The Chips and Salsa of Sunday Morning: Leveraging Arrival Time to Minimize Chaos

When you go to a Mexican restaurant, what is always brought to the table immediately upon sitting down? Chips and salsa!
When kids walk through your doors on Sunday morning, there should be 2 things readily available: 1) a volunteer and 2) an activity they can dive right into. Your volunteer is like the waiter at the restaurant, helping kids settle in and get comfortable and sharing options for ways to dig in. The activity is like the chips and salsa of your ministry time. It gives kids a taste of what's to come while also occupying them until everyone arrives and the morning officially begins. And it's OK if it's a game - kids need time to build relationships with each other before diving into a deep, spiritual lesson.
When you have leaders and activities ready to go, there’s no time for kids to plunder the room because there is...