BIG BLUNDERS

When I was a Children's Pastor, actively involved in the wonderful, wacky world of kidmin, I was pleased with what we got to do week after week. I rejoiced in the victories and accomplishments, knowing that it is from the Lord, who used an incredible team of volunteers to help minister to the children in our church. When we had a win, it was most definitely of God and surely an "us" moment.

And if something "tanked" or "went south," well, that was all me.

But contrary to popular belief, even failures can be a measure of success, because it is in those failures that we learn. So it is in that spirit of education that I present three of my greatest blunders in kidmin. Word of warning: these are not all the "ha-ha, lol blooper"kind of  blunders, but examples of poor planning, bad decisions, or maybe even pig-headed stubbornness that led to a less than ideal outcome.

1. And the winner is. . . 
It was uniform inspection night and I needed to select the Awana kid with the best uniform, the one with all the awards in the right place. I don't remember how many contenders there were, but there were three or four who excelled. Every leader in the place knew that Bobby was the clear winner. Their eyes shifted toward Bobby. Bobby smiled self-consciously.

I picked Kyle.

At the time, I justified my selection in that Kyle was a bright kid who tried really hard every week and probably needed the encouragement. But it was my wife who summed up what was on everyone's mind: "Did you see the look on Bobby's face?"

Yeah. Without intending to, I crushed Bobby's spirit that night. While my motivation may have been good, I really needed to find a different way of expressing encouragement to someone without downplaying the clear achievements of another.

2. New Year's rush.
The first Sunday of the New Year was coming up and I had the bright idea to give the congregation a taste of the fun music we do on Sunday morning. So I asked, begged, pleaded, and cajoled the powers that be to let our Children's Church kids do a couple of songs during the Morning Worship Service. Great way to start the new year, right?

So the week before our "performance," I told the kids what we were doing. We sang our songs just like we always did, and I reminded our children that we would be doing this for our parents next week.  I looked forward to sharing this incredible blessing with our church.

But what I know now, and really, what I've always known, but somehow ignored, was that singing in children's church was far different than "performing" in adult church. Running through our songs the week before did not constitute "rehearsal." In my haste and zeal to showcase our children, I left out the three most important ingredients of a great performance: practice, practice, practice.

The results were squirm-worthy. Most of the kids stood frozen, their eyes glazed, their voices soft or silent, and their arms unable to do the motions that I and another leader were valiantly trying to coach.It was all very awkward. The audience politely applauded, but absent was the enthusiasm for what was normally a very fun, very active children's program. I mumbled something about how stage fright could often take over with kids.  But while stage fright was no doubt part of it, the failure mostly came  from my desire to rush into our first service of the New Year without taking the time to prepare the kids and help them practice.

3. A good idea at the time.
Speaking of public performances, it is not always acknowledged that programs involving kids also involve leaders. One year, as I was planning the end-of-year calendar, I was faced with three programs: our church daycare annual Christmas program, our annual children's ministry Christmas program, and the annual Live Nativity, which was sponsored by a community organization, but staged by our church. Many of our leaders were involved in all three, so I got to thinking: wouldn't it be nice to get all of this out of the way so our leaders could have most of December to relax, have time with family and friends, and not have to worry about planning and preparing and performing? So I picked the first extended weekend in December to launch our programs. Thursday would be the Day Care  Christmas program, Friday, the Live Nativity, and Sunday, Children's Ministries program. I did it for the leaders, we would get all our programs out of the way at the first of the month, leading to a care free December.

Yes, well. . . .

The Day Care and Children's Ministry programs, of course, required rehearsal (see lesson #2 above). So it took some creative scheduling to get kids and leaders into the building often enough to practice. That didn't include coming up with costuming, props, and sets for two different events

As for the Live Nativity, it didn't take as much rehearsal (it was a procession through the town and ending at the church, with no speaking role except for the narrator), but there still had to be a certain amount of coordinating shepherds, wise men, and angels, many of whom were also kidmin leaders who were quite busy with the other two programs.

To this day, the weekend is remembered with a fuzzy haze. The kids did fine (even though some of them had more than one program), but as we progressed through the weekend, the adults seemed to proportionately drag. Being outside in the cold for the Live Nativity triggered more than a few sniffles by the time Sunday night rolled around.

Having three programs almost back to back was a big investment of time, effort, creativity, and "oomph." And a word of commendation: our kidmin leaders stepped up and excelled! But as the "leader," I should have known better. Children's pastors should minister to the leaders as well. I failed to look out for the health and well being of the men and women who served so faithfully. Not only that, but parents of kids who were in multiple performances not only had multiple commitments at church, but they had school programs as well.  By grouping three events close together, nobody had a chance to catch their breath.

There are no doubt more foul-ups throughout the 15 years I served as a Children's Pastor. I did not always make the best or wisest choices and sometimes I charged forward with an idea that really needed more refinement or wise counsel. The mistakes were there, but they carried with them important lessons that made our victories and accomplishments that much sweeter.

Did you have any notable blunders in your children's ministry? What did you learn? Respond in the comments below.

USING WORSHIP DVDS FROM ONE WHO IS MUSICALLY CHALLENGED

I recently heard about a church official who had strong opinions about children's praise and worship DVDs. Upon hearing that one of the music leaders was looking to add to the children's department's DVD music collection, he said, "I thought we determined that DVDs were no longer allowed. It's just another video that the kids sit in front of." He promised to talk to the music leader and put his foot down, so to speak. In this official's mind, DVDs (and other media based items) constituted "passive entertainment" and were not worthy of the goals of Christian education.

And I agree: DVDs and other forms of media are, indeed, passive entertainment . . . if used passively!

The fact is, many churches do not have a band, musicians, and song leaders that can effectively do live contemporary children's praise and worship. I don't have enough technical knowledge to tell you what distinguishes modern kids praise music from adult or even teen music, but there is a difference! And so several companies have attempted to bridge the gap with music videos that have music, words, and even motions. It's like bringing in a band to help lead your music.

But music DVDs are a tool . . . and like most tools, they have to be used properly. If you stick in a DVD and tiredly expect the kids to sing along, you will likely get tired results. But even the musically challenged among us can get good results using the tools in the right way. I am not a singer and I probably lack certain motor skills to do complicated choreography (although I've got a little game). But in my years in kidmin, I've learned some principles in working with DVDs.

• Look at the kids, not the screen. There are two reasons for this. One, it keeps you from having to contort your back and neck to look over at the screen for the lyrics, and second, with your attention on the kids, you can pick up those subtle signals that every children's leader needs (like the two fifth graders who are sitting in the corner with their arms crossed).
• Interact with and use the music. By knowing the music and words of the DVD, you can interject prompts ("a little louder now!") at the right spots, or take advantage of longer musical gaps to insert a quick devotional thought ("and Jesus loves you too and you can love one another, so let's sing it together..").
• Move it, move it #1. Clap your hands, try the moves, shuffle back and forth . . . do something! If you can't pull off all the moves, try to do the major ones. You may not be able to get those fifth graders moving, but you can virtually guarantee they won't move if you won't move.
• Move it, move it #2. Recruit some kids to help with the moves. Be on the lookout for the children who are into the music and motions and bring them up to help. Kids love seeing other kids in action. You can even try bringing the two fifth graders up and ask if they would be willing to help lead songs (they might just surprise you with their enthusiasm).
• Transition smoothly. Try to eliminate that awkward time when you are switching songs. Have something happening while your sound guy makes the switch. Or if you are your own sound guy, designate someone to do an announcement while you work controls. Better yet, have all your songs lined up and ready to go in a "mix." One of the more recent innovations is the availability of songs on MP3, where they can be mixed and lined up seamlessly on a computer, which sure beats cuing up VHS tapes (yes, I am that old).
• Put the songs in context. Relate the songs to the lesson or theme when possible. And that requires advance preparation, not just loading a DVD in the player that morning.

Sure, live music is best. You can do things with live musicians, song leaders, and a praise team that you can't do with a DVD. Even a talented, on-fire guy with a guitar can get a group of kids going in ways that electronic media cannot. But if you don't have those things, children's praise and worship DVDs can be just the tool you need.


Does your church used contemporary children's worship DVDs or other media, or is your music live? What resources do you use? Feel free to respond in the comments below.

WHY SHOULD YOU GO TO A CONFERENCE?

Over the years, I have read many articles about revitalizing your ministry.  And among the principles listed is this one sage piece of advice: attend conferences.

I wholeheartedly affirm this.  If you have an opportunity to attend a local children's ministry conference, by all means go.  If you have an opportunity to attend a larger conference outside your area, do it.  And if you have the chance to go to one of the humongous national conferences (like the Children's Pastors' Conference), you will not regret it. Getting together with people outside your current ministry and learning from experts will only help and challenge you...and maybe even change your whole life and ministry.

That's what happened to me.

It was the late 90's. I didn't know what CPC was.  I was an unpaid children's pastor (the leadership didn't even call it that at first) and I was at the end of my proverbial rope. Although I have had other times in my ministry when I felt like quitting, this particular time was one of the darker times I remember. I didn't sense the leadership had any kind of vision for children's ministries.  I was having a hard time getting volunteers. I was under stress, lonely, and feeling like I had exhausted my internal resources and getting no results.

Every year, we took a group to our local children's ministry network conference. It was a one day session, with workshops and a few vendor tables, and usually a nationally known speaker.  I always got a lot out of these conferences.  But this particular one was different.  After the conference ended, I planned to hand in my resignation.

I don't remember who was leading our worship time.  But one of the songs he delivered was "I Am Child" by Mr. J.  I had never heard of Mr. J, but this song hit me hard.  It talked about something I had always known, but maybe never comprehended; namely, that children have the same power of the King in them as do adults.  I listened....and gulped...and fought back tears. The ministry to children was more than just the children's program at the church...it was vitally, deeply, eternally important!

And then came the keynote speaker. I won't tell you who it was (msg me if you really want to know), but even though I had heard other speakers through the years, this one approached children's ministry like it was not only the most important ministry in the world, but the most fun.  I laughed, I cried, I scribbled notes, and felt I couldn't breathe.  This man was articulating all the reasons I enjoyed children's ministries, plus all the ways that children's ministry could be so much more than a Sunday morning program.

I didn't resign.  Instead, God used that conference to rip into my being and pull out a fire for children's ministry.

I've had other low times.  I've also been to other conferences, including CPC (don't get me started...if you can, you have to go!). I'm no longer the children's pastor (another long post), but the Lord has allowed me to teach some children's ministry workshops.  And to think I almost walked away from one of the greatest adventures of all.

Why do I think you ought to go to conferences?  Because our God can use it to provide the turning point in your ministry. 

That's what happened to me.


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THREE ADJUSTMENTS TO THE CULTURE OF CHANGE

Inauguration of the President. 
Passing of the Olympic Torch. 
Jay Leno's Tonight Show farewell. 
Ministries with staying power.

What do all these have in common?  They highlight the power of transition, the strength of tradition, and the importance of continuity.

As a children's pastor (and before that, a senior pastor), I knew that change was good.  Mix things up from time to time, add surprises, don't succumb to what Ronnie Caldwell termed "routine ruts."  I believed that then and I still believe it.  The church simply cannot lock itself into the past with a "we've never done it that way before" mentality.  Modern children's ministries get this, unleashing programs and curriculum that are far different from even the time I started in kidmin.  And while some churches and their programs may be stuck in ritualistic gridlock, I do know many, many churches that are experiencing the joy and freedom that comes from not doing it the same way over and over again.

But if I may add a corrective adjustment to the ongoing dialogue on change, I believe ministries that make an impact in families over a long term need to have the elements listed above: transition, tradition, and continuity.

Continuity.  Jay Leno may have been host of The Tonight Show for 22 years, but the show itself has been an institution on late night TV for 60-something years.  Although showcasing vastly different talents from its hosts, it's still The Tonight Show.

Although I loved to shake things up and bring wonder and surprise with the kids, I always made sure the basic core of our program ("Sunday Morning Celebration") was the same every week.  Kids took comfort in the fact that, even though there was something different happening (rearranging chairs, changing the set, lining up tables differently, special surprises), it was still their children's program.  They could count on it.  What we did 15 years ago was different than what we did in the present, but it was still "Sunday Morning Celebration."

Tradition.  Contrary to popular belief, "tradition" is not a dirty word.  The Bible is full of examples of ritual and repetition done for the express purpose of remembrance and teaching. I think there is a value in tradition that we often overlook.

Sometimes we have traditions that have lost their meaning or intent.  But other traditions serve as reminders of great spiritual victories, important lessons, or rich history.  Take weddings for instance.  I've seen some strange nuptials,  but for the most part, weddings have the same basic format.  As the couple exchange vows and the music plays, the couples in the audience lean a little closer together.  Why? Because whether they are consciously aware of it or not, they are remembering and reaffirming their own wedding day.  It's a powerful jump start to their memories.

Whether it is a nightly routine at home or a weekly routine at church, it is worth examining the traditions and rituals we have: what they represent and what they are trying to teach us.

Transition.  This is where continuity meets tradition.  Presidential inaugurations are a great example of this.  Every four years, there is a ceremony in which there is a peaceful transfer of power, often between staunch political adversaries.  This transition, with all its accompanying ritual, is important to show transition.

A sense of transition is important.  Barring matters of moral or doctrinal deviation, there should be a smooth transition when a volunteer or staff member leaves. A recognition, an opportunity to say farewell, and some kind of announcement is in order.  This not only provides a sense of closure, but a sense of assurance that, even though there is a change, the ministry goes on.  Some of the longest running, most stable churches with which I am familiar have a strong sense of transition.   Retiring volunteers are celebrated, memories made in an older part of the building are treasured before the building is renovated, and a major change in program is looked back upon fondly, even as the new program is anticipated with excitement.

What does your ministry do to provide for transitions? What traditions do you hold in your family and church? What kind of continuity do you have in your programs and departments.  I'd love to hear your comments below.

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WHAT TO DO WHEN LEADERSHIP DOESN'T BACK YOU

The category is Hard Lessons to Learn.  The final answer is, "Without this element, your children's ministry will likely go downhill."

What is, "The Support and Backing of the Church Leadership."

It's true.  You can attend all the classes and conferences to learn all the latest techniques, you can have a blast with the kids, you can be well loved and well admired by parents, and you can have the best, most dazzling program that the church has ever seen.  But if the elders, deacons, pastoral staff, or other governing body isn't behind the work, you will face a tough road.

When you sense that maybe you are not getting the support of the church leadership, what can you do?  Here are a few suggestions:

1.  Be the best.  It's tempting when you learn that the board doesn't back you to respond by cutting back your efforts.  Don't.  Your job is to glorify God and reach kids and that requires our very best, no matter who notices, doesn't notice, or even works against it.

2.  Make sure your program lines up with the church's mission.  It's important that your pastor and leaders know that the children's department is a vital part of the church, not a competitor.

3.  Share the wins with the leadership.  A testimony of how little Toby trusted Jesus in Sunday School, or how five pre-teens expressed interest in the mission field will often encourage the board as the vitality of the work.

4.  Meet regularly with your pastor. Make it a part of your schedule. If you can turn your pastor into a raving fan, he can become the biggest cheerleader before the board.

5.  Be willing to change. Read between the lines of the comments and mine the beneficial nuggets that will help propel your ministry further.

6.  Ask.  The apparent lack of support could be a matter of misunderstanding or lack of communication.  You may just have to lay your concerns before the board and trust for a turnaround.

7.  Be prepared for rejection.  Sometimes, a lack of support is just that: the board doesn't support you. It could be driven by church politics or marketing, or it could be a lack of understanding about what children's ministries is all about.  Sometimes you can't do anything.  It may be that the Lord is directing you into another area of ministry at your church or another church.  Be ready.

Above all, throughout all, pray.  Keep your eyes on Jesus.  Sometimes it sounds trite, especially when you hear the whisperings from the leadership about what you're doing.  But the Lord's peace will embrace you through the difficult decisions.

Lack of support from the church leadership is a hard lesson to figure out.  But even when your ministry appears to be in jeopardy, you can always lean on the Lord as you go through the storm.
    

PREPARATION TIPS FOR YOUR LESSONS

It's that time again.  You've received your copy of the teacher's manual.  There is the passage of Scripture and several pages of teaching notes, object lessons, life application stories, and maybe a craft or two.  What do you do next?

Sadly, there are teachers who pick up "easy to prepare" lesson manuals and read them over on Saturday night during commercials.  After all, it's all laid out so the teacher doesn't have to "do" anything, right? I once observed a teacher reading the lesson right out of the teacher's book! She only paused long enough to pick up the prop that the book indicated (at least she didn't actually read the words, "pick up prop").

 There is a lot of hard work and preparation that goes into writing these manuals and I appreciate the role they play in children's ministries. But it has been my observation that some teachers are intent on "teaching the curriculum" instead of actually teaching the Bible. I believe if the publisher's lesson is the sum total of preparation and presentation, it is actually shortchanging the kids in the class.

Assuming you've picked up the lesson guide in plenty of time to prepare, what is a good way to approach the upcoming lesson, to take advantage of the work of the experts, but not rely on that work as the final answer on how you do your class? Here are some steps that may help:

• Read your lesson book through once, making note of the main passage of Scripture
• Read the main passage of Scripture repeatedly in different translations. If it is only a verse or two, read the verses surrounding it to get the context.  This allows you to be comfortable and knowledgeable about what the passage says.
• Seek to understand what the passage means and how it connects to the whole of Scripture.  There is a plethora of commentaries, study guides, printed, audio, and video sermons available to aid you in your study.
• Ask yourself the point of the passage for your life today. Does the passage command something, give you an example to follow (or avoid), or teach you an attitude to emulate?
• If you had no other resources, how would you present this passage to the children in your class?
• Open your lesson book and see how the publisher does it.  Go over it until the lesson is not only familiar to  you, but actually "fits" the personality of your class.
• And then, if possible, leave your teacher's manual at home! Nothing brings more energy to a classroom than the teacher directly interacting with the students instead of reading them a lesson.  The only book you should actually be reading from is the Bible.

I'm not suggesting you have to be a Bible scholar, conjugating Greek verbs and looking up comments from the anti-Nicene fathers.  Nor am I suggesting reinventing the proverbial wheel: if the manual has a great illustration, activity, or turn-of-phrase, by all means use it.  But in the end, remember, you are not teaching a curriculum, you are teaching the Scripture.  The lesson guide is a tool to help you do it.

What kind of methods do you use to prepare your lessons? I'd love to hear your ideas in the comments section.

DOES LOW PREP MEAN NO PREP?

Low prep!     Easy prep!     No prep!

There are many curriculum companies that advertise the absolute easiest in lesson presentation.  And there is an appeal to the increasingly busy volunteer base that is consumed each week with work and school and extra-curricular activities. Who wouldn't want something that doesn't require extra time out of an already packed schedule?

But I fear the whole low/easy/no prep movement is missing some fundamental points. This isn't necessarily the fault of the curriculum companies, but rather the interpretation and expectation of the consumers. Let's take a look at these (warning: major ranting ahead!):

1. Curriculum has always been easy to transfer and present.  At the whopping age of 17, I was asked to teach a 5th grade Sunday School class. The kind lady in charge handed me a packet of curriculum from a major publisher.  You know what was in it? Colorful posters to illustrate and enhance the lesson, handout materials so the kids can read and apply stuff through the week, worksheets to do with the kids, and a teacher's manual that presented the lesson word for word. If I had only been given this material fifteen minutes before class, I could have read the lesson out of the manual, pausing at the appropriately indicated times to show the poster or have the kids fill in the blanks.  Easy prep is nothing new. Even today, most published curriculum lays out everything or even puts it all on a dvd, so all a teacher has to do is press "play."

2. Somebody had to prepare the "low prep" curriculum. Somebody had to do the study and research in order to create the lesson plan and content. Some places even "field test" their curriculum in order to iron out the bugs. A lot of hard work goes into creating curriculum, because the message is important. And the fact that we are communicating this message to children makes it even more so.

And that leads us to the key missing point...

3.  Low/easy/no prep curriculum requires prep! This may not be popular, but I believe that a volunteer who gets the teacher's book should open their manual, turn to the lesson, note the Scripture passage, close the manual, and spend some time in pure study of the passage before returning the teacher book. They should be thinking of how the lesson fits in the flow of the series, the individual needs of the kids in their class, and maybe even how to do the lesson better than the teacher's manual explains it. In short, the wise teacher needs to prepare, not just "look over" the lesson.

Now let the record show that I am not against "low prep" stuff in general.  I'm sure most children's workers have had to "wing it" with the teacher's manual once in a while. Low prep curriculum can help simplify concepts and lay out creative strategies for presenting the lesson.  Many outfits include video segments to help reinforce the lesson being taught. I'm all in favor of making volunteer's lives easier as much as possible.

But I have seen far too many volunteers say, "I love this curriculum, because I don't have to do anything to get ready for Sunday."  I've watched the "teacher of the week" get his or her materials on Friday during lunch hour so they would be ready on Sunday. And I know a certain percentage of teachers look over the teacher's manual during commercials on Saturday night. It costs the teacher NOTHING and the kids get shortchanged. Most pastors I know (including my own) spend hours prayerfully laboring  over the text and how to present it to their adult congregations. Yet the most important congregation of all gets the time it takes to read over the lesson manual on Saturday night (or in the car on Sunday morning!).

How much time is enough time for preparation?  That may be the subject of another post, but for me, I ask myself, "if my low/easy/no prep curriculum got lost in a fire, could I still do the lesson on Sunday?" And maybe a more fundamental question is, "Are the kids worth what is most convenient to me or are they worth my very best?"

I'd love to hear your thoughts on this subject in the comments below.

Related post: Easy to Use and Transfer?

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HOW TO TURN YOUR CP INTO A RAVING FAN

If you look within the various conferences, books, and blogs about children's ministries, you will eventually come across a piece about getting along with the pastor and church leadership. Workshops and articles with titles like "Getting the Support of Your Church Board" and "How to Turn Your Pastor Into a Raving Fan" dot the landscape of notebooks and podcasts. These are great lessons, because they demonstrate that the children's ministry leader is ultimately part of the larger church ministry and not some rogue operation on the fringes of Sunday morning.

But there are times when church leadership does indeed regard children's ministry as an "outside" work. It's not necessarily deliberate, but there is a sheer lack of knowledge and understanding about what goes on in "the other part of the church." Sometimes, a disgruntled parent comes in with a complaint and the pastor or board, assuming the gripe is just the tip of the proverbial iceberg, deal harshly with the kidmin leader. Or maybe there is just a general lack of response, a benign nod of the head and smile as the children's pastor tells the head elder about how the kids really liked the puppet presentation and slime craft last week.

The following are five suggestions for senior pastors and/or ruling boards on how to support your children's pastor.  Maybe we could even call it, "How to Turn Your Children's Pastor Into a Raving Fan."

• Learn what is going on in your children's department. What are the programs, curriculum, songs, and so on. Who are the volunteers? How is the program structured. If you are a senior pastor, maybe you can get a speaker for a Sunday in order for you to "hang out" with the kids to watch, observe, and take notes (you may even be pressed into service!)
• Find out why these things are done. It's not enough to merely observe the elements of children's church or Sunday School, the wise leader will find out why these elements are the way they are. One of the biggest gaps adults have in understanding children's ministry is the fact that children's ministry is framed in the culture of kids. It does no good to criticize bright colors, silly song motions, and goofy puppets by adult standards. So it is important to ask why the music is the way it is, why do we arrange classes in that fashion, why do we put the teaching in that spot in the service, and so on.
• Help the children's leadership in meeting the vision of the church. Submitting to the church's mission and vision is practically part of Children's Ministry Leadership 101, yet in some churches, pastors and church boards are not always forthcoming in helping the kidmin in lining up. Take your children's pastor out to lunch, listen to how he feels about the church and its ministry, and offer to help him blend his vision into yours.  You might be surprised at how close the two ministries really are.
• Be honest, but kind in evaluations. Legitimate problems need to be addressed in a clear, but gentle way. But while praise is always a good thing, heaping on generalities like "Good job," or "Way to go," while ignoring matters that need to be addressed, end up causing more harm than good. When the problems do come out, the children's ministry leader will feel blindsided.  If you are building a relationship with the kidmin leader (as suggested above), sharing a challenge or difficulty will be much easier.
• Be generously flexible in dealing with difficulties. There are some situations in which the pastor and/or church leadership should swiftly and decisively remove someone from children's ministry leadership: clear immorality, blatant disloyalty to the church, doctrinal deviation, and, of course, harming a child. Most anything less can be worked out amicably. "We don't like the logo on that particular curriculum, so you're fired!" is unnecessarily harsh. On the other hand, saying, "There are some people who are uncomfortable with that logo. What made you decide to do it this way? Is there a way it can be modified to soften the objectionable parts?" preserves the relationship and strengthens the ministry...and the minister.

What advice have you offered to your senior pastor or board?

DO ROTATIONS DISTRACT?

Regular readers of this blog know that I'm not a big fan of rotating teachers (if you want to know why, here is a link to the introduction to that series). I'm sure there are circumstances in which rotation works well (and I'd be happy to examine each one), but overall, I believe the practice of making a schedule and having a different teacher each week for the main kid's worship time is actually counter-productive to effective children's ministries.

Aside from the inconsistencies in preparation, presentation, and participation, I think weekly rotations are actually a "distraction from the best." I know a very humble, very godly man who oversees children's ministries in his church. At least twice in the last year, he has expressed the need for "more volunteers." In fact, this last time, he has described it as a "dire need." The problem isn't that they have more kids than ever before. The problem is that children's ministry has been replaced with getting enough volunteers to fill the slots on the schedule. It has grown to the point that the focus is no longer what is best for the kids, but what is best for the volunteers.



Image courtesy of koratmember/FreeDigitalPhotos.net

I imagine the process started with the innocent desire to make sure volunteers did not get too burdened with teaching week after week. So they created a schedule with Mrs. Jones teaching the first week, Mr. Smythe doing week two, Miss Looly on week three, and Mr. Grober on week four. That way, each teacher only has to teach once a month. But then Mr. Grober announces that he would rather teach every other month. So we either have to ask one of the other teachers to teach twice, or we need to get another teacher. Miss Looly is willing, but only temporarily until we find someone else. Meanwhile, Mrs. Jones calls on Saturday night to let us know that her family is going on vacation, so we ask Mr. Smythe if he can fill in. He can, but he doesn't really want to do two weeks in a row. We manage to plead and cajole and finally recruit enough volunteers so that nobody has to be stuck with the kids more than once every other month. All our slots are filled and all is well. Until we get a phone call from Mr. Grober....

A weekly rotation sounds like an ideal solution to "spread out the work," but it doesn't take much to derail the schedule. It requires us to recruit two or three times more volunteers than we actually need on a given Sunday, plus it does not guarantee freedom from burn-out. And before long, most of the energy is spent on getting warm bodies and figuring out how to schedule them. Soon, you have a volunteer or even the coordinator herself filling in for two, three, or more Sundays in a row and all they can think about is, "I'm tired of doing this every week. I haven't been in church for the last four weeks!"And, of course, there is the idea that Mr. Grober is here only because no one else wanted to do it that Sunday. That is the best we have to offer our children?

I have a testimony about my journey out of this cycle.  One day I will share it.  But for now, here are a few suggestions:

• Recruit to vision, not to need. Iimagine if children's church was regarded as "real church." Imagine if there were dedicated, sold-out volunteers who look forward to bonding with the kids week after week. Figure out what your ministry is about, what it looks like, and find volunteers that will buy in to that vision.
• Have a dedicated teacher.  Normally, that would be the Children's Pastor or Director, but in any event, find a consistent teacher whose "job" is to prepare and present to the kids each and every week.
• Watch your language. The phrases used in our scenario above are actual quotes from volunteers and leaders: "don't want volunteers over burdened," "stuck with the kids," "haven't been in (real) church for a long time," etc. Don't talk about children's ministry as duty or obligation. "If nobody else comes forward, then (deep sigh) I guess I'll do it" (doesn't that just bless your heart?). Instead, tell the leadership, volunteers, the congregation, and yourself about this great adventure called "children's ministry."