You can see the potential of an awesome kid’s ministry, and we know that this is likely the most important class in the church, however it can be intimidating and overwhelming to create a kid’s ministry very elementary beginnings. Here are some steps I took to help revamp our kids ministry. You can do these steps in any order that makes sense for you, but definitely start with the first one.
If there is a team and a small class already happening, get involved!
You can’t know what needs to be done if you don’t know what’s already happening. The current volunteers will likely still want to continue serving and can be great resources and collaborators when it’s time to start making changes.
Review Curriculum
In our case, when I started serving in kids ministry with the plan to become the director, as there was none, the curriculum we were using was over 10 years old and was not thematical at all. One of the first things we did was review 3 different curriculums and decided on one to present to our council board. The term “go big or go home” comes to mind as our new curriculum was much more expensive, but fortunately all church leadership saw value in a strong, consistent curriculum.
Create a budget
More than just knowing what everything will cost, creating a budget can help you plan and prioritize your events and materials you need each year. Do you want to have a large Christmas pageant with costumes? Do you need new bibles? How about some musical instruments? What are some easy, low cost, but effective events you can plan for in the year? A budget allows you to create room for all these items, and now you know when it comes time you will have the funds to create the classroom and events that you desire.
Have a kickoff event
If you are an existing ministry maybe you won’t need a big Sunday to recognize a more improved kids ministry, however if you are making changes around the end or beginning of the year (or I know many ministries begin programs at the same time school begins after summer break) why not have a new year kick off event! We created A Day with Union Kids in which parents were invited to participate in a typical class with their kids as well as meet the current volunteer teachers. Inviting the parents and even your whole church family not only involves them, but allows them to play an active roll in kids ministry, even if it's not directly in the classroom.
Create a check-in System
I knew our kid’s ministry needed a more formal check-in/check-out system as there had currently been nothing in place. I wanted to make sure our teachers knew our kids and their parents, and vice versa. I performed a very sophisticated search (i.e. I Googled it) and adapted one of the large ministry systems to work for our church. We rely on a simple system utilizing duplicate name tags - one of the child, and the parent holds on to the duplicate. The parents and kids meet at door 1 to give the teacher their nametags so we can match them; they then meet at door 2 to be joined together and leave the classroom area. This allows for the teachers to know who belongs to who, and make sure each child leaves under the care of their own grown-up.
Create a Safety and Health Manual
Fortunately, there are many templates out there for these safety guidelines that every ministry should follow. I simply found one that had all the general items we needed and combed through it to make changes and adaptations for our ministry.
**If you are looking for a starting point, click here to view our ministries current manual that you can edit and utilize for your own ministry needs: https://bit.ly/4gNWPH8
Background checks for all adult volunteers
When I stepped into my role as Children’s Ministry Director one of the very first things I did was require a background check for all adult volunteers (18 years and older). This way we can ensure the safety of our students, and the comfort of their parents.
We also implemented a 2 adult volunteers’ rule, and currently we even have 4 adults present in our classroom. Our youth volunteers are welcome (and are not subject to background checks) but they cannot be included in the minimum 2 adult rule.
Recruit more volunteers
This is an ever constant struggle, isn’t it? You're probably thinking I'm a little cooky to even suggest this as it is likely in your small churche there is a handful of people doing all the work, and you are included in that small group already, and this is especially true in kids ministry. However, I’ve learned thus far that parents are your best resource for volunteers. If you can get a small rotation, they are most likely to serve if you can assure them that you only need them once a month and stick to it as best as possible. I have come to see that if I respect their requests of dates off and stick to once a month (or at least 3 weeks inbetween) then my volunteers are more willing to fill in the gaps when someone else get's sick or their plans change.
Just Start!
As you plug away at this check list, you may not get it all done before you welcome kids to your ministry, as this is a ministry that rarely can put on the brakes. That’s ok! What’s most important is beginning to show kids God’s great love for them in a safe and welcoming environment! It is not my job to be the savior of kid’s ministry and have every detail attended to before the first class, that is God’s job. I simply need to be faithful to my calling and He will do the rest.
What ideas and systems have you implemented in your ministry to help keep everyone organized and focused on the important things - the Gospel of Jesus?
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