KidMinspiration

Flashback Friday: My Favorite Online Reads & Videos (Week of February 9, 2015)

02/13/201502/13/2015 Kathie Phillips

This Week’s Favorite Online Reads & Videos

Here’s a sampling of some of the online reads and podcasts I enjoyed this week:

{MINISTRY/LEADERSHIP}

Do You Emotionally Crash After Big Events? 6 Things You Need to Know by Dale Hudson

{VIDEOS – From the Just ONE Virtual Conference}

Equipping Our Hearts for Ministry by Lori Wilhite

Equipping Ourselves To Give The Best Yes by Lysa TerKeurst

Equipping Ourselves For Change by Kristyn VanBuskirk

Equipping Ourselves For Life In Ministry by Stephanie Carter

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I hope you enjoy reading these articles and watching these fabulous videos as much as I did.

Did you read something this week that inspired or encouraged you? Share it with me so I might check it out, too!

{Throwback Thursday} Speak Your Volunteer’s Love Language

02/12/201502/12/2015 Kathie Phillips

Years ago, I read “The 5 Love Languages” by Gary Chapman. The title was fascinating and I wanted to learn more. Not only did I want to learn how to best show love to my husband, I wanted to learn more about the way I best receive love. The findings weren’t astonishing – I already knew – but I could give it an “official” title.

If you are not familiar with The 5 Love Languages, allow me to give you a brief description of each:

Words of Affirmation: Use words to affirm other people.

Acts of Service: For these people, actions speak louder than words.

Receiving Gifts: It’s not the price or extravagance of the gift; it’s the thought behind it.

Quality Time: Give people your focused, undivided attention.

Physical Touch: Use appropriate touch to lift someone’s spirits

Since the first book, there have been subsequent books, including “The 5 Love Languages of Children”, “The Five Love Languages of Teenagers”, just to name a few. The author also penned a book called “The 5 Languages of Appreciation in the Workplace”. According to their website, this book gives “practical steps to make any workplace environment more encouraging and productive”.

I’d like to offer that as kidmin leaders, one of our goals should be to make our ministry environments more encouraging and productive. How? By creatively loving on our volunteers as often as we can. What if we loved our volunteers in ways that they would best receive it? What if we moved away from “one size fits all” volunteer appreciation? After all, if we don’t properly care for our volunteers, who will?

Show your volunteers how much you care by speaking their love language. Below are a few ideas to help get you started:

Words of Affirmation:

Praise your volunteers publicly, in front of other people.
Write notes to them, affirming them in how they are an invaluable member of your team.
Write notes to their family, thanking them for sharing their family member with your ministry and the impact they are having.
Catch them in the act and mention to them how they made the right call, gently spoke to a child, made the Bible story come alive, etc.

Resource: DaySpring provides free e-cards you can send to your volunteers to let them know how much you care.

Acts of Service:

Take them a meal when they are sick, have a baby, etc.
Offer to babysit volunteer’s children so that your volunteer can enjoy a date night with their spouse, a day of pampering, or a day of solitude with the Lord.
Run an errand for them.
Prepare their supplies for an upcoming lesson.
Love them enough to give them the Sunday off when needed.

Resource: Make a coupon book for volunteers for them to use in redeeming “services” (with advance notice, of course!).

Receiving Gifts:

Give volunteers their favorite piece of candy, a gift card to their favorite restaurant or a gift card to their favorite coffee shop.
Frame their favorite scripture verse in a beautiful picture frame.
Put together an electronic photo album, showcasing your volunteer in action. (I love Smilebox.)
Frame a picture of your volunteer in action.
Frame a picture of your volunteer’s class or team.
Have the volunteer’s make a handmade gift.

Resource: Find out your volunteer’s “Favorite Things” by asking them. Here’s a free form to get you started.

Quality Time:

*Disclaimer: Keep appropriate boundaries when interacting with someone of the opposite sex.

Take your volunteers out for coffee or meal just to chat and get to know each other outside of church.
Call your volunteer and ask how you can pray for them. Pray for them right over the phone.
If you share a hobby with a volunteer, do that hobby together – bake cookies, go fishing, take a class, paint a room, plant a garden, etc.
Serve together in a cause that you’re passionate about.
Read a book together and discuss it.

Resource: Subscribe to websites like Groupon or Living Social – they have great discounted goods and services.

Physical Touch:

*Disclaimer: Use appropriate touch, especially toward the opposite sex. I am a hugger by nature, but a rule of thumb that I follow is that I do not hug my male volunteers. I have a completely hands-off policy for male volunteers.

Give a hug to a hurting volunteer of the same gender.
You could also give fist bumps, a high-five or a special handshake.

Brainstorm additional ideas to help each volunteer feel loved and appreciated in ways that would mean the most to them.

What ideas would you add to the list? Share them with me below!

What About the Tweens?

02/10/201502/10/2015 Kathie Phillips 17 Comments

I am so excited to have my friend, Andrea Hopgood, share about her recent experience at the Children’s Pastors’ Conference. Andrea and I connected through another national conference a few years ago and I count her as one of my trusted kidmin sisters. Thank you for sharing your story with us, Andrea!

A couple of weeks ago, I had the opportunity to attend the Children’s Pastors’ Conference (CPC15). The four days of sitting and learning from experts in their field started with a long, daily look into, “What Matters Most in Ministry to Tweens”. Kids are considered a “tween” when they are between 9-12 years old. I will share with you highlights and AHA moments that were both confirming and convicting to me.

According to Daniel Nott with Tween Gospel Alliance, the average:

family time is 36 minutes per day
church time is 3 hours per week
media/digital time is 8-10 hours per day

These statistics show that media is forming and shaping the minds of our tweens. Our teens are buying into these thoughts:

There isn’t any absolute truth. They believe it’s ok to believe what you want.

They’re asking the question, “Is church relevant for me?”

Partying is good and being skinny is the key to happiness. Anorexia is starting between ages 9-11.

Divorce and living together is okay.

They are being mentored by media.

Having sex is normal because it’s on TV regularly. According to Dannah Gresch, founder of Secret Keeper Girl, kids as young as 11 have been exposed to pornography.

As parents and Christian leaders, it is our responsibility to nurture the tweens in our lives so they will not build their moral compass on a shaky (worldly) foundation. Instead, we need to guide them in creating a Biblical perspective that will be a firm foundation for their lives.

Moral Development Phases

3 to 6 year olds – This is the “copycat” phase. They want to be like mom or dad. At this age, they have the play kitchen sets and pretend tool boxes and they mimic what they see mom and dad do.

7 to 12 year olds – This is referred to as the “counseling” phase because they are forming their spiritual beliefs. No longer can we say “Because I said so”, they want to know “why”. This is always a spiritual question. This gives us the opportunity to give an answer from a Biblical perspective. If we aren’t ready to answer their questions, the world is definitely ready.

Spirit

The battle for the mind and hearts of people are largely won or lost by age 13. According to studies conducted by Barna, 80% of tweens say the Bible, Qur’an and Book of Mormon teach the same truth.

1% of tweens have a Biblical world view.

Social Peers

Tweens tend to detach from face to face communication and prefer to engage in social media. This detachment causes a decrease in empathy. To grab their attention in the church setting, we must provide experiences that will grasp their attention and apply the lesson directly to their lives, followed by time for them to verbally process how the lesson (for example) applies to their life. Many tweens are the 4th-5th graders in our ministries. They are bored being with the 1st-3rd graders, but they aren’t ready to be with the older kids. This is a golden opportunity for us to create a transitional ministry.

When they were asked, “Who is the biggest influencer in your life?”, the #1 answer was their parents. This is confirmation that we must provide opportunities for parents to be in the driver’s seat for spiritual encounters and spiritual formation. How can we do that?

Provide a parent/child baptism and/or communion class. This class will allow families to attend together as a ministry leader facilitates conversation. Parents will have an opportunity to share their faith story with their child or begin a conversation letting the child know that they are beginning this journey together. This will start heart conversations that can continue even after the class is complete.
Host date nights for fathers and daughters or mothers and sons.
Organize a parent/child purity retreat to guide conversations so parents are teaching their kids the Biblical perspective of modesty and truth about sexuality.

As you ponder what God would like your next steps to be, I pray that you receive the clarity and courage you need in order to walk out the next steps He has for you.

Resources

tweengospelalliance.org

secretkeepergirl.com

Six Ways to Keep the “Little” in Your Girl by Dannah Gresch

Six Ways to Keep the “Good” in Your Boy by Dannah Gresch

Keep the conversation going! Are you the parent or leader of a tween? Do you feel equipped to navigate these years? What resources have you found helpful? Share a comment here or on our Facebook page!

Andrea has a passion for equipping ministry leaders with tools needed to lead children and families to have a relationship with our Savior. During her 17 year career, she has served as a Children’s Pastor, a consultant, and a Presenter at various conferences. Currently, she is the Director of Elementary Ministry at Elmbrook Church.

4 Fun Valentine’s Day Games Kids Will Love!

02/07/201502/07/2015 Kathie Phillips

Newsflash: kids LOVE to play games! The beauty of children’s games is that they don’t have to be fancy or complicated, just fun!

I’ve scoured Pinterest and found a few Valentine’s Day games that would be great to use in your ministry before service, between services or as an extra-time activity. Of course, these games would also work for academic classrooms, homeschooling environments or Valentine’s parties.

Here are a few of my favorites:

From childrens-ministry-deals.com

Minute to Win It games are always a hit! The games are usually high energy (because you only have 60 seconds) and easy to prepare, as the supplies are usually ones you already have on hand. What I love about these is that you can set up several different games in a large, open space and have the kids rotate through them. And the good news is that these 10 games are absolutely FREE to download! You can also find other minute to win it ideas here.

From teachmama.com

This game is awesome for several reasons. (1) It is very easy to set up. You can use foam hearts (as mentioned in the post) or you can cut large hearts from cardstock or construction paper and laminate them for durability. (2) You can adapt it for toddlers, preschoolers, or elementary-age children.

The hearts can include active movements (as mentioned in the post), reflective actions (i.e. “Name someone you could say, ‘God loves you and so do I?'”), Bible story/verse review questions, or icebreaker questions. There are many options.

From Seven Thirty Three

Who doesn’t love the classic game of Tic Tac Toe? Playing it with x’s and o’s is good but playing with chocolate candies is even better! If food allergies are a concern, you could also play with red and pink Starbursts© or Skittles©.

From childrens-ministry-deals.com

Another classic game – BINGO! Again, you can download the free game boards here or be creative and make your own and adapt them for preschoolers & non-readers or include Bible verse words, names of people God loves…the possibilities are endless.