While you may start your work in children’s ministry because of your love for kids, it doesn’t take long to discover the need to connect, recruit, and equip other adults to accomplish an effective ministry. Your adult leadership team is critical to the quality, success, and impact your church can have on the lives of children. George Barna said: “In the race to a child’s heart, the first one there wins.” We must be intentional about children’s ministry!
As a leader, you must pour into your leadership team. One of the best ways is to meet together. There isn’t a one-size-fits-all formula for leadership meetings. You don’t want to meet too much or too little. You should always have a reason to meet and use your time wisely.
I have found it essential to meet with my teams outside of the crunch times of ministry. When Sundays or Wednesdays are game days, we visit together on another evening or Saturday morning when the pressure to serve is off.
“In the race to a child’s heart, the first one there wins.” – George Barna
Here are ten things to include in your next meeting with your children’s ministry leadership team:
1. Community
In order to grow together, leaders and teachers need a framework and time to connect with you and other leaders outside of the “go times” of children’s ministry. Schedule these times and make them a priority. This can be done in various ways and styles – in the church, at home, at a restaurant, over dinner or dessert. You might invite your team to pair off and answer questions to get to know each other better.
2. Staying on Course
Remind your team about the vision of ministry, purpose of your work, and basics of the goals and roles. Help your team stay on course with the mission and vision. Share the vision every time. Share a scripture to help keep your team on course, for example: 1 Corinthians 15:58 | Proverbs 22:6 | Deuteronomy 6:4-8
3. Celebration
Pick out something to celebrate. Share a story or moment you have witnessed. Invite others from the team to share things that can be celebrated in the ministry. Breakthroughs, answered prayers, responses, and new kids can all be reasons to celebrate.
4. Connection
Share ideas for connecting with kids. Make plans for new ways of involving kids from the moment they arrive – at least for a short season. Brainstorm people in your church who might be good at leading children’s ministry, welcoming kids as they come in, or helping in other ways. Connect with potential team members named by your team.
5. Calendar or Curriculum
Briefly cover calendar items. Let your team in on changes, coming events, unique themes, lessons, parties, and starting/ending celebrations for the season or semester. Save time by having dates printed in advance. Keep everyone informed about the curriculum and what’s coming up; and seek their input.
6. Communication
Tweak the communication plans. Make sure everyone is on the same page about how you communicate with your team and/or parents. Do you send texts to your team? Do you have a Facebook group? Do you share Google Docs? Invite your team to help with communication through each group they lead.
7. Creativity
Dream and brainstorm about creative ways to reach out to kids and families. What new thing can you try? What small, free thing can your team do to make a huge difference? Encourage and challenge your team to be creative in planning, preparing, and teaching kids.
8. Commitment
Always thank your team for their commitment. Remind them of their terms of commitment. No one should feel like there is no way out. Commitments to lead should be done by season and re-upped each time. Remind your leaders of the importance of attending worship so they don’t become burnt out or disengaged from the church. Do all you can to arrange a schedule/ministry team that keeps a worship hour open and available for leaders.
9. Courage
Children’s ministry in the church isn’t easy. It requires courage to lead, teach, organize, and keep kids in line and focused. Pray for courage in your leadership and within your team.
10. Prayer
Always pray with your team as you begin and close meetings together. Prayer always precedes revival; and we know our teams, their families, and the church need God’s Spirit to be at work. Pray for God’s work and will to be done in your church and in the homes from which your kids come. Children’s ministry team members should pray together often. Go around the circle and invite everyone to pray.
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