, but I was the only one. I could hear one of our girls praying quietly to herself, but I don't know about everyone else. How do you gage something like that?

All in all, I think it was good. I hope our guests return! Next week, (hopefully, if everyone turns in their permission slips), we will be heading to a destination unknown for an "on the spot lesson". Should be good!

June 18, 2008

This week, we had a great activity that illustrated how people are drowning in their sins, unable to escape. We made milkshakes with ice cream, milk, and blue food coloring, and then poured each student a cup. We said the milkshake was like a sea of sin. Then we dropped teddy grahams -- these are the people surrounded by their sins. They are trapped, and there's nothing for them to hold onto. They may be okay for a little while, but before long they start to sink. The sin takes over. They need someone to save them! We put little crosses on the spoons and then fished out the teddy grahams: this is like Jesus saving us from our sins. We couldn't have gotten out by ourselves, so Jesus rescued us!

This was a very tasty and creative way to illustrate the gospel message!

I read a book once called the "Be With Factor" and it talked about mentoring as bringing the kids or teens along with you on your normal life. I was pretty skeptical about this approach, since it would be a little boring for the kids. The book also advocated for finding individuals that are ready to be mentored. You can tell, by their willingness to get together, the amount they open up, their availability, etc. I discounted this advice because I figured if a kid needs to be mentored, you should do whatever it takes to mentor them, pursuing them until it works out. At the time, I was mentoring (or at least trying to) a pre-teen girl, but she was frequently unavailable. She couldn't make special meetings or get-togethers, she didn't want to attend movies, etc. I thought maybe this was just a bad age for mentoring, and I would focus more on the younger kids or older kids. I called another family to hang out with a girl (age 8), but she had former plans. Her sister, pre-teen, however, was jumping at the chance to go out. I took her to Walmart to pick out our 4th of July parade materials, then we went to Starbucks and just hung out. It was great. It was easy, it was very "be with" and she was ready to be mentored. She's anxious to go again. In conclusion, you really have to pray and search for those that are ready to be mentored. Just because you get along well in church doesn't mean they are ready for more committment and trying to pursue that will only frustrate you and maybe drive them away. Don't try to hard to do special things every time. The younger sister (age 8) likes coming over and making dinner with me, and then eating with my husband and I. Simple. We were doing that anyway, but it's special to her because she's ready to be mentored. Don't be discouraged if your first couple "mentees" don't work out -- there are always more kids. Just keep trying new activities and asking out new kids (same gender of course) and see what happens. Keep the Lord involved, and you may be surprised at what you find!

For some advertising for our VBS program this year, we are going to march in the fourth of July parade! The youth group leader suggested this, and it was easy to get it done. I called the township, and they were happy to send out the paperwork. A guy in our church has a trailer we can use, and another guy agreed to pull the float with his truck. Our theme is Waterworks Theme Park, where kids can ride the wave of God's love, so we're doing blue fabric on the sides to look like waves. One of the parents has tons of flotation devices and porch furniture, so we'll include that, and mini-pools! We ordered candy from Oriental trading along with some beach balls, a cardboard palm tree, and some clearance banners --- two lines of personalization on a four foot banner for $4.50!! It was was a great find!

This Wednesday we will be building the float as a team, and I hope all goes well!

This week was our first destination unknown trip. All the kids brought their slips, so my husband took them out. I was wanted to be with the little kids more and he was up for the challenge, so we switched for the night. The Scripture passage was when Paul was talking about "running the race", so the destination was a track. I planned to take them to a local school, and then the mom's suggested another local school because it has a nicer track, but whoops!, that school was having football practice! That was a little set-back, but still there was enough time for the lesson. My husband said the kids were a little distracted, and they didn't really seem to connect running on a track to Paul's analogy of the Christian life. This group is not entirely into "critical thinking" though. I would say it was a good first attempt. We'll do it again in a month and see how it goes.

We've been having some problems staffing our children's church program. Our director really wanted to go to one teacher a month, but was having trouble finding volunteers to fill such a position. She tried it that way for a few months, but the volunteers really couldn't sustain it. Why is this? We know that the regular, consistant teacher is best for the kids, but how do we really make this happen while respecting the teacher's need for spiritual growth as well? Eventually, she had to go back to one teacher a week, and keep rotating, but I wish that we could make some improvements here to deliver a better program for the kids. We're going to be previewing a new curriculum by David C. Cook called "Noah's Park". We'll let you know how it goes!

July 1, 2008

Natasha Bedingfield: Singer 

Coming to us from England, this singer started her career with a Christian band, The DNA Algorithm. Her latest album, Pocketful of Sunshine, contains a number of songs about her life. Children's Ministry Magazine tells us that Bedingfield is a strong supporter of humanitarian causes such as Global Angels and others. This magazine reports that she "takes pride in her Christian girl image and refuses to be something she's not to sell records". They recommend her new album as positive and clean.

Plugged In online echoes their review saying that "With one minor exception, her latest album is pure Sunshine." The exception is in her song, "Who Knows" where the singer is falling for a guy "too fast" and against her better judgment ("My self-control, it won't hold up for very long"). Other than this, Bedingfield has a good grip on valuing yourself for who you are, and not worrying about other's opinions. She values true love and realizes it may take awhile to find.

My take: Her tune, "Pocketful of Sunshine" is fun and catchy. For now, Natasha seems like a good bet.

Kung-Fu Panda (movie)

Though this movie has several positive elements, such as using your gifts and talents as well as doing your best at whatever you do, there are some cautions to be wary of. The movie is set in China, and so eastern thought is a heavy influence. "The Universe" is credited for fortunate events, urns contain souls of great warriors, and a sacred lake is in the shape of ying yang symbol. There may be a few battles that are scary to young viewers, though they are not graphic. Most of the battles are humorous in nature. Other negative elements include Po is hit in the crotch while training and exclaims, "My tenders!" However, in conclusion, there is much good in the move, according to reviewers at Plugged in Online. They said, "Previously stated spirituality is definitely present, but it's as spare as a martial arts cartoon set in ancient China will reasonably allow. And the humor runs clear and fresh. The story projects a well-worn "Follow your heart and believe in yourself" theme. But it also encourages finding your own strengths, being disciplined, learning from those who are older and wiser, protecting the innocent and standing up for what's right even when you're afraid you might fail." Based on all this, I would say it's worth watching as long as you plan to talk through the Eastern thought after viewing.

July 5, 2008

Stressed Out?

The top five sources of stress for elementary kids?

A parent having problems

Fighting with a friend or sibling

Taking a test

Wondering whether others find them attractive

Not having enough privacy

Found in Children's Ministry Magazine Source: Mind/Body Medical Institute

In the teen Sunday School, the kids wrote their own psalms as part of the lesson. They were so good, I've decided to feature them here:

I will praise your name, Maker of the Heavens and the earth

For you have created the sun, moon, stars.

I am humbled when I watch the sunrise and awed by your sunsets.

Your mighty hands control it all.

Help me, O Lord, to appreciate all that you do for me and to not take it for granted.

Thank you for letting me be a part of it all.

How can I help my children develop good Bible study habits?

From: Zondervan. Website

First, you can show them you're interested in the Bible by studying it yourself-and with them. Kids learn by example and will "catch" the values you live out. Next, make sure they have an age-appropriate Bible that will engage them wherever they're at. There are story Bibles for the tiniest folk, in interesting shapes and sizes, with colorful art that will practically reach out and grab preschoolers! And there are literally hundreds of Bibles specifically geared toward young readers, 8-10 year olds, and preteens.

Another approach is to help them engage with the Bible a little at a time by way of kids' devotionals. Popular formats include a verse for the day with a bit of teaching, thought-provoking questions and side-notes that make the verse come alive through humor, real-life application, and examples from the lives of other kids. Most of all, don't give up! Your kids need spiritual input-and who better to get it from than you?!

July 5, 2008

Our float was to advertise for our upcoming VBS program in August. Our theme was Waterworks Theme Park, so we went with a water theme. We went to walmart and got about 60 yards of fabric -- I think for around $20. Three different colors, and 20 yards of tule to give it a foamy ocean look. One of the parents in the program had a ton of water themed things like kiddie pools, a kids deck chair and table set, inflatables, boogie boards, etc. We used all this as well. I got on Oriental Tradiing's website and found some personalized banners on clearance as well as some palm trees, some fold out suns, and a few other decorations. I got some tinsel that I thought we could string along the bottom, but I got the dimensions wrong and that ended up being a really complicated task!

We wanted to get palettes for the kids to sit on so you could see them over the sides of the trailer (which we borrowed from a church member), but couldn't get any, so we had them stand, and that worked great. We put two of our white tables that we use for Sunday school and dinners and put the table and chairs on one and the kiddie pool on the other. We wanted to have some kids sitting in the pool in their bathing suits, but none of the parents wanted their kids to do this. So instead, we filled the kiddie pool with candy, which worked great.

As suggested by another hubber, we had sunscreen and water for all the kids. This was essential because a lot of kids didn't come sunscreened, and they definately would have burned out there! They were all complaining within 10 minutes of arriving they were thirsty, so that was good too. I got little waters for the kids and regular sized bottle for the adults.

Of course, we ran out of candy, but I think that would have happened no matter how much we had. We had a LOT of candy, but the kids just threw it out like there was no tomorrow (or no end to the parade!). Fortunately, the leaders had their own buckets and were much more conservative in handing out candy, so we had some for the end. I would suggest having the leaders hold out till about halfway through and then start tossing, this way you have more for the end.

We only had room for about 6 kids in the actual float, but we realized we could have kids riding in the back of the truck (the bed) too. We put about 6 girls in their with their own candy supply, which they quickly diminished. The only thing here --- have towels or a blanket to put down, because if the truck bed is black, it will get REALLY hot!

One of the older guys in our church road behind the float with his three wheeler bicycle. That was a riot. I think people enjoyed it.

The kids all had lots of fun, andI think it got them pumped up more for VBS themselves. I would definately reccommend this for other churches.

While walking in the parade, we handed out 300 flyers. There was promo materials that came with our VBS packet, so I copied it onto cardstock. I used the postcard promo, so there were 4 flyers per page. I would recommend cardstock, because it is easier to hand out, and less likely to blow out of your hand, bucket, etc.

Before you start building, make sure to get some clear duct tape! We originally used masking tape, which looked bad and all came off during transport to the parade site. We were having the kids help build the float, but that didn't work at all. The younger kids couldn't do anything, and the older kids just goofed off. One of our leaders suggested that if you don't help build the float (the older kids), you don't get to ride it/walk with it. This is probably a good idea, but were so desperate for kids at the beginning because the parade was at a weird time, that I didn't want to eliminate anyone. Your call. It's a lot more work to have the kids help, but it gives them a sense of ownership and responsibility.

All in all, it was great. I hope we have some turn-out from the flyers, and that'll help us determine if we will do it again next year, but I hope so!

July 13, 2008

Last night, I met with our VBS Core Team, a group of people who have had experience running Vacation Bible School before. I just wanted to gather some wisdom for them and see if there were things I had overlooked in my preperation (there were!) I know a concern with our VBS is that we bring a ton of kids in, but then we don't end up keeping families in the church. I asked the Team what their suggestions were for bringing kids in and then keeping them in the church. One of the women suggested that it's not always the families that we keep that is the issue. When we present a quality program, kids are hearing the gospel and seeds are being planted, and that's what's important. They might not return to our church, but they will have heard the good news and God's word will not return void. They might not make a huge life change right away, but they might later. We don't know. Our job is to present the message. All of my team members viewed VBS as primarily outreach and planting seeds instead of church growth. I'm not sure. I'm not trying to use VBS as a church growth project, but don't these kids need to be discipled?

The meeting went well, and I got some good ideas about registration, class size, parking and picking up, as well as other things. I just pray this goes well. It's a BIG JOB! If anyone has suggestions that a first timer might not have thought of, please let me know!

July 30, 2008

I've been a little hesitant to write the last few weeks because of what seems to be failure in the kid's club program. Things have seemed very disjointed and chaotic, and not the least bit productive. I felt like we were really getting somewhere -- like we were making an impact, and now... I'm not sure. I know this blog is supposed to be helpful, so I don't want to be posting my miserable stories. However, we can learn from mistakes as well as successes, so here I go. First, I know that I was growing a little lax in my preparation. Normally I run around on Wednesdays, fetching materials and shuffling kids to and from their different stations, checking on teacher, etc. I starting to rely on this frenzied "checking" instead of thinking ahead and actually preparing for the night. Crafts didn't go as they should, newsletters were short and pathetic, and I know the older kids could tell they weren't getting 100% from me or anyone else. Part of the problem is we are short staffed, again -- part of the downfall of summer I think. I will certainly consider a whole new approach to next summer's program. We normally do a rotational station model, but that requires at least 7-8 team members, and when you only have 4 sign up, I should have known not to proceed as normal.

Preparation is so huge in children's ministry. We think, sometimes, because they are just kids, they won't notice when we don't prepare, but from seeing both sides of the coin, I'm urging you, don't shortchange these kids! One of our volunteers does amazing preparation. She reads the lesson, studies it, makes notes, practices, etc. When she stands in the front of the classroom to tell her story, she doesn't look at a script, she speaks to the kids. They are enraptured. They all listen, eyes glued, waiting for the next word. How will the story end? This woman is a huge asset to our ministry -- because she does a great job teaching the kids and because she's a great example to the other teachers. Maybe I should have her run the next training! I've learned that preparation makes a huge difference in how kids respond to you, especially the older kids. You can't be listening to the Spirit's direction if you're constantly trying to search in your notes for your place. So, that's my prayer. Lord, help me to prepare more. For the sake of the children. For the sake of the spiritual battle they are in -- help me not to go in unarmed.

I just stumbled onto these teen devotional book while browsing the internet. It looks like it includes some pretty big and important things, such as racism, world religions, forgiveness, what the Jews believe, etc. Worth checking out I think!

Well, tonight is the big night. We've been prepping for hours and hours, and yesterday the set-up crew was hard at work getting things all "Water-parkish". The church looks great! We hung beach balls and yellow and orange suns made of construction paper from the ceiling. I made murals out of bed sheets and the transparencies that came with the curriculum for all the rooms (something that could have been started weeks ago -- oops!). The snack shop leader brought beach towells for table runners, along with little clear cups filled with colored glass and little umbrellas. The Souvenir shop leaders (crafts) bought fish net and hung it in the corner and filled it with beach balls. They covered the craft table with blue plastic coverings, and hung fun beach things from the ceilings and curtain rods. The Splastacular room (memory verses and music) decorated by covered the bookshelfs with bright blue glossy fabric and hanging plastic lifepreservers. Blue crepe paper completed the look. I'll be posting pictures soon. The registration tables are all set up, with lots of room to avoid congestion. We made little flags, painted the group color with a picture of their group mascot glued on. We practiced the puppet show and the songs, and I am just praying that God will take over!

I was looking over the schedule with one of the group leaders today and found out already that there's a glitch!! Her group has no where to go for one time period and two places to go for another time period! That will never do. So, I'll have to revamp it and recopy and redistribute before things get started tonight!! Yikes.

We have twenty of our own kids attending and 27 guests registered. I hope everything goes well -- I'll keep you posted!

I was just browsing Youtube looking for some good videos of other churches who did the same VBS -- and I can't believe I didn't do it earlier! This is a great way to get ideas for decorations, games, organizing, and some really intense puppets! For your VBS, check Youtube for more ideas!

Pat Kelly the evangelist says, "if you're not bumping into Satan everyday, you may be going going the same direction as him". I think he's onto something. So far, we've had a few cancellations in the nursery, a car break down, decorations falling off the wall and more! I got the schedule fixed, I think. I just remembered the camera is at home, so I'll have to run back and get that! Be prepared and keep in prayer -- that's all I can say!!

August 19: Day One of VBS

Well, I printed off a copy of the schedule and even managed to get off a little early from work. I stopped by a house to pick up some kids of a friend who were invited, only to find they had taken a trip to the park. Hmm. Well, off to church to make some mad copies of the new schedule. Got to the church, and the printer says "Please insert new toner". What??? Are you kidding me? Fortunately, there was a slow printer attached to the computer, and since I was early I managed to print off about 10 in the next 8 minutes -- enough for all the leaders.

Opening Assembly went well -- I was anxious about running out of time for Opening, so I started right on time at 6:00, even with kids still trickling in. We ran through everything we needed...and it was still 10 minutes before we were supposed to be done. what? how can this be? Oh well. Or so I thought. This stray ten minutes ended up messing up the schedule for the whole night -- when do the kids move? How long should they stay in each station? One group was in games for 28 minutes, which seems great -- unless the leader only planned for 15. Oops! Well, that won't happen the next time. One way or another, we'll stick to the schedule. That's important.

The parking system seemed to work well --parents pulling up to the carport and then the staff radio-ing in who was there to pick up who. It was hard to decide what to do with the kids -- keep singing to keep them occupied or stop so we could hear who was ready to get picked up. So, we did a little of both. Tomorrow is another day, and I have the whole day off! WOW, what a blessing.

I interviewed on kid and he said, "I love it. A lot. I had fun playing games and doing everything". Well, that's good!

My husband took pictures of all the kids and took videos so we can put something together for the final presentation.

I'll let you know what happens later!

August 20, 2008

Tonight went pretty well I think. It felt awkward for me to not be running around like crazy, fetching this and that and moving supplies around, but there was none of that tonight. I got one teacher a glass of water, that's it! It was amazing. I was glad, but also suddenly lost as to what to do! I took pictures, but we had a guy taking pictures, so I didn't want to overdo it. I heard a little feedback from yesterday. One girl, who is sometime relunctant to go to church said "This was the best church ever!". This is good.

The opening assembly ran a little short again! I couldn't believe it. I realized we could have sang an extra song, one that we had already learned, so that's what we'll be doing tomorrow. Singing three songs. One of my leaders reminded me we didn't pray at the beginning as a group. I couldn't believe that either!! So we will be doing that for sure. Of course, we had all been praying during the day, but it's important to set that example for the kids. We had one kid bring three friends, so he got to get a prize out of the prize pool- he chose candy of course.

The snack time always has lots of extra time -- so I made up a little scavenger hunt for the kids that could read. It had about 10 items on it, all of which could be found in the fellowship hall where the snacks were being served. That helped fill up the time a little bit. Now, should I do that again another night, or try something new?

The bell ringer and I figured out what the problem was with our schedule. I followed the suggested schedule from the curriculum, which allowed 5 minutes of transistion time in between Attractions. Well, for us, it takes about 30 seconds, leaving 4 minutes and 30 seconds tacked on to each attraction that teachers didn't prepare for. If we took out that transistion time, we would have 20-25 more minutes -- enough time for a whole other attraction! Wow! We'll be sure to do that next year.

In registration, the ladies are totally on the ball. They made a list of all the kids that have come through the doors and have been registered -- and one of them is going to go home and make it a database in excel so it will be easy to see at a glance who has been registered already and what group they are in. Much easier than sifting through all those forms when there is line.

Well, I think that's all for now. I'm trying to go around and take pictures off all the kids where you can see their nametags -- this way when we assign church families to follow up with them, they can put a face to the name. We'll see how it goes.

I'll keep you posted!

We provided a nursery for our workers kids -- which ended up being about six or seven kids. The gym was scheduled the whole night for games, but some of the older kids went outside to play, so the gym was free for a bit. The nursery kids went in the gym and got to run around and kick balls for about 20 minutes -- a huge help as far as the nursery staff was concerned. Next year, when making the schedule out, I'll have to leave some time for the nursery (older toddlers) to get some running time.

The preschool class also seemed anxious to walk about, even though the curriculum is structured so they stay in the one room and the different components are taught by the same teacher. Our preschool instructors, however, took the group to join in with other groups for the different Attractions. While I'm not sure this is the best plan, because of the age factors -- it may be wise to build in some walking around time for this group as well.

We'll see how tonight goes.

Wow, there's been quite a gap in this blog! Between moving the day after VBS was over, having our internet disconnected prematurely, starting a new full time job, and well..life, it's been a little hectic! I apologize and hope to catch you up during the next week or two. Our VBS program was a huge success. Altogether, we had 65 kids in attendance. Five families have already returned for other church services, two of which have become regular attenders. Our Wednesday night Kids for Christ program has exploded, averaging 30 kids a week, up from our average of 15 a week. And now -- I'm at a complete loss! The kids love the new gym our church built, and they all beeline straight there, then we can't get them into their classes. The building is now filled with classes, so it's harder to figure out where we are going and when to go. If anyone can help out with some advice during this transistion, I would deeply appreciate it. I'm going to go do some googling now, but I'll keep you posted!

October 11, 2008

Because of my added work hours at my other job (besides church), I've been feeling a little disorganized during our kid's programs. As you can see from this blog, my diligence isn't exactly up to par! My diligence has been slacking in a few other ways too, namely prayer time about our Wednesday night kids program. I spent some time this Wednesday just lifting up all the kids to the Lord and dedicating the night to Him, and of course, something amazing happened! First, I was working with the older kids and we were supposed to measure out the actually size of the ark for two weeks now, but because of the rain, coudn't go outside. I really wanted the kids to do it (and they were excited about the activity), so we decided to just measure the gym and see how that compared. We measured the gym, and that was only 120 feet, nothing compared to Noah's 450 foot ark! So we kept going ino the foyer/hall area...to the front doors..around 200 feet -- still not enough to give them a good picture I thought... so I said, take off your socks kids (they already had their shoes off), we're going outside! It had stopped raining, but the ground was still wet. We measured out the front doors, across the parking lot, across the road, and 100 feet into someone's driveway (I know..this isn't the best of solutions, but we were on a roll!). That measured about 380 feet, so I told the kids to imagine the rest. The were flabergasted! They kept running around in the measured area saying "We're still inside the ark!" "It's so big!". They were amazed and truly thrilled to measure it out. It was a big success! Then we did a listening experience imagining what the day of the first rain was like -- when God shut the door and the people were all outside dying. I told the kids it's kind of like that for us now too. We only have so long unti the "door" of opportunity is gone, either for us to accept Christ ourselves or to tell our friends. One of the girls suddenly starting asking about heaven and hell, and after a few minutes said, "I want to go to heaven. I want Jesus in my heart". We all prayed as a group as I led her in the sinner's prayer, and then her brother said "I want to tell someone about Jesus too!" (He had recently become a Christian at our VBS program.) Another boy in the group said that he wanted to become a Christian, so Jake took him in the corner and led him to the Lord. We got back all together to talk about it, and were so happy for each other!!! The Lord is gracious, and amazing!!!

I got a book from the library about Classroom management and routine to try to get a better handle on the group of kids we have every week. They talk a lot about "class meetings" about discussing with the kids about the rules you're going to make and why they are nessesscary. I am going to ask the kids next week during Opening Celebration how we can let them know "gym time" is over and "class time" is ready to begin. I hope they will come up with something like "ring a bell" or "blow a whistle", but maybe they'll have something even better!

After that, I'm going to be spending one week with each color group (we have four) just to see how things are going for the groups, and to develop a few routines to help the night flow better, such as how to move between classes (we rotate classes every 15 minutes), and how to act in each class. I also am thinking about getting a little bookshelf for the rooms we use for journaling so kids can keep their journals there instead of going back to the registration table before journaling each night. We'll see how it goes. The book is a good one, I would recommend it!

October 15, 2008

The other night, we had a great time with the oldest circle, the Orange group. We measured out the length of the ark with a measuring tape (450 feet!) and the kids could not BELIEVE the ark was so big! I was pretty impressed myself. I think it really helped the story become real to the kids. After this activity, the kids laid down on the floor with their eyes closed as they listened to an imaginative paraphrase of Noah's account. I asked them to picture in their heads what it would be like to be inside the ark when God shut the door, listening to the people still outside who just realized what Noah had been saying was true. I explained, "You know, life on earth is kind of like that too. Noah told the people they only had so much time, and we only have so much time too. Either God will come back or we'll die, and then it'll be too late. You don't want to be ‘outside the ark', and you don't want to leave your family and friends there either". All of a sudden, there was a flood of questions about God and heaven, and what's it like at the end of your life. We talked about how great heaven was, and how exciting it will be to go there. One of the girls (age 11) said, "I want to go to heaven. I want Jesus in my heart!" What an open invitation, huh? We all prayed together as a group, and the girl became a Christian. Praise God! Another kid, Jake, said, "I want to tell someone about Jesus! I want to help them get to heaven!" His friend, Andrew, sitting next to him replied, "Well, I want to go to heaven." So Jake took Andrew aside and led him to the Lord! We got together as a group again and talked through the decision and what it meant. What an amazing night!

It is moments like these, Vision Moments, as we called them, that we truly get to see what God is doing. We get a glimpse of His glory, His power, and His plan for this group and for each of these kids. We get to taste His greatness and be reminded of the incredible blessing it is to serve Him in Children's Ministry.

This Friday, I went to a conference for work (daycare/preschool) and found the presenter's talk incredibly applicable to children's ministry. I was fascinated by what he was sharing and am hoping to really transform some of the things we are doing based on his talk. The man's name was Dr. Robert Brooks and he was written several books. I just ordered one, and I haven't read any yet, but I would definately reccommend. The guy was brilliant.

I also went to a conference on Saturday with the church for Children's Ministry specifically. The children's church coordinator came as well and together we went to the following four seminars: Teaching the sacraments to 4 & 5th graders (baptism and communion), Creating a Safe Place, Leading Children's in Worship and Children's Ministry Curriclum.

I hope to go more in depth with each of these things soon, so stay tuned!

The first seminar we went to was pretty good. The presenter was from a mega church, about 500 kids in their children's church program. Personally, I can't even imagine that many kids! They talked about the ways they teach baptism to the kids, about it being an outward sign of an inward change..but, to me, that seemed a little over their heads. I would reccommend telling kids the Bible says after we become a Christian, we get baptized. We get baptized to show the world we love Jesus. I would leave it at that. I know you need to communicate the seriousness of it all, and sure I think you should do that. But she was talking about the theology of dying to self, being buried with Christ, and I just can't imagine a 9 or 10 year old getting that.

She did give us a great resource for teaching communion. They have an elder come back to give communion to their 4th and 5th graders each month, and she found that they were doing the same thing over and over. She began looking into the symbolism of communion, the old testament ties, etc, and wrote two years of lessons (one a month). She gave us this, and there were certainly some very good lessons in there. I would be happy to send this to anyone. Just leave a comment and we'll work out to get it to you.

She also had some great visual aids (you could tell they had a HUGE budget). She had a giant evangecube. If you've never seen one, they are a great visual way to tell the gospel, and you can teach kids how to use them as well. You can get them on the website: www.evangecube.org. Check it out. She also had a Jewish matza posh (or something like that) she used with one lesson to talk about how they hide on piece of the unleavened bread..and that represents Jesus. There is a whole lesson on it.

All in all...a 5 star for the resources we received, but maybe just a 4 star for the amount of application we will have. Still worth it!

During this seminar, we talked a lot about protecting kids against possible abuse, protecting the church from lawsuits and protecting the staff from false accusations. The presenter told us they starting using clearances just a few years ago and because they have so many workers (250 about -- again, I can't imagine!) they decided to go with a service that manages clearances for you. They started with Group's "Volunteer Central" service, giving all the information and then trusted the company to perform the search. Imagine her shock and alarm when 10 of her volunteers came back with a record, one of them being murder! Well, she started looking at the results (from the company) and the application (from her volunteers) and the race didn't match! One was white and one was black! She called the company and they told her if the name remotely matched, they would kick it back as a record. The volunteer would have to then sign another form saying "no, this isn't true" and they would do further investigation. She couldn't go to those volunteers and say "Oh, maybe you have a record, let's sign this and check further". She could tell they weren't the right matches.. the middle inital was wrong on some, addresses were wrong on others, etc. So, she switched companies to "Protect My Ministry" -- google it, and I bet you can find it. They do both criminal and abuse record for $10 (for us to send it to the state, it is $10 each) and they do it nationwide. I'm having my husband double check at his work (he works for the government) to make sure it is a legit site, but this woman seemed pretty confident. It's something we are going to look into as a church for sure.

She also talked about the importance of protecting adults and children by keeping doors open (or having windows on the doors -- that's what we do), keeping two adults in a room/area, keeping bathroom doors propped open, having specific diaper procedures posted and followed, etc. We were reminded during this seminar that we should have first aid kits in each room, so a teacher isn't running around, leaving the other kids, searching for a band-aid. The children's church coordinator is also a nurse, so she offered to teach a first-aid class to our workers. Not a bad idea.

This presenter also gave us some great resources: a volunteer application form, permission slips, etc. Again, I would be happy to send these to anyone. She got all her info from the book: A Safe Place.

Some things to think about for sure.

Dear Friends, sorry my posts have been so sparse lately.  We've had some family tragedies...extended illness, and this has consumed much of my free time. 

I did want to post something about a recent change we made in our Wednesday night children's program.  We used to have journaling at the end of each night for 10-15 for kids to write about what they had learned, think about application, and do prayer.  We found that kids were not overly enthused about Journal time, but I thought they should still gather together as a small group (we have our kids divided into 5 small groups of 5-6 kids each). I have been doing some reading about classroom management and a popular thing in classrooms right now is the idea of Circle time. 

Circle time is a time at the beginning of the day the class gathers to sing songs, share with each other, read a story, and talk about problems or good things that are happening in the classroom.  The idea is to set the climate for the day - one of mutual understanding, everyone is important, we are a team, etc. 

We started circle time in our Wednesday nights (though quickly renamed it to GROUP TIME since circle time is apparently associated with preschool).  We have it at the beginning of the night for 15 minutes. I drafted some guidelines and ideas (I'll post this next) for the teachers and off we went.  So far, so good.  It has really seemed to change the climate of the night.  The kids are more orderly, more talkative, and generally connect better with each other and their leaders.  We've only had it now for about three weeks, but it's been a big hit so far.  Check out the guidelines in the next post.   

Instead of “Journal Time” this semester, we will be trying out “Group Time” at the beginning of each night (after Opening Celebration and singing). It will last about 10-15 minutes and will be a chance for each Circle Leader to get to know their group a little better. Studies have shown that this type of “community time” is very beneficial to the overall environment of a program and helps prevent certain behavior issues.

The purpose of our Group Time is to:

- Form an identity as a group

- Develop community and a sense of belonging among group members (see Team Newsletter for an article about community)

- Create mentor relationships between Circle Leaders and kids (studies have shown that over 60% of high school students are leaving the faith when they leave for college. The difference for the other 40%? They had at least one meaningful relationship with an adult in their church. You could be that difference.)

- Promote positive peer pressure among the group

- Help kids invest in their group by helping to make decisions and taking responsibility for group’s actions.

Basically, you will gather in the same room every week and do some kind of “Group activity”. You could do the same activity for a few weeks if kids really like it, or you could change each week. If you would like me to sit in and help guide the group for a week, I’d be happy to do so. I would ask that you try not to combine groups so that Circle Leaders have a chance to get to know their own kids in a more one-on-one manner.

For the first week you could spend some time deciding a group name (i.e. The Green Turtles, the Yellow Lightening Bolts -- just keep the color you already have). This would also be a great time to set up some group rules. Remember, Group Time is democratic. That means, the Circle Leader asks the kids to come up with some group rules (brainstorming) and the kids vote on which rules to keep. You as the Circle Leader can guide the discussion, but try to get the kids to come up with the rules on their own. That way, they can feel a sense of ownership and responsibility over the group. You might want to keep it simple like “Respect Others” or “Walking Feet”, “Listening Ears”, “Nice Hands” etc. Help the kids summarize the rules, maybe. You might want to make a poster of your group rules and review it at the start of Group Time each week. Remind the kids often of the rules. For the older groups, this might be a good week to think of consequences for breaking group rules. Make sure the kids come up with something that you can and will enforce. Kids want consistency.

Other Group Time Activities could Include:

- Prayer Requests and Praying for each other

- Asking how each child’s day was

- Singing a special greeting song (I see Johnny..I see Johnny, I’m so glad he’s here – to the tune of Row, Row, Row Your Boat)

- Having each child say what was the best thing and worst thing that happened to them that day

- Ask what everyone’s favorite -- is (fill in the blank: song, movie, day, holiday, sport, etc) and why

- Practice the memory verse together

- Talk about friends that you could invite to church. Make them invitations.

- Make “Thinking of You” cards for shut-ins or people on the prayer sheet for the night.

- Pray for people on the prayer sheet for the night

- Trade prayer sheets with another group/circle and pray for them

- Make cards for Pastor, Sunday School teachers, Children’s Church teachers, nursery workers, trustees, hostess committee, the ladies who make our snacks, elders, etc.

Specifically for Younger Kids (red and blue, maybe yellow)

- Play duck, duck, goose or similar game (make sure the games you play have everyone facing each other – the idea is to form connections)

- Read a story from a children’s Bible or a book off the registration table

Specifically for Older Kids

- Reflect on last weeks lesson (or children’s church lesson or Sunday school lesson) and ask if it changed their actions this week. Why or why not?

- Roleplay tough situations they may face at home or school such as lying, bullying, cheating, etc. Have kids act out how they should act if faced with such a situation. Applaud each other for good choices. Look at the week’s lesson for ideas. Use your discretion for topics to choose.

- Read a chapter book together (Christian book)

The Possibilities are Endless!

REMEMBER, in Group Time:

- Every should have a chance to talk

- No one should be made fun of

- It should be a safe place for all

I know, it’s a lot. But I have a LOT OF FAITH in you all!! Just ask questions and keep at it. We’re all learning together. Thanks for your commitment and enjoy your group time. I think you’ll find it VERY rewarding.

Our children's church program has recently started using Willowcreek's Promiseland 5-G curriculum. We bought the Spring quarter books online to try it out and now that we LOVE the curriculum, we can't find it anymore. I called Willowcreek (not that we could afford their prices anyway), but they've discontinued the product. I've looked on Amazon, Ebay, half.com, to no avail. I'm wondering if anyone out there has some that we can buy. Let me know!! We have already done Spring quarter with the Easter lesson and the Camp Iwannabeagee, but we would be interested in anything else. Or if you know something very similiar (large group, small group, etc), please let me know! Thanks so much!!

UPDATE: Found it at Barnes and Nobles online! Praise God!

This is an excellent book for churches who are trying to create an especially welcoming atmosphere to guests.  It takes a look at what secular businesses do to draw in and keep customers and applies it to things the church can do.  Since many of our newcomers are comfortable with the secular day-to-day world, it makes sense that we try to integrate some of these strategies to help people feel at ease while they are in our church. 

One of the first things the book asks (p10) is “Where Do You Consume (and why?)?”

I thought about some of the places I hit pretty regularly:

1)      The grocery store that has good sales

2)      The grocery store where I know where everything is

3)      Little Caesars – where you can get a pizza fast and cheap

4)      My bank- which is conveniently located and friendly

How many of these things are present in my church? Obviously not the pizza!  But knowing where things are at, being conveniently located, and friendly are probably things that newcomers would appreciate when visiting a church. 

Think about the places you return to again and again.  Why?  Can you incorporate some of those strengths in a church atmosphere?

Throughout the book, the author really emphasized making guests feel like they matter.  When we feel personally valued in a situation, we are likely to return.  The author challenged the reader to really become aware of their “consumer experiences” throughout the week and write down both their first and lasting impressions.

Some of the places I personally observed were:

1)      McDonald’s – the cashier took my order wrong.  They were friendly and food was good, and the place was clean.  I feel like my first impression was not good, but the lasting impression was good.  All in all, I would return to that McDonald’s location (if I ever get a craving for McDonald’s again, that is.)

2)      Starbucks – since the last time I visited, they had put up new art, new menus, and had rearranged the furniture.  I liked the fresh look and enjoyed the new set up.  Good first and lasting impression. 

3)      Remnant Shop – walked in to “we’re closing in 2 minutes” (talk about not feeling valued!).  No prices were marked, so I had to ask about everything and really felt like I was bothering the sales person… that was until her Supervisor walked by, then she was full of customer service.  Interested. 

What I learned from these things are: The details matter - whether it’s spelling or typos, getting a person’s name right the first time, or decorating a space that looks fresh and inviting, people notice the little things.  Also, don’t act like guests are a bother to your “normal activities”.  Don’t make them ask for every little thing – like where the nursery, the bathrooms, or the sanctuary is located.  I know we all get busy in churches and its easy to brush off a guests concerned or confused look because “I have important things to attend to”. 

First Impressions also talked about thinking about potential distractions that a guest might encounter – for our church, it was lack of signage, not enough trash cans (isn’t it annoying trying to find somewhere to throw away your cup?), and too crowded seating.  Take a close look at your church – if you were completely new, what might you notice right away that might distract you from the voice of God?

Think about what you would like to hear your guests saying at work on Monday about their visit?  Would it sound something like this?

            We would go again.

            People were nice.

            People seemed very busy.

            Everyone seemed to know each other – I don’t know if there is a place for me.

            Love the music!

            Well organized.

            Good preaching. 

You have ten minutes (that’s it!) to WOW your guests.  Don’t waste the first impression. 

Make sure your greeters know where to take (or direct) people.  Do they know where the four year olds meet for Sunday School?  Do they know where the wheelchair seats are in the sanctuary?  A lack of knowledge means a lack of help.  Guests don’t want to stand around while you scramble to find an answer to their questions. 

If you don’t have one already, the author recommends setting up a Welcome Center with hospitality workers.  The Welcome Center would have information about the church and the various ministries the church has to offer, a beverage area, and workers who can ASSIST families through the building (this means actually walking with them – not pointing the way). 

All in all, GREAT book.  Worth the cost for sure, because you will return to it again and again to refresh your welcoming approach. 

October 2009

Lately, the Christian Education Committee at our church (Children’s Ministry, Nursery, Youth Ministry, and Sunday School) have been brainstorming some ways to appreciate our volunteers.  It’s a hard task because you want to do something meaningful, but no one has a lot of time to spare to come to banquets or luncheons.  Plus, sometimes I wonder if all that expense is really worth it.  Would that be what the volunteers would want us to do with the ministry’s money?  We came up with one idea: Movie and Gift Wrapping Night.  Maybe the first Friday in December, families could come into the church to watch a family friendly film on the big screen in the sanctuary while the directors of the different ministry fields would wrap their Christmas gifts.  At the end of the night, families would have had a relaxing time together and would leave with some of their Christmas gifts wrapped!

I searched the internet to find some other volunteer appreciation events or gifts and here is what I found:

Posted on 25 August 2007 by Melanie on http://www.energizeinc.com

I found a great website called www.weddingfavours.ca.  They have all sorts of inexpensive gifts for weddings, but many of them work well for volunteers.  We gave the "Love Beyond Measure" spoons to women who had volunteered at our church.  They cost a few dollars each and the volunteers loved them.  We were surprised how warmly they were received.

Posted on: http://www.churchvolunteercentral.com by Molly Wright

Need some other ideas to spark the team’s thinking? You could use the church bulletin or a bulletin board to highlight individual volunteers. Include a short paragraph on their volunteer service, a picture, and family and outside activity information. Teachers appreciate a surprise chalkboard or white board message, letting them know how much you value them. This is great for the students to see as well!

"Post-It" Recognition
One year our church held a volunteer recognition service. After the appropriately themed sermon we played "The Way You Do the Things You Do" while members of the congregation listed volunteer tasks on post-it notes and then posted the notes on the volunteers who had done the tasks. After a few minutes no one was free of post-it notes (except for one lady whose dress material would not hold anything!)and some people were completely plastered with them. The event became fairly raucous and the response was generally favorable. There were numerous comments about this being the only non-boring volunteer Sunday service we'd ever had.
Submitted April 9, 2007 by Molly Anderson on www.energizeinc.com

Snowflakes
This works well for organizations where large numbers of volunteers come to a single location. Using 4 inch white paper doilies, we put the name of every volunteer on their own "Snowflake" and hung them from the ceiling of the volunteer lounge. We added a poster that said "Just as every snowflake can add up to a blizzard, so every volunteer's contribution adds up to a storm of activity here. Thank you for your dedication". This created a lot of fun as each volunteer looked for their snowflake and also impressed staff and visitors with the extent of volunteer involvement here. This could be adapted for other seasons.
Submitted April 2, 2004 by Shelley Malyk, Volunteer Services Coordinator, St. Amant Centre, Manitoba on www.energizeinc.com

Volunteer Tree
We created a Volunteer Tree. Every year we hold a Festival of Trees, that takes an incredible amount of volunteers to put on. So before we kick off the Festival, we hold a Volunteer Appreciation night. To recognize our volunteers, we took a picture of each one of them with a digital camera. We then printed them out with a color printed and cut them out into different shapes for the Christmas tree. We put a little glitter around the edges and then hung the pictures on a 9' Christmas tree for all visitors to see at the Festival to see. We called it our Volunteer Tree. It was a big hit with the volunteers and you would catch them looking for their pictures and sometimes even moving them to a more prominent spot on the tree.
Submitted January 24, 2004 by Janice Sander, Executive Director, Battlefords Union Hospital Foundation, North Battleford, Saskatchewan, Canada on www.energizeinc.com

Kudos Korner
Our Kudos Korner is one of the most prominent and inexpensive ways for which we recognize staff and volunteers. These forms are available at each event and are filled out by someone who notices another's outstanding achievement. Some include: "Making Festival a joy to volunteer for," "Consistently being available for any type of work," "Smiling on the phone on the busiest day of Auction." Kudos are displayed at the event and are listed in our quarterly volunteer newsletter. Submitted by Victoria Evangelista, Volunteer Coordinator, Rocky Mountain PBS at www.energizeinc.com

Posted: http://www.roundaboutthechurch.com/encourager/encourager.011001.01.html  

  As you begin to plan for the Fall, consider scheduling opportunities for your volunteers to receive training before they begin teaching.  Along with training them to most effectively utilize your curriculum, take time to also encourage them to grow in their own walk with Christ, because volunteers who are growing in their walk are the best and most effective teachers.  Along with being the most effective volunteers, we also want our volunteers to grow through their experience in serving.  Consider presenting each volunteer with one or both of these books and ask them to commit to use it in the 31 days before or the first 31 days they teach - they will find their own walk to be deeper as a result.

Books: 31 Days of Prayer or 31 Days of Praise Authors - Warren & Ruth Myers
Publisher - Multnomah Publishers

Hope you can find something to use!!

 I recently started reading the book "Think Orange" by Reggie Joiner.  It talked about the power of combining church (yellow) and family (red) to produce a more powerful force (orange) than either could be alone.  After a funny and offbeat introduction, Reggie begins his dicussions with some "Orange-ology".  He explains that "The premise of this book is simple: As long as churches do only what they are doing, they will get only results they are presently getting."  The same goes for the family.  There are failures in both homes and churches -- churches are losing influence and families are disintegrating -- so what is the solution?  Step up the force on both sides?  Or how about combining forces for a whole new way of thinking?  This is Thinking Orange.  This is not another "family based ministry" approach.  This is a way of thinking that could lead to radical and controversial changes.  Many churches and families are already working on the same thing -- trying to raise good and Christ-centered kids.  But, as Reggie explains "working on the same thing at the same time is not as effective as working on the same thing at the same time with the same strategy" (p26).   Join me as I continue to work through this book, review my current methods, hopefully make some more effective changes and see kids come to Christ! 

 I've been thinking about praying a lot about this "Think Orange" book.  I've often tried to include parents in the ministry, but only if they came to the church already.  Sure if guest parents showed up for a special function I would make my way over (often with high anxiety) to say hi and thank them for coming.  However, I never really sought them out in any other way.  We're starting an Appleseeds program (mentoring group for preteen girls) and one church member encouraged me to call the parents of one of the girls.  She comes regularly to our Wednesday night program, but her parents have never attended.  I called and talked with her dad about the program and said we'd love to have her.  It was a very pleasant conversation, leaving me to wonder why I had been putting it off so long.  What is it about "outside" parents that leaves me shaking in my shoes?  Why have I become so accustumed to taking the easy way out?  Where is my heart for outreach, for SEEKING and saving the lost.  I'd rather just wait for the lost to wander into the church first, and then I'd be happy to help save them!  Somehow, I just don't think that's what Christ had in mind.  I hope this book will help change my perspective, my motivation, and cause me not to be content to wait around for the lost to find me. 

This chapter helps to highlight the essential task the church has been designed to do. Reggie paints a beautiful picture of the nature of the church, drawing examples from the Old Testament tabernacle and temple and the letters to the churches in Revelation. No matter where it is discussed, the Bible makes it clear that the church is to function as a lampstand, a light which points to Christ. The author explains that in the Old Testament tabernacle, the lampstand was located in a strategic place. It was directly next to the table which held the "shewbread", the loaves meant to represent God's provision and later would symbolize Jesus' own body. In the book of Revelation, John addresses the seven churches as the seven lampstands. As you read through John's challenges to these churches, everything makes so much more sense in the light of the lampstand's original purpose. "God was concerned about the church losing its influence and impact" in order to shine a light on Christ.

Reggie challenges us as churches to makes sure the we are illuminated the right things. In order to be most effective for kingdom, we have to make sure the lampstand is illuminating the bread, Christ. Jesus himself said that when he is lifted up, he will draw men to himself. It's not our job to draw people in -- it's our job to illuminate the only one who can. All our clever programming and fun activities will become pointless if they are not showcasing the Son of God.

The author warns against several tendencies in the church including using the lampstand to fight personal battles, make political statements, and make our church look better. All Bible-believing churches are serving the same God -- and sometimes we "begin believing our mission is to get people to buy into our version of church". So instead of getting caught up in the minor issues and things that distract us from our true calling, let's make it a priority to keep Jesus in the spotlight, so to speak. Let's be intentional about keeping the lampstand in it's proper place.

This chapter focused on Family. It begins with a warning against living just to make your kids happy. Of course, parents don't start out that way. We want what is best for our kids. We want them to grow to be healthy and responsible. However, sometimes the line is crossed. We're so busy with possessions and experiences that sometimes important slips from view. How do we preven this in our families? Author Reggie Joiner gives a few suggestions, but first he addresses church leaders. He states, "I'm going to suggest something to you now that I hope you will never forget. If you're a church leader, your purpose is not to equip parents to have exceptional parenting skills. If you set unrealistic expectations, you may create an atmosphere in which parents become discouraged and children get disillusioned...Unreasonable standards or ideals that are too lofty may be the reason that moms and dads who attend church get discouraged and give up and then frustrated leaders trying to motivate parents opt to bypass the family"

Now, onto rethinking family values (there is a quite a bit of "rethinking" in this book!).

Family Value #1 Imagine the End

Ultimately, our goal as parents should be for our kids to love God above all else. When Moses was giving his farewell speech to the Israelites, he reminded them again and again of what God had done and exhorted them not to walk away from the one true God. Sometimes as parents we're so muddled down by feeding the kids, picking up their stuff, carting them here and there and trying to keep their grades up that we forget the crucial question "Who do I really want them to become?". Fast forward twenty years and think about what kind of characteristics you want your children to be demonstrating. Chances are, they are godly characteristics. If so, what are we doing today to cultivate that? (Check out the Farrel's book below to help with this!)

Family Value #2 Fight for the Heart

As Moses is addressing the Hebrew people he says something a little different: "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your sould and with all your strength". Reggie explains, "The only thing that seperates a living faith from a ritualistic orthodoxy is one word, one idea, one compelling force: Love" (p57). If we want to pass on a legacy to our children, it has to be done in the context of relationship. Rules and practices outside this framework of love for God end up becoming empty and often offensive religion. Even explaining the reasons behind rules is not enough -- reasons can be debated, but a trusted relationship cannot. Reggie explains, "The most important way you fight for the heart is to build a relationship that is trustworthy" (p59).

 March 15, 2010

Last night was our first night of our new Appleseeds program.  Appleseeds is a spin off of the Apples of Gold mentoring program for women.  In Apples of God, older women are paired with younger women to help them learn how to be good wives, mothers, housekeepers, etc.  Appleseeds is a unique mentoring program for preteen girls.  Each week, we do a "life craft", Bible study, and a section on Manners Matter (Etiquette).  A different mentor comes each week to talk with the girls, help with the craft and generally to lend support and wisdom.  I'm very pleased that we have 8 women signed up to mentor in this 10 week program.  We also have four girls which I think is going to end up being a perfect number.

The girls arrived one by one surrounded by awkward silence and an absolute refusal to eat the tasty brownies I had prepared beforehand (of course, that didn't stop me from helping myself!).  Only two of the girls were really good friends, so it was a bit of a task to get the conversation started.  However, thanks to Johnny Depp's new movie "Alice in Wonderland", things started moving a bit.  Last night, we made/decorated journals that we will be using for the program. The girls just received their books for the first time that night, so we started to walk through the Bible study section together.  However, about 10 minutes into the study, the questions started flying!  We talked about all kind of things including "What's heaven going to be like" "Are ghosts real" "What do I do when I'm at a friends house and they want to watch something that I don't" "how much will God forgive" and more.  Our vision for our church's Children's Ministry is "to ignite a genuine desire for a relationship and to prepare kids for the spiritual battle they are in".  I feel like last night, we really made a breakthrough -- a true "Vision Moment".  These girls were starting to get a sense of the spiritual realm and realizing the importance of having Christ on your side to fight the battle. 

Overall, the night was a huge success.  They did get a little over boisterous by the end of the night.  We were talking about meeting new  people in the Etiquette section and they started asking each other questions like "Do you live in a retirement home?" "Do you like making snowmen in the desert?" "Have you ever eaten a gerbil?" Oh well.  Good bonding!  

I'm looking forward to next week when our first mentor will be joining us.  By the way, before the girls left, the entire pan of brownies were gone.  I guess they just needed to settle in a little.  :) 

 March 17, 2010 (Happy St. Patrick's Day!)

Last night we started a Secret Agent series (we use "The Zoo" free curriculum right now).  We started out with an amazing video that one of our congregation members made for us.  He didn't want his identity to be known, so he hid in the shadows and even used a voice disguiser!  I was beyond impressed.  His two daughters are in our program and even they didn't recognize them.  This just go to show how amazing it is when you get people involved who aren't regularly involved.  I was thinking about making just some thrown together amateur video and I asked this guy to be Spy Guy.  He took the script and ran with it -- making this video that fades in and out, special music effects, and lots more.  I was so excited to see him really dive into the project.  We also did a little acting with the kids for storytime.  We had a few new faces and they wanted to be involved.  What a laugh!  They did a great job -- I was really surprised that they didn't hold back at all.  The kids are learning how to be secret agents of the  Bible -- we learned about the Table of Contents, Old and New Testaments, and how to find a few verses.   I was a little nervous because this series is not quite as "fun" as the one we just did.  A little more serious and studious, but the kids jumped right in and were really excited about finding things in their Bibles.  We'll see how it goes again next week.  More video fun to come!

I've shifted my blog over to Wordpress, so check it out at:

http://growingkidsministry.com

I'll be putting up most of my new posts there! Thanks!

 At my new blog (growingkidsministry.com), I've been posting about family ministry, check in systems, and our latest baptism service.  I've been reading some great books including "Think Orange" and "Collaborate".  Head on over and check it!

Date Candy Recipe for Egypt VBS

Egypt VBS Follow up Book: Raising a Modern Day Joseph

Instant Games for Children's Ministry Book Review

David C. Cook Bible in Life Curriculum Review

Faithweaver Parent Curriculum Review

On-the-Go Family Devotions for Summer