This season of intense yet innovative faith formation looks nothing like the job description I was given when I was originally hired. What about you? Each of us brings something more to the table once we get our sea legs under us after the first year. When we dock our fishing boat at a new harbor we are given that original job description, then we typically don’t see it again. Understanding church culture, I got into the habit of updating my job description, even if only for myself, each year in January.

In that update, I assign percentages of how much time it takes weekly to accomplish each task with many bullet points assigned “seasonal”. Each year we learn new skills, adjustments take place in organizational charts, new services or buildings or leadership are added to the mix. All affect how we live out our roles and the realistic time it takes. I’ve heard of churches making a person’s job description a one-liner, but it’s not been my experience. My one-liner might read, “to create safe, irresistible and transformational experiences for children to love the Lord their God with all their hearts, souls, minds, and strength, and love their neighbors as themselves for their whole lives.”

We are naive to think that local churches aren’t going to be making changes in the weeks and months to come. Changes in leadership, budgets, space, updates to organizational charts, processes, systems, security, safety, school schedules, all have a part to play in the rhythm of church world. Rather than waiting with anxious breath and fear taking up space in your head, take an hour this week to take a fresh look and edit your job description.

No one knows what you do, but you. Make it a matter of prayer and release your leadership from knowing all that you do or how long it takes to do it. They already have in their heads what you do and it’s not even close. In all fairness, we don’t know what all they do either, and that’s okay. Don’t get caught in the comparison trap or the weeds of disappointment.

I spent time with a dear Kidmin champion recently who lost her admin and her part-time hours were cut in half. There is no animosity. She gets it. Her only instruction for what she should focus on moving forward was, “Just pick something and do it really well.” Well, part of her original job description included Safe Sanctuary compliance for the entire church, all-church special events, as well as all family ministry education in addition to typical children’s ministry tasks. Just since March she’s added online weekly children’s moments which include script writing for others involved, weekly recording and editing film, coordinating weekly practices for online church, parking lot kids events, an online family ministry presence, personal visits and various connections to her volunteer team and her students. How does she just pick something?

Re-writing her job description of what she is doing before the cuts can help her partner with her leadership to choose and communicate priorities #1, #2, and #3 moving forward. It’ll give her and them a starting point to move forward to organizational health. They already have in their heads what #1 is. What if her #1 is their #52 or wasn’t even on their radar? Remember, the goal is organizational health. Her personal goal is ensure ‘surely goodness and mercy shall follow her all the days of her life,’ and wholeness. 

What are you doing and how long does it takes to do it? A fresh look at your job description will help. One way it’ll help is to see how far you’ve come, what you’ve learned, and the amazing way in which you have pivoted to continue sharing Jesus in fresh, new ways. Insert the well-earned confetti cannon here!

Where you are in September 2020 is way different than where you were in September 2019, and it’ll look differently in September 2021. Fix a cup of something warm and tasty and take an hour this week to update your job description, even if just for yourself. Editing your job description now will help you and your leadership prioritize when and if any adjustments need to be made in the future. 

You Just Gotta Know: Struggles and challenges look differently today. I’m standing in the gap for you. Perhaps you are facing your Esther moment, your Daniel moment. That moment when you feel a push to bravely speak up, wave the banner for your families with a louder voice, even fight for spaces and places to love your kids to Jesus. I’m standing in the gap in prayer and support for you. This blog post is the result of someone reaching out. I fully believe God wants to hang your picture in the gallery of faith between Hebrews 11 and 12. Can I help? Need a Mordecai or a Shadrach or Meshach to your Abednego? Let’s share the journey, the struggle, and the celebrations. You are in the World’s Toughest Race!  I’m on your team! Let’s give ’em something to talk about! If you can get to me, let’s do tea on my back porch. Who’s in? Reach out to dedereilly@comcast.net. 

“I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” Philippians 1:3-6

There has been a great deal of movement in the local church’s children’s ministry world. Relocations due to reset priorities, drastic budget changes, and the need for pioneers has opened and closed doors like nothing I’ve ever seen. Lots of open positions and a willingness to courageously grow into how we’re naturally bent has made for many conversations with clergy, laity, and staff from all over the country.

Last week I shared three areas of considerations for churches as they determine their goals for the next 1-3 years. You can read about that here.

I closed with “Realistic and reasonable expectations make for a much more enjoyable workplace. Hiring new and retaining effective staff is a disciple-making opportunity, and we must always be looking for ways to make the experience better. Next week I’ll share more about hiring a pioneer and the most important question every candidate should ask.”

Are you looking for a pioneer who enjoys starting things? Are you willing to give them the parameters and be okay with letting them creatively hit the ground running? Or are you looking for typical children’s programming? Not everyone can live and work with a pioneer, an innovator, but would prefer a project manager. No judgement here, but don’t be disappointed when a new hire isn’t both a pioneer and a project manager unless they are very experienced and have stories and evidence of such. 

When hiring a pioneer, clearly communicate shared goals, shared resources, walk alongside in the areas of your giftedness and skillset, and help unruffle feathers. Inform your pioneer that it’s okay to network, get the lay of the land, and build relationships in the first three months, six months, and touch base often both informally and formally. Offer a weekly standing meeting to be informed, offer encouragement, and coach him/her without micromanaging.

Coaching is involved in everything. What is the senior pastor or supervisor willing to coach and what are they not? Remember that people don’t quit their jobs as much as they quit their supervisors. Do your best to set up everyone to win in a candidate’s giftedness and natural bent. A teachable spirit on all fronts and clearly communicated parameters can stop the cut of stained glass beforehand. Hiring and leading staff is discipleship work. How patient are you?  It’s unrealistic to think you are hiring for a lifetime. Churches, decide what you want for the next three years and start there.

One of the best questions a candidate can ask of their future/current supervisor and the senior pastor is, “Who is the best children’s ministry person you’ve ever worked with?”  Wait, then follow up with, “What made them so great?” The first couple of statements shared right here are the lens through which the candidate/staff member will be quickly measured and these are hardly ever part of the job description. Clarity is an expression of love. Your first response bears the greatest weight.

Consider a lead in children’s ministry to be a ministry with families instead. From the research coming out of the parents we serve today (this changes every 5 years), families want to share experiences especially as kids get older whether it’s on the ball field, Disney World, camping, or faith formation in the local church and along their way. Equipping parents and grandparents to love their kids to Jesus as they go, wherever they go is what they’re asking for. And it’s what God had in mind all along. Deuteronomy 6. We’ve either gotten really good at this over the last year or we’d better start. Parents want their kids to belong, be known by name, and no longer entertained in a herd. Large group is amazing, but it’s in the small group setting where kids are known and can chat about the life questions they are wrestling with, dwell on, and take up space in their heads and hearts. They want and need to build deep relationships with people who will model what loving Jesus looks like, sounds like, and acts like. Kids drive where their families will go, but they don’t drive. Let nothing happen that doesn’t not engage minds and hearts to love Jesus and God’s Word more with the whole family in mind. 

If I could relive my life, I would devote my entire ministry to reaching children for God. -D.L. Moody

On August 1st, I’ll celebrate 4 years serving in full-time ministry with children on staff at my local church. I’ll also be celebrating 31 years in professional Christian education in the local church from south Louisiana, New England, and the southeast. Of all the seasons of ministry I’ve experienced, THIS season is definitely the one for which I was truly created. God’s faithfulness, His word, and the saints of seven local churches have modeled pioneering discipleship and Godly relationship for this follower’s life.

Ministry with children is done best in community as equippers of the saints. Parents and grandparents are the saints and God-ordained disciple-makers. They are the true heroes, the cape-wearers, the torch-bearers in ministry with children and families. Yeah, we can make a VBS happen, but how will we do THAT? Our Heavenly Father has only invited us to play in His sandbox. 

I’ve got my shovel.  Insert the confetti cannons!

“The idea of changing the world is utter nonsense…unless you’re a children’s pastor, then it may be possible.” – Roger Fields

Hiring a Lead in ministry with children used to be about hiring a teacher with creative decorating skills, training in behavior management, and a Vacation Bible School coordinator. Not anymore.

In my conversations with search teams and pastors over the last few weeks, these have been just a few of the questions we have chatted about…

Do you live in the community? If the pastor’s answer is YES, then it opens the door to consider an experienced candidate who is a connector who may commute. If the lead is expected to pull daily office hours, a commuter won’t fit. Ask what would it take for the hired lead to be trusted to get the job done without daily office hours? Everyone wants someone with experience, but what kind of experience would permit him/her to work from a home office at least one day each week? I commute an hour plus from my home to the church building, typically three days per week, but I connect by phone, social media, email and more, plan, research, collaborate, and learn all the other days, except Friday Sabbath, at tables all over the place including the home office.

If the pastor does not live in the local church community, then it would be wiser to hire someone who does. It’s important to have someone on staff living in the community the church serves. That person will know the rhythm of the community, attend the local school meetings, the cross country meets, and will know the holiday parade schedule, among all the things which make that community special. They’ll know how the community shops, drives, vacations, learns, and plays. 

Hint: Go to the next couple of PTA meetings and watch who ‘works the room’, chats with lots of people with a resting face of ‘joy’, or has great kids who enjoy being in groups of people.

Story: An innovative kidmin lead was hired from a school event as she worked the room. It was discovered she was a connector who ran local political campaigns which made for a perfect fit for a new church start’s children’s ministry. She earned a Christian education certificate to get the theology part down. After 3-4 years she handed off a healthy, vibrant ministry and a new kidmin church building to a supportive church when she moved on to pioneer a new endeavor. I learned so much from her about marketing, packaging, vocabulary, and sustainable energy.

As the local church’s head disciple-maker, as clergy, willing to teach someone how to do ministry? Not as a micro-manager, but would you be willing to hire a networker personality and not be annoyed because they don’t yet know how to build a ministry budget? The amazing kidmin community of the North Georgia UMC Conference can walk alongside a teachable networker to build a candidate’s skillset like budgeting, calendar management, collaboration, Safe Sanctuary, curriculum decisions, and more. There are some skills a kidmin lead will need to be part of his/her nature like connecting outside their department/local church with other ministry leads, making new friends, team building/recruiting, gratitude, helpfulness, communication clarity, a learner, generosity, a great sense of humor, trustworthiness, a desire for other disciples to succeed, to equip the saints to do the ministry of the church, goal setting, and loving people. There is a big difference between event-planning and really loving people to Jesus. Skills are important, but personality traits may be more important. Know what the pastor team can teach, what he/she is willing to teach, and what will annoy the daylights out of them to teach. 

Hint: Whatever the job description in your hand, it’s outdated. Post-COVID has set the pace and priorities of families we serve on it’s head. 

Look at the printed job description understanding there may be too much to ask of one person, especially from the get-go. Be okay with a dream list of tasks. It may be more reasonable to bullet-point the top, most important 5-10 tasks from which to grow the job description with the natural giftedness/bent a candidate can bring to the table. You’ll be surprised at what could be fabulous. Evaluate and check-in from those items every 30-60 days. Let the job description grow into the ministry you dream about for the future for your families. I re-evaluate my job description every January because a healthy ministry is always growing and changing to the audience we serve. Read more about that here.

Hard question: Do you really want your kidmin to look just like the one that can be found at every other church? When a person serves the local church in their natural giftedness and bent, what could burnout one person might just energize another. 

What are the three most important things that have to happen in your context within the next year if the church were to start from scratch? – VBS? Christmas Eve kid’s service? Sunday morning numbers? Midweek? New people? Retention of volunteers? Folks on-ramping in the kid’s area then getting connected in another? Full programming (whatever that means)? Returning numbers? New numbers?

What about the first 90-days? – connecting with a monthly networking group, already engaging social media, in-person detail, evangelism (be specific with a definition), mission (defined), a clean database, priority programming, marketing, event planning, reading a book on ministry systems?

Hint: Break down your church year into quarters. What has to happen in that quarter no matter what? It may not look like an event to plan, but a opportunity to piggy-back, partner, share, and not even on a Sunday.  This is especially helpful with a small to mid-size church when resources feel more limited and you will need whole-church buy-in.

This we know:

There is lots of movement this year. Hardly anything moved last year due to COVID, so if nothing else, this year seems extra.

• COVID has caused people to reassess their priorities, so people are relocating into and out of the area. Use all the means possible, not just church staffing sites, to post the position and network, network, network.
• There are lots of open positions, many of them part-time in smaller to mid-size churches. That’s okay. Our current societal structure encourages side-hustles. You’d be surprised at the work and elegant art that can be attended to with excellence by someone trained in other fields like counseling, teaching, preschool, real estate, etc. which can rock the church house in growing a ministry with families.
• Consider hiring for a period of one-year, then reassess. 
• Require networking and specific continuing education as part of the job and allow time for it.

What else?

Realistic and reasonable expectations make for a much more enjoyable workplace. Hiring new staff is a disciple-making opportunity, and we must always be looking for ways to make the experience better. Next week I’ll share more about hiring a pioneer and the most important question every candidate should ask. 

Other Resources:
UM Discipleship Ministries: Recommendations for Hiring a Children’s Ministry Director
HR Daily Advisor: How to Spot Talent
StartChurch: Hiring Church Staff
8 Truths of Hiring Church Staff

Yesterday was our monthly children’s ministry networking lunch. Two weeks ago, I and another kidmin champion drove an hour and a half to another district’s children’s ministry networking lunch. I learned and discovered several things that will be game-changing for me. I always do!

Two weeks ago… I learned how a QR code might be the answer to offering free registration links to VBS and other special events for our families who receive assistance through Backpack Blessings, Food Pantry, and other outreaches from our local church; Nerf Wars; planning scheduled 18 months out; low birth years; upcoming Children’s Ministry Institute dates for 2020.

Yesterday… We talked Christmas Eve family programs with silhouettes, cowbells, bags, headbands, musical dramas, and themes; Safe Sanctuary and updating staff policies for staff hired under the age of 21; fall festivals in October; Hoedowns in November; nursery staff; organizational science; job descriptions; recreation ministry; fall retreat registration hard deadlines; 2020 Wonderfully Made events where we can share the event with smaller churches and diverse locations; profiles for volunteers (in response to a speaker from Catalyst Conference); and so much more.

I can’t imagine having to come up with every new idea, re-inventing the wheel for every event, or doing ministry well without the input of other voices and experiences. These folks are the most creative people I know and I need face-time with them. Table life with them. We are better together! Just this last weekend, three of our churches gathered for the first annual Family Campout sharing kayaks, meal duties, tents, cabins, water, s’mores, communion on Sunday morning (clergy camped, too!), hikes, games, lingering beside a campfire or the lake.

There are several of us who share events like the Family Campout on a regular basis. What’s next? The Friday before Christmas is an early-release day from school so we’ve planned a Christmas Faith Field Trip. Five of us will take our 3rd-5th graders to meet up at Red Top Mountain for putt-putt golf, play, and some caroling practice. Then on to one church to prepare food boxes. We’ll all deliver food boxes to families in an area which receives summer lunches in a flash mob of Christmas carols. Then we’re off to pick up hot-dog or pizza-slice dinner at the local Costco to break out in song again. Really! Costco on the Friday night before Christmas! Next stop? Festival of lights in a town nearby. Afterwards we’ll all finish the night at another church for hot chocolate and reindeer games before each church heads home. We’ll basically be covering our entire district from 2-10pm. One of the kidmin leaders was even able to secure a grant to provide for the food items for the food boxes. Yeah, we’re better together.

Who are you sharing life and ministry with?

“One of the factors of the most resilient is meaningful relationships.” David Kinnaman, President of Barna Group, from a 2019 Catalyst talk, “Faith for Exiles”

Need to know if you are on the right path? Need to know if the vision for your ministry is in line with the plans, vision, and mission with the church you serve? Need to join the conversation of informing yourself and others of where the Spirit is headed in your organization? Need to let the leadership know what in the world you’re doing and how long it takes to do it? Offer regular and periodic evaluations!

If you are not doing a job well, I’d hope you’d hear about it very early in the ‘running down that road’ process. But what if you don’t hear anything…neither encouraging nor critical?

What if you are in a constant state of evaluation, but your organization doesn’t offer a time for you to share the passion, dream, successes, and challenges across a table that got you the job in the first place? And who knows your goals? Your professional, your personal, your ministry goals? Do a regular self-evaluation!

There is something about putting such information on paper that offers accountability and gives clarity for a season, a ministry, an event. I so need this since I’m thinking about next Sunday, next year, and five years down the road all at the same time!

The idea behind self evaluation is that our judgment of what we think we are doing and what we actually are doing is not always the same. This is why it is so important to perform regular self evaluation. – Stanley C. Loewen, Health Guidance For Better Health

A colleague in my district children’s ministry networking group shared a list of five items she was being asked to respond to for this very purpose. With this list of questions we can easily and quickly put onto paper our response to offer focus, reflection, and even measure results. I do it every six months.

1. High points of your responsibilities

A job description outlines the bare minimums. A responsibility description outlines the much-less-cumbersome-to-outline responsibilities of the role one serves on the leadership team. Some responsibilities are seasonal. Some responsibilities have a greater impact on others on the team. This lets me outline a few of those things that are a priority and what I love which gives me energy and fosters the greatest creativity.

2. Three goals

Where do I want to see the ministry go this year? Though there is lots to do, what are the most important things to keep before my eyes, my heart, and my passions? These will offer clarity for what is actually in my bucket, the dogs in my hunt, and the runway on which to land my plane with deadlines.

“If all I do is tasks, I leave a ton of value on the table for creativity and initiation of doing things better.” – Seth Godin

3.  How am I taking care of myself?

What do I have in place over the next six months to maintaining healthy boundaries? From my most recent self-eval: Check and set my weekly schedule, Emmaus Reunion group weekly meeting, Blog writing, Partnering with CEF, Children’s Ministry Connection, District KidMin Networking Teams by my attendance.

4.  Who is on my ministry team?

Put onto paper 5-7 of the names of my inner circle, my go-tos, my champions, and who I can intentionally invest in over the next six months.

“Do for one what you wish you could do for everybody.” – Andy Stanley

5.  What can my pastor do to help or empower me?

This keeps me realistic in my expectations, helpful to the whole team, and gives me the vocabulary to have courageous conversations with my team leader. When I meet with him/her I am not rambling for what I need this week and something different next week. It keeps me focused for a bit of dreaming without being a high-maintenance team member. It does the ministry no good to confuse my organizational team leader when it appears I am all willy-nilly in the needs of the ministry. I limit this to a list of only three items. One item is always something to pray for me.

“Self-evaluation and assessment should be a major part of our lives as believers.” Sunday Adelaja

Self-evaluation helps remind me of my why. It helps me see what is most important in the coming six months so I am not easily distracted by the busy stuff on the calendar. It offers evidence of meeting measurable goals. It gives clarity in how and what to best communicate to my team sold out for Jesus and little people. It lets me know who to invest in.

We certainly don’t serve the Lord for pats on the back, but everyone needs to know regularly they are doing a good or great job. If we know the importance of volunteer appreciation and practice it with words of affirmation, small tokens of appreciation, notes of encouragement, birthday celebrations, and the occasional afternoon tea at the local coffee house, wouldn’t we also wish to hear and experience these same practices as staff members? If you are not getting it, then prayerfully release the expectation of someone doing it for you. Take yourself to lunch and celebrate your ministry through self-evaluation!

“God is within her, she will not fall; God will help her at break of day.” Psalm 46:5

Ron Clark is the founder of Ron Clark Academy in Atlanta and the author of the new book on leadership teams, Move Your Bus: An Extraordinary New Approach to Accelerating Success in Work and Life.  Serving in the field of Christian education in the context of a local church, I enjoy his books and was thrilled that this one shared some specifics about serving on a team with clear organizational goals.

His lays out the book in a parable speaking of five characters who make up every type of organization aka your bus:

Runners come early, stay late, never complain, provide a positive spirit, have a strong work ethic, are driven to take the initiative to work, not for personal reward, but toward the good of the whole organization and tackle tasks with an attitude of It has to be done, let’s knock it out, let’s do it.  Runners are the first to fearlessly volunteer and want to include the whole team in problem solving and celebration.

Joggers are steady, dependable, fairly punctual and conscientious about following the rules.  ‘They don’t slow the bus down, but they don’t make it fly either.’  They dress appropriately, often rise to meet expectations, but ‘aren’t going to blow your mind, day in and day out.’  They can switch into high gear when called upon, but can’t sustain such energy for the long haul primarily because they lack the confidence to go full throttle.

Walkers point out everything they see is wrong in the organization, deflect blame, want attention, complain the Runners make them look bad, and shouldn’t be expected to go beyond their job descriptions. Walkers pull people down to their speed and see no need to accelerate on a regular basis, thereby frustrating Runners and Joggers.  Clark warns that Walkers target new hires quickly ‘to recruit new walkers.’

Riders aren’t interested in organizational success or even personal success. They greatly frustrate the Runners and Joggers since they get the most attention from the Driver of the Bus who desperately tries to motivate the Riders and Walkers to move the organization further. Riders don’t want to lose their jobs/paychecks, so their main goal is to do just enough to avoid termination.  They’ll even keep track of the slights of other staff members just in case they are held to a higher standard than the very bare minimum.

Drivers drive the bus and have the entire organization on their shoulders. In the local church, this should be the senior pastor.  Due to gifts and graces, the driver of a particular local church may be a lay person or a staff member.  Due to personalities, the driver of a particular local church may appear to be a lay person or a staff member.  Due to the lack of a driver, a Runner may assume the role of a driver for a season.  It’s not a Runner’s role, but it’s what a Runner does. Thinking of a school bus driver, they are constantly looking in the side and rear mirrors for hindrances, they constantly check the bus (the organization) that it is safe, ready, and prepared for the ride.  Drivers know the starting place, the destination, and the healthy stops along the way.

The remainder of the book shares how the Driver can accelerate success, most effectively free the Runners, encourage the Joggers to become Runners, and continue to move the bus toward the goal.  It reminded me of a Disney Institute tour taken many years ago.  The focus of Disney’s leadership is on the top 1/3 of the team.  The thought process is to make the top tier more effective, thereby making the organization more effective.  In essence, it’s better for the organization to move a team member from an 8 to a 10 rather than spend all your energy trying to move a 3 to a 5.

As a family of faith, we are commissioned to love everyone.  The warning is not to forget, ignore, or even fire the Riders and Walkers, but rather not worry about being ‘fair’ (ex: Jesus didn’t heal everyone, just the one, at the pool of Bethesda found in John 5), look at the good of the whole, and keep the bus moving toward the organizational goals.  Several of the ‘accelerants’ that resonated with me in the local church setting…

1.  Sit with the Runners – We are more apt to BE who we sit with, fostering collaboration, and improving ourselves when we spend time with those who are doing it well.  This is why I don’t miss a networking lunch with others who minister with children, engage in conversation, and ask a ton of questions.  John Maxwell’s new book speaks of great leaders asking lots of questions when in the company of Runners.  What is my question-to-statement ratio?

2.  Clean the Windshield – If we are not the Runners on a particular project we should volunteer to take on the menial tasks so the Runner can be the Runner.  Asking “What can I do to help?” or helping others on the team do their jobs well for the greater good of the organization.  My responsibility may not be ‘worship’, but am I helping that team of Runners? It is safe to say that the majority of a congregation’s only connection to the Body of Christ happens in worship.  Even if it’s not in my bucket, what can I do to ‘clean the windshield’ every week?  And not just worship…what can I do to ‘clean the windshield’ for the other staff?  Empty the trash, be one of the last to walk out, be one of the first to arrive, bring a bottle of water to the tech ninja, bring Altoids and sugarless gum to the youth director taking kids on a retreat…

3.  Allow Runners to Reap the Rewards – As the Body of Christ, we must we willing to be happy for and willing to support the Runners who carry the lion’s share of the work.  It’s not a competition, it’s a family.

4. Say Hello – Greeting people with a smile or a ‘Good morning’ spreads good energy and ‘good energy will come back to you.’  Anybody else ever said, “Good Morning,” even in the afternoon or at a night event at church? Guilty! I recall listening to a sermon series and hearing that a cheerful greeting done in the first 5 seconds relates interest, care, and love like nothing else.  Even if you get nothing but a grunt from a young person (like the one I gave birth to during his middle school years,) my greeting can set up an environment of joy, compassion, and empathy.  That’s my idea of great decorating!  That young man now kisses me on the cheek when he arrives and leaves the room. He learned that greeting matters. (Heart melting!)

The goal of a local church is to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.  That’s as clear as it gets. I would think that everyone would want to be a Runner when it comes to Kingdom-building.  It’s not a personality thing, but rather a drive and/or momentum thing.

I was especially moved by the 23rd chapter.  “If you ask your Runners to hide their success or to do their important work under cover, you make them feel unappreciated and that can cause them to decelerate – or even to hop aboard another bus that is moving at the speed of light.” Clark goes on to share, “I’ve been to schools where there really aren’t any Runners, but there are a lot of Joggers who consider themselves to be top performers. If a true Runner comes onboard in an environment like that, she will very likely be perceived as a threat….When you only have one Runner in your organization, you have to work hard to protect that individual because she is in a very vulnerable position.”  Whew! The job of the Driver.

I thoroughly enjoyed the book.  I especially enjoyed being reminded that I am called to be a Runner for Christ and I should be doing all that goes with that in the area where He has called me to serve.  Serving as a professional Christian educator and as a staff member of a local church, I am in bus ministry.  What will you do this week to move your bus?

Hebrews 6:1 “Therefore, let us MOVE (emphasis mine) beyond the elementary teachings about Christ and be taken forward to maturity.”

“A movement exists only when people choose to work together in one direction. The leader’s job is to inspire the people to move.” – Simon Sinek

It takes a lot of courage for lay and clergy leadership in a church to invite consultants in the house. A humble spirit of “Yes, I’m willing to allow fresh eyes on my spiritual heart and my physical presence,” doesn’t speak of failure or defeat. Rather it speaks of a rumbling of the Holy Spirit within the Body of Christ that says, “We want different God-honoring results, so we have to be willing to do something different. And we need a little help with knowing some ways to do it differently.” I get to do that in the area of ministry to children through a great group, Proactive Ministries (https://www.facebook.com/Proactive.Ministries.)

In the words of Rick Chromey, author of Energizing Children’s Ministry in the Smaller Church, he calls it an opportunity to stand as a guide from the side, rather than a sage from the stage. This guide-from-the-side spent last weekend with a church that needed some ideas to market their ministries to little people.

I totally get those folks in the local church who express displeasure with marketing ministry like “the world.” But if our goal is to make disciples of Jesus Christ, we gotta have kids to make disciples of. We have to get them in the door. I am shameless for what I love. I love Jesus and I love the local church. I am a shameless promoter of both.

Last week I spent a few days with a precious church in east Texas who graciously invited me to share in that particular area. The personal coaching time I shared with the current KidMin Director probably looked more like throwing a huge pot of spaghetti against the wall and hoping something stuck. It’s been my experience that marketing and promoting opportunities for kids to grow, tell, serve, worship, and belong with the goal of making disciples of Jesus Christ is worth it’s own strategies, and maybe it’s own budget line-item. Here are just a few of what we came up with…

– Pray for “more”.

– Ask other groups in the church to pray for “more,” especially the saints of the church who gather for prayer meetings.

– Pick one or two opportunities as a focus each month to promote. Even the ones that take place all the time, like Sunday School, need a time of promoting.

– On the church’s website or web presence, know that new people recognize what a church sees as important by the order in which the staff are listed. Any staff specific to children must be close to the top. The photo needs to make him/her look attractive, kid friendly, and the bio should express who he/she is, not just what they do.  New parents want to know who is on the bus with them as they travel the roads of spiritual parenting.

– The job description of the person responsible for KidMin in the smaller church should include a large percentage of his/her time in marketing, promoting, and communicating what’s going on. It’s been my experience that smaller churches hire their super volunteer who are the hands and feet of the ministry.  But smaller churches really need a mouth to move to the next level. Shamelessly promoting any experience to my kids takes about 25-30% of my time each week.

– Coordinate open-house-like field trips, aka meet and greet opportunities, a couple times of year, especially if the children’s area is distant from the tall people areas. We use Pentacost Sunday at WC with the kids and youth inviting every Sunday School class or other small group to a birthday breakfast in the gym during the Sunday School hour to bump elbows, as one opportunity.  The kids do the decorating, setting up, cleaning up, and we teach them how to “work the room.”

– Prioritize website, bulletin, and before/after service PowerPoint slides with photos to include children and youth.

– Offer a photo and facebook release to be signed by parents/grandparents so the families will be expecting to see these photos among the promotional materials.

– Access support to develop a KidMin Info board in the main hallway to highlight 1-2 major focuses for each month, but not everything…visual overload makes it hard for someone to find the info they need about a special opportunity/event. Make it big and colorful, but visually easy to get the info while walking past.  A Mom with a toddler hanging on her leg and an infant on her hip with two diaper bags doesn’t have time to read everything on her way to the nursery or to the car, so we need to make it easy for her.

– Acquire and use acrylic folder stands to display flyers for the next major “community invite” event and place on any table where a group meets, i.e. Sunday School, scouts, coffee pot, Weight Watchers, conference room, library, etc.

– Expand postcard ministry for all children and families related, even distantly, to the church (preschool, scouts, basketball league, Sunday School, VBS, special event – have a “guess how many” location at each event where someone gives you his/her name and email, etc.)  Postage and professional looking postcards cost money (though they can be purchased inexpensively online) and a budget for marketing will give permission to the KidMin Director to do just that.

– Sandwich board promotion in the hallways enlisting youth to wear and walk around without saying a word.

– Increase personal touches and communication to any paid staff who support other community ministry to little people (preschool, daycare, etc.)

– Introduce and communicate to the church family who is serving in the children’s areas through photos, newsletters, bulletin boards, etc.

– Address church-wide publicity such as name of the church van, signage outside, signage inside.

– Engage in regular, frequent (at least quarterly) opportunities to collaborate with everyone involved with ministries to children (preschool, Sunday School, VBS, music, etc.) to develop relationships and guide decision-making, shared resources, written/verbal/image-driven cross promotion opportunities.

– Plan for special Sundays when the kids are on stage in big church (scouts, preschool, choir, worship art exhibit, etc.) at least quarterly.

– Prepare fliers to go to all the nearby daycares and education centers.

– Encourage 2-4 “all hands on deck” community-invite experiences, or piggy-back with like opportunities already on the calendar, that offer elbow-bumping between those already in the church and those we are inviting.

– Quarterly emails of upcoming “specials” to everyone, and I mean EVERYONE, on your email list.

– Photos and teasers in newsletters.

– Photos and teasers on facebook pages (yours personally AND everywhere you can).

– Announce it from the pulpit.

– Put it in the bulletin (did you notice where this made the list?)

What else would you do?

“Jesus said to them, ‘Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.'”  Mark 10:14

Sunday is Game Day and each church has it’s own traditions and routines. These are just some of the questions I pulled into the parking lot hoping to get answers for my first Sunday:
– Which door does everyone come in?
– Where does the staff park?
– Who unlocks all the hundreds of doors?
– Does the staff “talk business” on Sundays?
– Is there Goldfish already in the cabinet?
– Does the building have wireless?
– Where can I find a plastic fork? (I brought my lunch, not knowing all the particulars that follow the last worship service.)

The morning the worship leader is the most busy . . . he knocked on my office door and offered to get me coffee before the first service AND stopped praise band practice between services to introduce me to everyone. What a wonderful expression of kindness.

I also needed to ask the youth leader if I could use his space on Easter Sunday morning. He graciously said “sure,” before he even knew what it was for. What a wonderful expression of cooperation.

I met smiling children who were polite, engaging, and attentive during Sunday school and Children’s Church.  Real children with real hearts, real hands, and real handshakes.

I met precious nursery servants who were on the floor playing and talking with the babies, who shared smiles and conversation.

And there were 2 long-time members who came and introduced themselves to Bob & I individually. They each shook our hands, they each asked us questions about ourselves, and we all shared our first laughs. And that was before we were even introduced. When the pastor did introduce us, the folks in both services applauded. What a lovely welcome.

I not only felt welcomed, I felt wanted and prepared for. The office had been organized and little notes of information were placed on the couple of stacks of resources. On the desk were the 5 most important files: Children’s Rosters w/contact info, Volunteer Schedule through April, Budget, Children’s Council job descriptions, and bulletins for the last 2 months.

I’m grabbing the last pictorial directory this afternoon and writing info around all the new faces we worshipped with today.

For the ones who came before me, thank you . . . surely goodness and mercy have followed you.