Using Planning Center Services in Your Ministry
A few weeks ago, I talked about how to set up Planning Center Services. You can see that post here. But once you get Services all set up, how do you use it week in and week out? How do you handle volunteer declines? How do you communicate with them what you’re doing in service, and how can they be prepared?
In this post, I’ll answer all those questions.
Finding the Help You Need with Next Level Kidmin
When I first started out in kidmin, I felt like I was alone. I’d served two internships in children’s ministry. And I still had a good relationship with the kid’s pastor who guided me on my last one. However, I didn’t know what I didn’t know.
Fast-forward a year in and I was drowning. I thought I had it all under control, but elementary was the David Reneau show. Wednesday night was holding together with a hope and a prayer, and don't’ even get me started on Nursery.
I needed help, but I didn’t know where to look
3 Essential Tools for a Successful Year
It’s the end of the year. And as busy as we are with Christmas, it’s also important to look ahead. If you want to have a successful ministry, then you need to have a plan. You can’t wander into January and hope that things will happen. There needs to be intentionality and purpose to the things you do.
Essential Strategies for A NextGen Event Budget
But as much as we like to plan and dream about all the things we’re going to do in the next year, we need one valuable commodity. Money. In today’s post, I’ll give you the tools and processes you need to plan for a specific event.
3 Challenges of Multiple Services in Kidmin and How to Overcome Them
Most of the problems we face with multiple services are the same. While I don’t think there is one solution to each of these problems, I do have some ideas on how to overcome them.
4 Ways to Equip Your Kidmin Volunteers (Before Sunday)
Picture this. You’ve been working hard to get ready for Sunday morning. You laid out the crafts. You loaded the slides. You queued up the songs. You’re excited for what lies ahead and the change that’s going to happen in kids’ lives. But then you realize that you’re not alone. In fact, your volunteers are leading worship, games, and small groups. You can’t be in two places at once and do it yourself. So how are you supposed to equip your volunteers so they can be prepared before Sunday?
3 Tips for Creating Your VBS Budget
I often see questions from people asking their VBS budget. How many kids? How big is your church? How much do you spend? Those are all great questions because your budget will depend on those three things, the size of your church, the size of your event, and how important it is to the church’s outreach strategy.
How to Deploy Planning Center Check-ins in Your Kidmin
I don’t work for Planning Center nor is this a sponsored post. However, I am a huge fan of the product and have implemented the program at three different churches. You may have someone at your church that knows how to use all of its modules, but many times check-ins falls on the kids pastor.
4 Steps to Scheduling Your Volunteers
When you’re the leader and the pastor, you have a push and pull. You want to make sure all your positions are filled, but you also don’t want to burn out your volunteers. What is the best way? Does everyone serve with the same frequency? What about if you have multiple services? Multiple days? Or just one? And what about fifth Sundays?
How to Set Ministry Goals that Lead to Growth
At the end of the year, one of my favorite things to do is to look back at the year that was and the year to come. What were my wins and losses? What worked? What didn’t? What curveballs did I knocked out of the park and what ones slipped by? It usually takes a few hours for me to go through it all, but my overall effectiveness as a leader and minister has increased every year since I started this practice over 10 years ago.
5 Must Have Security Policies For Kidmin
One of the three questions parents ask about your children’s ministry is “is it safe?” Now, more than ever before, parents want to know that their precious little ones will be safe in your care. Even more important, your environment needs to be one of the safest places in your church.
6 Essential Steps for Onboarding Volunteers
There is one group of people that churches cannot survive without. They are faithful, dedicated to the vision, and serve others. I’m talking, of course, about volunteers. If you have a great volunteer culture, life can be so much easier.
4 Simple Ways to Improve Kids Check-in
When guests first come to your church, they are going to make the decision of whether or not they’re going to come back in the first 15 minutes of being on your campus. Since those first few minutes are so crucial, you need to be more intentional with those first few minutes than any other.
3 Steps to Move First-Time Guests to Regular Attenders
If you’re in a church that wants to grow, then a frequent conversation around this office is how many guests came to your service or event. If you think about it, everyone who attends your church now was a first-time guest at some point.
But what is the process to get them there?
3 Must Haves for Your Kidmin Area
Picture this, you’re given free reign to create your perfect Kidmin space. Whatever theme for décor? You get to do it. However many classrooms? You can have them. Whatever kind of seating? Here you go.
Sounds like a dream, doesn’t it?
5 Questions to Ask Before Choosing a Church Management System
So, we landed on option 3. Find another system. But that’s far easier said than done. After weeks of meetings and weighing our options, we finally landed on a cloud based system that suited our needs far more than our previous system.
If you’re starting the same journey, here are 5 questions you should ask before you pick one that’s best for your church.
1 Simple Trick to Maximize Next Year’s Calendar
Over the last several weeks, I’ve posted about planning for next year. You can read about calendar planning here and budget planning here.
If you’ve been doing this for a while, you may realize that just putting dates on a calendar doesn’t mean it’s going to happen.
Get resources to lead well in your ministry.
Your volunteers are the greatest asset to your VBS. You need to give them all the tools to be successful. With this template, you’ll have all the tools you need to show them what to expect and what’s expected.