Categories: Leadership

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Are you ready to jump into the fall season in your ministry? Here are our favorite resources for making the fall season unbe-leaf-able for the families you serve![/vc_column_text][vc_toggle title="New for 2021"]Click on each image below to learn more about that resource. [/vc_toggle][vc_toggle title="Fall Events"]Click on each image below to learn more about that resource. [/vc_toggle][vc_toggle title="Family Resources for Fall"]Click on each image below to learn more about that resource. [/vc_toggle][vc_toggle title="Fall Fun"]Click on each image below to learn more about that resource. [/vc_toggle][vc_toggle title="Thanksgiving Resources (For Those Really Planning Ahead!)"]Click on each image below to...

My family and I recently spent a week at the beach and decided to make a 1-day trip to Disney World while we were there. So we packed up all the snacks and diapers and spent a day at Magic Kingdom with our 1.5-year-old. It was a blast! While we were riding Dumbo, waving to Winnie the Pooh, and eating Dole whip, I noticed a few of Disney's priorities that are good reminders for children's ministry leaders too:  Prioritize kids. This one seems obvious, but it's a good reminder. Disney World prioritizes kids, especially in kid-specific areas of the parks and around kid-specific rides. There are designated stroller parking zones throughout the park to make it easy for families to leave their belongings in a safe place while riding. These stroller parking zones take up space and may be inconvenient to maintain, but they enhance the guest experience...

There's one mistake I often see ministry leaders make when it comes to their ministry social media accounts: They use social media as a digital bulletin board. If your social media accounts are just posts of reminders or upcoming events, you are missing out on a great opportunity to connect with your people. Instead of using your social media as an announcement monologue, change your posting approach to foster conversation and engagement instead. Use the 80/20 rule - let 80% of what you post be about your people, not you, so about things that serve, inspire, engage, encourage, or equip your parents and families, rather than asking them to attend something or go somewhere. Then 20% of your posts can be service times, event invites, and other reminders. One way to help with this ratio is to remember 6 social media content buckets: ...

I've seen a lot of posts in children's ministry groups lately about parent resource centers and how to provide a place for parents to pick up devotionals, books, ideas, and more. Parent Resource Centers (or corners or stations or walls or whatever you want to call it) are a great idea and an excellent way to partner with parents and equip them to be the primary disciplers of their kids. But if you stock these hubs with the wrong kind of resources, they can sit dormant and go unused. If you want to make your families ignore your parent resources, do these 5 things... Make resources (and finding them) complicated. Our brains are hard-wired to choose the path of least resistance, and busy parents are no different. If your at-home devotionals and resources are too complicated and difficult to understand or pull off, parents may pick up a copy the...

Promotion Sunday is one of my favorite days of the whole year! It always has such a great energy as kids are excited to move up into a new class. We host ours right before school starts, so there's the added excitement of the back-to-school season too! I like to make the morning extra special and something out of the ordinary to celebrate all of the new beginnings. Whether you're adding a fun theme to your already-planned curriculum or making the whole morning all about Promotion Sunday, here are a few fun Promotion Sunday themes! Promotion Sundaes - I've always wanted to host a giant ice cream party on Promotion Sunday and make special ice cream sundaes with the kids! Peel some bananas, scoop some ice cream, and drizzle some chocolate syrup for a tasty celebration. Then hand out "Here's the Scoop" print-outs with your event dates for the...

We make bucket lists for lots of things - summertime, our lives, a particular season. But have you ever made a bucket list for your children's ministry? As you head into back-to-school season and plan out the school year ahead, what hopes, dreams, and goals do you have for your ministry? Take some time this week to pray and brainstorm a bucket list or a dreams list for your children's ministry this school year. What do you want to see happen? What do you hope God does in and through your ministry? As you list ideas, defer judgment until later and just go for quantity. Challenge yourself to come with a bucket list of 100  different things. Don't get bogged down yet in the logistics and budget restraints. Just let yourself dream and brainstorm without restriction, criticism, or critique. You might even want to do the first part of a brain dump!...

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Do you use object lessons in your children's ministry? Have you ever heard of "Secret Sermon" object lessons? I learned about Secret Sermon object lessons from my friend Anne Marie, the creator of Future Flying Saucers. She uses them in their family services each Sunday morning to engage kids and teach them about God's Word. Here's how they work... During a specified time in the family service, the children are invited to the front to sit with Anne Marie. One of them brings a random, surprise object. Anne Marie has to use the object to teach a Bible truth, right on the spot! Anne Marie has posted about a few of her Secret Sermons on Facebook, and I've been so intrigued with the idea. It takes a lot of creativity, quick-thinking, and guts to pull this off well, but she does such a great job. She let me ask her...

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Family worship services offer a great opportunity for intergenerational worship and to teach kids what it means to be part of the body of Christ. But family services are often new experiences for families and leaders alike, and they can be intimidating for everyone involved. If you really want to make your families hate attending your service, just do these 3 things... Don't communicate with parents. Parents probably have a lot of questions about what a family service may entail. How long will it last? What if their kids are noisy? What if the kids can't sit still? Don't address any of these questions ahead of time; families will figure it out when they arrive. Work to keep kids quiet. Rather than engaging kids and inviting them into the service, do what you can to provide activities and busy bags that...