How do you start a children’s ministry and develop it for sustainable growth? In a free New Churches course, “10 Steps to Developing a Children’s Ministry,” I share how to begin making young disciples in your church. Through this course, you can learn how to build up and build out a Christ-centered children’s ministry with these 10 steps.
Step 1: Choose a Children’s Director
The role of the children’s ministry director is no small feat. What does it take to raise up the next generation of Christ followers? How can your congregation and its leaders be equipped and empowered for the work of making young disciples? Through this course you will understand the qualifications and characteristics necessary for your children’s ministry director to thrive in their God-ordained leadership.
Step 2: Evaluate Your Space
From hotels to theaters and locker rooms to hallways, the church is more than the brick and mortar of its building space, and your children’s ministry is more than its meeting place. This course reveals the tips, tricks and mindset your children’s ministry team needs to reclaim your venue and transform it into a hub for thriving ministry where the gospel can be loudly proclaimed. Learn how the unlikeliest of spaces can be cultivated into a home base for kid-friendly discipleship.
Step 3: Determine the Age Groups
Your church and its children are unique. There’s no one-size-fits-all model for children’s ministry. This course shares considerations to help you determine the age groupings for your church to develop an effective children’s ministry.
Step 4: Determine the Format
What does Sunday programming look like for your church? How do kids engage in worship? Examine common factors of Sunday morning services and how you can best meet the needs of both parents and children when determining your children’s ministry format. Learn more about the inner workings of corporate worship and how your church can encounter the gospel through intentional, collective worship.
Step 5: Check-in Procedure
First impressions matter, and safety must come first. How parents and guests interact with security and safety measures impacts their opinion of your children’s ministry. This course reveals why security is crucial for your team and how you can implement safety measures for the sake of the gospel going forward. Learn how to care for families and volunteers from the very first moment they step foot into your children’s ministry.
Step 6: Write a Children’s Ministry Manual
You have big dreams for the life of your children’s ministry! Your children’s ministry manual matters for how you can best prepare yourself, your team, and your parents for whatever lies ahead. Learn how to lead your volunteers, implement policies and procedures and cast a vision that will last as you seek to make disciples for Jesus through your children’s ministry.
Step 7: Recruit Volunteers
Your children’s ministry wouldn’t be able to thrive without volunteers. How can you recruit and retain like-minded people to lead your children well? This course emphasizes how to cast vision for your children’s ministry and how to draw in and train up volunteers to serve. Learn how to recruit and multiply volunteers for your children’s ministry needs.
Step 8: Expenses
Fiscal responsibility and accountability are crucial to the longevity and effectiveness of your children’s ministry goals. This course offers insight into how expenses relate to your ministry vision and why you need a financial plan from the start. If money talks, here’s how you can start those conversations now.
Step 9: Choose a Curriculum
What we teach children about Jesus impacts the trajectory of their faith. How can we be sure we are utilizing the best resources available? Understand how to choose the most effective curriculum for your children’s ministry to meet your needs, budget and volunteers. Identify considerations to help you lay the foundation for discipleship through solid teaching and leading.
Step 10: Purchase Supplies
What do you need when you launch your children’s ministry? Now is the time to plan for those supplies. Simplify the purchasing process by plotting out the logistics and essentials you will need for the big day in advance.
Children’s ministry matters. The truths children learn about Jesus Christ are of eternal significance. So whether you’re the children’s ministry director of a new church just getting off the ground or if you’re looking to build out your children’s ministry, “10 Steps to Developing a Children’s Ministry” is your ultimate guide for building up and building out your kids’ team for the work of making young disciples. Learn how you can best lead the children you’ve been entrusted with and how you can equip their parents to be disciple-makers at home. Let us hand you the tools you need to get your children’s ministry up and running as you lay the foundation for generations of Christ followers to come.
Click here to learn more about this free course.
Published September 14, 2022