We just finished another ‘edited’ advent season. Not everything came back. Not everybody came back. Yet we gathered and celebrated in many creative ways, with creative themes, and even at creative times.

Well done.

Take a rest.

Before you close out Advent 2021, take a last look at the Advent celebrations posted by colleagues and on other children’s or family ministry Facebook groups. Go ahead and decide the one or two themes/events you really liked and reach out to the post originator and ask for their electronic support documents. Right now all of that documentation is at the top of their feeds and quite handy.

Set up a folder in your computer to hold the documents and pitch your idea to your leadership for approval in January. Don’t delay, because we know that Advent 2022 will be here before we know it. Looking ahead, Christmas 2022 falls on a Sunday and our local schools will be out for the entire week beforehand.

If the creative-base part is already set, you’ll have plenty of time to gather materials (I ordered two inexpensive snow machines in October which were sold out by mid November), make reservations (I’m placing deposits in January for animals for a Christmas-break drive-thru live nativity since school will be out, so I can choose two consecutive days anytime the week prior I can get animals), and get the push-back done earlier while all the challenges are fresh on everyone’s minds (I’m pitching a Children’s Campfire Christmas for the children’s service next year on Friday offering an outdoor option around our huge firepit and have time to prepare well for all kinds of weather rather than an indoor-production).

I’m still holding to the 2.5 year transition to a new normal that followed the Spanish flu of the early 1900s. The 2.5 year transition period has given me a baseline to plan for every possible scenario when putting things on the calendar. Advent 2022 puts us right at the end of that. Trustworthy pre-planning on my part will help me confidently offer a flexible and great serving experience for our littles and their bigs during one of the busiest times of everyone’s calendar year.

Jesus’ birthday is too important to wait until Advent is already here to start gathering information. Reach out to your colleagues about one or two of their specials and get the Christmas cheese-ball rolling, then look at it again next summer. 

“But the angel said to them, ‘Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people.'” – Luke 2:10

Children’s Ministry people share. It’s part of our DNA to help each other. With the blessing of a great innovative collaborator, Devin Gordon, the following includes the goodies from our 2021 Grinchy Christmas Eve service. 

The goal of our Children’s Christmas Eve service is for children to participate and not perform, serve and not sit, and engage in conversations and sticky faith-formation memories on Jesus’ birthday as a family. As every leader, speaker enters and exits, he/she walks to the manger positioned at the center of the congregation seats, touches the manger, lingers a bit, and exits. No matter what takes place in the whole space, our eyes must always come back to the manger. 

A dress rehearsal for blocking two nights before with a popcorn bar to get rid of the grumbly tummies, song practice in Sunday morning large group since November along with the previous Monday night’s Christmas caroling (Faith Field trip), borrowing some of the set materials from Spirit of Dance’s Christmas recital backdrops from several year’s back (What’s in our hands?), and recruitment for serving in early October, Whoville opened at 4:20pm, the program started at 4:45pm and was finished at 5:30pm.

IN SEATS UPON ARRIVAL

• Candy canes
• Song sheets with QRcode for registration on back
• Candles for Silent Night
• Reindeer headbands on backs of random seats
• Squishy red heart

PRESERVICE

4:20-4:40 Stations

• Bakery – white petit fours
• Hot Chocolate & Ice water station – 4 oz cups with lids
• Lime green pipe cleaners – child directed bending, chatting
• Missions drop off for diapers (quads) and socks (Mountain Top Boy’s Home)
• Heart station – write names of family members on white, green, red hearts and clothespin to jumbo frame
• Heart ornament station – fill plastic hearts with precut pipe cleaners

Hear Ye, Hear Ye

As the Assistant to the Mayor-Under-Secretary, I do hereby welcome everyone to our Christmas Eve Family Service at the John Newton McEachern Memorial United Methodist Church here in Whoville.  

We are so honored you are here, and we know this will be a night of great joy and celebration of all that Christmas means to each of our families. And for that, I present to you:

A Christmas Eve Proclamation for the Town of Whoville on this 24th day of December in the year of our Lord 2021… 

WHEREAS we have waited for this Christmas Eve for an entire year…

WHEREAS we have dressed up and cooked up and driven up and rallied up to celebrate the birth of Jesus our Savior since He came from Heaven to earth more than 2000 years ago and is coming back…

WHEREAS you’ll find in your celebration seats candles for candle lighting, song sheets for singing, and candy canes for a game later in the evening…

WHEREAS you are cordially invited to move and sing loud for all to hear….

WHEREAS we ask you to take out your phones and record your attendance in the Whoville Census by scanning the QR Code on the back of your song sheet…

We DO HEREBY declare it is time for the Whoville shops to close so that all the Whos and our guests have time to settle into their celebration seats as we begin the evening’s festivities.

5 MINUTE TRANSITION

4:45PM – What a wonderful thing that Christmas Eve Whoville festivities are all back on again this year, after missing last, given the rampant outbreak of Corona-Who.  But Corona-Who cannot stop the LOVE of Christmas nor the reason we celebrate the season. 

• Christmas Joy is again in the air!

• We will be joined shortly by our Whoville Boomwhacker Brigade who will kick off our festivities with a rousing number.  

• But first, a prayer from Ruby-Lee-Who. 

OPENING PRAYER – by student Ruby-Lee-Who

RECORDED NARRATION #1

Well, every Who down in Whoville liked Christmas Eve a lot . . .
But the Grinch, who lived just north of Whoville, Did NOT! 
The Grinch hated Christmas Eve! The whole Christmas season!
Now, please don’t ask why. No one quite knows the reason.
It could be his head wasn’t screwed on just right.
It could be, perhaps, that his shoes were too tight.
But I think that the most likely reason of all,
May have been that his heart was two sizes too small.

But, whatever the reason, his heart or his shoes,
He stood there on Christmas Eve, just hating the Whos.
Staring down from his cave with a sour, Grinchy frown,
At the stained glass church windows below in their town.
For he knew every Who down in Whoville below
Was getting dressed in their best – to church they would go.

Then he growled, with his Grinch fingers nervously drumming,
He had to find some way to stop Christmas Eve from coming!
Oh, for in just a few short hours he knew,
All the Who girls and boys would show up in the pews.
With their families they would gather together to pray,
Celebrating the joy of a special birthday.
The boomwhackers, the candles and donations of toys!
And then! Oh, the noise! Oh, the Noise! Noise! Noise! Noise!
That’s one thing he hated!
The NOISE!

And then they’d do something he liked least of all! 
Every Who down in Whoville, the tall and the small,
Would stand close together, with Christmas bells ringing.
They’d stand hand‑in‑hand, and the Whos would start singing! 

And the more the Grinch thought of this Who Christmas Eve Sing,
The more the Grinch thought I must stop this whole thing!
Why, for fifty‑three years I’ve put up with it now!
I MUST stop this Christmas Eve from coming! . . . But HOW?
Then he got an idea! An awful idea!
The Grinch got a wonderful, awful idea!
He decided to steal Christmas Eve!

BOOMWHACKER BRIGADE – Silly Jingle Bells (3x)

RECORDED NARRATION #2

The Whos were all dressed, and ready to go,
They jumped in the car to drive through fresh fallen snow.
On the way to church on Christmas Eve,
Every Who down in Whoville had only one place to be!
Joy and excitement filled the air,
Except on Mount Crumpet – there was no joy there. 
The Grinch long ago snuffed out any joy to be found,
As he greeted any visitors with a scowl and a frown.

As they drove by the mountain, all gloomy and dark.
one precious little Who had an idea that just sparked!
She couldn’t understand why the Grinch hated Christmas Eve,
The celebration at McEachern, you wouldn’t believe!
The lighting of candles and carols they would sing,
All, to celebrate the birth of a King!
She knew if Grinch knew the true meaning of the day,
Not even his grumpies could keep him away!
As she sat there with her fingers happily drumming,
she launched her own special plan as her heartstrings were strumming.
As they parked at the church to begin the celebration,
Cindy Lou Who went into action to address the situation.
She hopped from the car and told her parents to hold tight,
Then she sprinted towards mount crumpet with a very special invite!

ADVENT CANDLE – (Updated to be Seussical, read with great joy and whimsy)

Reader One: On Christmas Eve, this candle we light. In the midst of the darkness, we provide something bright. But can one small candle send the darkness away, bringing light to the world on each new day? Or do we let fear, separation and doubt fill our hearts, taking the message of Christmas away before it even starts. One small gesture – kind words or an invite, could it possibly change a heart that’s not right? Don’t underestimate the power of one, to light the way as this candle has done. 

Reader Two: We light these candles, because we, too, have seen a light, long, long ago in a manger on that first Christmas night. In the midst of the darkness a baby was born, to bring light to the world on that first Christmas morn. God sent His Son because He loves us so much, to show us the way, and our hearts He will touch. And now we are called to live as people of the light, spreading joy to the world, it will be such a sight! Away with the darkness, no more fear fills the air, because we know in our hearts that Jesus is there. 

Reader One: So as we light these candles, may it remind us well, that the light of the world is coming, and on the mountain we must tell! The candles of Hope, Joy, Love and Peace, lighted now, our circle’s complete. The last one we light in the center of it all, the sign of Christ’s presence among us, the Christ candle it’s called. No matter how dark at times it may seem, know that God’s light is with us, in radiant beams. (Light all four candles on the wreath and the Christ Candle in the Center) 

Reader Two: To those who have walked in darkness, may their hearts be changed, as we have seen a great light, Jesus his name. Glory to God in the highest we sing, and on earth let there be Love, as the Christmas bells ring

12 DAYS OF CHRISTMAS – Song with actions led by the children in the aisles.

RECORDED NARRATION #3

It was just then that the Grinch heard a knock at the door,
Who could it be, what was this disturbance for?!?
He scowled and growled as he rolled out of bed,
Shaking the fog from his ears that clogged up his head.
When what to his crooked and slanted old eyes did appear,
But a tiny little Who girl who seemed to have no fear.
Didn’t she know he was the meanest and grumpiest in town,
Who could scare any person with just a flicker of his frown?

What do you want, yelled the Grinch, you’re disturbing me!
But Cindy Lou Who just stood there, as happy as can be…
Hello sir, um, I’m Cindy Lou, and I’m not sure if you know,
But there’s a church called McEachern, down in Whoville below.
Each year on this day we have a Christmas Eve service so bright,
To celebrate the birth of the savior born this night.
It seems to me that your heart could use such a lift,
I was wondering if you’d join me to share in this gift.

Well the Grinch just howled, with a dark evil laugh,
Could she be serious – you do the math.
The Grinch goes to church with all the Who girls and boys,
To experience up close all the NOISE, NOISE, NOISE, NOISE!
No thank you, no way, I’m not going there, not for me
Then he paused for a moment, an idea he could see…
What better way to steal Christmas Eve forever,
Than to infiltrate the celebration, this plan’s coming together!

OK little Who, you’re quite convincing I must say,
Let me grab my coat and we’ll be on our way.
Cindy Lou Who smiled, as she’d done her best,
And she knew at the church, the Holy Spirit would do the rest.

MISSION MOMENT – Missions Dept. Lead with a hands-up blessing over the diapers and socks.

OFFERTORY – One Small Child duet by senior pastor and his Mrs. as Ambassadors received the offerings.

NARRATION #4 – Grinch tosses bags of colorful jumbo pom poms all over the audience as the disturbance.

As the Grinch sat in church amidst the Who girls and boys,
He felt a stirring inside him, just listening to this NOISE!
His heart began growing and filling the void,
Out with self-loathing – as in came JOY?
What’s happening to me, his head started reeling,
this is not going well, HELP ME, I’M FEELING!
I must act at once, my plan put to action,
I’m here to ruin Christmas Eve, not to find satisfaction.
OK, just think, what should I DO…
I know, I know – I’ll cause a disturbance for all of the Whos!

FAMILY PRAYER – The Grinch is quite upset. 

• When I’m upset, I know I can go to OUR GREAT GOD in prayer.
• Our Great God created us and loves to hear from us.
• Having something in my hands helps me when I pray.
• When my hands are busy, my mind is calm. 
• Collect and hold a pompom or two, or three, or more and gather with your family to pray together in your own family.

(2 minutes)

Every time an angel gave a message to God’s people, they always opened with “Do Not Be Afraid.”

• Let’s close our family prayer time together as one family in a repeat-after-me-prayer….
• Let’s learn more about the birthday story of Jesus from Lilly B. Who (youth)

CHRISTMAS READING RIGHT/LEFT STORY – read by a youth

A telling of the story of Christmas on Christmas Eve is a treasured tradition held dear to our hearts. While we love seeing fellow Whoville friends and experiencing the giving, the candle lighting, and the singing on Christmas Eve (oh the singing!) hearing the story of Jesus’ birth in a manger is our best reminder that Christmas, perhaps, means a WHOLE LOT more. 

Please join me in the reading of the Christmas story this year in the way of a Left/Right Story. Get out your candy canes, and as I read the story, pay attention to the words “Left” and “Right” – when you hear them, pass your candy cane from your left to right hand in the direction stated and keep listening for more directions as we go. If you don’t have your candy cane, please raise your right or left hand as we talk through the Christmas story.

(Do one practice instruction) – “Let’s try one practice round with this – there are no instructions LEFT, do you think you’ve got it RIGHT?”) And now,

The Story of Christmas!

A long time ago, a woman named Mary and a man named Joseph were going to be married. RIGHT before that happened, an angel came to Mary and told her she was going to have a baby! 

Before the angel LEFT, he said she should name the baby Jesus. The baby would be the Son of God, the Savior.

While Mary was pregnant, Caesar Augustus decided to count everyone LEFT living in the whole Roman world. Joseph LEFT, taking Mary with him  to his town of Bethlehem to register. No

one could be LEFT out of the census. 

The two weary travelers LEFT the dark, dusty road and entered the crowded town of Bethlehem. People bustled LEFT and scurried RIGHT past them, heading toward places of rest.

They had all LEFT their towns and villages and come to Bethlehem loaded down with bags and baskets in order to be registered and counted.  Mary was exhausted, and needed rest RIGHT away. The trip had been long and tiring, and Mary had no energy LEFT.

She waited patiently as Joseph looked LEFT and RIGHT in search of a place for them to stay, but after a while it became clear that there were no vacant rooms LEFT in town.  They settled on a stable RIGHT behind an inn. It was not what they had expected or wanted, but they were thankful for a place to lay their head.

It was RIGHT there in that cold stable, surrounded by animals and the smell of hay, that Mary gave birth to her child, a son. She wrapped him in strips of cloth to keep him warm, and LEFT him to sleep on the hay.

PASTOR’S MESSAGE – Object lesson by pastor about the gift of Christmas with a star (Jesus is the light of the world) and a red heart (Jesus loves us so much.)

RECORDED NARRATION #5 – Cindy Lou takes Grinch’s hand and guides him to center manger where they linger and then depart.

And so it happened, on that fateful night,
Surrounded by Whos, what a wonderful sight!
The Grinches’ heart grew, three sizes they say,
As he learned the true meaning of Christmas that day.
Hearing about Baby Jesus had changed him, indeed,
He couldn’t ruin Christmas, at that he would never succeed.
It would come without ribbons, it would come without tags.
It would come without packages, boxes, or bags.
Maybe Christmas (he thought) doesn’t come from a store.
Maybe Christmas perhaps means a WHOLE LOT more!

SILENT NIGHT – written for a guitar accompanist, our pastor played with same song leader who led 12 Days  of Christmas

CLOSING

• Christmas is about growing your heart three sizes!  
• And like Cindy Lou Who, sharing your heart for Jesus with others so that they too can experience the wonder and joy of Christmas. 
• Go tell it on the mountain – Mount Crumpet, Stone Mountain, Kennesaw Mountain, the Blueridge Mountains – EVERYWHERE!  
• Jesus Christ is born.
• I hope you found a squishy heart to take home as a reminder that Jesus loves you. What does the heart say? 
• Join us in our last song….. (SNOW!) but don’t go anywhere. Dr. Doug has a last word to share.

GO TELL IT ON THE MOUNTAIN ….. SNOW starts after the first verse.

BENEDICTION

What if two or three local churches hired a professional in ministry with children and families to ‘circuit ride’ for a year to two years among the two or three local churches?

Circuit riders were commonplace in the frontiers of America as communities began organizing formally. The circuit riders of the past were clergy. Most Christian educators today are lay people who love Jesus and love people; have history in their community. If ever the local church was in a season of pioneering the new frontiers of America today those frontiers would not be land, but rather minds, schedules, rhythms, relationships, and truth.

Goals

• Lead, model, and offer training support of leadership to provide a Sunday morning faith formation experience for children/families when most of that local church is on campus for critical mass.
• Provide marketing, promotion, training, resources, and tools to coach each of the two or three local churches to offer a shared experience to be rotated with individual local church flair in a small group formation mindset.
• Meet and train the local church leadership the most effective ways to partner with parents and grandparents in their community with life skill classes.
• Evaluate each of the two or three local churches to determine ‘What’s in your hand?’ to leverage for effective fruitfulness.
• Packaging and sharing events for intergenerational relationship-building.

Premise

I believe God has already equipped every local church with all the resources necessary to share the light and love of Christ in that community, but may need some coaching and modeling for ministry and growth as the local church looks differently as we ALL start over pioneering this new local church frontier.

Skills to consider

• A relationship-building networker in-person and online.
• Understands today’s family rhythms with the demands of work, school, and extracurricular activities.
• Nonjudgmental team-leading coach and teacher.
• Exudes the joy of the Lord.
• Christian hospitality.
• Experienced innovator or innovation broker.
• Someone who starts and finishes stuff and communicates well along the way.
• Experienced recruiter
• Ability to ask good questions, prioritize schedule, and a sense of urgency to connect littles with bigs who love Jesus.

What it could look like

• Start with table conversations of each local church with conversational surveys.
• Dashboard research of ‘what’s in your hand’ and ‘what’s in each church’s area’.
• Plan an 18-month calendar of special Sundays (to build energy; ignite traction; lay out next steps for each family event). The first event could be rolled out in 30 days.
• Combine financial resources between the two or three local churches, along with grants, to roll out a quarterly special community event which would be rotated, with a specific-church-bent, among the two or three.
• The two or three local churches provide the financial support to compensate the FX (Faith Experience) Director/Coordinator in salary/stipend and supply acquisition. 
• Systems for security, safety, budget, curriculum, schedules, mission, would be implemented as shared and common best practices.

What if two or three smaller local churches came together to share the expenses of hiring a called, professional Christian educator with children and families to ‘circuit ride’ for a year to two years among the two or three local churches in relatively close proximity? The learning curve to secure a staff member to reliably serve part-time who comes with the skills of recruiting, marketing, evaluating, and the drive to independently learn on their own what’s developmentally appropriate for multi-age children is a winding, steep curve and takes years. Within a year to 18 months, this person might coach and lead a team at each local church ready to take the next step into ministry development to see what could be done with what they have and where they have it better together.

What if?

“What then shall we say, brothers and sisters? When you come together, each of you has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation. Everything must be done so that the church may be built up.” 1 Corinthians 14:26

The gold-framed Guardian Angel picture followed my maternal grandparents to every home they lived in. They moved from the coal mines of West Virginia to Virginia to Florida then back to Virginia. They also kept a huge, white family Bible on the coffee table. These are the images I recall from my childhood related to their faith.

In Family Driven Faith: Doing What It Takes To Raise Sons and Daughters Who Walk With God,  Voddie Baucham, Jr. speaks of marking the home as God’s territory. He shares the memory of his Buddhist mother. Her regular practice of that belief system involved all five senses: a black lacquer box in the corner of their dining room, a statue of Buddha, a scroll of strange writing, incense, fruit, beads, and a small gong or bell. Those images remain with him to this day even though she became a Christian within six months of his conversion.

“Imagine the impact that Moses’ teaching had on the children of Israel in the Promised Land.” God’s people were entering a new land with new smells, sights, sounds, tastes, yet were expected to retain their distinction as followers of the one true God. How?  Marking their doorposts, celebrating annual feasts with bitter herbs, unleavened bread, and the stories. Oh, the stories, the stones, the Sabbath practices, the music, and so much more.

My BFF-in-the-Lord just set up her new office space with bright yellow chairs and throw rugs to cover floor stains. She has stuffed animals (you know, the holy stuffed animals like sheep, donkey, lamb, plush Jesus which are staples for family faith experiences) on shelves and filled a wall with pictures of remarkable moments with the people of God she has served alongside. Visual reminders of creative, innovative, hard, hilarious moments in time where she served her families in ministry with great zeal and joy. She has marked her space as the Lord’s.

How can we regularly and intentionally mark our spaces and places for the Lord? At home? At church? At work? Sticky faith formation experiences engaging all five senses.

Engaging Eyes
“There was a period in history when anyone who wanted to be considered a serious painter, a grand master, painted biblical themes.”
At this week’s Faith Milestone: Bread & Juice Class, we’ll pull out the jumbo framed picture of Da Vinci’s Last Supper for our kindergarten and first grade students to stand behind for their class photo.

Engaging Ears
“Music is an incredible medium. With a few notes we can be transported to another time and place.”
Preparing for this week’s S’more Jesus Late Night with our 3rd-5th graders, we prepared a Spotify playlist with camp songs. Sent it out ahead of time to the leaders and the children.
Dr. Richard Hunter offered a sermon based on his daughter’s favorite song, at the time, Tim McGraw’s Live Like You Were Dying at my home church. There are some messages super sticky because of a song.

Engaging Taste
“There is no such thing as Christian food.” Well, I beg to differ.
I recall a young pastor at my home church who prepared a summer sermon series based on breakfast cereals. I’ll never be able to look at a box of Frosted Flakes the same again.
Goldfish? Cheerios? S’mores prayers? Bread and juice? 

Engaging Smells
“I could almost smell the Sunday dinner as he described in great detail his vivid memory of every aspect…”
Dr. Doug Thrasher gave a sermon at my home church about Sunday dinner with biscuits and gravy on a communion Sunday. I’ll never forget the intentionality of a mama setting the Sunday table for her family and the planning involved.

Engaging Touch
“Have you ever walked into a home with one of those enormous family Bibles? I mean the kind you have to open with two hands.”
When a local UMC church was closing in our district, one of my moms went to the garage sale the church was having. It was her home church. She asked about the Chrismons which were a sticky faith formation experience of her now art-teacher-of-the-year faith journey. They pulled them out and gave them to her! Even before this, she had led our 3rd graders in October and November for the last four years in a rite of passage to make and learn about Chrismons. She leads those students to decorate the children’s large group space each year for Advent: Hanging of the Greens. Lots of gold beads, lots of white styrofoam, lots of conversation, LOTS of stick pins. The Chrismons of her home church are now enjoyed and shared with her students at her son’s home church. The Chrismons of both churches hang together in our children’s spaces.

In my weekday preschool days, we displayed an apple when we studied apples. We ate apple stuff, counted apples, played with apples, used apple-scented shampoo in the water table, read apple books, painted with apples, and did everything we could possibly think of with apples.

“It all comes down to a simple question: Why are we here?” If our local church, and our family, exists to know Jesus and make Him known, how are we intentionally marking our lives for Him in the stickiest ways possible, through our five senses? At home. At church. At work.

“You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.” Deuteronomy 6:9

As a Louisiana gal with weekday preschool roots, I’ve never met a national holiday I didn’t like and wouldn’t leverage to put Jesus at the center.  National Grandparents Day is Sunday, September 12 and we’ll be celebrating and teaching the Biblical mandate found in Deuteronomy 6:20 to ‘teach your children and their children after them’ the decrees and commands God has given His people. National Grandparents Day always falls on the Sunday following Labor Day.

Before the pandemic quarantine we began a Grandparenting With A Purpose initiative in children’s ministry. With the average age of the first time grandparent in America being 47, this is a demographic and a remarkable moment of life children’s ministry can step into naturally. But, it was during the quarantine we got great traction with online through a Faith Grandparenting Facebook group offering specifically curated resources for grandparents to share their faith in Jesus with their grandchildren. We also offer in-person and Facebook Live workshops, one each spring and one each fall.

The pandemic has both separated grandparents from their grandchildren and has brought others geographically closer together. Many families have reset their priorities by relocating closer to grandparents or grandparents have moved closer to their grandchildren. Though the holiday is a secular holiday, it’s a natural invite for intergenerational worship and recognition. The Legacy Coalition, which provides weekly webinars to confidently equip Christian grandparents to intentionally share their faith notes, “National Grandparents Day is an important official marker of intergenerational relationships.”

To learn more about the history of National Grandparents Day, click here.

To ponder ideas to celebrate National Grandparents Day, check out…
The Legacy Coalition: Christian Grandparenting Ministry 
GrandparentsDay.org
The Legacy Project
Proper spelling and more

We are preparing a photo station and inviting the children to bring a grandparent or grandfriend to Sunday school on Sunday, September 12. We’ll open the Welcome Center early for the children to play games with their grandparents/grandfriends. They’ll attend a 10-minute small group time together, then all will gather in the large group to sing and dance and learn a bit. I will have a dedicated photographer to get all the shots. When the children return to their small group, the grandparents/grandfriends will come with me for a short, interactive lesson on Deuteronomy 6 and Psalm 78. We’ll then share how we can partner with them to confidently and intentionally share their faith in Jesus with their grands. This is what family does and we are family.

The Children’s Moment will be a ‘hands up’ blessing with copies of scriptures to pray for grandchildren (English and Spanish) found here along with other free resources found at GrandparentingWithAPurpose.com. 

Before you think, “What about the child who doesn’t bring a grandfriend?”, I’m thinking there is a small group or two of senior saints in your local church who would be thrilled to step in. After all, we are family!

“We will tell the next generation the praiseworthy deeds of the Lord, his power, and the wonders he has done.” Psalm 78:4

When I downloaded Kevin Williams’ book, Irrational Kindness, I didn’t anticipate the fire it would ignite in me. Kevin is the franchise operator of three Chick-fil-As in my town. We knew each other years ago as parents and active members of our home church located in nearby Woodstock, Georgia.

I always knew him as joyful, reflective, kind, over-the-top generous, and Mr. Positivity. His book did not disappoint. He reads the stories on Audible of his successes, failures, family road trips, driven competition, and experiences through a faith-in-Jesus lens and laugh-out-loud ridiculousness. The book is an absolute delight. He shared of his grandparents, his family, his Chick-fil-A Canton team, and shines the light on so many people in a Forrest Gump kinda way that he is not the focus, only the thread of all of these experiences of irrational no-holding-back, all-in plays. I was so inspired I went directly to one of the restaurants and purchased almost 20 books to give away to kidmin champions and colleagues at my local church and in my kidmin network before I even finished listening to the Audible version. In true irrational kindness and super generous fashion, each book was personally signed and included two stickers along with a gift card for a free sandwich.

Irrational behavior is ‘one of the most difficult behaviors to deal with. When someone is being irrational, they don’t listen to reason, logic, or even common sense…And until that need is fulfilled, or they snap out of it, the irrational person can be unpredictable and sometimes even dangerous.’

I was so inspired, I called a friend who is accustomed to my ‘I’ve got an idea’ and the Irrational Taco Tour began to take shape.

Every local church I have ever known has a nearby, favorite place for Taco Tuesday. Inspired by Kevin, I look at the faithful disciples leading littles and their bigs in the local church as needing a shot of irrational behavior in their lives, so we’re headed their way.

We set up a Google form with some basic questions like name, church name, district in North Georgia, and the address of their local taco joint. There are 8 districts in the North Georgia Conference of the United Methodist Church. We had 9 responses within the first 6 hours with all districts represented.

Yeah, we’re doing this! 

With a copy of Kevin’s book in hand, some moustaches, sombrero headbands, and who ever wants to road trip from our district or picked up along the way, we’ll meet over a table for tacos with encouragement, no-fluff, irrational challenges to live out the life of an irrational disciple who has a platform, a local church, and influence to push through, grow resilience muscles, and make some noise for Jesus in their hometown.

This I know. Everyone wants a story. “A crazy pursuit of an extraordinary life,” writes Kevin. A big story. An Esther, Shadrach, John, Daniel story. I want stories of irrational behavior with Jesus friends who behave irrationally to love littles and their bigs to Jesus. 

Kevin writes, “Failure becomes opportunity. Frustration becomes persistence. Deformity becomes strength. Being last becomes being first. Old age becomes a second wind. Uncertainty becomes a chance to dream. Problems we can’t control become an invitation to start looking up to a big God who controls everything.”

I hope I never snap out of it!

What is inspiring you to pursue an irrational, extraordinary life? What are you doing about it? Who are you inviting on the journey?

Our first stop? Los Mezquites Mexican Grill in Adairsville!

Romans 12:2, “Do not be conformed to the patterns of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” 

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

We were flying by the seat of our pants last summer when we came up with the summer drive-in services. Our goal was to offer a weekly gathering of developmentally appropriate faith formation experiences for littles with their bigs in the vehicle so that our community wouldn’t grow accustomed to doing life without us, the local church.

Each week was a theme, a Jesus story, games to build visual, sticky memories for kids, and short teachings, with practice, for bigs to lead their littles in the holy habits of prayer, conversation, music, service, and play. At the end of the summer, we offered weekly camp chair meetings on Thursday evenings and Sunday morning programming in the parking lot. Still doing whatever it took for our families to not grow accustomed to doing life without us.

With the incredible fruitfulness of last summer of new families becoming active in our local church and already-connected-families growing more in relationship with each other and the local church, we chose to continue the summer drive-in services in 2021 in place of the typical vacation Bible school with edited criteria in mind: 

1. Summer-long theme of We Are Family 
2. Celebrate different members of our families
3. Invite other ministries to be highlighted by serving and speaking each Thursday

The drive-in services we saw were for adults with kids in the car. Ours was for kids with adults in the car. 20-30 minutes in length (because it’s hot and considering the attention span of a little), at 6pm and 7pm (because families have different schedules), every Thursday rain or shine (because families need dependable and trustworthy expectations), and we just provide the environment (big visuals, kids want to come, parents/grandparents are the heroes, and we are just the coaches).

All of these have hit the mark. 

It’s the bonuses which have helped us sharpen our intentions moving forward:

1. Every week we have new families.
2. Every week our families are inviting other families.
3. Every week we have purposeful intergenerational relationships growing through service similar, but greater than, a week-long VBS.
4. Every week we have current ministries growing because they’ve had a new platform to introduce and ‘work the parking lot’ in extravagant hospitality with the community.
5. Every week we have new servant leaders joining the children’s ministry team as they learn we are prepared, organized, have trustworthy systems, are irrational in hospitality and innovative faith formation. And we laugh our heads off.

What’s next? 

An innovation ideation team has formed to add to our Faith Milestone initiative… Faith Milestone: I Can Worship With My Family. 

We’ll start by bringing in the developmentally appropriate faith formation experiences of the summer to an indoor space filled with visually traditional elements for the first Sundays in October and December. Both Sundays lend themselves to intentionally using all five senses (World Communion, Advent). 

Resources we’ve studied include…

Mark Burrow’s Children First at Ft. Worth
First UMC, Sadie Wolfhart’s Children’s First in Bentonville, Arkansas, and Kevin Johnson’s UMC Discipleship webinar.
Children First: Worshipping with the Family

In answer to, “What’s in our hand?”, we have the original sanctuary we can use to make a small group feel like critical mass. We will have Ambassadors leading different elements, American sign language for the Apostle’s Creed and Gloria Patri, irrational hospitality by our families intentionally inviting another family they share life with to experience worship as a family. It’ll be an intentional on-ramp to what our much larger sanctuary service offers in the weeks immediately following the Faith Milestone. Other Faith Milestones are already in place, so this would be a place to practice all of those in a teaching environment for little people. Intergenerational in message delivery, doctrinally-sound energetic song choices with motions upper elementary kids will love, and in 45 minutes. With color and interactive throughout, older kids will serve, little kids will learn, new families to our rituals will share in the experience so that we learn in a safe setting not just that we gather but why we gather: Jesus.

All discipleship programming should offer an onramp or an invite to take the next step in discipleship, another relationship within the local church. How has your summer discipleship programming made a way for families to take their next steps in your faith community?

“Even when I am old and gray, do not forsake me, my God, till I declare your power to the next generation, your  mighty acts to all who are to come.” Psalm 71:18

It’s impossible to survey kids. I’ve tried. From cries of, “How do you spell….?” and the look of test anxiety on the faces of my littles, typical surveys are not helpful.

But I need to know some things. I need to know if what we’re doing is sticking. I need to know if the vocabulary we’re using is sticking. I need to know what they’re feeling about a few things. I need to know if we are on target or just a clanging cymbal. I need to know how we are missing the mark. I need to know who they know. I need to know from their minds and hearts and not just those who represent them.

As part of a Why We Worship lesson….

We worship because we’re wired to worship. We can’t get away from it. We will worship something, so how do we stay the course to worship God, our Creator, Jesus, our Savior, and the Holy Spirit, our Comforter, Teacher, and Great Remind-er over and above all other things? We practice holy habits! One holy habit we do to stay the course of worshiping the Lord is to gather every week at the local church. We need the at-least-weekly reminder that we’re better together. Anything we do, think, or say which tells the Lord, “I love you!” is worship.

…we posted five jumbo post-it notes along the walls with five questions. Ambassadors distributed golf pencils. Ambassadors were partnered with kindergarten and first grade students to help with spelling, and relationship-building. Then we set them loose to give us their answers. 

These were the five questions:

What do you HEAR at church? 

Where do you GO at church? 

What do you SEE at church? 

How do you FEEL at church? 

WHO do you know at church? Kids were instructed to write the name(s) of anyone they only see or talk to at church.

This survey exercise was fun, hopeful, encouraging, surprising, and made us smile. The jumbo post-it notes are now hanging on the church staff hallway for fun, hope, encouragement, and their delight. We did indeed get the information we needed and then some. 

How do you survey your kids? What do you need to know?