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.
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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.… Read the rest
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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.… Read the rest
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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.… Read the rest
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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.… Read the rest
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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.… Read the rest
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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?… Read the rest
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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.… Read the rest
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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.… Read the rest
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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.… Read the rest
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