Do you have a lot of children in your church? If not, have you been praying for your church to grow through a fruitful children’s ministry? There are some steps your church can follow to help on the journey toward building a children’s ministry in your church.
First, pray. In the Book of Nehemiah, Nehemiah felt a burden on his heart after his brother approached him about the walls of Jerusalem and the need for them to be rebuilt. The first step Nehemiah took was to pray to God. As you dive into this adventure, pray over this task you feel led to undertake. Pray over your church, your team, the children and their families.
Second, put together a team. A children’s team at your church will help you plan, prepare and get the word out to the community.
“Get a team of people together who will walk alongside you, pray with you, work with you and will commit to the children’s ministry. They don’t all have to be teachers. Some can help with outreach, connecting with families, developing and maintaining a resource room, etc.,” suggested Marie Harbison, a retired minister to children at Palmerdale Cross Baptist Church in Pinson.
As you assemble your team, try to bring together people who are in different stages of life. From youth to senior adults, make sure you involve someone from each generation. Including people from different stages of life essentially allows everyone in your church to be involved.
Third, set your schedule and theme. Once you have formed your team, discuss your weekly schedule and the Bible studies you will focus on each week. For example, on Sundays, have Sunday School using the “Explore the Bible” curriculum at 9:15, Sunday worship at 10:30 and Children In Action at 5. On Wednesdays at 6:30, have Bible Drill. Make sure this correlates with the rest of your church’s schedule.
After you have set up your weekly schedule, discuss a theme for your children’s ministry that goes along with a portion of Scripture. Two examples are “Aim for Jesus” from Psalm 127:3–4 or “Jesus is the Light” from John 8:12. If your children’s ministry centers around a theme, it allows everything to be focused on it. After you have set up your schedule and theme, make sure you print it out for your kids and families to see.
Fourth, set a kick-off day. Why should you have a kick-off date? A reasonable starting date for your children’s ministry allows you to aim for a goal. If you never write down a date then you might not really get started. Have your kickoff on a Sunday, and provide breakfast for the kids and their parents. Make sure you have your teachers in order and your schedule and curriculum prepared.
What to do before your kickoff?
First, clean up your children’s area. Follow this checklist to clean up your children’s area:
- Add a fresh coat of paint on the wall.
- Throw away old craft supplies and get new ones.
- Throw away old, outdated, dirty or broken toys.
- Place new posters and pictures on the wall.
- Organize your supplies so you are well prepared.
- Make sure you have enough supplies for the children.
Second, train your teachers. Find online training or a professional children’s minister to train your teachers. This helps your teachers feel enthusiastic and better equipped to teach children the Bible. Also, make sure your teachers have background checks. Having background checks protects the students, teachers, the church and ultimately the Lord’s reputation. Taking security seriously lets parents know you are taking children’s ministry seriously.
Third, advertise your starting date. Advertisement is key because people can’t attend if they don’t hear about it. Make a fun logo to go along with your theme and place that on Instagram and Facebook, send out emails and letters, send it to your local radio station and print fliers to hand out to people. Put up signs in your church’s yard and see if church members will put signs in their yards as well. Blasting your kickoff day on social media allows people to hear about it and is a cheap way to advertise.
What to do after your kickoff
First, be in constant communication with the parents.
“Relationships with adults are key,” said Greg Gosselin, preschool and children’s pastor at Crossroads Community Church in Elmore.
Build relationships with the parents, and get to know them on a personal level. Jesus sat down and ate with the people He was ministering to, and you can follow His example.
Continue to have a social media presence through your church’s Facebook page or Instagram profile. You might even want to create a Facebook page just for the children’s ministry and include the logo. Post several times a week and invite them to church and tell them what their child’s Bible study will be about each week. Don’t forget to text, write letters, private-message and email the parents every chance you get. Sometimes just telling them you missed them rather than inviting them can make a difference.
Second, go ahead and have another event to invite them to. Depending on when your kickoff is, go ahead and have a save-the-date invitation for the next event and hand it to the parents. This event might be the fall festival, a Christmas party or a family day at the park.
Perhaps you are trying to improve the children’s ministry that is already established at your church. Maybe you have had a burden on your heart to start a children’s ministry at your church, and these ideas are what you needed as a kick-start. You can do it! It might start slowly, but as long as you are loyal to the Lord, that is all that matters.
Here are additional resources to get you started on curriculum, training, printouts and more:
- Websites for resources, discipleship training and free printouts: kidzlinkal.org, Sundayschoolzone.com and christianpreschoolprintables.com.
- Podcast: Kids Ministry 101
- Songs for kids: Seeds Family Worship, Listener Kids, KidSpring, Orange Kids and Lifeway Kids
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