Category Archives: Outreach

Planning An Easter Party

Posted on March 14, 2012 | 1 Comment

Easter parties are great events to have for children in your ministry. Here some things to consider.

When will you have the party? Easter Sunday after church is not a practical time. But you could have the party during church on Easter. Or you could have the party after church on Palm Sunday. The Saturday before Palm Sunday and Easter Sunday are good times to have it as well.

What type of party will you have?

Easter Egg Hunts:  These are very popular, but they have drawbacks. You need to have church property large enough to hide the eggs to make if fun. If you don’t, look for a park or a parent’s yard where you can hide eggs. Don’t use real eggs. Buy the plastic eggs from the dollar store and stuff them with candy or toys you can buy in bulk. Or you can put tickets in the eggs the children can use to purchase prizes. That way, each child gets prizes. You’ll also want grand prizes you can give away to children who collect the most eggs. Easter baskets work good for this. In some areas of the country, snow and rain are problems at this time of year. If that’s the case, make sure to schedule a rain date.

Easter Carnival: A carnival can work well even indoors. Call your local carnival rental place and see if they’ll donate the games for the carnival. Some places will if the games aren’t being used. Also if you have a carpenter in your church, consider having him make some games you can use. You can give out tickets, candy, or prizes for each game won.

Fun Sunday: If you have the party during or after church on a Sunday, consider having pizza, pop, and treats for the children. You could also show an Easter movie in the sanctuary on the “big screen” like in a movie theater. You could have gospel illusions, games, crafts, and other activities.

How Will You Present The Message:  An Easter party is a prime opportunity to present the message of salvation to children. Think of a gospel illusion, story, or object lesson you can use for a short 5 minute message.

Get Donations:  Contact pizza places, bowling alleys, skating rinks, and fast food restaurants to see if they’d be willing to donate free gift certificates to their establishments that you can give as door prizes. Most businesses are willing to do this.

Plan Ahead:  Get the workers you need. Decide how you’ll spread the word. Find people to set up and do follow-up. The better you plan ahead, the better this party will go.

Pray:  This is a great opportunity to reach unchurched children. Pray for God to move during this party.

→ 1 Comment

Posted in Children's Events, Easter, Holidays, Outreach

Tagged , , ,

Resolution #5 – Attract More Children To Your Church

Posted on January 13, 2012 | Leave a comment

Share

Attracting more children to your church is a goal every children’s pastor has, and it can be done easily and effectively with four easy steps.

1. Pray.

Don’t only pray for numbers. Pray that God is in the middle of your children’s ministry and that His desire for souls is at the center of your desire to attract more children. Too many pastors, churches, and children’s ministries start with the right motives but, at some point because of pride, start wanting more numbers because it makes them look good. Your first prayer should be to change your heart’s desire into what God’s desire is not for numbers.

Your second prayer should be to ask God to give you plans and creativity. If you do ministry the way you always have, you’ll always have what you’ve always had. Ask God to show you what you should focus on changing this coming year.

2. Have an effective children’s ministry.

This should go without saying, but it doesn’t. No matter how many children you get in the doors, if you don’t have something effective for them when they get there, they won’t stay.

God will only give you what you can handle. If you have twenty children and want to double that by the end of the year, start having workers, classes, and programs that will work if fifty children show up.

3. Have Effective Outreach.

There are only so many children who will come through your doors without outreach. It’s your job to go into the highways and byways and compel them to come in.

Here are a few effective outreach activities your children’s ministry could have:

Block Parties

Park Ministry

Vacation Bible School

Sidewalk Sunday School

Easter Party

School Bible Clubs

Kids Crusade

4. Follow-Up:

This is a step that most churches fail at. They have a great outreach event, lots of children come, many are saved, but then they never hear from the church until the next large outreach event.

Once a child comes to one of your event, make a personal contact through a letter and a phone call. Meet the parents, and invite them to church. Ask if they have any prayer needs they would like you to remember. That’s what will get them inside your church doors for more than an event.

→ Leave a comment

Posted in Leadership, Outreach

A Children’s Pastor Is An Evangelist

Posted on April 21, 2010 | 2 Comments

Every children’s pastor should be an evangelist. It’s great to minister to the children in your church, but what have you done to develop a children’s ministry that reaches out to unsaved children? Here’s a few ideas to make sure you are acting, not only as a pastor, but as an evangelist.

Altar Calls:

Altar calls in children’s church are an important way to give children an opportunity to respond to the message. Unfortunately some children’s pastors have decided end having altar calls. Here’s a link to an article by Jerry Moyer called Why I Still Have Altar Calls? It’s worth reading.

Salvation Sundays:

No matter how you decide to do it, you should have Sundays periodically that emphasis salvation. Advertise these Sunday’s to the children in your ministry as a day to invite their friends. Create excitement and have a special theme and special activities that only happen on these Sundays. Give a salvation message. Then do follow-up for the visitors who attended.

Outreach Events:

Some children’s pastors are also ending outreach events because they are costly and time-consuming. They’ve decided to focus on the children in the church. But Jesus didn’t focus on the people inside the church. He carried His message to everyone who would listen.

There are some children who will never come to your church on a Sunday morning. Some of them have circumstances, like unsaved parents who don’t think it’s important, that keep them from coming. But they will come to your special outreach events every time you have them. If your goal is only to get more children to come to your church, outreach events are not that effective. But if your goal is to share the Gospel to children who would otherwise never hear it, outreach events are worth the time and money spent.

Here’s some outreach events you could have:

Park Ministry

Sidewalk Sunday School

Kid’s Crusades

Vacation Bible School

Block Parties

Halleluiah Costume Carnival (Halloween)

Easter Egg Hunt or Party

Sport’s Ministries

School Bible Clubs

Missions:

Having a good missions program in your children’s ministry is vital for evangelism in the church. Outreach and evangelism aren’t only for our neighborhood. We should be reaching the world for Christ.

Here’s some links to help you with your missions program:

Missions In Children’s Minsitry

Developing a Children’s Ministry Missions Program

Fundraisers

Here’s a couple of ministries your children’s ministry could support:

Missionary Family In Thailand

Operation Kid Passion (Works with Operation Compassion)

Teach Children How To Share The Gospel

This will be the most effective thing you ever do as an evangelist. The children under you can reach children you will never be able to minister to. Give them the tools to share the Gospel. Teach them how. Practice with them. Then release them into ministry.

→ 2 Comments

Posted in Encouragement For Children's Ministers, Leadership, Missions, Outreach, Salvation of Children

Tagged ,

Youth Concert: RIOT on the River

Posted on August 3, 2009 | Leave a comment

Today, I have a guest blogger, Marcia Durkee. Marcia has been the chairman and founder of RIOT on the River, a ministry that does a free outdoor concert for youth every year. This concert is not for the faint of heart. It features the best Christian bands in the area who rock the house with hard Christian rock and Christian hip-hop, the kind of music kids today like. During the concert, there’s fun, games, food vendors, and lots of excitement. But it also has prayer warriors and a witness team that walks around and ministers. During the concert, local pastors and youth pastors share the gospel and give youth an opportunity to accept Christ as their savoir.

RIOT on the River also gives an opportunity for youth to minister. Youth groups from the area come to the concert to minister in a variety of ways. I’ll let Marcia tell you about the concert in her own words.

The thirteenth annual RIOT on the River will be at the Falls River Square in beautiful downtown Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio on Saturday, August 8th from 5-11 p.m.  It is a free music festival with a variety of food and merchandise vendors.  There will be games for all ages including a bungy jump and a kids bouncer as well as an obstacle course and a free interactive water fountain.  There will be fun give-aways as well as raffles for great prizes.

This year’s music line up is one of the best ever at the event.  The winners from the 2009 Battle of the Bands will be performing early in the evening beginning with the Honorable Mention band, Von Isley from Hudson. Aevory Nash, a local band came in second behind winner, Jay Michael.  Jay loves to interact with the crowd and is sure to please everyone with his “hippie boy” style.  RIOT is bringing back three groups from last year’s line up with Goodnight Wednesday, a hard rock group that loves music.  Mercy Rising will be coming in from Youngstown, and they rock hard as well.  The headliner for the 2009 event is Stefano, a local hip hop singer, that will close out the night with great vocals and music!  Jerry Smith, a local youth pastor, is back with RIOT on the River to be the Master of Ceremonies, and he is always ready to have a great time between the change up of the bands.

This is a R.I.O.T. – a righteous invasion of truth – not just a concert!  Come and experience the intensity of the music from bands that love the One that gave them their musical talent and watch how it can change the eternity of many people. 

It’s time to RIOT!

→ Leave a comment

Posted in Outreach, Summer Events

Tagged ,

Block Parties

Posted on April 13, 2009 | Leave a comment

Block parties are a terrific way to reach the neighborhood around your church, especially if you have a lot of children living nearby. Block parties are essentially parties you give for the neighborhood. A good block party will have the following elements.

 

Invitation Blitz: If you are going to have a lot of people at your block party, you will need to go into the neighborhood and compel them to come. Print out a flier as an invitation. Then have teams go into the neighborhood by two’s and knock on every door. You could also go the route of a mass mailing, but personal invitations work so much better.

 

Good Food: This is a drawing card. Whether you have a cookout, spaghetti, or vendors with different foods, print what you’re having to eat on the flier. Also make sure you let them know it’s free.

 

Music & Drama Groups: Music should be upbeat and contemporary. If you don’t have enough music and drama groups to entertain the whole time, invite groups from other churches to minister.

 

Entertainment For Kids: Your carnival will draw a crowd if you have lots of entertainment for the kids. If your budget allows, have inflatables such as bounce houses, slides, and obstacle courses. Make carnival games for the children to play. Have someone make balloon animals. Have a team of people do face painting. If you have somebody who does clowning or gospel illusions, have him at the block party. 

 

Evangelism: Train an evangelism team to make friends with the people who come, to share what the church has to offer, and to pray with people.

 

Prayer: This and every event should be bathed in prayer.

→ Leave a comment

Posted in Children's Events, Outreach, Summer Events

Tagged , ,