Summer can bring – and perhaps should bring – a change to your ministries. It’s a natural time for doing things differently. For many ministries I know summer means it’s time to take a break. That’s good, we all need a break…but that’s not the way it is for my church. Summer is one of the busiest [...]
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If you’ve been around church life for any length of time, you know that Easter is one of the biggest Sundays for visitors. With all the preparation that goes into that Sunday, it might be easy to overlook one of the most important aspects – the church nursery. It’s possible that you will have more [...]
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Email. Even as you read this volunteers, ministry staff, Facebook, local businesses, and your favorite clothing store are sending you emails. According to a market research group, in 2011 the average number of emails sent and received every day was 110. Here are some tools and ideas for managing your kidmin email life. Cutback. Have [...]
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Fall is the perfect time for casting vision. Whether it’s casting vision to first time volunteers or seasoned veterans creating a vision narrative is a great way to get your team on the same page. A vision narrative is simply a short story in which the vision of your ministry is played out. Through harnessing [...]
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Whether it is face to face over a cup of coffee, in a training session with a large group of volunteers, or digitally via Facebook, Twitter, or email, leadership is communication. Over the past several years in children’s and family ministry I have tried multiple tools to keep track of and communicate with volunteer teams [...]
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It’s May…and for me that means volunteer recruitment season is in full swing. Having had the lead on multiple ministry positions in the church there is no doubt in my mind that those that recruit volunteers for our weekly children’s and family ministries have the one of the most relationally intense jobs in church ministry. [...]
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Children’s ministry of any kind (large group/small group, kid’s church, Sunday School, kid’s choir, club programs) requires volunteers. The need for volunteers is constant and pressing in our field. Last week I spent some time presenting a webinar sponsored by David C Cook’s Tru Curriculum with three creative geniuses: Matt Barnes from Rock Harbor Church, [...]
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This post could save you hours every month. Every Sunday School Director, Children’s Pastor, or Christian Education Director has volunteers. Ministry requires volunteers. By virtue of having a volunteer team every leader has to create some system to schedule and manage their volunteers. For years I created an Excel spreadsheet to tackle volunteer scheduling but [...]
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Volunteer training is part of any Sunday School program, children’s ministry, or mid-week club. Investing in children requires an investment in the volunteers who will lead them. That’s where VoiceThread can be a helpful tool. Let’s stop here for a brief caveat: If you consistently get 100% of your Sunday School teachers and children’s ministry [...]
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One of the great thing about reading is that they will often benefit you were you are, not just where you want to go. One such book that recently helped me was Stretch, by Jim Wideman. Jim is a self-proclaimed “good ol’ country boy” but it is a title that he holds well and one [...]
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