“And now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness,  while you stretch out your hand to heal, and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant Jesus.” 

And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness.

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I am often asked what to look for in a small group leader in children’s ministry.

While there are many qualities that those who fill this position should have, there is one that stands out above the rest for me.  A small group leader should be a great listener.

Yes I believe that a small group leader should have a vibrant realtionship with God, spend time in His word, and be passionate about sharing Jesus with kids. Those are all very important.

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So we fasted and earnestly prayed that our God would take care of us, and he heard our prayer.

Ezra 8:23

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That’s right…I said it…Christmas! I know it’s only November, but in Children’s Ministry we start thinking months in advance about the holidays and Christmas is no different. I wanted to share with you some free resources that are available for your ministry.

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One of the workshops I attended at the KidMin Conference was Working with Parents: What They Do and Don’t Need from Us with Gina McClain. One of the things she shared has me thinking a lot about family time. She suggested that rather than giving parents something else to do during family time, we should be encouraging and helping them enhance what they are already doing with their families.

Here are some suggestions:

• Tuck In Time –  Most parents with younger children are tucking them in at night as part of a bedtime routine. This is an opportunity to suggest a book to read at bedtime along with questions to go with that book. A worship song could also be added to the routine. It is also a time to encourage parents to pray with and for their children.
• Dinner Time – Gina shared that statistically children who have family dinner three times a week do better educationally than those who don’t. She asked if then wouldn’t that be true spiritually as well. We could give parents suggestions on topics for discussions during this time by giving them a box with question/scripture cards that would prompt conversation.
• Drive Time – Most parents spend a significant time in the car with their children driving to school, the store, practices, games, and recitals. This is an opportunity to provide conversation starters as well. Maybe in the form of a card that could hang on the rear view mirror or on the dashboard.
• Movie Time – Rather than schedule a movie night at the church, we could provide everything needed to have movie nights for families in their homes. We could suggest a movie to watch along with discussion questions for parents.

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One of the greatest examples that Jesus showed us what serving really means wasn’t standing in front of a crowd.

It was kneeling at the feet of His disciples.

Jesus knew that the Father had given him authority over everything and that he had come from God and would return to God. So he got up from the table, took off his robe, wrapped a towel around his waist, and poured water into a basin. Then he began to wash the disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel he had around him. John 13:3-5

During our time in Children’s Ministry we are not only called to serve families, but each other as well.

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What do we do with our kids who are here for multiple services?

This is a question we faced as we recently went to three services. We have parents that serve in one service and attend another service which means their children are in Kidzplayce for more than one service. We have affectionately nicknamed these kids “repeats.” What we found is that kids who are repeats tend to either zone out or become disruptive in the following services. We decided to tweek two of our services to make them a bit different.

Our first service at 8:30 tends to be smaller in numbers so we have adjusted it to be a more intimate time. Our teacher sits on the edge of the stage and the kids gather on the floor around her. The kids are using their Bibles for the lesson much more in depth during this time and are even doing some drills to help them learn how to use their Bibles. We have taken out small groups during this time and have replaced it with more of a group discussion time. The other aspects of the service like worship time have stayed the same.

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Love begins at home… – Mother Teresa

There is a lot of talk about Family Ministry as it applies to Children’s Ministry. What does it mean? What does it look like? While I believe that this is an important conversation to have, I believe that we also need to be talking about what Family Ministry looks like in our own homes.

We can get so caught up in doing Children’s Ministry that we neglect our first ministry which is our family. We have become more intentional about reaching outside of our homes and churches and less in reaching those inside our own homes. We are teaching the families in our churches how to spend time together and teaching parents to be the spiritual leaders of their home – yet we leave very little time to do that ourselves.

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I am a second chair leader.

When someone first mentioned this to me, I immediately went back to my band days in school. If you were second chair in band, that meant that there had been a competition and you had lost your chance at first chair. Everyone’s goal was to be first chair and there was a weekly competition for it. That isn’t this kind of second chair experience.

According to Mike Bonem and Roger Patterson, authors of the book Leading from the Second Chair, the definition of a second chair leader is “a person in a subordinate role whose influence with others adds value throughout an organization.”

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