As we go into a whole new century why would you want to lead the same way as you did in the old one? Now yes, that was an extreme statement but as we look into church statistics, we don’t see the church growing as it should.
What does that mean? It means we need to lead differently. We need a major change and I want to challenge you, especially if you serve in Children’s ministry to consider a different way of doing ministry in 2020.
What needs to change?
I believe if I were starting all over again, my programming would change. Less emphasis on creating environments and more emphasis on simple basic discipleship. I would make a high priority with my team that we get kids hands on in God’s word, whether physical copies or electronic the mode doesn’t matter but getting them to read and talk about it would be a non-negotiable. Training my small group leaders how to show kids how to use what they have and find passages for themselves. Show them how they can learn from God’s word. Don’t think it’s possible? I’m telling you it is and my good friend and fellow Kid Pastor Ben Fowlkes is leading his Adventure World Kids in a challenge for the second year and from what he’s told me its had a great impact on him and his team as well as so many kids and families. Kids are bringing their Bibles with them to church and are engaging in discussions about how it relates to their daily lives! So you can lead them there if you are intentional and creative.
Stop waiting for the community to come to you!
We often program activities and events on our campuses and miss great opportunities in the community. I believe the churches that are seeing some growth are the churches that are actively partnering with schools, community groups and events. The focus is not, “let’s do something so they will come to our church, but instead, Let’s partner with them to simply show the God loves them. Period.
We need to lead with the proper motivation and intention of our hearts. If we can lead our children to learn how to serve other children we will gain greater influence. This generation is motivated by serving. They are motivate by doing good things for others. So lead them to serve, inside and outside the church. Create intentional opportunities throughout the year where kids and families can do something good and to demonstrate real love. Teach them examples from scripture of how Jesus served, the early church served. They partnered together and God added to their numbers because they used their service, what they had in common and the truth of the gospel.
Get Connected!
If I wanted to change things, I need to get outside my bubble. Outside my comfort zone. I need to get connected. We have not done a good enough job of connecting but we’ve done a great job of competing. We compare ourselves to the larger church down the street and even the larger church is comparing themselves to a larger church. STOP!
As leaders humility means we embrace and celebrate those who are larger and smaller. I know smaller church leaders that are seeing more kids come to Jesus and deeper discipleship happening than leaders who are serving in mega-multi-site churches. I see so many talented and gifted leaders feeling unworthy and unimportant because they bought into the lie that bigger IS better.I bought into that lie and found out the hard way. Bigger is just different, it’s not always better. So if we would gather together as leaders to seek God, brainstorm, troubleshoot, create and problem solve together, imagine what we could do for the Kingdom?
So stop leading the way you used to. Let 2020 truly be a year where back to the basics means we use the talents and abilities and power of our amazing Awesome God to the fullest.
What would you like to stop doing? How will you lead differently? I’d love to know! I’d love to connect; I’d love to partner with you!
Recent Comments