How to Deal with Difficult Kidmin Parent Requests
Picture this. It’s time for move up and a homeschool mom comes to you with a special request. Her just turned 6-year-old is starting third grade. She thinks because her child is doing third grade schoolwork, they should be placed with all the other third graders. What do you do?
How to Involve Elementary Kids in Ministry
In many church models, from birth to young adults, we ask kids to sit and consume. We mean well. We want them to learn about Jesus and follow Him. However, in practice, many times this means coming to a service, joining a small group, and watching what happens.
These are all good things, but they are also passive. In a service, we sit to be fed. In small group, we sit to be fed.
But this is not what Jesus modeled for us.
Finding the Help You Need with Next Level Kidmin
When I first started out in kidmin, I felt like I was alone. I’d served two internships in children’s ministry. And I still had a good relationship with the kid’s pastor who guided me on my last one. However, I didn’t know what I didn’t know.
Fast-forward a year in and I was drowning. I thought I had it all under control, but elementary was the David Reneau show. Wednesday night was holding together with a hope and a prayer, and don't’ even get me started on Nursery.
I needed help, but I didn’t know where to look
3 Events to Transition Your Kidmin to the Next Grade
With the end of the school year upon us, so many kids pastors are asking the questions, “when should we move up our kids? What should we do to make it special?”
How to Engage Older Kids in Your Kidmin
One of the hardest parts of kidmin is dealing with older kids in the late spring early summer. They get their own version of senioritis. They will check out completely, complain they’re bored, or misbehave.
As their behavior degrades, you can see the younger kids follow suit.
Pre-service Activities for your Kidmin
So, you have your service planned and ready to go. Your volunteers are in place. Your check-in stations are ready. If the kids started coming right now, you’d be ready. The problem is that the kids don’t all come at once.
An Egg Hunt Devotional: The ABC's of Salvation
You’ve planned your Egg Hunt, you have the whole schedule put together. You know people are coming and you want to tell them about Jesus. But you only have a limited space to tell them because of time constraints and attention span.
So how do you present the Gospel in a compelling way in just a few minutes?
Your Complete Egg Hunt Service Schedule
Egg Hunts can be so much more than just grab some eggs and go home. In fact, if that is all your event is, you’re missing out on a great opportunity to reach your community. I’ve run egg hunts for years. In They became family traditions for the whole neighborhood.
VBS Planning Calendar: 9 Steps to Success
If you’re in kidmin, Vacation Bible School can be one of the biggest events of the year. It takes a lot planning, organizing, recruiting, vision casting, prayer and so much more.
4 Ways to Celebrate Kidmin Birthdays
I have a confession to make. I’m horrible at celebrating birthdays. Both personally and in the ministry. I don’t have excuses; it is what it is. But for kids, their birthday is one of the most important days of the year. Next to Christmas, there isn’t a day they look forward toward more.
Because the day is so special I had to make a change.
Busy Bag Essentials for Your Family Service
With the end of the year approaching fast, you’re probably looking at a few family services coming up. I’ve already written about how to have a great family service here. But in this post, I’m going to focus on one essential item for any family service, regardless of the time of year.
Busy bags.
Essential Strategies for A NextGen Event Budget
But as much as we like to plan and dream about all the things we’re going to do in the next year, we need one valuable commodity. Money. In today’s post, I’ll give you the tools and processes you need to plan for a specific event.
5 Best Practices for Kidmin Check-out
When talking about safety and security, this general rule applies. The safer the area the less efficient it is to enter and exit. Those bits of friction make it more difficult for bad actors to make a move.
The Essential Kidmin Events Calendar
Whether you’re just starting out in kidmin, or you’ve been in it for a while, you know there are events and a lot of them. But which ones should you be doing? Is there something you’re missing? What can you do that’s fun and impactful for your ministry?
Every church is unique and has its own set of events that works well for their community. That said, there are patterns we can follow.
How to Get the Most Out of Your Conference
One of the best things you can do for your ministry and leadership growth is go to a conference. Whether it’s a small regional conference like the Orange Tour or a large national conference like Kidzmatter, you can find something that will make your ministry better.
But how do you get the most of your experience?
3 Fall Festival Ideas to Reach Your Community
It’s time to work on your Fall Outreach. It’s what I call part of the big three, Egg Hunt, VBS, Fall Festival. In the kidmin world it’s one of the biggest outreaches of the year.
3 Challenges of Multiple Services in Kidmin and How to Overcome Them
Most of the problems we face with multiple services are the same. While I don’t think there is one solution to each of these problems, I do have some ideas on how to overcome them.
3 Overlooked Safety Policies for Your Kidmin
Safety is an essential element of a successful children’s ministry. When your parents entrust you with their most precious possession, they want to know their child will be safe. We know this and go through great lengths to make sure our kids are safe. But there are other safety practices that we may overlook.
4 Summer Outreaches that Aren’t VBS
With the end of the summer, we start to look at all the things we did and ask if they were effective. One of the biggest questions I see this time of year is “What are churches doing other than VBS?”
4 Ways to Equip Your Kidmin Volunteers (Before Sunday)
Picture this. You’ve been working hard to get ready for Sunday morning. You laid out the crafts. You loaded the slides. You queued up the songs. You’re excited for what lies ahead and the change that’s going to happen in kids’ lives. But then you realize that you’re not alone. In fact, your volunteers are leading worship, games, and small groups. You can’t be in two places at once and do it yourself. So how are you supposed to equip your volunteers so they can be prepared before Sunday?
Get resources to lead well in your ministry.
Writing a ministry resume can tough. But it’s an essential part of finding the next place God has called you. With this template, you’ll get a step-by-step guide to create your own ministry resume that will lead you to success.