Tag Archives: Strategy
Orange Week: Tuesday Recap
Posted on 19. Jan, 2010 by Kenny.
Because I got out of order and messed up the bloggers, this recap will cover the two topics that were blogged today. It was another busy day with all kind of exciting posts. Personally, I’ve seen scores of reader and commenters engaged that I’ve not yet seen up to this point. The feedback I’m hearing is great and I’m so glad people are getting a good taste of Orange.
Reactivate the Family
- I start up this element of reactivating the family with the main though, the church has taken the parents God-given role and we’ve got to give it back. There’s a lot of “talk” about family ministry and incorporating the family, but unless we get parents motivated about actively engaging in their kids spiritual lives, we’re not getting anywhere.
- Kendra delivered an powerful post on Reactivating the Family from a very unique perspective of being a foster parents and working with the birth parents of the foster kids – a worthy read for sure!
- Matt McKee explore the definition of “reactivate the family” and shares his experience from his church. Like many others, he’s not satisfied with how they’ve engaged families (although he’s tried several methods) and he’s asked the question (specifically to other portable churches) how they’ve seen success in this aspect.
- Sam Luce is giving away a DVD resource called Exit Interview. You still have time to win, so do what he asks.
- Jonathan Cliff talks about his experience of reactivating the family through several changes he’s made at his church this year. My favorite part was where he talked about the inspiration for engaging families came from his role as a parent first.
- Sam writes a sobering post about what happens when we don’t reactivate the family. It’s one thing when the kids who walk away from faith is a statistic, but something entirely different when you can put names and faces to those stats.
- JC writes of several ways to put the responsibility the church has taken from parents back in their hands. Also, I must admit, I love the image that goes with this post. I don’t get it, but i love it.
- Dan Scott’s first post on reactivating family is about the various levels in which parents partner with our ministry. I so much appreciated his second post about doing a family experience (This is Dan’s specialty). What I loved so much is what he shared about the purpose beyond the family event. That is reactivating the family! Dan’s last post was a guest post from the middle school pastor at his church. Great post on engaging paretns of middle school kids!
- Gina writes a great post about reactivating the family, how it doesn’t have to be another event for you to administrate, but a way to encourage parents to do something different.
Elevate Community
- I started off this element describing what it means to elevate community. Essentially, community is the best thing church has going for it, better than anything the world and culture has to offer.
- Anthony Prince write about elevating community at his church. An interesting tactic he embraces is by recruiting parents as small group leaders (not their own kid’s groups) so they’ll see the value of connecting with their child’s small group leader.
- At first I didn’t see where Nick Blevins was going with his post on elevating community. What he was doing though was stating a case that building a community for kids isn’t easy. Neither are most of the best things in life. Thanks Nick!
Sheesh, these recaps are taking me longer and longer. Thanks for participating everyone! There should be another great give away tomorrow as well as a few more announcements I have. Oh, and I’ve got a funny little contest where you can win some stuff signed by Reggie. I’ll tell you about that tomorrow!
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Orange Week: Reactivate the family
Posted on 19. Jan, 2010 by Kenny.
For two long the church has been in the wrong business. I’m not particularly sure when this happened, but the church has stepped into the role of primary spiritual leader in the life of children and students. Search the scriptures and you’ll find no support for the role the church has been playing. So why do we wonder why such a huge majority of kids walk away from their faith as they enter adulthood? The church must reactivate the family.
Reactivate the family means to help parents actively participate in the spiritual formation of their children. We have to see ourselves as the catalyst to help parents to do their job better. If we don’t, then we’ll continue to loose the youngest generation to apathy, cynicism and resentment. This is going to take a lot of undoing. So many children’s pastors are hypocrites when it comes to parental involvement. We complain the parents aren’t involved or doing their job yet we don’t offer any opportunities for parents to step up in the home. Many parents don’t take the reigns simply because they don’t know how to do what we know so well.
We have to believe in parents. Our attitude toward parents will determine our entire approach toward ministry to the family. If you believe in the potential of parents, it will cause you to change the way you program.
Why does this have to happen? Remember the “refine the message” element? On the best case scenario we know we only have 40 weekends a year with a child. In most of our churches, that’s a little more than 40 hours. Parents on the other hand have over 3000 hours a year to invest in their kids. Do the math. Who has the most influence? Wouldn’t it serve the mission and strategy of our church to leverage this great influence in the lives of our kids? What if only 10% of our parents truly wanted to know how to lead their kids spiritually? Our impact would increase at an exponential rate. So doesn’t it makes sense for us to invest more people, time and resources toward equipping the greatest influence in the lives of the kids?
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Orange Week: Two Post Tuesday
Posted on 19. Jan, 2010 by Kenny.
I’d like to spin this in a way saying this is the way we planned it, but that’s just not the case. There was some confusion among the stellar Orange Week blogging team and it looks like I might have been the source. I planned for today’s topic to be “Elevate Community,” but some thought it was “Reactivate the Family.” I propose a simple solution.
I officially declare this Tuesday of Orange week: Two Post Tuesday!
Essentially I’m releasing tomorrows topic today as well and we’ll spend both today and tomorrow exploring both of these posts. If you want to jump on board and blog on either of these elements, jump on in, you’ve got two days.
Don’t forget, we’ve got another give away both today and tomorrow as well.
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Orange Week: Elevate community
Posted on 19. Jan, 2010 by Kenny.
Something we say around my church all the time is, “Life-change happens best within the context of community.” The same is true in the lives of our kids and students. Creating this community isn’t easy. It takes a lot of volunteers who are heavily invested. However, when this is in place, the impact is huge!
Here’s one reason why community is so important. When it comes to programming, music and production, the church can barely compare to what the world and culture have to offer. However, the world and culture can’t even touch what the church can offer in the form of community. It’s the ace up our sleeve that far too often never gets played.
While kids are still in the children’s ministry, small group leaders can reinforce what parents are already teaching their kids. However, something drastically changes once a child enters middle school and beyond. Not that the parent isn’t important, all kids get to a point where they NEED validation from an adult who isn’t their parent. As a church, we have the ability to put adults in the lives of kids where they can communicate truth, have spiritual conversations and say the same things that parents would say (assuming the teenager is in a Christian home).
Parents who are leading their kids spiritually will need to lean heavily on the small group leader of their child. If the child isn’t comfortable talking to his/her parent (which he/she wont) the parent needs to trust that he/she feels comfortable talking to a small group leader that will represent the values of the parents. This is where the church and family truly do partner in the task of leading the next generation. Elevate community, becasue without it the church will never gain traction in the lives of kids.
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Orange Week: Refine the message
Posted on 18. Jan, 2010 by Kenny.
Refining the message is closely tied into your integrated strategy. The goal of your integrated strategy describes what you want children and students to be when they grow up. With that goal in mind, what messages and what truths do the students and children in your church need to hear? What will best prepare them to be strong and independent adult Christ followers?
All of it? Everything? Sure. However, this creates a problem though. Since we only have about 40 hours a year (in some of the best case scenarios) to teach children, it isn’t possible to teach them everything. So as we face that environment of 1st-3rd graders, what messages do they specifically need to hear. When choosing from the entirety of the scripture, we must be selective. What about when they’re in the middle school environment. What are you going to do with those 40 hours a year? Will they be different messages from what the 1st-3rd graders are hearing?
You must refine the message.
In your effort to refine the message, you’ll need to take into account these three things.
- All scripture is equally inspired
- All scripture is not equally important
- All scripture is not equally applicable to every stage of life
What does this mean? All scripture is God-breathed, but not every verse in the Bible carries the same weight. There are certain passages and scriptures that bring more impact than others. When sharing your faith with a friend, there are certain specific verses that we tend to share because of their importance. When confronted by the religious leaders and asked what commandment was the most important, Jesus didn’t back down. Although every commandment was inspired, Jesus said that all the commandments could hang under loving God and loving others. Jesus wasn’t inclusive, he prioritized what was most important. Last of all, we need to filter what scriptures are appropriate for different ages. When teaching in children’s ministry, you’re going to glide over details pertaining to sexual sins. They don’t need to know it to realize the depth of God’s love and his plan for our lives. However, once those hormones are kicking in, these 6th and 7th graders need to know what the Bible says about sexual purity.
You have varying audiences. You have limited time. You have a goal before you. What are you going to say? Refine the message.
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Integrated Strategy: student and kids ministry getting along
Posted on 17. Jan, 2010 by Kenny.
I know I’ve already posted about Integrated Strategy today, but I had to share this. If you don’t read any more of my post (but you want to, don’t you?) click over here and read this post. It’s a post Chad Swanzy, my Student Pastor wrote of the weekend. Probably the best post I’ve read dealing with the conflict between student ministry and children’s ministry. Hands down the best post I’ve read about this from the student ministry perspective (maybe the only). It’s raw and honest. He asks some very poignant questions worth wrestling to the ground. I’m surprised he hasn’t gotten more comments than he has already. So if you haven’t checked it out yet, do so now. My thoughts are below.
Chad verbalized the things student pastors and children’s pastors often think but never verbalize. His challenge at the end of the post was “Maybe as we get the junk out we can have real dialogue about it.”
He spoke of what we want versus what they want. They’re essentially the same. However, the junk comes in from differences in methodologies and points of view. I think my favorite line was:
You think we are irresponsible and reckless we think you’re over protective and hyper sensitive.
Integrated Strategy is about sitting down to the table and developing a strategy – together. However, it may be possible that some stuff needs to happen before we can start talking strategy. Maybe we need to try to see things from each others point of view. We don’t have to be best friends and do everything together, but I believe that we do need to trust each other. As a children’s pastor, I HAVE to trust my student pastor. I have to go beyond “giving him the benefit of the doubt” and believe in what he’s doing and his ability to do it. In the same respect, a student pastor has to respect me. He has to believe in me and trust that what I’m doing is effective and best for OUR kids. If any of that is missing, we’ll never do this strategy thing. We’ll never “integrate.”
This throws a lot more out there to be evaluated. If we truly believe that the best way to impact kids for the long haul is an integrated strategy, then what I said above has got to happen. If it can’t. If teams won’t play nice, then maybe it’s time to fine a place where you can. The next time your church is hiring a student pastor, demand to be a part of the interview process. Same for the student pastors.
Put that in you pipe and smoke it.
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Orange Week: Integrated strategy
Posted on 17. Jan, 2010 by Kenny.
Integrated strategy. Let’s look at both of these words.
My favorite definition for strategy from dictionary.com is:
“A plan, method, or series of maneuvers or stratagems for obtaining a specific goal or result.”
A strategy is a plan of action with an end in mind. Too often churches fail to take the time to develop strategy. Massive programs and ministries exist to make a difference in a community, but rarely is the question asked, “Are we producing the desired results?” Or eve more importantly, “Do the produced results really matter?”
As it relates to you who are reading this post, what do you want students and children to be when they grow up? What traits do you want them to exhibit? What values do they need to posses? This is the specific goal or result as talked about in strategy. Next is where integration comes in.
If a children’s ministry has a different strategy from the student ministry, both will be frustrated and see limited success. Both will be pushing kids toward different ends. Okay, so maybe the children’s ministry and student ministry come together on the end goal. Unless their methods and plans are in alignment, it’s unlikely they’ll achieve their goal. The bottom line is that children’s ministry and student ministry must work together and be in alignment. This is an integrated strategy.
Once a church has an integrated strategy for children and youth, everything can be evaluated in light of the end goal.
During Orange week others are blogging on the same topic each day and links to their posts will show up in the comments. Be sure to visit their posts to see how the elements of the Orange strategy are being carried out in real-live scenarios. If you want to share your thoughts surrounding this topic you can either by replying in the comments or writing a post on your own blog and linking back to this specific blog post (so the link to your post will show up in the comments).
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Welcome to Orange Week!
Posted on 17. Jan, 2010 by Kenny.
Welcome to Orange Week. This week several leaders and voices for Children’s ministry will be posting about Orange. It’s something that so many are very passionate about, including myself. This series of posts (more like a blitz) is for anyone. Those familiar with Orange will find my posts and those of others a refreshing reminder. Those who aren’t familiar with Orange… hang on tight, you’re about to drink from a fire hose! Hopefully by the end of this week, you’ll have a very clear picture of what Orange is.
So in a nutshell, what is Orange?
Orange represents change. It’s the color of transition. What color do you think of in the Fall? Orange. Similarly, many feel some serious changes confront the church. Business as usual hasn’t been working. Children growing up in the church are leaving their faith once finishing High School in alarming numbers. Change is needed.
Orange represents partnership. It’s the merging of two colors to become a third. With Orange, this partnership is between the church and families. It’s when the church, heavy with resources combines with parents, who have significant influence, begin working together to make a bigger impact. Two combined influences will make a greater impact than two influences.
Simple, huh? Really it is. But there’s more. Central to the Orange “philosophy” are five core elements:
- Integrated Strategy
- Refine the Message
- Elevate Community
- Reactivate the Family
- Leverage Influence
Over the next five days we’re going to look closely at these five elements to see how we can be agents of change that will impact THIS generation.
During Orange week others are blogging on the same topic each day and links to their posts will show up in the comments. Be sure to visit their posts to see how the elements of the Orange strategy are being carried out in real-live scenarios. If you want to share your thoughts surrounding this topic you can either by replying in the comments or writing a post on your own blog and linking back to this specific blog post (so the link to your post will show up in the comments.
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Family ministry musings
Posted on 22. Dec, 2009 by Kenny.
A few weeks ago I just finished Barna’s book, Revolutionary Parenting. I bought 10 copies to distribute among church staff and leaders (not just kids staff). I just can’t stop thinking about what this book talked about. I think the premise of the book hits the nail on the head. What we in children’s ministry would truly see as success is a child who enters adulthood with a solid biblical worldview. Yet that’s not what we currently track to measure ministry success, is it?
Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past 4-5 years, you’ve seen “family ministry” become the big buzz word among children’s pastors. Incredible new resources have been developed and powerful ideas have been presented. I love what’s happening in the world of family driven ministry. However, I can’t shake the sinking feeling in my gut that a lot of these “solutions” aren’t going to work in the long run.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m anything but a pessimist and I do love what is being developed… but I just don’t think I’ve seen that silver bullet yet. Maybe the silver bullet doesn’t exist, but I haven’t seen the thing that I can really wrap my arm around and say, “Holy Cow! This is it! Let’s throw all our eggs in this basket.” Maybe I’m being unrealistic to think that something like that exists, but maybe we’ve not discovered that “ah ha” idea yet. I think too many of us have gotten caught up in the family ministry resources like family productions, take home papers, family curriculum guides and aligned services and somehow we think that’s going to be enough to develop kids who will walk into adulthood with biblical worldviews. Yeah, I think they’ll help, but it’s not the answer.
Gateway’s a church that’s been raised out of the culture… and Austin is a very lost culture. I understand that in Barna’s research, a significant number of parents with biblical worldviews are letting their kids become adults without passing along the worldview piece. However, what do you do when MOST of your parents don’t have a biblical worldview? What does your family strategy look like to keep parents literally one or two steps ahead of their kids?
So, sorry for my wandering thoughts, just processing out loud. Any thoughts?
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Long term strategy
Posted on 23. Jul, 2009 by Kenny.
Kent Shaffer from over at Chruch Relevance posted this a few weeks ago. The post interacts with some data from a new book called, “Already Gone.” The data shows how children’s ministry and Sunday School is and has been failing. Kent asked some good questions about how these trends might be changed. However, Kent said one thing in a comment that I’ve been thinking about for the last several days.
Bottom line is most children’s ministries are aiming at bringing kids to Christ and discipling them. If they are significantly failing at producing long term disciples, I see nothing wrong in identifying that failure and exploring how to improve the results.
Long term disciples. I started thinking about long term strategy. Do I really have one? Where I’m at we’ve begun talking about doing more to equip parents which is part of it, but have we really developed a long-term strategy. Most CP’s I know feel good when the have their calendar planned out a year in advance.
What do you think? What “long term” strategies do you have in place?
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