You have one hour. For that hour, the entire church staff will be gathered to listen and process what you have to say. One hour of uninterrupted communication. You have a soapbox and an audience.
What would you say?
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Kenny Conley, the founder of childrensministryonline.com. He has been a Kids and Family Ministry Pastor for nearly 25 years (which is why he has so many things to say on the matter). Kenny is a published author, speaker, ministry consultant and craft cheeseburger aficionado.
I would speak on how we need to partner with the parents and teach them how to minister to their kids at home. We only get a regular attending Kid about 40 hrs a year on average, the parents get them something like 3200 hrs. If we can provide resources and classes for the parents, we can change not only the next generation, but this one as well.
Wow. There’s so much I’d like to say that they may feel like, as Reggie Joiner says, that they’d ‘been drinking from a fire hose” at the end of it.
I don’t know what your church culture is, but right now the most important things I want my parents and staff to know is the basics. That we are not just babysitting the kids. We are sharing God’s love with them but like Johnny says above, we only get 40 hours and parents get so much more. Everything we do needs to be partnering with families and preparing them to help their children grow. (Which I think you are doing a great job at! I so want our church to start classes before a child is dedicated. We don’t have anything like that now.)
You know, the things I want to say to fellow volunteers here would be different than what you want to say. Just because we’re at different stages in development. But no one can ever get too much of the “big picture”. We’re not just here for Sunday mornings or cool programs. We’re here for HIM and to show his love. If you have a cool story of how a child’s life was changed AND / OR how a volunteer’s life was changed because of your ministry, I’d start with that. Celebrate the big picture. Everything else is just a path to get there.
I would speak on how we need to partner with the parents and teach them how to minister to their kids at home. We only get a regular attending Kid about 40 hrs a year on average, the parents get them something like 3200 hrs. If we can provide resources and classes for the parents, we can change not only the next generation, but this one as well.
Wow. There’s so much I’d like to say that they may feel like, as Reggie Joiner says, that they’d ‘been drinking from a fire hose” at the end of it.
I don’t know what your church culture is, but right now the most important things I want my parents and staff to know is the basics. That we are not just babysitting the kids. We are sharing God’s love with them but like Johnny says above, we only get 40 hours and parents get so much more. Everything we do needs to be partnering with families and preparing them to help their children grow. (Which I think you are doing a great job at! I so want our church to start classes before a child is dedicated. We don’t have anything like that now.)
You know, the things I want to say to fellow volunteers here would be different than what you want to say. Just because we’re at different stages in development. But no one can ever get too much of the “big picture”. We’re not just here for Sunday mornings or cool programs. We’re here for HIM and to show his love. If you have a cool story of how a child’s life was changed AND / OR how a volunteer’s life was changed because of your ministry, I’d start with that. Celebrate the big picture. Everything else is just a path to get there.