By Karen Wingate
“Growing, dynamic churches are rooted in a powerful philosophy that recognizes kids matter to God,” says Rick Chromey, author of Energizing Children”s Ministry in the Smaller Church. Those are discouraging words to a church that sees the population of its children”s department slipping into oblivion.
Struggling churches know that without the next generation, their congregation”s future is in jeopardy. Is it possible to revitalize a dying children”s ministry?
“Yes,” says Teri Lewis, director of the Son Harbor children”s ministry program at Plymouth Avenue Christian Church, a congregation of 250 in Deland, Florida. In 2003, a “good” Sunday at Plymouth Avenue saw 10 children show up for morning services. Now, Lewis directs a rotating base of 53 volunteers serving an average of 40 children per week. When visitors walk into the church”s educational wing, they find the walls bedecked in a nautical theme with a ship”s bow for a puppet stage, buoys and ropes decorating the walls, and workers dressed in blue polo shirts and white pants helping to promote the Son Harbor theme.
Seven years of hard work have made Son Harbor the exciting program it is today. By admitting the children”s program was broken, and then assessing the community and casting a vision for what the children”s ministry could become, Lewis and the church have shown that a floundering children”s ministry can survive and thrive.
Critique the Present
“The church didn”t realize how broken the children”s ministry was,” Lewis admits. Church leaders soon discovered the problem was more than dismal attendance. Burned-out workers had nothing left to give. The entire program had lost its excitement and vibrancy.
Plymouth Avenue”s problem is typical of small congregations that feel defeated because they don”t have the resources of the nearest megachurch. Lewis led the congregation to take the first step in revamping any children”s ministry: determine how you can expand on what you have, not on what you don”t have.
Canvass the Community
The next step in the turnaround process is to survey the harvest field. Who are the children God has given you to reach? Like the king who appraised his army before going to war (Luke 14:31-33), Lewis believes we need to understand the audience we intend to reach.
This step might take some creativity and a willingness to drop preconceived ideas. Find out everything you can about the children you want to serve: What are family income levels in your area? What extracurricular activities are most popular? Do both parents of most families work? Is it realistic in your community to expect kids to come to a Wednesday night program? If not, what day and time of day will work for most families? What is the faith background of your community? What is the percentage of single-parent or blended families? What are the unique needs of families in your community? How can the church help meet those needs?
After you”ve examined why your program doesn”t work and what your congregation has to offer to meet the needs of your community, it”s time to cast a vision for what the program can become.
Cast the Vision
The volunteers at Plymouth Avenue Christian Church created an overarching environment to help connect with prospective children and their parents. The nautical theme is pervasive, and volunteers are easily recognized. Program titles, certain features of weekly lessons, and decorations all stick to that theme.
“It”s a theme that works for us because we are located close to Daytona Beach,” Lewis says. “Each congregation needs to figure out what environment will work best for them.”
“You don”t need a huge budget to do this.” Lewis says. “We transformed our education building for less than $1,000, and the kids love it!”
The next step was to generate excitement for the new program. “You need to get your church”s mind on children,” she says. She suggests using every opportunity to share the vision with the congregation, reminding members that today”s children will lead tomorrow”s church.
Citing ways the children”s ministry will help the community, Lewis worked to involve everyone in the congregation, from college girls to 75-year-old retired men, to help paint rooms, nose around garage sales and thrift stores for props, and build the huge puppet stage that dominates one corner of the spacious room Son Harbor uses each Sunday.
Involvement is a key component in keeping people informed and excited about the children”s ministry program. As Lewis seeks volunteers, she considers the gifts, talents, and interests of people in the congregation. This helps her suggest slots where each worker can serve effectively.
She tapped into every age level for staffing the program. As soon as kids graduate from sixth grade, Lewis arranges for them to help once a month with the Sunday morning program. “This teaches your kids about service, and gives them an opportunity to teach,” she says. “How else will they learn?”
Her oldest regular volunteer is an 81-year-old woman. Another senior citizen volunteer, who calls his puppet “Fisherman Pete,” ends each children”s session by reciting an original poem and singing a song with the children.
Eight-year-old Ashley Wilder says, “I like the song Fisherman Pete sings, “˜I Will Make You Fishers of Men!”” Her 6-year-old sister, Emily adds, “And they teach about God!”
Hope, also a puppet, runs the Seaside Café for snack time. Other puppets, operated by several teens, run the different shops on the Harbor Wharf.
Lewis avoids worker burnout by showing frequent appreciation for her volunteers. Last May, she held a Captain”s Dinner to honor those who had served in Son Harbor for the past year. Her Facebook status for that day expressed her gratitude for her coworkers. The response to that simple comment on Facebook was amazing, as parents and fellow workers showered her with their own notes of appreciation.
You can show appreciation for your volunteers by posting pictures of kids and workers on your worship service”s PowerPoint, putting notes of thanks in your church newsletter, and by acknowledging volunteer efforts from the pulpit in sermons and Communion illustrations. Hearing a minister thank children”s workers can be a powerful encouragement to a discouraged worker!
Most of all, Lewis says, be consistent. Keep having events, even if attendance is low the first few times. Early on, the Plymouth Avenue church started two yearly outreach programs, a communitywide Easter egg party called “Egg-sperience” and the PACC Pumpkin Party in the fall. The programs struggled the first few years, but last year the Pumpkin Party was staffed by 100 volunteers and reached 800 kids.
“So many times, people want to throw their hands up and quit when something doesn”t turn out the way they envisioned it.” Lewis says, “but for our community outreach events, we keep trying by critiquing the event and finding ways to make it better the next year.
“So, don”t give up!” Lewis says. “Plan . . . do . . . critique . . . and do again! And God will bless your efforts.”
Karen Wingate is a freelance writer and minister”s wife. She has worked in children”s ministry for more than 30 years and writes about children”s ministry issues at www.childrenteach.blogspot.com.
This is definitely good, but there is something not mentioned here that is important and too often not included–a plan. I have taught at the college and high school levels and substituted in elementary schools, and I know that in any serious school each teacher must have a good idea of what the students already know (where we are) and a clear vision of what the students should know at the end of the term (where we want to be) plus a plan to get from the “where we are” to the “where we want to be.” At a higher level, every school has some sort of plan that shows how the “where we want to be” will tie into the “where we are” of the next term, and an overall plan for a “where we are” at the earliest level and a “where we want to be” at the highest level. Winston Churchill was right when he said, ”
He who fails to plan is planning to fail.” If there is no defined goal, we cannot possibly hope to reach a goal.
For churches this is made difficult by various factors. One of those factors is that too often the teachers have come up in a system with no plans and no goals, learning various lessons of differing value that may or may not seem related. Another problem is that new converts and folks transferring in will probably not have a background in any way matching the plan, so a plan for remedial help in such an educational program is necessary. A third problem is that student attendance is often erratic, but some and perhaps much of that may be due to the lack of a plan–giving the impression that attendance is not important.
Having a plan and a way to implement the plan can be motivating for teachers and students alike. Having goals for spiritual and discipleship growth can be motivating. And teachers who know that the students will fill out surveys at the end of the term to determine whether the goals were reached and to assist in future planning can find motivation in helping their students learn the lessons and put them into practice. The fact is that if we do not verify that a lesson has been learned, we can be pretty sure it hasn’t.
The sad fact is that materials to support such a serious education program are extremely hard to find. Often the church that wants such materials has to have someone in the church who can put together the plans and write the materials–and in most churches that is a real problem.
The only word that is actually a command in the Great Commission the the command to “disciple” the nations. (“Go” is a participle meaning “as you go” or “wherever you go.”) Not having an educational program that disciples even our own children is a disaster. And it is important to understand that a successful Christian education program doesn’t just teach lessons–it provides for putting those lessons into practice. That is true discipleship.
Interested folks may want to read my book (coming out in late May) on the areas of Christian motivation as taught in the Bible that we generally get wrong. It will be titled Revitalizing Christianity.
We are trying to revamp our childrens ministry. I have alot of questions and I need all the suggestions I can get. If you can contact me. I would love to discuss details. Thanks