There are several things which are the hallmark of an effective children's ministry. Understand that you cannot just skip over one, and have an effective ministry! They are all important, and work together!
But first, I had better define an effective ministry. After all, since that's what this report is about, then I had better tell you exactly what I'm talking about. An effective children's ministry, is a ministry thst is desgined toward and regularily reaches the goal/goals that have been set for it by both you and the Senior Pastor. (And God, of course!)
What you want to accomplish with the ministry is a goal. Now be specific. Not general. To say that your goal is to teach kids to be good Christians when they grow up is too general!! So is spreading the Gospel to the young ones. To teach the kids the foundations of the Christian faith, and to show them how to apply them in their lives now, is specific. In fact, if it takes more that one sentence to state your goal, it's not specific enough! A well thought out goal can be put in one sentence! Then, once you have your goal accomplished, then it's a good idea to write it out, and keep a copy of it posted in the area that you work on your children's ministry, so that every week's program is designed with the goal in mind. It's silly to gear your program to save people, when you normally have a class of kids that are already saved! They need to be taught the foundations of the Christian faith, as applied to the everyday circumstances in their lives. The Old Tetament calls this training, and the New Tetament discipling. On the other hand, you need to always be ready to lead a little one to Christ. Let me share a true story that happened to me in this regard.
Many years ago, when I had just started children's ministry, (you do lots of dumb things when you're just starting out) I was running a "bring your friends" type contest. However, like most of those ministering to kids in a church, I was not in the habit of presenting salvation, because I assumed that all the kids that I taught were saved. Even though I had an influx of "strange" kids, ones that I didn't know were saved, I didn't prepare for that! So I had one kid come one week, and while he had a good time being discipled, he didn't have salvation presented to him. Then that week there was some "horseplay" involving a gun at his house, and he was killed! And I wonder to this day, was he prepared to meet the Lord, or not? I don't know, but I hope he was! So, always invite those to be saved, if there's any question to the salvation of the kids!
To go to the second page of the report, just click on second.
Earn while you learn!
