Determining the Best Program for Your Children's Ministry
By: Jan Johnson

When you first come on board, you may be pulled in many directions. Everyone has advice and suggestions for what programs you should implement -- usually based on what worked at their former church! How do you work through all this haze to clarity? Dee Engel, who has been in children's ministry for 31 years and now moderates at Children's Pastors Leadership Network, offers some sound and grounding input.

Know Your Setting
Differing factors in churches make for different sorts of ministry. Ask yourself,

• What is the size of my church? Small or large? Does it have many departments?
• What is the location? A city church? A rural church? A suburban church?
• What are the transportation issues which will impact programming?
• How many school districts do you service?

I once worked in a church in a rural community in Illinois . All the kids in grades 3 and 4 came to our church after school because it was the only thing to do.

In an urban situation, however, our church had kids coming from nine different school districts, getting out at different times. The church was located on a freeway, and parents didn't want to get on a freeway at that time of day. A club program didn't work at that church.

We tried neighborhood programs in our immediate neighborhood, but kids didn't have the mindset to come to something regularly week after week. Their parents' work schedules made that difficult. So we did after-school specials periodically to reach these neighborhood kids. The setting was the key factor in these programming decisions.

Know Your Church

What is the mission and ministry emphasis of your church? Is it known for strong Bible teaching and a strong preaching and pulpit emphasis? Is it a family ministry church with a family night emphasis? Does it have a strong body life emphasis? Is it evangelistic and outreach oriented? Those issues help you determine what to do in your ministry.

What kind of staff do you have? Must you do this job alone or are you the administrator who sets up the program with other staff? Are your helpers paid or volunteer?

Know Yourself
First, k now your strengths . What do you do well? What do you enjoy? What are your weaknesses? Where do you need to put someone alongside you to help?

Are you an administrator? Are you good at organizing and putting structure to something?

Are you a people person who doesn't like to get bogged down in organization, but loves to love people and minister to individuals?

Are you an up-front person who enjoys being in front of a group? Can you think on your feet and keep a program flowing?

Do you have a specialty, such as puppets or magic? This may give you an entertaining-oriented ministry.

Are you a teacher? Do you bring people along and let them follow and learn and watch you? Are you good at leadership development?

Many excellent children's ministers are not good up-front as public speakers, but they run the program well and have others take care of upfront things. Some lack structure and bring someone alongside who can give form to their creative ideas. Your strengths will affect how you go about ministry.

Second, know your beliefs.

What are those things that you are strongly committed to? What do you think are the most important issues in ministry?

Are you committed to working individually, one on one? Are you committed to parent education? Do you believe it's the church's job to do Christian education, or do you think it's the job of the parent and the church works alongside the parents?

Whatever you believe will become your philosophy of ministry, and it can effectively guide you in the sort of ministry you set up.

Developing a philosophy helps you determine which programs and ministries fit. Different programs will require you to set up a room differently. What you do with a room and how you break things up reflects your philosophy.

Once you know your philosophy, you can set goals and recruit people who understand this philosophy.

Don't try to copy the program of another very successful church. Even though it's successful there, it may flop miserably in your situation, because your setting, church and philosophy is different from the church where it worked well.

I believe strongly in relationships and discipleship. Our ministry is laid out so that children have opportunities to establish:

* A relationship with Jesus Christ (not just knowledge about God)

* Relationships with adults who are working with them in children's ministries

* Relationships with each other (children with children)

* A better relationship with their parents

A philosophy of children's ministry is threaded through everything that's done. In all of our key programs, we emphasize relationship: Sunday School, Bible-memory programs, club programs, missions education, and special education classes. We have annual activities that emphasize the parent-child relationship: father-daughter banquets, mother-son picnics, parent-child overnights. This helps parents know what we're about.

This particular approach means I need to hire more staff than someone with another philosophy. That child-adult ratio is smaller. In our extensive summer program, we have paid summer staff.

In Sunday School, we want children to have the opportunity to interact with the teacher. I allow for informal times where they can sit and talk together, or when teachers can have a conversation with one child while the other children are doing other things.

We have enough classes to keep classes small enough so that teachers can get to know their students, and relate to them in other ways besides that one hour in Sunday School. This means we choose a curriculum that facilitates that.

We also arrange our physical setting for relationships -- not using rows of chairs. The teacher and children sit together on a rug on the floor. Even in our large departments, we emphasize relationship by having a lot of staff and by working with small groups of children.

One program is not better than another. You have to know your philosophy and your setting and your location to see what's most effective. Besides, leadership makes the difference in all kinds of clubs.

Jan Johnson is an author and speaker. You can reach her on the Web at www.janjohnson.org.

Sidebar

Product Roundup

Ministry Tools Resource Center
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Bible Bookmarks
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Pioneer Clubs
Pioneer Clubs is an ideal weekly club ministry for churches that want to introduce children to the Savior and help them grow in their faith. Each weekly meeting includes Bible study, Scripture memory, skill-building activities, games, singing and lots of fun. With Pioneer Clubs, your kids learn Christian values, grow spiritually, and understand and apply God's Word. Pioneer Clubs' weekly meetings take place in an age-specific, small group environment. It's easy to begin a Pioneer Clubs ministry in your church. Pioneer Clubs is helping children and youth make Christ Lord in every aspect of life.
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Flannelboard Bible Stories from The Felt Source
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Tinysphere
Founded in 1996, Tinysphere, Inc. produces children's musical products, curriculum and the nationally recognized kids' events "Power Kids Experience." Tinysphere currently has three original CDs available including "In My House," 11 songs performed by the Tinysphere Puppets; "Power" songs from the Power Kids Experience; and "Speak The Word," a scripture memorization CD for kids. Tinysphere also produces the "KUEST for Excellence" team training curriculum, a comprehensive program that helps churches empower kids to participate in every area of service within the church. Teaching kids principles like, "Teamwork," "Excellence" and "Respect," KUEST also trains kids in skills such as sound, lights, drama, puppets, ministry, and more. The Power Kids Experience travels across the nation performing crusade-style events and attracting thousands of kids to local churches.
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Kids Sunday School Place
Matthew 6:21 states, "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." Today's families treasure their children. Parents want to know that their children are being taught in a fun and educational manner, but more than that, parents want to know their kids are being taught biblical truths that will stay with them for a lifetime. All the creative resources you'll need to lead incredible adventures into God's word are available from Kid's Sunday School Place . Volunteers with little teaching experience will find the material just as easy to use as those who have taught for years. Kid's Sunday School Place provides complete Sunday school lessons for children. They supply a mountain of fun activities, crafts, object lessons, games, skits, stories and songs. A Spanish version of the material is also available.
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Bible Visuals International
Where were you on 9/11, that terrible Tuesday, when Flight# 93 became a suicide missile? Todd Beamer, emboldened by scripture and prayer, stepped out to participate with God in cutting short the wicked plans of terrorists. Based on the bestseller, LET'S ROLL! by Lisa Beamer, this powerful adaptation for kids is a must-tell. Help instill Todd's   Be the One! attitude in kids who can, in turn, make good things happen. This is appropriate for Age levels from eight years old to Junior High . It contains three-chapter read/tell aloud continued story, 26 illustrations and student life application activities . You can also request a free BVI Product Catalog, which includes 150 visualized stories, songs and Bible lessons for teachers of children.
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