Lead Well

Photo by Jesus Loves Austin on Unsplash If you’ve been doing small groups in your kids service for any length of time, you may be asking what is the best way to split the kids up? Do we do it by grade? Gender? Favorite candy? Random? The truth is there is no perfect answer and depending on the size of your ministry and how many kids show up per service the answer will be different. I’ve studied churches like Northpoint Community Church and Church of the Highlands and asked them what they do. In addition, I've spoken with several Orange Specialists on what are the best practices for small groups. Here’s what I’ve found.

Photo by  Tegan Mierle  on  Unsplash Milestones are a marker for how far we’ve gone and how much further we need to go. You can call them goals, or behaviors, or events, but they’re things that we celebrate as the people we minister to develop an authentic faith that lasts a lifetime. I track these milestones for each person, and they’re what I report and celebrate at volunteer and parent meetings. These are how I show that the ministry is successful and mean so much more than having a big event or a great service. I originally wrote and used these for my children’s ministry, but now that I’m working youth and adults, I can see how they also apply to these age groups as well. The biggest difference is that the older demographics may not be starting at square one, while kids most likely are.

Photo by Firmbee.com on Unsplash 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. I’ll admit I didn’t always do this. In fact, my first few years in ministry it was an afterthought. Sometimes, I would remember to count how many were in the room and tell my pastor, but I never wrote it down. Then after one Easter, my pastor came into staff meeting agitated. I could see it all over his face. He told us that we didn’t have as many show up for Easter as we did the year before. He counted the weekend as a failure. I was shocked at first and then began to wonder, how many did I have? How many last year? Or the year before? I had no Idea. I h

Photo by Glenn Carstens-Peters on Unsplash One of the biggest problems we have in ministry is getting the word out. There are a lot of different methods to tell our people about the events, ministry opportunities, and lessons coming up, and there is no silver bullet that every one will engage with.  My communication philosophy is not everyone will engage with every form of communication, but everyone will engage with some form of communication. Even though there is no perfect communication tool, one my favorite and most effective methods is writing a weekly email. Sending an email is just one part of my strategy for communication I outlined in this post , but I thought I’d dive a little deeper into the process and talk about how my strategy has changed since I originally wrote that post 3 years ago.