5 Hacks for Streamlining Church Event Childcare
Being in kidmin, it’s natural for people to ask you to also provide childcare for events. It can be frustrating because that’s not what you signed up for. You are the kid’s pastor, spiritual leader, and discipler, not their babysitter. And yet, the requests still come, and the expectations are still made. Children’s ministry is not childcare, it’s discipleship.
3 Personality Tests for Ministry Leaders
I love these tests so much because they help me better understand myself and those around me. It’s natural to think that everyone is just like you with the same thoughts, motives, talents, and passions. However, we soon learn, many times painfully, that this is not the case. As a leader in ministry, it’s imperative that you know your people.
5 Tips to Include Kids with Special Needs in Your Kidmin
A growing epidemic throughout our society are children with special needs. The latest statics show the number of kids with Autism or other disability are staggering. According to Maternal and Child Health Bureau's National Survey of Children's Health, 19% of children in the United States had special health care needs in 2019–2020.
5 Keys to Teens Serving Successfully in Your Kidmin
One thing that is an absolute certainty in kidmin is a general lack of volunteers. No matter how big your church is, there is always a shortage. However, there is a treasure trove of possible volunteers that we may overlook. Teenagers.
What I Read in 2023
I’ve been a reader for as long as I can remember. I read John Maxwell’s book 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership for the first time when I was 16. It’s become a habit to read multiple pages a day, which turns into multiple books a year.
How to Motivate Kids to Invite Their Friends
So many times, at Christmas and Easter, my church pushes for the congregation to invite their friends to church. Being in NextGen ministries, I wanted to participate and challenge my students to do the same. However, I knew that giving them a stack of invite cards is not going to be enough.
6 Essential Steps for Onboarding Volunteers
There is one group of people that churches cannot survive without. They are faithful, dedicated to the vision, and serve others. I’m talking, of course, about volunteers. If you have a great volunteer culture, life can be so much easier.
3 Wednesday Night Ideas for Christmas
The Wednesday Night services in December are odd. Everyone is busy, overall attendance is low, and you have pressure to celebrate the season. No matter where you serve in your church, with a little creativity and planning, you can make these nights fun, meaningful and outward focused.
3 Steps to Move First-Time Guests to Regular Attenders
If you’re in a church that wants to grow, then a frequent conversation around this office is how many guests came to your service or event. If you think about it, everyone who attends your church now was a first-time guest at some point.
But what is the process to get them there?
3 Ways Your Calendar Can Help You Reach Your Next Level in Ministry
There are a lot of tools we can use in ministry. There’s our church management system, our curriculum, our events. Each one helps us serve our communities and reach more for Christ every year. However, I think there is one tool that is invaluable for your ministry. One tool that if used correctly can extend your reach and find that elusive work-life balance we’re all looking for.
What is that tool?
How to Motivate Kids in NextGen Without Leaving Anyone Behind
These two stories and several more helped me develop my philosophy on motivating kids in ministry. The way I see it, there are three ways to encourage them to bring their friends, offering, Bibles, memorize scripture, or whatever.
4 Next Level Ideas for Your Fall Festival
Now that summer is out of the way, it’s time to start looking toward the fall. And in church world that frequently means you’re doing some kind of fall festival. These events are great for bringing guests to your church campus, while also serving the community.
Branded House vs House of Brands: Which is Right for Your Ministry?
What’s the name of your ministry? Is it fun? Is it easy to understand? Does it have a battle reference in it?
Church ministry names are as creative as there are people. We love to name things, but a lot of times when we name them, we don’t answer the essential question.
4 Types of Work in NextGen Ministry
The dirty secret of children’s ministry, specifically, and NextGen ministry in general is that very little of your time as a pastor is spent ministering to that age group. In reality, you will spend 1-3 hours a week actually leading them, while the other 40+ hours are spent doing other things.
How to Lead When You're not in Charge
In a previous post, I said there are three groups every NextGen pastor leads. However, there is a fourth group you lead and interact with every day.
That’s the other people on the church staff.
No matter where you serve, you are not a ministry unto yourself.
When You Feel Like It's Time to Go and What to Do About It
Whatever it is, for better or worse, there will come a time for you to say goodbye. We are all itinerant ministers. There was probably someone before you, and there will most likely be someone after you. Even if you serve for 50 years in the same place, time and people move on.
But how do you know when it’s time to move on? How do you know it’s a prompting from God and not your emotions getting the better of you?
5 Must Haves for a NextGen Policy Manual
A little talked about, but vital document in your ministry is a policy and procedure manual. The manual answers a lot of questions for volunteers and clearly defines your thinking on multiple situations.
While your church may have its own policy manual that addresses your ministry specifically, many times these are incomplete when it comes to NextGen. In my experience, they’ll address room ratios and background checks, but not other problems such as fire drills, dress codes, meeting attendance and more.
This is why I suggest every NextGen ministry have its own policy and procedure manual.
3 Questions to Ask Before Picking a VBS
It's January and that means it's time to start working on VBS. I know it’s 6-7 months out, but there are a few high-level decisions you need to make now to set you up for success in the coming months.
One of the first questions that is asked is, "What VBS curriculum should my church use?
The truth is there are a lot of great curriculums out there, and while I have my preferences, I won’t advocate for any of them in this post.
What I Read in 2022
Every year I set a goal to read a certain number of books. I’ve gone all the way to 36 but have settled between 20 to 24. This year, instead of focusing on quantity, I focused on subjects that interested me and read a few pages every day. Somehow, I still got 20 books in.
For this post, I broke the books into categories.
5 Budget Categories Every NextGen Leader Needs in Their Ministry
Budgets, love them or hate them, you need to have one to effectively manage the resources God has given you and your ministry.
Whatever your church’s requirements, your budget and your yearly calendar are inextricably linked. So, before you start putting numbers down into a spreadsheet make sure your yearly calendar is done first.
These schedule templates will help you plan your VBS with multiple stations and different times.