Wednesday, February 8, 2012
Thursday, October 27, 2011
Magnify Your Ministry
The Children’s Pastor - Part 5
“ I am speaking to you who are Gentiles. Inasmuch as I am an apostle of the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry,” Romans 11:13 NASB
A big part of your job as a CP is to recruit and train volunteers to minister to children. When I first started in children’s ministry I used to complain to my pastor that I didn’t have enough help. One day the Lord spoke to me “It’s not your pastor’s job to recruit your help. It’s your job.” Self-pity has never recruited one volunteer.
The best way to get people to follow you is to create a ministry that people want to be a part of. Paul said it like this “I magnify my ministry.” Paul was the apostle to the gentiles and sometimes the gentiles felt like second-class citizens. Peter and James saw the gentiles as a lesser ministry, but Paul did not see it that way.
There will always be people in the church who see children’s ministry as lesser ministry, but the only way for you to change that is for you to magnify your ministry. A church will judge the children’s ministry by how the children’s pastor represents it. If you don’t like how people view your ministry then you might need to change your self. People are looking for somewhere to hook up but they don’t want to get on a sinking ship. If you are passionate about children’s ministry your fire will run off on other people.
After thirty-two years in ministry I have only found two ways to effectively recruit volunteers.
- Ask them. Jesus asked his disciples to follow him and you will need to follow his example. Most people need to be invited to join a ministry. You can ask them by email, text, telephone or face to face, but you are going to have to ask people to get involved. The good news is that once you get one excited volunteer he or she can help by asking their friends to get involved. It’s kind of like a giant multi-level marketing plan. You get more gold in heaven the more people you get involved in children’s ministry.
- People will respond to vision. Ask your pastor if you can have ten minutes in the pulpit on a Sunday morning or maybe you can do a family service on a Wednesday night. If you get an opportunity to share in the pulpit do not beg for workers. Instead magnify your ministry.Talk about how important kids are to the Lord. Share testimonies about what God is doing in the kid’s lives. The Lord said it to me like this “Allow people to experience the anointing that is on your ministry and let me draw them to you.”
Next week we will talk about how to train all the new workers that you will be getting.
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Helping Kids Make Friends at Church
The Children’s Pastor part 4
“Two are better off than one, for they can help each other succeed. If one person falls, the other can reach out and help. But someone who falls alone is in real trouble.” Ecclesiastes 4:9-10 NLT
One of the responsibilities of a CP is to help kids make friends at church. If kids do not make friends at church during their grade school years then they will not make the jump to youth ministry. Teenagers want to hang with their friends and if they don’t have friends at church they won’t hang out at church. One of the best ways to insure that 'your kids' will not fall away during their teen years is to help them make friends at church.
You cannot choose their friends for them, but you can create environments that will help them make friends. I do this in three ways:
- Small groups. One of the hardest decisions I ever made was to take 30 minutes out of my preaching and dedicate it to small group ministry. The primary reason I did this was I noticed the bigger the church got, the less connected the kids were. Church is not just about the relationship between the pastor and his sheep. The glue that holds the church together is the love we have for one another.
- Create opportunities for kids to serve in ministry. When kids get involved in a ministry they are spending time with other kids who love the Lord and want to give of their time to help others. The payback that my leadership kids get is the lifelong relationships they develop at worship rehearsal and drama practice.
- Plan social activities for families. I try to plan one social activity for families with grade school age children. Most of these are not drop off events but opportunities where families can hang together. Here is a list of the activities I have done:
- Sledding party – January
- Lock IN – February
- Roller Skating Party - March
- Easter Egg Hunt – April
- Gym and Swim night at YMCA – May
- Vacation Family Adventure – June
- World’s Largest Squirt Gun Fight - July
- Summer Camp – July
- Zoo Trip – August
- 100 Foot Banana Split - September
- Hay Ride and Apple Orchard - October
- Halloween Alternative – November
- Christmas Party and Gift Exchange -December
Monday, October 24, 2011
What is a Home Run to You?
Children's Pastor Part 3
What is a home run for you? Monica is a home run for me. Monica was eleven when she started leading worship in Super Church. Today Monica is 35 and she sings in the sanctuary. She never left the church and she has always used her gift for the Lord.
Monica is just one example. Seth is my assistant in Super Church. Kelly is one of our youth pastors. Krista and Ginger teach in our Christian school. Jacob owns his own business and he is one of my best teachers in Super Church. Adrian is the producer of a TV show at a church in Georgia. These people were all kids at one time who started out on the puppet team or the worship team or AV team and they are still in ministry today.
Jesus told us to go into all the world and make disciples. According to Young’s concordance a disciple is a “taught or trained one.” The heart of a pastor is discipleship. A pastor gives people and opportunity to do things. If you are a one-man team you are not making disciples.
I have observed that people that get involved in ministry at a young age will stay in the church. Stop complaining that you don’t have enough help and start using the people that are right under your nose. Train them up in the way they should go and they will always be faithful to you.
They say that 20% of the people in our churches do 80% of the work. Why is that? Maybe it is because we tell them when they are children that they can’t do anything in the church and they continue to believe that, when they become adults.
So, what are some things that kids can do in church? I’m glad you asked that question. Here is a list of things that kids can do.
- Take up the offering
- Pass Buckets
- Help new kids find a seat
- Write out name tags
- Run power point presentations
- Create power point presentations
- Pray for the sick
- Teach an object lesson
- Puppetry
- Drama
- Sing
- Play the piano
- Lead Worship
- Run a Camera
- Pray with kids for salvation
- Pray with kids to receive the Holy Spirit
- Intercessory prayer
In short, kids can do whatever you will take the time to train them to do. What are you waiting for? Pick one child and get started.
Thursday, October 20, 2011
What is a Children's Pastor Part 2
Feed the Flock
“Feed the flock of God which is among you” 1 Peter 5:2
The first thing Peter tells pastors to do is to “feed the flock”. This is the primary responsibility of a pastor. If you are going to feed the flock you need to feed yourself. Never stand up in front of a group of kids and read the curriculum.
I tell my volunteers they should minister out of their overflow. If you are preaching on prayer then look up scriptures on prayer and meditate on them. Find some good books on prayer and read them during the week. The more time you spend in the Word of God the better your preaching will be.
One trend that that really concerns me today is that many of today’s curriculums do not teach the deep things of the Word. The world is getting bolder with their message and the church seems to be more timid. Kids have to fight the same devil that we have to fight. Children don’t need less of God’s Word today - they need more. Jesus commanded us to “preach the gospel to every creature.” If it’s in the Bible you can preach it to kids.
Another thing we need to think about is that most children under the age of eight cannot read yet, so they are totally dependent on someone else to feed them. This is why what you do is so precious to the Lord. For many of the kids in your class the only meal they get is what you are preaching. Make sure you give them some meat and potatoes and not just the desert.
Here are ten practical steps for feeding your flock: kids the Word of God:
- FOCUS on one message per week. What is the one thing you want your kids to do with the message you are preaching?
- THINK LIKE A CHILD – If you are teaching on prayer, what types of things would a child pray for?
- TEACH IN A SERIES – This will help your flock know where you are going.
- BE VISUAL – Preaching to kids without something visual does not work. Use short films, power points, object lessons, games and dramas.
- TELL STORIES – The best preachers are good storytellers.
- KEEP IT MOVING – One child who breaks the rules is a discipline problem. If the group is not paying attention it’s a leadership problem. Change what you are doing every five minutes or so.
- STAY CURRENT – If you package an eternal message in an old wrapper it seems like an old message.
- BUILD A TEAM – Don’t be a lone ranger.
- BE FUNNY – When people laugh it opens up their heart. Use the sandwich method. Funny, Serious, Funny.
- REVIEW AND REPETITION – Kids don’t get it if you just say it one time. (Neither do adults)
Don’t miss tomorrow’s blog, what is a CP? part #3
Monday, October 17, 2011
What is a Children's Pastor?
Have you ever heard that question?
I used to hear it a lot when I first became a children’s pastor in 1979. I was the only full time children’s pastor that I knew of, in the state of Michigan. Today there are literally thousands of CP’s but there still is a lot of misunderstanding of what a children’s pastor is.
The first job of a children’s pastor is to pastor the children in your local church. You are an extension of your pastor to the children under your care. In other words you are there to help your pastor. If you do not have a good relationship with your pastor you will not be effective as a children’s pastor.
Jesus is the chief shepherd, and the senior pastor is a shepherd under Jesus. Jesus is not physically here on the earth so he gave “gifts unto men”. He gave the gift of pastor to lead the local church just like a shepherd leads his flock.
The pastor cannot reach all age groups effectively so he hired you to help him. You, as the children’s pastor, are an extension of your pastor’s ministry. In other words, you have the same job that your pastor does, but you don’t have the same authority.
A good example of this is in Deuteronomy when the Lord told Moses to select 70 elders to help him so he wasn’t bearing the “burden of the people alone”. The 70 elders were doing the same job that Moses was doing but they did not have the same authority. Moses was still in charge.
You job is very similar to your pastor’s job so we can look at what the Bible says to pastors and apply those scriptures to children’s ministry.
1 Peter 5:3 “Don't lord it over the people assigned to your care, but lead them by your own good example.” NLT
The word example in webster’s dictionary means “somebody or something worthy of imitation” Are you living a life that you want other people to imitate? There is a huge accountability that comes with pastoring kids because children are so easily influenced.
You are not just a CP at church. Just like being the senior pastor, you are in the gold fish bowl.It’s a 24/7 job.
Another part of this word example is that you need to be present so that your kids and volunteers can see your example. There is a lot of administration that comes with the children’s pastor job, but you are not just an administrator. You are in the people business and people need to see you. They need to see you in the sanctuary too. Don’t spend all your time in children’s church. It’s not a good example.
We are just getting started. To be continued….
Sunday, September 4, 2011
How do you change the method without changing the message
Our culture is always changing because people are constantly changing and yet the Bible says, "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and forever." Our challenge as Christians is to connect people (who are always changing) with a God who never changes. The apostle Paul said it like this, "I become all things to all men that by all means I might win some."
To reach this generation, we must create sophisticated tools and maintain the purity of the Gospel at the same time. In other words, change our methods, but not our message. That is what this conference is all about. We hope to see you at this conference. I have things in my heart for children's pastors and leaders that I have never shared before.
Pastor Mark and Debbie Harper
Conference Topics:
- How to be relevant and Spirit Filled
- Right Balance to live ministry and media
- Train you kids to hear the voice of God
- Creative attention getters
- Developing leadership gifts in your kids
- Spirit filled Preschool ministry
- Recruiting volunteers
Pastors Jerry & Joy Weinzierl
33801 Van Dyke Ave. , Sterling Heights, MI 48312 586-258-4390
CONFERENCE REGISTRATION RATES
Registration includes lunch
Before Monday, September 26, 2011 Per Person.............................. $60.00 ea.
Group of 4 or More................... $50.00 ea.
After Monday, September 26, 2011 Per Person.............................. $70.00 ea.
Group of 4 or More................... $60.00 ea.
HOW TO REGISTER
Phone.................................800-798-4872 Online.................www.superchurch.com
CONFERENCE HOTEL:
Hampton Inn 36400 Van Dyke Ave., Sterling Heights, MI, 586-276-0600 | hamptoninn1.hilton.com
Rate: $84 per night (King or Queen Suite special rate)
Reservation request: "Grace Christian" (Book your room early. Rate is guaranteed until Friday, September 17-then rate goes up.)
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