What Kidmin Pastors Wish Their Sr Pastors Knew

1. Children’s Ministry requires the largest and hardest working group of volunteers in the church! Children’s workers have to prepare each week or they know that their class or children’s group will not go well (to put it mildly). They take care of other people’s children after having taken care of their own all week long. They work hard to put God’s Word in children who have been in school five of the last six days and aren’t predisposed to sitting again on Sunday. And when they are done, they congregation does not give them a collective and hardy “amen” or hand clap because what children’s workers do is behind the scenes. Overseeing a large group of over-worked and under-appreciated adults can be exhausting.

2. Children’s Ministry costs money! If you want your children’s ministry operating in excellence you will have no choice but to invest financially in it. That means you have to come to terms with the fact that teachers need material, children consume supplies, facilities need to be spacious, and the decor needs to be inspiring and inviting.

3. Children are not the church of tomorrow; children are the church of today! People who are not saved yet are the church of tomorrow. Child are vital to the kingdom of God now. Josiah, David, Samuel, Naaman’s servant girl, the boy with the loaves and fish, and Jesus all had something in common: they knew you don’t have to grow up to serve God. Don’t devalue the children’s ministry by implying that we are only holding on the children until they can one day become assets. They can pray now. They can share their faith now. They can minister God’s love and grace now.

4. The Children’s Pastor needs your support! One or two unruly children can frustrate hard working volunteers and send kids home talking about what “Charlie did this week!” instead of talking about the lesson. Sometimes you need to have a frank discussion with parents about their children’s conduct. Children’s Pastors don’t want to offend anyone and prompt them to leave the church. However, one offended family who leaves the church is better than one child in the church who is allowed to wreck the entire children’s ministry. Children’s ministry is too vital to allow one or two kids to frustrate everyone involved. Don’t compromise the ministry to pacify one family (no matter how much money they give to the church). And one last comment. Make sure your child is not part of the problem. Pastors kids sometimes project an attitude as though they own the place. The church is God’s house. It belongs to Him, not your kid.

5. A vital Children’s Ministry will help grow the church! People want their kids blessed. People are more interested in the well-being of their children than they are interested in new choir robes, new hymnals, newly painted bathrooms and most of the other stuff that gets pushed to the forefront. Get aggressive to bless kids and people will come to you. McDonald’s learned that years ago.