We had a great time over the weekend meeting with Children and Family Ministry leaders from the Shiloh, IL area. Thanks to Lindsay Vollmar and David Roderick for leading during the first ever Connection. Thanks for your thoughts and your ministry! Here are some one line lessons from my notes of the day.
- We need to create places at home and at church for the family to grow together.
- Parents, not the church, are held accountable as the primary spiritual leaders for the child.
- Connecting with parents / volunteer leaders during the week should probably take up a big portion of your allotted time.
- The church, through children’s ministry, can be the first to tear down walls with the community.
- Children and Family Ministry Leaders need to think of themselves as pastors to the families they serve.
- Children’s Ministry Leaders and Sunday School teachers are pretty far down on the list of “top religious influences (or lack of) in the life of a child.” Mom is number one, followed by dad. It puts a perspective on our jobs. And gives us motivation to make sure we are resourcing parents well.
- What can the church do best to come along side the home? Make that a priority.
- Bringing kids to church, although extremely important, doesn’t have the impact that living the values of Christ at home on a regular basis on how a child values faith.
- Is there any church children’s ministry that can fulfill the call of Deuteronomy 6? Are you there when the child wakes up? Do you take the child on the road to practice, etc? It’s through the parents that the message of Christ is shared.
- Family Ministry shouldn’t be a program, but a style of ministry. A culture within the church.
- When volunteering in ministry, don’t go by yourself, take kids with you – either you own kids or kids from your ministry.
- Ask the question – what is the most important thing the church does for the life of a child?
- Make things simple enough for volunteer leadership to make it great. Accomplish busy work with a different crew of volunteers ahead of time.
- Find ways to meet the needs of parents – feed them, encourage them, resource them.
- Move from “informational teaching” to “transformational teaching”.
- Don’t get so busy with crafts, clean up, etc that you don’t get time to connect with kids.
- Arrange your program and your volunteers so that you are not busy when kids are being dropped off or picked up. That’s the best time to connect with parents.
- Do you have expectations of the parents in your church?
- Language is the cultural connector. Find ways to infuse the language of God’s story into the children’s ministry, student ministry and adult ministry / parents.
- As children’s ministry leaders, it’s ok to say, “Well, that didn’t work. Let’s try it this way next time.”
- Mom’s and dads just aren’t “home” anymore. Even as a family, everyone is on the run. The church can provide a place of stopping, quiet, connection – a focus on spiritual matters.
- Doing and Serving are two totally different things. Help kids experience real serving in and through the church.
- Don’t apologize for inviting.
- Connect with the schools around you! You can build a bridge and make a difference.
- Stay in touch with your parents and leaders through some sort of regular communication.
OTHER POSTS…
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5 Step toward more mission minded kids