4 Types of Work in NextGen Ministry
The dirty secret of children’s ministry, specifically, and NextGen ministry in general is that very little of your time as a pastor is spent ministering to that age group. In reality, you will spend 1-3 hours a week actually leading them, while the other 40+ hours are spent doing other things.
How to Lead When You're not in Charge
In a previous post, I said there are three groups every NextGen pastor leads. However, there is a fourth group you lead and interact with every day.
That’s the other people on the church staff.
No matter where you serve, you are not a ministry unto yourself.
When You Feel Like It's Time to Go and What to Do About It
Whatever it is, for better or worse, there will come a time for you to say goodbye. We are all itinerant ministers. There was probably someone before you, and there will most likely be someone after you. Even if you serve for 50 years in the same place, time and people move on.
But how do you know when it’s time to move on? How do you know it’s a prompting from God and not your emotions getting the better of you?
5 Must Haves for a NextGen Policy Manual
A little talked about, but vital document in your ministry is a policy and procedure manual. The manual answers a lot of questions for volunteers and clearly defines your thinking on multiple situations.
While your church may have its own policy manual that addresses your ministry specifically, many times these are incomplete when it comes to NextGen. In my experience, they’ll address room ratios and background checks, but not other problems such as fire drills, dress codes, meeting attendance and more.
This is why I suggest every NextGen ministry have its own policy and procedure manual.
3 Questions to Ask Before Picking a VBS
It's January and that means it's time to start working on VBS. I know it’s 6-7 months out, but there are a few high-level decisions you need to make now to set you up for success in the coming months.
One of the first questions that is asked is, "What VBS curriculum should my church use?
The truth is there are a lot of great curriculums out there, and while I have my preferences, I won’t advocate for any of them in this post.
What I Read in 2022
Every year I set a goal to read a certain number of books. I’ve gone all the way to 36 but have settled between 20 to 24. This year, instead of focusing on quantity, I focused on subjects that interested me and read a few pages every day. Somehow, I still got 20 books in.
For this post, I broke the books into categories.
5 Budget Categories Every NextGen Leader Needs in Their Ministry
Budgets, love them or hate them, you need to have one to effectively manage the resources God has given you and your ministry.
Whatever your church’s requirements, your budget and your yearly calendar are inextricably linked. So, before you start putting numbers down into a spreadsheet make sure your yearly calendar is done first.
4 Simple Ways to Appreciate your Volunteers
One of the best ways to retain your volunteers for years to come is to show them appreciation. So many jobs they do go unnoticed. What’s more, if you work in NextGen, your volunteers may never hear from those they serve that they’re doing a good job.
6 Steps to a Great Family Service
Family services. Love them or hate them, they have their place. I'm an advocate for family services because I believe children’s ministry needs to be more than a ministry held in another room never to be seen or heard from. These services can be a great tool for emphasizing ministry to the next generation, highlight the great things that are happening, and give your volunteers a much needed week off.
6 Steps to Make Next Year’s Ministry Calendar
It’s the most wonderful time of the year!
No, I’m not talking about Christmas or Thanksgiving (I’m a no Christmas until after Thanksgiving person).
I’m talking about planning for the next year.
5 Steps to Building Your Volunteer Structure for Growth
I recently saw a post on a Facebook group asking how many volunteers they need for 30-40 kids. It was really a question about ratios, which are very important, but having the correct room ratio may not be enough when thinking about the right number of volunteers.
I’ve written about this before, but when I first started in kidmin, you could have called my Sunday morning service the David Reneau show.
5 Numbers You Should Track in Your Ministry and Why
I’ve heard business entrepreneurs say that you have to know your numbers. The same is true with your ministry. How many attended this week? Last week? How many volunteers? First time guests? Baptisms? Small Groups?
If you don’t track it, and by tracking, I mean write it down in a spreadsheet, you’re losing out on valuable information that can help you keep your ministry healthy and growing.
4 Pools to Recruit Volunteers
Recently, I found myself with only one volunteer on a particular Wednesday night with less than two days to find new volunteers. Closing the ministry for the night was not an option, but it was looking like it may happen. It’s not a fun place to be. As I thought about who I can recruit, I found that there are four pools of people I can ask to serve.
This downloadable curriculum will give you all the tools you need to create and run your own kids lead team.