Encouraging New Children’s Ministry Leaders –

This blogpost is intended for new Children’s Ministry leaders and those who mentor them. You might be leading in an established context or in a brand-new church plant as a new leader. We hope these thoughts are an encouragement to the work the Lord has called you to.

Know Your Mission

I remember praying with someone once when they said, “Lord, help her to remember why she’s doing this!” Making time to consider your personal mission statement as you start out in Children’s Ministry is important. It helps us to remember why we do what we do. That mission statement becomes a framework to filter your ministry through. Does your curriculum reflect it? Do your events reflect this? What about the way you talk to volunteers and families? Personally, I have found reflecting on Matthew 19:14 and our church’s mission statement to be invaluable to the way I lead our Children’s Ministry.

Don’t Work Alone

Children’s Ministry can be lonely. As such, it will be largely up to you to build relationships. I have found four different ways for connecting to be super helpful.

1. Connect with and involve your families. Meet moms in your church for coffee. Take time to attend coffee hour on  Sundays to chat with seniors and young adults. Have a family over for dinner. The more you know your families the more you can care for them as well as cast vision and invite them to get involved.
2. Know your leadership. It is easy for a staff team to get separated by everyone focusing only on their own ministry area. How much stronger and more unified are we when ministry areas collaborate! Consider ways you can invite members from other ministry areas in your church into the work of Children’s Ministry. Our Youth Ministry regularly helps with youth volunteers and our Camp LIT (Leaders in Training) program. The Worship Ministry lends their talents and skills in helping us with worship songs and choirs. We aim to annually have our pastors visit our classrooms to help children get to know them, and they play a visible and active role in our summer camp.
3. Gather with other Children’s Ministry Directors. Gathering with like-minded Children’s Ministry leaders helps with troubleshooting things, gathering ideas, and having a safe space to chat through challenges and joys. A gathering like this might already exist in your area, or you may need to initiate it. In my area we have an area-based, interdenominational, monthly gathering, and then we have a quarterly presbytery-wide PCA-based gathering. Both have been an encouragement.
4. Build a team. Children’s Ministry is made stronger through having a team to care for and leading it. We call ours the “Coordinator Team.” One volunteer from each classroom meets together as a group monthly with the Director to share joys and challenges and to work collaboratively on plans. We also encourage parents and volunteers to share their feedback either with the Director or one of the Coordinators. This helps create more people who are able to give feedback as we mature as a Children’s Ministry.

Feed Yourself

As a leader, you will care for the needs of many, but that care may not always be returned. It is your responsibility to take care of yourself physically, emotionally, and spiritually. Make sure you get  plenty of sleep, healthful food, and exercise. Consider finding a mentor to check in on you. Work at getting into the Worship Service. This is not only important for your spiritual nourishment, but also as an example to the children of your church.

Personal Ministry Day Retreat

Every year I set one day aside in January as my “personal ministry retreat.” I find a new coffee shop, or I get out of the city for a day. I dream, pray, and plan for the year ahead, reflecting on the year previous. Doing this has been a helpful reset to my ministry rhythms.

I hope these ideas will be an encouragement to you as you jump into Children’s Ministry. The PCA’s Children’s Ministry Committee is here to help and pray for you too.