What Makes a Kids’ Ministry Great?
What do you look for in a great children’s ministry? Whether you are deciding where to go to church or you are a pastor deciding how to create a great kids’ ministry, you need to consider these seven factors. These don’t cover everything, but in my opinion they are a lot of the most important aspects of a good children’s ministry for a congregation.
It Should Be Safe
Anytime you are taking on responsibility for the church’s most precious and vulnerable people you should be professional and prepared. Volunteers should be carefully and thoroughly vetted for their personal qualifications. (Serving with kids is a privilege, not a right) Volunteers should be trained to identify peer to peer as well as adult to child dangers or signs of abuse. Facilities should be secure and appropriate. Drop off and pick up should be clear, and inflexible. Classes should have proper ratios to leaders. Leaders should also be considered in the safety procedures (in other words, how will you prevent putting volunteers in potentially compromising situations by themselves? How will your rules protect the volunteers from misbehaving children?) Exits and entrances should be monitored or locked. Emergency action plans should be thought out and posted clearly. Bathroom procedures should be rigid. This is just the tip of the iceberg, but to have a great kids’ ministry a church must not compromise safety procedures.
It Should Be Scriptural
So many kids’ ministries are centered on “watching” kids. Kid’s ministry should not be “childcare so that ministry can be done in another room.” It’s more than just crayons and crackers. It’s more than a suitable distraction. It’s more than babysitting. A good kids’ ministry takes the great commission seriously. We are trying to teach young people to obey everything Christ commanded. At the same time, a good ministry is not just behavioral. We are not teaching moralism or behaviorism. We teach holiness and righteousness, but we teach them the complete gospel message. We are centered on grace. We teach them the gospel by which they can be saved. We teach kids about the love of God. The goal should be to teach an age appropriate version of everything in the bible.
It Should Be Supplementary
My wife has often said, “Instead of hearing people shopping for the church with the ‘best kids’s ministry’ I wish I heard moms and dads saying, ‘The best kids’ ministry is in my house.’” Any good church is building their kids’ ministry around the expectation that parents are called to disciple their children. Whether it’s sending home “take home sheets” or a newsletter or some other form of communication and resourcing, a church’s kids’ ministry should be focused on developing discipleship in the home in addition to gathering the children on Sundays or mid-week. Volunteers are supplementary to a godly family, not a replacement for it.
It Should Be Shepherding
The shepherding role of the church leadership is not just for the adults. As families process grief, divorce, sickness, financial hardship, anxiety, depression, doubts, or any other struggle, the leaders of the church should be considering the impact on the whole family and not just the parents. The kids’ ministry staff should be made aware when the adult ministry pastors hear about something difficult happening in a family. The kids’ ministry staff is more than logistical support for a program. They should be deployed as shepherds for these smaller, but no less real humans with real needs in the midst of potentially difficult situations. They should always handle care situations with appropriate levels of confidentiality and deference, but a good kids’ ministry will do more than program management. They will care for the real world needs of the families they interact with.
It Should Be Supported
A good kids’ ministry is supported by the pulpit, the parishioners, and the parents. The whole church should hear about why the church has a kids’ ministry. It should be promoted, not as an amenity, but as a mission field. The whole church should be supporting kids’ ministry and that needs to start with the pulpit. The volunteers who serve in kids’ ministry should be qualified adults who catch the vision of sharing the gospel with the next generation. Unless there’s a reason someone should not be serving with children (and that can definitely be the case) everyone should be helping carry the gospel message and commit to working alongside the ministry staff in responsibly leading all kids’ programming. Lastly, the parents need to be supportive of the ministry for it to be good. The parents are not customers or consumers and when they see themselves as such they will act entitled in a way that will undermine the church’s vision of working together in kids’ ministry. Parents should see themselves as co-laborers, and ideally they should be the best volunteers in the kids’ ministry. Parents who catch the vision will be part of providing kids’ ministry, not just partaking in it.
It Should Be Sensitive
A great kids’ ministry is accommodating to the different needs of today’s kids. Whether it’s special physical, emotional, or behavioral needs. Every kid needs Jesus so a great kids’ ministry is going to be flexible and thoughtful enough to try to meet the needs of every kind of kid without partiality. Every family is different and every kid is different (and I know the resources of every church are different), and so every kids’ ministry should be ready to fit what they do to the kids God brought them and not just try to get every kid to fit into what the church leadership prefers.
It Should Be Super Fun!
A great kids’ ministry is one that is a blast! The leaders prepare. The leaders bring enthusiasm and energy. In fact, it’s fun not just for the kids but for the leaders too! It should be creative and energetic. It should be colorful and thoughtful and enjoyable. We are never trying to entertain kids but we are trying to engage them with the soul-saving truth of God’s word. There is no benefit in boring them while we do it.