A while back, Matt Guevara, Amy Dolan and Henry Zonio formulated an idea.  It was an idea that had leaders in the field of children’s ministry come together and share the one word which they felt mattered the most in children’s ministry.  These one words, coupled with a brief explanation of each, became the free e-book What Matters Now in Children’s Ministry.

It is a book which served as a spark to ignite many a conversation.  I covered the book extensively on Dad in the Middle offering my thoughts on many of the authors’ submissions.

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EDITOR’S NOTE: We would like to welcome Joey Espinosa to the Kidmin1124 team.  We are certain that you will find his contributions to be useful and illuminating.  Please take a second to welcome Joey by commenting on this article below.

I work in an after school program with two other people (all of us part-time) and a handful of volunteers. As with most ministries, we are highly dependent on our volunteers to have an impact on the children who come and who want to come.  In fact, we currently have a waiting list due to an insufficient amount of leaders.

Recently, in a discussion about volunteers in our program, someone told me that we need to treat all volunteers the same. According to this logic, because all volunteers give something, they are equally valuable, and should be given parallel responsibilities and privileges.

I disagree!

Volunteers do have equal value, but that’s because value is intrinsically from the God who created us and saved us.

But volunteers are also different. They have:

• Different strengths,
• Different levels of responsibility, and
• Different rewards.

Therefore, they should not all be treated the same.

Different Strengths

Volunteers with unique skills, experiences, and passions should contribute in specific ways. The failure to recognize and act on this principle is one of the biggest mistakes a leader can make. It’s one way that I erred for years in ministry. I would see a need and then look for any warm body to fill it.

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Young children love to learn about the farm and farm animals. Why not add their interest in the farm to a Bible lesson?

Introduce the lesson by talking about different animals: cows, pigs, horses, chickens, goats, etc. Talk about the food these farm animals eat. Talk about the food we get from farm animals.

Have a big farm breakfast in the class and invite parents to join in with their children. Here is a suggested farm breakfast menu:

• scrambled eggs or hard-boiled eggs

• bacon or sausage – Remember allergy alerts and diet preferences and maybe choose turkey bacon or turkey sausage.
• homemade butter – fill a glass jar half full with heavy whipping cream and shake for about 20 minutes until cream turns to butter
• biscuits
• apple slices

After introducing a farm-themed lesson, talk about farm animals in the Bible and the struggle the Israelites had when their farm animals were struck with disease and death (Exodus 9).

Most young children do not want to talk about death but we can emphasize the hardship they encountered when their animals became sick and died from Pharaoh’s broken promise.

Moses was trying to lead the Israelites out of Egyptian slavery. Pharaoh continued to make promises that he would let God’s people go but backed out on each promise.

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Last week I posted an article explaining that as children understand how obedience is lived in their everyday lives, they’ll see worship as the natural outflow of obedience and a major part of their everyday lives.  In that article, I talked about Able, Seth and Noah and how they were obedient real worshipers! It is so easy to present “worship” as what we do when we sing songs at church on Sunday, but if we want  the children in our churches to have a fuller understanding of worship, they also need to know that real worship involves giving of our whole selves.

Stop and think about it. On a typical Sunday morning, what part of the morning do you call “worship”? Singing is a way we can worship God, but worship is so much more than just singing.

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I know that this is not a secret, but I also know that it is an art.  The single greatest thing that I have done in order to keep myself productive is to batch my tasks.  Since I started doing this, I’ve learned more about why it works and have even seen ideas like the pomodoro technique that refine the idea, but batching is just something I started doing because it made sense.  Let me explain it to you a little (please keep in mind that I am not an expert in this by any means and I will share some expert links at the end of the post).

Batching is, quite simply, working on batches of similar tasks.  For example, rather than open up my curriculum website once a week and downloading the upcoming curriculum, I download the whole month’s curriculum at once.  I even try to edit as much of the month as possible in one sitting.  I use batching in my secular job all the time as well.  I even do it at home.

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Cue the power ballad.  All together now:

We’re #16!

We’re #16!

Seriously though, at Kidmin1124.com, we are excited to have claimed the #16 spot in Tony Kummer’s annual list of the top 100 children’s ministry blogs.  Last year, just a few months after our launch, we were excited to come in 44th, and it is exciting to move up this year.  It is exciting to move, not because it feeds some need to be recognized, but because it is a reflection that people are actually finding the blog useful.

I’m a little biased, but I think one of the things that really sets Kidmin1124 apart is our writers.  I have never known a more talented group of individuals who are so willing to give of themselves to help others.  Of course, I shouldn’t be surprised because our writing team consists of volunteers and bi-vocational children’s ministers to begin with.  They make a habit of giving of themselves until it hurts (and then giving some more).

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My early childhood students have been learning about houses as they talk about their families and who lives in their houses with them. They enjoyed stacking different size boxes. We focused on having a strong foundation on the bottom so the box towers stayed up. They learned quickly that the big boxes need to go on the bottom and get smaller as they built up to the top. They even learned that some boxes could fit inside of others while they were stacking.

This lesson can be carried over into the preschool church classroom and into church weekday early education classrooms.

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Storytelling is one of my favorite ways to share a Bible story with my class. With a little practice, anyone with practice can tell a great story.  In order to tell a good story, there are three fundamental steps you need to take in order to be a good storyteller.

Know the story!

• Read the story aloud three times.
• Tell as much of the story as you can from memory. You don’t have to get the re-telling perfect, and you probably won’t the first time.
• Read the story aloud again.
• As you read, try to picture the story in your mind.
• Divide the story into three or four scenes according to the action in the story. This step will help you remember the story better.
• Re-tell the story again. You did better this time didn’t you?
• If you are still having trouble try repeating this process again.

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On a typical Sunday morning in churches around the world, we spend time in “worship” . . . which typically is translated as singing. I completely agree we are able to worship God with our singing, but is this the only, or even the main, way we worship God? What if there is more to worship than singing? What “view” of worshipping God do we give the children . . . and adults . . . in our ministries if we just refer to singing as “worshipping” God, but do not give the bigger, fuller view of worship as we find it in the Bible?

I think it is so easy for children . . . and adults . . . to get the mistaken impression that worship is what we do at church when we sing, and not realize worship is what we do everywhere, every day with our whole lives. If we want children . . . and adults . . . to have a fuller understanding of real worship, they need to understand what worship is by looking at examples God has given us in His Word of people who were real worshippers.

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EDITOR’S NOTE: At Kidmin1124, we would like to welcome Lynda Freeman to our community of writers.  Please visit our Author Page to learn more about Lynda.

As you begin your new school year of ministry this fall, pause for a moment and consider your volunteers.  Here are some ideas.

1. First of all, take a moment to thank God for sending the workers! I love the way the NCV translates Matthew 9:38:

“Pray to the Lord, who owns the harvest, that he will send more workers to gather his harvest.”

The harvest is God’s and if we ask, He will send us the workers we need to gather His harvest! Be sure to take time to thank Him for doing so!

2. Take time to thank your volunteers, too. Tell them “thank you”! Walk right up to your volunteers this Sunday and tell them thank you for giving of their time and themselves to the children and to the Lord! Send them a note – hand written – at least once a quarter and take advantage of resources such as DaySpring’s free e-cards – http://ecards.dayspring.com/ecards/ – send these to your computer savvy volunteers to brighten their day, too!

3. Make a point of sharing with others how thankful you are for your volunteers!

4  Show them you are thankful for them, too! Pay attention! Notice! Is a volunteer ill, or do they have a child who is home sick with the flu or some other illness? Take them a pot of homemade chicken noodle soup . . . or find someone in your church who makes the most amazing homemade chicken noodle soup and ask them if they would be willing to make some for a volunteer in need! Spread the fun around and find ways for others in your church to have the opportunity to show their appreciation to your volunteers, too!

5. Most importantly of all, pray for your volunteers! Make it a regular part of what you do every day. Pray for them. Pray for them. Pray for them! Make this your prayer for your volunteers as you being your Fall ministry to children –

⁵ Rest in God alone, my soul, for my hope comes from Him. ⁶ He alone is my rock and my salvation, my stronghold; I will not be shaken. ⁷ My salvation and glory depend on God; my strong rock, my refuge, is in God. ⁸ Trust in Him at all times, you people; pour out your hearts before Him. God is our refuge.  Selah ¹¹ God has spoken once; I have heard this twice: strength belongs to God, ¹² and faithful love belongs to You, LORD. For You repay each according to his works. [Psalm 62:6-8,11,12, HCSB]

Here is a Prayer for your volunteers –

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