KidMinspiration

This month, our church has encouraged families with elementary, middle, and high school students to worship together in lieu of their regular Sunday morning programming. It was an idea that surfaced at the end of last summer and again this past April at a staff meeting. It wasn’t really a hard decision for us to make because of two observations: (1) last summer it was almost impossible to recruit volunteers to serve because of August travel schedules and (2) summer is a good time to try something different. We had also been asked by several families to promote this type of initiative.

After a number of collaborative brainstorming sessions between Children’s Ministry, Student Ministry, Worship Arts, invested parents and Senior Leadership, we decided to go for it. But we wanted to be strategic about our approach.

We wanted to give advance notice to our congregation, so we began announcing this change a few weeks out. Our first announcement fell on our VBS Celebration Sunday (when there were many families – regular attenders and visitors – were in attendance.) Our Family Pastor even gave the children a bit of a teaser by announcing that a special ticket book might show up at their house. *See below for more info about this.

In addition, a number of promotional material was prepared. We contracted a designer to create a Worship Together logo that was used on promotional material through the Sunday bulletin, our weekly e-newsletter, a letter that was mailed home to parents, our website and video. Our promo videos included a rising 6th grader being ‘interviewed’ by one of our preachers; a skit by members of our Family Ministry team and one by me (gasp)!

We acknowledged that some parents & families might be a little apprehensive about worshiping with their younger elementary-aged children. We wanted to ease their fears a bit and supplied a “Worship Together Resource” handout for parents to download from our website. You can take a peek at that here. (I will also place a pdf copy under the “Parent Resources/Downloads” tab on this blog.)

Being very intentional about including children and students in the service is something we also desired. This included a special blessing that parents could over children and students on Communion Sunday; creatively telling the Bible story through skits (involving children & students); and using examples that kids could relate to. Our contracted designer also designed a pew card that explained the elements of the service and why we do them.

Supplying children’s worship bags was also a way for us to be intentional about including younger children in the service. Each bag (a small, bright yellow plastic bag that I had on hand from a previous event) was filled with crayons, a pencil and that week’s specially designed children’s bulletin. Our children’s bulletin was a one-page bi-fold which included a cover page; a place for older children to take notes (write down the scripture, who was preaching & what they learned); a place for children to circle corresponding pictures every time they sang a song, prayed, gave an offering, took Communion and read their Bible; and 2 activity pages (we varied the activities each week and chose crosswords, coloring pages, decoder puzzles, mazes, etc.) Remembering that we were catering to children in grades 2-5, we wanted to offer a balance of activities to suit the wide age span.

Earlier I mentioned a special ticket book for families. We mailed a ticket book to families with elementary-aged children so that the children could redeem tickets each week for a special small treat. We chose some items that corresponded with the scripture text as well as general items like pencils and bookmarks.

I am hearing pretty good feedback from parents and other adults about how much they’ve enjoyed worshiping together and seeing the children in worship. Our prayer is that Worship Together would become a regular practice among families at our church.

Free Family Ministry Resources

01/28/201501/28/2015 Kathie Phillips

For the past several months, our Family Ministry staff team has met to brainstorm and process what Family Ministry could look like at our church. Two key elements that remain at the center of our discussions are (1) we believe that parents should be the primary influence in their children’s lives and (2) our role as a church is to come alongside families and equip them to be that primary spiritual influence through intentional programming and resources.

I recently took a look at materials from Be:Kids, a fairly new organization that provides free family devotions to use throughout the week to encourage parents to be involved in discipleship within the home. Be:Kids co-founder Meredith Chapuis asked me to take a look at the free resources that they provide for this purpose.

According to their website, Be:Kids’ mission is to partner with the collective church to raise up the future generation of leaders in our community and around the world by cultivating character and confidence in Christ. To teach children to walk in the light of the truth, be rooted deeply in love, encourage each other, embrace their individuality, and to seek God’s will above all else. Their three goals are:

Equip and Empower Parents To Live On Mission;
Invade Communities With Love; and
Make A Generational Change In Society

There are a few facets to their ministry that I love:

Be: Inspired (Blog)

Their blog encourages parents with scripture, reminders about what’s important and prayers. They also feature real families who share their stories of discipling their children.

Be: Intentional (Devotions)

Each week, a new family devotional plan is published. Included are:

The week’s ‘focus’
A memory verse
Lunch box notes
Conversation starters
An application activity
Scripture passages, brief devotional and prayer

What I love is the action plan that comes with the weekly devotional. Sometimes parents who desire to lead a devotional time with their children don’t always know how to do it. And the printable lunch box notes look amazing!

#Be Box

Click the #Be Box image above to take a peek at what was included in January’s box.

Check out the resources for yourself & tell them Kathie sent ya! You can also connect with Be:Kids to stay informed of new resources when they become available.

Website: http://bekidsmobile.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BEKIDSMOBILE

Twitter: https://twitter.com/BEKIDSMOBILE

Instagram: http://instagram.com/bekidsmobile

Rest, Growth, Health: Essentials for Ministry Leaders

01/27/201501/27/2015 Kathie Phillips 1 Comment

I love being by the water. Being in such a tranquil place restores my soul like nothing else. A few weeks ago, our entire church staff retreated to Pennsylvania together to worship, eat, play and reflect upon three specific themes: Rest, Growth, and Health.

In November, each staff member was provided a workbook that would help us reflect on these areas in our personal lives as well as our roles here at church. Because our church leadership believes that a healthy staff is imperative to a healthy church culture and a healthy church is vital to our effectiveness in our Kingdom work, they provided questions for personal reflection in these five areas of health: Spiritual, Physical, Emotional, Financial, Vocational.

The exercises and questions were good for me to think through. As I did my work, I realized two prevalent themes in three of the five areas of health. The themes were distractions and excuses. Although I knew I struggle with these areas, it wasn’t until I saw them written on paper several times that I realized they were a common thread running through many of my shortcomings, both personally and professionally.

Another ‘aha’ moment for me was when I asked the question: When do I feel most alive? My answers:

Getting to dream
Working on bigger projects (as part of a team and individually)
Working on my own projects where I have creative control
Creating things

So, in thinking of terms of Rest, Growth, and Health, what does this look like in my life?

REST

I think I do a pretty good job of resting, especially after a busy season. Sometimes what I struggle with is just resting…not entertaining myself or letting someone or something entertain me. Sometimes I struggle with simply resting and resisting the urge to be doing something.

Rest for me looks different at different times. Sometimes I rest alone, catching up on TV shows, reading a good book or magazine, praying and journaling, enjoying a latte from Starbucks, pinning to Pinterest, listening to music or a podcast. Sometimes I rest with others, spending time with my family, having coffee or lunch with a friend, or shopping. Sometimes I simply rest by sleeping.

Here are a few resources that speak to the need for rest:

Hidden in Plain Sight by Steve Adams

The Gift of Sabbath by Danielle Bell

GROWTH

In my opinion, we should never stop wanting to grow and expand our knowledge. It doesn’t matter how old you are – keep growing and learning!

I consider myself a student of kidmin, leadership, and ministry. I want to stay up-to-date on what’s happening in my field. I want to lead well. How do I do that?

I read books, magazines, blogs, articles…anything having to do with kidmin and leadership.
I connect with other leaders. I love spending time with people who do what I do. We have so much to learn from each other.
I attend workshops and conferences. Again, I love connecting with like-minded people but I also need to learn new skills and techniques.
I take risks. Yes, this is scary, but very necessary for growth. God wants to enlarge your borders!

Here are a few resources that speak to the need for growth:

Great Leaders Grow by Ken Blanchard and Mark Miller

Evaluating Yourself for Growth as a Leader by Orange Leaders

10 Steps to Becoming a Better Children’s Ministry Leader in 2015 by Dale Hudson

HEALTH

An article in the Jan/Feb 2015 issue of Kidzmatter Magazine says, “‘Busy’ is the new ‘Fine’.” I’m sure you’ve experience that when you ask someone how they’re doing. The truth is that many of us are not fine. Life is hard. Many of us are depleted spiritually. Many of us are not taking care of our bodies by getting enough rest, eating healthy, exercising and having regular doctor’s appointments. Many of us deal with anxiety and depression. Many of us are desperately trying to make ends meet each month. Many of us are at the end of our ministry rope and are ready to throw in the towel.

Here are a few resources that speak to the need for health:

How Bill Hybels Stays Replenished by Carolyn Burge

Leading On Empty by Wayne Cordeiro

I’d encourage you to download this modified self-evaluation and spend some time honestly evaluating your life.

Join the conversation: What God is teaching you in the areas of Rest, Growth and Health? Let me know by leaving a comment below.