Revival Fire For Kids Blog

Missions In Children’s Ministry

November 2, 2009 · 1 Comment

Jim, an overworked, underpaid children’s pastor, doesn’t have a program for missions in his children’s ministry. “I have enough to do without teaching the children about countries they’ll never visit. Besides missions aren’t important to these children.”

 

Kathy, another overwhelmed children’s pastor, understands that missions should be a part of her children’s program. Once a year, she takes two weeks to teach the children about missions. She’ll have the children collect offerings for the church’s mission project, and she’ll teach about the missionary and country they’re supporting. She even has the children do a fundraiser. She knows she should do more, but she’s pleased that she’s teaching the children to support missions.

 

Beth has implemented missions into her children’s program for twenty years. She teaches about a different country once a month on Wednesday nights. She incorporates different stories from missionaries around the world to go with whatever message she is preaching on Sunday morning.

 

Last week, she preached about the three Hebrew boys’ boldness in proclaiming God as the one true God. She mentioned a sixteen year old girl in Azerbaijan named Sara who was expelled from school because she boldly told her class that Jesus is the only way to salvation.

 

Beth’s students have raised thousands of dollars for missionaries even though she never has fundraisers. The children are so overwhelmed by the need, they collect money on their own, sometimes working in neighbors yards to earn money for missions.

 

Every month, Beth’s students pray for a different nation. This month, they are praying for Azerbaijan. They also write letters to missionaries in different countries.

 

This is not new for Beth, and she is pleased with how God has moved. Three children in her ministry grew up to become full time missionaries in other countries. Twenty children grew up to go into ministry full time. Many of the children in her ministry have taken missions trips when they were older.

 

Next year, Beth will lead ten children in her ministry on a mission’s trip to Mexico. These children are between nine and twelve years old.  Beth is excited about what God is doing.

 

Missionary training for children is as important as training in prayer, Bible reading, worship, and other important tenants of our faith. God is not an American God. He is at work throughout the world. As we show God at work in other nations, we expand our children’s view of God.

 

A couple of resources to help us develop our missionary program can be found on the internet. I am adding them to the resource page of my website under missions. One resource is a website by Voice of the Martyrs called Kids of Courage. This website is for children and children’s ministry leaders who want to show God working through children in the world. It also has downloadable resources. Another great resource is a magazine called Pray Kids. Pray Kids has a section each week on praying for missionaries and other nations. I highly recommend it. These and other resources on my website resources page.

 

Next week, I’ll talk about how to develop an effective missions program that compliments your current children’s ministry.

→ 1 CommentCategories: Missions
Tagged: ,

10 Ways To Build An Effective Children’s Ministry Team

October 26, 2009 · 2 Comments

Have Qualifications: No matter how tempted you are to recruit any warm body you can find, don’t lower your standards. Let people know that only people who meet certain qualifications can be on your team. It takes longer to do it this way, but the workers you recruit will be long term team members who will add to your effectiveness in ministry. Here’s a link to help you recruit workers.

Have Clear Expectations: When you recruit a member to your team, let him know what you expect from him. Give him a job description and a policy manual. Here’s a link to a policy manuel you can buy from Revival Fire For Kids.

Have On-Going Training: Have training for new recruits and on-going training for your workers. There are many ways to conduct training that doesn’t require a lot of time. Here’s a link for way to have teacher training.

Build Relationships: Spend individual time with your team members. Let them know you care about them as people, not just as team members.

Have Team Fellowships: Plan activities for the team to get together and hang out. Make sure you plan activities that the team members enjoy. Be creative. When you do this, team members will build relationships with each other which will help them be more effective.

Be Accountable To Your Team: Let your team know if you are struggling in an area and need prayer. If a team member comes to you about a problem they perceive, don’t blow them off.

Pray For Each Other: Have a prayer chain with your team members. If someone needs prayer, have a way to get the word out to the other team members whether by phone, email, or text messaging.

Communicate: Let the team members know what you’re planning and where your vision for the Children’s Ministry is going. They can’t follow if they don’t know where you’re going. Also make sure to have a communication plan to inform children’s team members about changes.

Empower: Give team members responsibility over areas of ministry. Empower them to minister. Follow-up to make sure the job is getting done, but don’t micro-manage or take back the reins of leadership unless there’s a major problem. Work with the team member to work through any issues.

Evaluate: Have meeting with team members to evaluate what’s working and what’s not working with children’s ministry. Offer a safe place to pitch creative ideas that are out of the box.

→ 2 CommentsCategories: Leadership
Tagged: , ,

Halloween Object Lesson

October 18, 2009 · Leave a Comment

Jesus and the Jack-O-Lanterns

This object lesson is perfect to use at Halloween. Something that people use as decoration will remind children how Jesus saves them from their sin.

Needed: 2 jack-o-lanterns. One should have a frown carved, and should be warped and ugly. It shouldn’t be cleaned out completely and shouldn’t have a light in it. If you can, leave it to rot for a few days. The more disgusting it is, the better. The second jack-o-lantern should be clean, with a smile on its face and a candle in it.

Everywhere you go at this time of the year, you see jack-o-lanterns. Did you know jack-o-lanterns can remind you of how Jesus saved you. Before Jesus came into your heart, you were like this jack-o-lantern. Show first jack-o-lantern. You were full of sin and dirty inside. You had no light inside you, and you were very unhappy. But Jesus came into your heart and cleaned all the sin inside. Show the second jack-o-lantern. He gave you peace and put a smile on your face. He even shines His light through you. So everywhere you go this Halloween, when you see a jack-o-lantern, let it remind you of what Jesus did when He saved you.

→ Leave a CommentCategories: Children's Church · Halloween · Holidays · Object Lessons · Salvation Message
Tagged: , , ,

Starting a Drama/Performance Team

October 12, 2009 · 1 Comment

There are many kinds of drama and performance teams you can start for your children’s ministry. These teams allow children the opportunity to minister in front of a congregation and are great to give children the opportunity to do outreach. Here are some steps if you would like to start a team.

Decide what children will be on the team. Are you going to have every child in the church participate or only those that are interested? Will you have auditions? Also determine the ages of those who will participate.

Decide a schedule of practices. Make sure every parent receives the schedule in writing. You may also have to do some follow-up phone calls.

Decide on an identity. Name your performance team or allow the children to choose a name. Assign a logo. Also decide what the children will wear. T-shirts with the name of the team are a great idea.

Make a list of guidelines. Guidelines are needed not only for behavior, but also for dress code, missed practices, etc.

Decide what type of performance your team will do. Your team can be a general performance or drama team. It could also only specialize in a couple of genres. But you need to decide that ahead of time. If you do different genres, you may want to start with one easier genre and proceed from there. Jeff Smith of Salt and Light Ministries has a number of resources for performance teams at this link. Here’s a list of performance genres and some more resources.

Acting: Acting is the type of genre where the children do skits that require talking. Here’s a link  to find great Christian drama skits for free.

Mime: Actors wear white paint on their faces and white gloves. They act out their parts, but they don’t use words. This can be to music, but it doesn’t have to be. To find out more about this, click this link.

Human Video: This is where children perform to music using facial expressions, sign language, and other actions to tell the story of the song. Karen Wheaton’s ministry has a number of DVD’s with human videos at this link.

Flags/Banners: Children use flags and banners to perform to a song.

God Rods: Children use dowel rods as props in human video style performances. Jeff Smith of Salt and Light created this ministry. You can find out more at this link.

Dance/Movement: Children don’t act out a song as much as they perform with the music. It is generally not a good idea to start this kind of team unless it’s led by someone who has some dance training.

→ 1 CommentCategories: Discipling Children · Drama & Performance Teams for Children
Tagged: , , , , , ,

Spiritual Burnout In Children’s Ministry

October 5, 2009 · Leave a Comment

Spiritual burnout is a reality for children’s pastors. Children’s pastors are on the front lines fighting for a generation of children. The pressure is enormous. Demonic spirits fight us. The ministry we pour out drains us. Nobody has a clue as to what we do, and we feel like we’re all alone. The average children’s pastor lasts in the average church 1.5 years. How can we avoid burnout?

We can learn from a prophet in the Bible who was also on the front lines - Elijah. James 5:17 NKJV says “Elijah was a man with a nature like ours”. Elijah was called by God to confront 850 prophets of Baal and Asherah on Mt. Carmel. He stood alone on the mountain. No other prophet of God stood with him.

Have you ever felt like you were standing alone? Have you ever lamented on not having the workers you need?

Elijah challenged them to a duel of sorts, whose God can bring fire from heaven. After an entire day of the prophets of Baal trying to bring fire from heaven, Elijah prayed and fire consumed the sacrifice. Then Elijah executed all 850 prophets with a sword. He wasn’t done yet. Elijah climbed to the top of Mt. Carmel and prayed six times for rain. After the seventh time, the rains came.

At this point, Elijah had to be spiritually, emotionally, and physically exhausted. He was probably running on adrenalin, and he was vunerable. He should have gone home and gone to bed for about a week. But he didn’t.

Imagine how tired you would be. How tired are you after a major, successful children’s ministry event?

Elijah was sure that this would be the end of Jezebel and Baal worship, so he ran to the city. Scripture said that he outran Ahab’s chariot. But when he got to the city, Elijah found that Satan doesn’t give up that easily. Jezebel threatened to kill him. Elijah plummeted into fear and depression, and he ran for his life.

God dealt with Elijah in a very unusual way. He didn’t answer Elijah’s complaints or correct him for his negative thinking. God put Elijah in a deep sleep for two days. During that time He sent angels to watch over Elijah and to cook Elijah meals to eat for the few times he did wake. God took care of Elijah’s physical and emotional needs first. Then God restored him spiritually. Basically, God loved on him.

So if Elijah was prone to spiritual burnout, how can we avoid it. We need to do what Elijah didn’t. We need to take time out for ourselves, for our families, and for our God.

Take time for yourself. We all need time to play: to pursue hobbies, play on the computer, watch movies, go on vacation, or just watch the sun set. There are those who say we should spend every free moment reading our Bibles and praying. I disagree. We need time to recharge ourselves emotionally. We need time to play. If we take that time, we honor God. Remember God created a day of rest for us.

Take time for your family. Your family is more important than ministry because it is the first ministry God gave you. Schedule date nights and family nights regularly. Honor God by ministering to your family.

Take time for God. So many in ministry get to the place where they only spend time with God in preparation for ministry. Remember, your ministry is not your God. God allows you to participate in His ministry, but your relationship with God should be more. Don’t be so busy with His ministry that you don’t spend time with God.

“But you don’t understand. If I take time to do all these things, the ministry will suffer. I’m the only one who will do this. If I take time out for myself, nobody else is going to get these things done.”

If you are making comments like this to yourself, you are all ready headed toward spiritual burnout. Re-evaluate everything you’re doing. What isn’t effective? Maybe you’re not supposed to be doing everything you’re doing. Maybe you shouldn’t be doing it all. Maybe you need to surrender a few things to God. Maybe you need to allow Him to be God.

Remember, it is God that bring laborers in to the harvest. It is God who is responsible for the results. It is God’s ministry and God’s children you are ministering to. God’s yoke is easy, and His burden is light. Give it to Him.

→ Leave a CommentCategories: Encouragement For Children's Ministers · Leadership
Tagged: ,