Never Assume...

Assumptions cause all sorts of problems.  We have to learn to never assume.  There are people who simply will not think of things that you find very basic to ministry and on the other side of that, there will be things that others find very basic that will not even cross your mind as necessary.  For this reason, we have to be very specific about our plans and our programming.  We are all created differently and we will all find various things important...but when those things are not the same things we sometimes can have conflict.  What can we do?

PROMOTE YOUR MINISTRY
My Dad, who is also a pastor, gave me a piece of advice early in my ministry.  He said, "It's not what you do, it's what they think you do."  Now this might seem like a pass to be lazy, but it's actually quite the opposite.  What it means is that people will only know about what they see you doing.  You may spend 40 hours a week in your office planning your services and preparing activities, but no one generally sees that part of your ministry.  If you are never seen outside of a service, the easy assumption is that you don't do anything.  How can you change that thinking?
        BE VISIBLE. You must promote what you are doing.  I don't mean that you need to toot your own horn to the congregation, but you need to be sure that the church leadership understands the work that you are doing.  That may simply mean putting your activities in your monthly report, but it may also mean inviting the Board members to attend a children's church service, or asking to be an active part in your church's Family Sunday Service.  Be visible in and around the community whenever possible as well.  Attending local events/fairs/activities is a great way to connect with new people as well as strengthening bonds with folks you know.  
        DELEGATE TASKS.  If you are doing everything, no one else will know what it takes to prepare a service, plan an event, or promote an activity.  It may seem simpler to just do the job yourself, but we are here to train others to do ministry, so share the responsibility.  Allow others to learn from you and you must be willing to learn from them as well.  They will do the job different than you and that's ok.  

For the following we will use a fundraiser lemonade stand as an example.

Be Specific...very specific
When you are making a plan, don't be general in your plans.  Generalizations can lead to assumptions.  If you say, "We're going to have a lemonade stand fundraiser in July," that might be all you need to promote to the church, but for your team you need a specific plan:
         Jan will buy the lemonade
         Mark is going to make the lemonade on Sunday morning and put it in the fridge to cool.
         Each week a different family will run the stand.  Mary is in charge of setting up that rotation.
         Max will see that the donation box is put in the safe each week for the counters. 
Now each part of the plan is in place and no one is wondering who is doing what for the fundraiser. Planning is very important, but be careful that you do not become a micro-manager.  Once you have delegated the task, let that person do the task their way.

Be sure everyone knows the plan
Plans are great, but if you don't share them, they are not much help.  Make sure everyone knows the plan for your fundraiser.  Mark may know he's to make the lemonade, but if he doesn't know that Jan is going to purchase it, he may buy is as well. If Max isn't aware of who is setting up the family rotations, he may send people who are willing to help to the wrong person.  Making sure everyone has all the information is incredibly important and can save all involved a lot of frustration.

We all have to work together in ministry, and the easiest way to do that is to keep the information stream going.  Never assume others know what you are thinking, planning, or doing.   

Until next week! 

EASTER IS COMING!!!

Easter is the most special holiday we celebrate during the year.  It is the time where we reflect and rejoice in the amazing gift of salvation that was purchased for us through the blood of Christ.  For weeks beforehand we prepare and plan for that celebration, both in our hearts and in our ministries.

But, if I am really honest, it is also one busiest times of year.  In fact, it can be so busy for those of us in Children's ministry that we can come near to dreading this special time of year instead of rejoicing in it.  After all, there are Egg Hunts to plan, Palm Sunday/Holy Week Activities, volunteers to recruit, prizes to purchase, decorations to prepare and let us not forget the actual Easter Sunday Service which needs to be hands down the best one of the year (no pressure).  Plus, at least for my District, it is also near the end of the church year (our new year starts in April) which means reports and budgets to present as well.  It can all be very overwhelming.

So, how can we keep the focus on the proper place during the busy and yet most sacred Easter Season?  Here are a couple tips that I hope you find as useful as I have over the years.

Don't compete!
When it comes to Easter Egg Hunts, don't try to compete with the church down the street.  Do your own thing, do it well and then be happy with the results.  In my area, there are churches near us who do egg hunts with more than 30,000 eggs...one even drops something like 50,000 eggs from a helicopter every year.  There is no way we are going to top that.  So we don't try.  We do our own thing.  We focus on an area where maybe others might miss.  For us, we make sure that we have an area for children with special needs and all our games are easily played by any child of any developmental level as well.  We have a great time and we get to love on our community, but we are not stressed about trying to be as big as anyone else.

Don't neglect your own time with the Lord
Make sure you are setting time aside for your own devotions.  All the preparations will wait while you do.  It's easy to let all the "stuff" that has to get done creep into your devotional time, but especially during busy times...don't let it.  If you are focused on the Savior first, then everything else will fall into place.  Keep your time with Him a top priority.

Start Planning Early 
Start preparing for your Easter activities no later than January and sooner is better.  If you know months early that you are going to need volunteers for your Egg Hunt, start thinking about who to ask way ahead of time.  Then when it gets a little closer ask them.  I will admit that this is where I have the most trouble because I don't want to ask so early that they forget that they said they would help, but I don't want to ask so late that they already have plans.  You may need to send out reminders if you ask too early (not a bad thing to do anyway), but earlier is always better than last minute.  Will you need a game created?  If so, start working on it right away.  The important thing is that you start planning well in advance so that you know exactly what you need and who you will need to help you.  

Don't try to do everything yourself
In nearly every church, there are people who are willing to help if you ask them...SO ASK THEM.  Don't try to do everything all on your own.  I know what you're thinking, because this is by far the hardest thing for me to do as well.  But the fact is, that trying to do it all is the quickest way to burn out emotionally, physically and spiritually.  Find a group of people who you can rely on to help you and then work together.  I know that sometimes it feels like it's just easier to do it yourself, but the old adage is indeed true...Many hands really do make for light work.  

There is no two ways about it...Easter is a very busy time of year, but if we will do a bit of planning, keep our time with the Lord, and don't focus on what others are doing, we can change our perspective from one of "busyness" to one that really can rejoice in the gift of salvation that Easter celebrates.

Until next week! 


  

 

Reports and Budgets

Not many of us enjoy doing reports or making out budgets for our department, but they are an important part of ministry.  Reports (for me, Board Reports) give our governing body an idea of what is happening in your department, and budgets give you the funds you need...or at least let you know what you have to work with.  However, when I was first starting out in ministry, I was unfamiliar with how to write either one of these papers. Fortunately, my Dad had been writing both for years and he helped know what should be in each one.  So, this week, I will share a couple of tips that he gave me as well as a few that I've figured out over the years that have helped me where writing budgets and reports are concerned.


REPORTS
In my denomination (Nazarene), I am expected to turn in a report each month to our Church Board.  This is very important because, for the most part, none of the Board will have been in my Children's Department during any of our services.  If I want them to be aware of what God is doing, what series we are studying, or how many children are involved, then I need to make sure that is in the report. So, here is a simple breakdown of what is generally in my monthly Board Reports.
     1) What we did last month - This is a brief overview of the events or programming you want to highlight from that last month.  How many attended the events, were there any conversions in your services, how many new children are attending and any other pertinent information. 
     2) What is coming up this month - Make sure they are aware of what you are planning the the days ahead.  
     3) Upcoming large events - It may only be August, but if you are beginning to prepare for your Annual Christmas program, the Board needs to know.  Keep them informed.
     4)  Who is helping you - Throughout your report, give credit where it is due.  Make sure you mention the names of those who are helping you consistently or have been of special help in the last month.  
      5) What have YOU been up to - The last paragraph of my report is always a highlight of my activities for the month.  Be detailed where you can.  This is not to say that you need to list every single thing you did, but let them know the basics.  An example might be: 
In the last month I attended 3 staff meetings, prepared and led 4 Wednesday night services, attended a workshop on Children's Ministries, made two hospital calls, prepared and led 4 Sunday Morning services, prepared the monthly newsletter, led one Children's Council meeting and one Kingdom Crew meeting, met with one potential volunteer, as well as completing regular office duties. 

Being detailed each month will help you if you have to fill out an end of the year report. Recording how many times you preached over the course of a year or how many hospital calls you made over the last twelve months is easy if you have been detailed in your monthly report.  But it also helps your Church Board to know what you do throughout your working hours. Ministry is unlike most 9-5 jobs and they need to know what you spend your time doing.  

Budgets
When you put together your yearly budget, there is a fair amount of guesswork involved, but if you keep decent records throughout the year and stay in touch with your church treasurer, you can simplify the process a bit.  The easiest thing to do is to make a list of all the things you will need to purchase over the course of the year and give each one a line item.  (Examples: Christmas Musical, Curriculum, Trunk N' Treat, Easter Eggstravaganza, Volunteer Appreciation, Camp, Publicity, etc) After you have made your list, go through your records and see what you spent last year on those items and make adjustments for the coming year.  For example, if last year you spent $100 on your publicity, but you know that you are doing an extra event this year, perhaps put $125 in the budget this year.  If you spent $500 on your Christmas Musical last year, but are planning to borrow a musical from another church this year, perhaps you only ask for $250 this year.  Take into account what your plans for the coming year as well as what you spent the year before to come up with the budget you submit.  

When you submit your budget, be prepared to have it cut when it comes back to you.  Some people take it as a personal affront when the budget for their department is cut, but the reality is that the finance committee will have to cut in many places in order to come up with a workable budget for the church, so be prepared to receive less than you asked for. It's not that they don't like you or don't think that children's ministry is important.  Generally it is simply that they have to make sure every area is covered with the funds allotted.  Yours won't be the only one cut and you will simply have to do the best you can with what the church can give you. So be gracious about your budget being cut.  No one likes to take away funds from ministries within the church, but we need to work together to make what we have work for our department.  Remember,  as the old song says, "Little is much when God is in it!"

Reports and budgets may not be the most exciting part of being in ministry, but it is no less vital to what we do.  I hope these tips make writing them a bit easier.

Until next week! 

Christmas Time is Near...

I love Christmas.  It is, by far, my favorite holiday.  However, in ministry, it is an extremely chaotic time of year. And you start planning for it in January (yes...January), so Christmas prep is sort of always on the back burner throughout the year.  However, there are a few things you can do, to hopefully lessen the chaos and make this very special time of year a bit less stressful.

Don't plan many activities during the month of December.  At my church we do three things in December and only one is not during a regular service time.  The Christmas Musical, our Angel Brunch, and a Birthday Party for Jesus. 

The Angel Brunch is held on a Saturday and it is literally a brunch where the children bring their Grandparents (or a Grandparent they adopt for the day if their own are not available).  We do an angel craft, have someone dress up like an angel for pictures, play angel themed games, and the "Angel" reads a special Christmas Story to the kids.  It's not work intensive, but it is a lot of fun and the families always enjoy this special time.  It generally lasts no longer than an hour and a half, so it doesn't take up much of the people's time during this busy time of year. 

Our Birthday Party for Jesus is always the Sunday right before Christmas.  That particular Sunday is one of the most unpredictable of the year as far as numbers are concerned because sometimes you may have far fewer kids (they have left to visit family) or you may have far more children (those in town to visit family).  This birthday party is great because it works whether you have 10 kids or 50 kids.  On this day, we have an actual birthday party and try to incorporate as many different things that would be done at any child's birthday party.  We have party games, goodie bags for each child (filled with "Happy Birthday Jesus" items when we can), prizes, music, cupcakes or birthday cake and more.  We also include a time to tell the Christmas story in some way.  In fact, all of the games tell parts of the Christmas Story as much as possible.  For example, instead of "Pin the Tail on the Donkey" we might play "Put Baby Jesus in the Manger".  If we play musical chairs, all the music will be Christmas Carols of some sort.  You can find lots of games this fit this idea on Pinterest.   The Christmas Story might be told through a video, by having the kids act it out, or various other ways.  We will have been studying the Christmas Story prior to the party so this is a review more than a full blown lesson.  But, here is my thinking about this party...if we would give a party to a child to celebrate their birthday, how much more appropriate is it to plan a Birthday Party for the Savior of the World.  It's fun and it reinforces that Christmas is when we celebrate Jesus' birthday.  It is one of my favorite days of the year in Children's Church. Also, if you happen to be gone on this Sunday, this is an easy Sunday to have your volunteers lead.  Make sure they have all the supplies and that everything is ready to go, but they can easily fill in on this day if needed.  Even the most shy volunteer generally is ok leading a game even when they might not feel comfortable teaching a full blown lesson.     

About the Christmas musical/program:  If you are doing a Christmas program or musical, my advice is to schedule the performance on the first Sunday of December.  It might seem early for a program, but most of the time, if you wait longer to do it, you will start clashing with the practices and programs the children have at school.  Doing the program early keeps the schedule clashing to a minimum and  will also put your biggest event behind you early on.  Christmas musicals/programs take more time and effort than most people realize and if you do yours early, you will have time to recuperate before you begin celebrating with your family.

That's all for now.  Until next week! 

Writing Curriculum

They say necessity is the mother of invention and that is a statement that is often true in children's ministry.  Money seems to be always very tight, so there are not always the necessary funds to purchase all the curriculum that is needed.  What to do?  Well, sometimes you have to write your own.  I LOVE writing my own curriculum, but it is important to point out that just because you enjoy a thing does not mean that it is easy to do.  So if you decide to take on this task, allow me to give you a few hints that have helped me over the years.  Keep in mind that I am, by no means an expert at this process, but the following things have proved useful so I am sharing them with you.

Pick a topic you find interesting.
I know that probably sounds too basic, but it is important.  Whatever passages of Scripture you choose, you will be spending a lot of time in them.  So, it is helpful if you choose something that you would like to study for your own growth and learning as well.  Personally, I tend to choose the lesser known stories of the Bible simply because they are lesser known.  Not only, will they be new and interesting to the children, but I get to spend time learning and growing as well.  And I get to dig deeper into those Scriptures than I might during my devotions.  I love learning new and interesting things about Scripture, and this gives me an opportunity to share the things I am learning with the children.  For example, I wrote a series out of Judges and we focused on the 7 Judges that we have the most information about.  But for the series, I needed to look into the historical time period and the culture of the day as well.  See, in my series, we put those Judges on trial in a courtroom and I wanted my "defense attorneys" and "prosecutors" to understand the Judges they were defending/prosecuting as much as they could.  These "lawyers" were people who did not normally help in children's ministry.  I gave them basic scripts that they could bring to life however they saw fit.  Doing the research and writing was a lot of fun and I really enjoyed learning about these Judges.  The kids loved the series and every week looked forward to who we were going to put on trial and who would be defending and prosecuting them.  

Pick a topic that applies to the kids in your department.
One series I wrote literally came about because I noticed that if you asked the kids in my department how you could serve God, the only answers you got back were that you had to be a pastor or a missionary.  So I wrote a series called "Extreme Faith" that highlighted people of all sorts of backgrounds and careers that God had used to do amazing things.  People like Fanny Crosby, Joni Eareckson Tada, Billy Sunday, Truett Cathy, and more.  I wanted them to see that God uses all sorts of people in all sorts of ways for His glory.  That all they needed to be was willing to be used.  

Each week another picture was added.

Edit, edit, edit.
You may find that when you write your lesson that it looks great on paper, but when you get in front of the kids...it's not working as well as you had hoped.  That's ok.  Take note of where you had difficulty and then work on that for the next lesson.  Nearly everything I've ever written got tweaked a bit after I used it once.  In a series, there are probably 6 - 8 lessons.  I guarantee that there will be one that, for whatever reason, just doesn't mesh as well as the others.  It happens.  Don't beat yourself up over it.  Learn from it, make changes, and keep writing.  

Be prepared to spend a lot of time.
This is not a quick endeavor.  Writing an entire series takes a lot of time.  Remember, you're not just coming up with the main part of the lesson, but everything that goes along with it as well.  Make sure you set aside enough time to plan it out thoroughly.  In my case, one lesson can take anywhere from  5-15 hours to prepare (depending on the amount of research needed and if I am starting from scratch or not) and includes the following:
     Music:  Music is an important part of any service and I want the songs to connect with the lesson as much as possible.
     A game: This introduces the lesson in a fun way.  For example, when we studied the life of Joni Eareckson Tada (she is a quadriplegic who, among her many talents uses her mouth to paint beautiful pictures), we played a game where the kids had to draw certain things with a pencil in their mouth.  I often get my games online or out of game books as opposed to creating them myself, but I find them an important part of the lesson.
     The main story of the lesson:  Usually this will be the Bible story, mission lesson, or whatever you have chosen to study. 
     An object lesson:  This can come in many forms.  Perhaps a video clip, a magic trick, a food you've prepared (trying foods from other countries is awesome for missions lessons) or whatever fits your series.
     A memory verse:  I usually use the same memory verse or perhaps two memory verses for an entire series.  That way I can make sure that the children really learn it well.  So the weeks that we are not learning the verse we will often play a game using it.
     A review game:  This is always the last part of the lesson and I do not always use it.  But if the adult service is running long, it is a great way to extend the lesson.

PRAY
This could have been listed first, but many times, at least for me, the thing we read last sticks with us most and prayer is the most important part of the process of creating and writing curriculum.  Listen to His leading.  Ask God to show you what the children in your department need to hear.  If you feel a check, heed it.  If you feel led to a certain passage of Scripture, use it.  God will show you what you need to focus on and give you the words you need, but you have to let Him lead the process...the whole process.  Without His participation, writing the curriculum is a futile exercise indeed. 
  
Writing your own curriculum can be a wonderful way to save money in your budget, but it takes lots of time, some creativity, and most importantly the leading of the Holy Spirit. 

Until next week!