By Dale Hudson
Effective children’s ministries have processes in place for their key areas of ministry. They don’t just “wing it.” They know ahead of time what the steps will be for ministry situations.
Let’s look at three of the key areas for which you need to have a process.
- Volunteers
How you bring volunteers onto your team is extremely important. A volunteer’s on-boarding experience sets the tone for their volunteering in the ministry.
A haphazard attitude when bringing volunteers on board says your ministry is not carefully planned out and volunteering in your ministry is no big deal.
Here is the process I have used for bringing volunteers on the team.
Step one: Get the contact information for anyone who is interested in volunteering.
Step two: Set up a personal interview with the person. In this interview, address any hard questions that need to be asked.
Step three: Run a background check if you think the person will be a good fit coming out of the personal interview.
Step four: Call the references the potential volunteer gave you.
Step five: Invite the potential volunteer to an orientation meeting. At the end of this meeting, they are an official volunteer.
Step six: Help the volunteer get connected with their area of service. Provide them with hands-on training.
- Guest Follow-Up
If you want to see guests return for a second visit, it’s important to have a follow-up process. Here is a process I have used that works well.
As our guest services team is checking in a new family, they ask some key questions to get some information about the guests. Did you just move to the area? Where from? How did you hear about our church? Have you made any friends yet?
Ask the kids questions, too. What is your favorite flavor of ice cream? What do you do for fun? What’s your favorite kind of candy? Who is your favorite superhero?
Once the volunteers take the guests to the appropriate room, they then go back to the guest services area. When they have a few minutes, they write out a handwritten note to the guest family they just helped check in.
In the note, they include something personal they just learned about the family. This makes the note go to a new level as they realize you remembered something specific about their family. They can then turn in the note card to you so you can mail it to the guest family on Monday.
Here are some other steps you can take as you follow-up with new families.
Include on the card a note that says they can bring it back for a free gift on their next visit. I gave away t-shirts with the ministry logo on it when they came back.
Other steps you can use to follow up with volunteers is text message them, call them on the phone or maybe dropping off a plate of brownies.
- Children Inviting Jesus into Their Lives
The most important thing we do as children’s ministries is sharing the Gospel with children and families. That being said, it is crucial that you have a clear pathway that children can see and understand. Maybe that’s why we call it God’s PLAN of salvation.
I am a big proponent of making sure we are giving children a clear presentation of the Gospel. I also believe parents should play the biggest role in leading children to Jesus.
I have found that the most thorough way of leading children to Jesus is to have a class they go through with their parents. In the class, the Gospel is clearly shared. And the cool thing is that if you do this, you will also see parents make a decision to follow Jesus by accepting His way of salvation.
If you are looking for a clear process for leading children and parents to Jesus, then I recommend a class called Starting Point, which has been used to lead thousands of children and parents to Christ across the country.
What a huge responsibility we have to reach and disciple the next generation. I can’t tell you how important it is to have clear steps in place.
Clear processes help children and parents take clear steps in their journey with Jesus.
Dale Hudson founded Building Children’s Ministry to help churches build thriving, growing children and family ministries, www.buildingchildrensministry.com. With over 32 years of experience, he has a passion and calling to equip, encourage and empower churches to reach and disciple kids and families.
