Starting a kid’s ministry from scratch

This past Sunday, NewSpring Florence celebrated its 10 week anniversary. It’s crazy to think we’ve already been meeting that long, it seems like just yesterday Bridge and I moved to Florence. I’ve been doing some thinking lately about where we were on January 11 (launch day) and where we are today – we’ve come a really long way!

At Unleash last week, Michael Brown led a breakout entitled “Starting a Campus from Scratch.” That got me thinking about what we’ve done in the kid’s area specifically to get things up and running. I made a few notes of things that I think were key in getting KidSpring running excellently in Florence. Before I share those with you, I want you to know that I really have no clue what I’m doing. I’m not so arrogant to think that I have everything figured out – I’m learning as I go. In fact, you probably know a lot more about children’s ministry than I do.  I can only share what I’ve experienced and what others have shared with me. So here ya go!

Starting a kid’s ministry from scratch:

• Find someone who does children’s ministry with excellence and learn from them

  • Obviously, that was NewSpring Anderson and NewSpring Greenville for me. It was such a tremendous help to see what an excellent kid’s area looks like and to have an example of what I’m striving for. Who is that this for you?
  • Also, it’s extremely helpful to have someone you can rely on helping you. I was so blessed to have Pudge Huckaby (children’s director at NewSpring Greenville) spend time pouring into me. I know that if I ever need anything or have any questions, I can just give Pudge a call or send him a google chat. That’s been huge! Who is this for you?
  • One thing to be careful of though, you need to be who your are and not who other churches are. Make sure that the vision for your kid’s area is clear, but at the same time always be learning from others.

• Build a core group of volunteers by casting vision, not need.

  • If you communicate a need – “Hey, we really need some elementary volunteers, can you help?” – you’ll likely get some volunteers, but only because they feel obligated to serve instead of having a passion for serving in the kid’s area. They won’t ever completely understand the vision behind their role and they’ll quickly burn out and quit.
  • If you cast vision – “Kids are learning about Jesus on their level…serving in the kid’s area makes an eternal difference” (or whatever your vision is) – then you’ll get volunteers who are bought in and will be on board for the long haul. They’ll understand the vision behind thier role and be the best volunteers you could ask for.
  • Michael Brown, my campus pastor, has really instilled this principle in me. I’m working hard on cutting the words “we need” from my vocabulary.

• Identify key leaders inside your core group of volunteers that can lead people

  • You can’t expect to do it all by yourself. If you do, your children’s area will never be where it could be – or even where it needs to be. I didn’t see true excellence until I let go of some areas and put them in the hands of volunteer leaders.
  • Vanessa Brown (organization extraordinaire) is the perfect example of this for me. She leads the nursery and preschool areas, and she does a better job with those areas than I ever could! Those rooms are hers, I let her lead them and run with them. She just tells me what she wants to do next, and as long as it fits into the vision (which it always does because she gets it, and your volunteer leaders should too) I make sure she has everything she needs to make it happen.
  • The important thing here is to remember that just because someone is really good with kids doesn’t mean they can lead adults. Don’t put people in leadership positions just to fill positions – be strategic!
  • Also important, you need to find people who are leaders, not DO-ers. DO-ers are awesome and necessary, but they usually aren’t leaders. They may look like they’re leaders because they’re always doing something or helping in some way, but that doesn’t mean they have what it takes to lead people.

I know, these are just a few things and there’s a lot more to think about…theming, environments, curriculum, training, check-in, budgets etc. But really, think about it…if you have an example of excellence in children’s ministry to follow, a core group of volunteers who are completely bought into the vision and volunteer leaders who can lead people and areas (probably better than you could anyway)..then you really are set up to win in the kid’s area!