Partnering With Parents (An Addendum)

I would be remiss if I did not add encouraging parents to the partnership list.  I would also suggest for parents and volunteers who might read this to encourage your ministry leader - Kidsmin are often overlooked and prais goes straight to the Senior Minister.  We need encouragement too!

But enough of my tangent!  If parents kids are still anything like I was as a child then parents definitely need more than a modicum of encouragement.  I recently found out that I was so strong willed as a very young child I brought my mother to tears, a trait that I have never outgrown.  My parents raised three boys, my two younger brothers being four and six years younger than I.  I can assure you we were are a handful to raise.  We kept Mom and Dad up late at nights, wore them out at baseball games, drove them crazy during VBS, were needy on weekends and for some reason they couldn't wait for the summers to end and school to start.

As Kidmin's we can encourage parents with a kind word on Sunday mornings, or a quick email during the week.  It doesn't take much.  I know for me, all I need is someone to shake my hand and say "you're doing a great job."  Or an email that says "Suzy really enjoys coming to church every week."  It's that easy for us to give encouragement to the parents of the kids at our churches.  I do not recommend a blanket email to all the parents on your list, it becomes less personal and it feels fake.  Just a quick "Sally is so wonderful on Sunday mornings, and she is so excited to pray with her small group every week."  That's all it takes.

This is also a great thing for volunteers to do as well - especially since we cannot do everything. 

So, who are you going to encourage this week?

Partnering With Parents

We hear it all the time - especially in the Orange culture.  But what does it really mean?  Karl Bastian (the Kidologist) wrote a fantastic article about partnering with parents, and what it really means which you can check out here.

We often throw around the term loosely, not really knowing what it means to partner with parents.  We assume that since we are handing out pieces of paper or sending emails that tell parents what we are doing each week we have entered into a partnership.  But I, along with Karl, disagree with this notion.

A partnership is much more in depth.  Think of famous partners... Batman and Robin, Mr. President and Mr. Vice President, Booth and Brennan, Obi-Wan and Anakin, Scooby and Shaggy.  They are always helping each other out.  They are always communicating together.  They usually desire to work together.  Where one was weak the other was strong.  We can learn from that!

I feel there isn't a specific formula we can use to suddenly create a great partnership, but I think there are a few components we can add in order to make that partnership legitimate.  I believe two of those components are equipping parents, and communicating with them.
 
I have found equipping parents to be the single greatest thing I can do as a KidsMin (which doesn't mean too much I have been in ministry for just over a year).  I have found that if I invest in the kids I can learn what their specific needs are, equip parents with resources to help address those needs.  In my mind, I see equipping parents as giving them resources they can use in their family setting to teach their child(ren) about Jesus.  This can be books on spiritual parenting, bible studies for families, worship cd's to sing along with in the car, articles about quality time with children etc.  There really is no limit to what we can give to parents to help them out.

Luckily, our church is a fairly small one.  We have about 150 regular attenders, which means there are about 30-35 kids in our ministry, which makes it easy for me to help equip parents.  I know most parents fairly well, and we're more than just Facebook friends.  I encourage you to get to know the kids you see on Sundays so you can equip their parents to minister the rest of the week.  If the ministry you work with is too large to do that, then you could post resources you find to your website and direct parents there so they can have access to what they need.  But, if your church is that big I should probably be reading your blog instead of you reading mine :)

Communication is just as essential as equipping is.  If you do not communicate with parents, how can you know what to give them?  If you do not communicate with parents how will they know what resources you have?  If you do not communicate with parents how will they know what you're talking about on Sundays so they can talk about it at home?  If you aren't communicating with parents how will you know what they are talking about at home so you can talk about it on Sundays?

Communication spreads knowledge, and knowledge is one of the greatest tools you can have in influencing a child's faith.  Communicate so you can equip!  Batman and Robin were constantly talking back and forth.  Booth and Brennan always share their insights so they can solve the crime together.  Obi-Wan and Anakin communicated telepathically so they could defeat the bad guys with ease.

Equip.  Communicate.  Partner.  Don't just hand out lesson reviews - that would be easy.  KidsMin isn't easy, and we don't take the easy route.  Go above and beyond the job description.  After all, we're influencing whether or not someone will know Jesus.  Isn't that worth the extra effort?

Staying Focused

Yesterday I was approached about two different and new ideas I could do in my ministry.  One of the ideas suggested was to have a more in-depth study of the Bible for kids on Sunday mornings, and the other was a way to provide a service project for kids as well.  They are both very well intentioned, and indeed Biblical in nature (quite literally in one case).

So, should I do them?

I answer - Yes, and No.

I always welcome new ideas. I am a single person with a single mind.  It is easy for me to fall into a rut and do things the way I think would be great.  But the truth is I don't have the best ideas.  I have to rely on others to provide me with insights that will make the ministry better.  So when people come to me with their brilliant idea I must always keep an open mind.

However, an open mind doesn't mean I will always do whatever it was they suggested.  In my ministry I have a goal.  KidZone (our children's ministry) exists to "Partner with parents to influence faith in the next generation."  We do that by equipping parents to teach their kids about the Bible, by providing influencers outside the family to say what Mom and Dad are saying, and by providing a secure teaching environment on Sundays.  So whenever someone asks me if we could do something different, I have to keep these parameters in mind.

It would be so easy to say "Yes!" to anyone who had a new idea, and to work on implementing it the next days or weeks.  But, if we KidMins were to do that we would simply become Yes-Men, and we would stop thinking for ourselves.  By keeping a goal for our ministry, and by sticking to that goal, we are able to keep our focus on what we want, and what we feel God has called us to do for our ministry.  However, that does not mean we throw out any new ideas that someone brings us.

Since I have a framework for how I want my ministry structured I can now implement programs, outreach events, and other activities according to my original goal!  That means I will probably do what was suggested to me yesterday - but I will do it according to how my ministry is structured.  I will not change the curriculum completely so we can have a deeper look at the Bible - I will create activities for parents to do at home with their children that accomplishes just that.  I will not simply add the outreach event to our weekly service - I will create an activity that will allow parents to teach their kids how to serve others.  

By having a motto, ministry statement, goal etc. you are able to maintain focus.  It is easy to do the hot new thing, but it can pull us away from what we want to achieve in our ministries.  If we take the time to structure the new ideas in the framework of our ministry goal we can keep focused on what we want achieve while implementing the new ideas.  It's a Win-Win!

Resources

The secret to creativity is not giving away your sources!  But as ministers we have bigger issues than being the most creative KidMin out there - we are responsible for equipping parents to teach and teaching kids about Jesus.

So what are your secret sources?  Do you have a go-to website when your in a bind?  Do you have a team of people you use?  Do you have your mother on speed dial to help bail you out (oh, wait - that's just me)?

As for me, I lean heavily on kidology.org and whatisorange.org.  I also like to read impulsivejoy.com.  Joy Bowen puts out great articles every time.  I don't think she has written a piece  I haven't loved to read.

Unfortunately at this point I don't have a creative team I can go to for ideas and brainstorming sessions.  It is something I really wish to have but don't at this point.

Please list your favorite resources in the comments! It is important that we share so we can do a better job of teaching the world about Jesus!

Just Do It!

My biggest struggle in ministry is actually doing whatever it is I have set out to do on a specific day.  I like to wait until the last minute to get something done.  Sometimes I even wait until the last seconds before I get something done.  I will wait until Sunday morning before I get everything ready for Sunday School.  I will wait until the evening of a meeting before I print everything off for the people showing up to the meeting.  I keep pushing things back until the last possible moment before I start them.

I like to occupy my time by keeping up on Facebook and Twitter.  I have three different social media sites, four news sites, two emails, and six video game sites bookmarked.  I spend more time surfing my bookmarks than editing and preparing curriculum.  Even now as I write this I toggle between three different websites to keep my mind off of what I should be doing.

The consequences for my distraction always result in stress.  Because I am not prepared ahead of time I have stress at the last minute to make sure everything is ready.  My ministry isn't as good as it could be, or sometimes as good as people deserve.

Don't be like me! Just Do It!

Policies and Procedures

Hopefully you haven't already fallen asleep after reading the title of the post!  Policies and procedures are so tedious and so easy to ignore they often remain at the absolute bottom of the to do list.  I would imagine that for many KidMin creating and maintaining policies aren't even on a to do list.

Before I get too carried away with myself I think it's important to define what policies and procedures are.  Policies are rules you have in place to prevent actions from happening (i.e. background check to maintain the safety of kids).  Procedures are actions that must be followed in the case a certain event happens (i.e. fire escape route).  Some examples of policies and procedures are: Having a fire escape plan, a lock down plan, an allergy plan, a diaper changing plan, a bathroom break plan etc.

Why are they necessary?  Policies and procedures exist to keep you, your volunteers, your kids, your parents and your church safe.  Policies and procedures are like insurance - you have to have them, but you never want to deal with them or use them. 

What do you do with them?  Have a boring meeting! Woohoo!!  Who doesn't love boring meetings??  A great time to slip in updated policies and procedures is in volunteer and parent meetings.  You don't have to go over every single one word for word, but it is important that you sum up what each of them are so everyone is on the same page.  After everyone knows what they are and how they work you can shelf them.  They are there just in case.  They are a passive part of your ministry, operating in the background to make sure everyone is safe and on the same page.  I suggest you dust them off once a year and look over them to make sure they are still up to date


I encourage you to revisit your policies.  Take an afternoon and go to the coffee shop to review/update/creat your policies.  They will make your life much much easier in the end!

Let me know what you think!  Do you have policies?  If so, what policies do you have?  Do you not have policies?  If so, why not?

Hello World!

This is my first foray into blogging.  I decided to accept the challenge by Karl Bastian (aka the Kidologist) to start a KidMin blog, so here it is!  I never thought in a million years that I would be a blogger, but nonetheless I am one now!

I will use this blog to describe my experiences in KidsMin.  I will try to relay my successes, failures, joys and frustrations so you might learn what not to do as well as stealing ideas from me that I have already stolen from others (because the secret to creativity is keeping your sources quiet).

So I hope you’re able to learn from me and teach me.  I hope we can work together to teach kids about Jesus.  And I hope that my mother isn’t the only person that decides to read this