Lead Well

Photo by Bench Accounting on Unsplash The dirty secret of children’s ministry, specifically, and NextGen ministry in general is that very little of your time as a pastor is spent ministering to that age group. In reality, you will spend 1-3 hours a week actually leading them, while the other 40+ hours are spent doing other things. When I first started as a kids pastor, my father-in-law asked almost weekly, “So, what do you do the rest of the week?” Thankfully he’s figured it out, but he’s not alone. A lot of people don’t know what we do week in and week out. It’s easy to scoff at this question and what they don’t understand, but when you think deeply about it, what do you actually do the rest of the week ?  How do you know what you did this week actually helped you move the ball forward? How do you know you did everything you needed to do to be ready for what’s next? No matter where you serve in NextGen ministry, I believe there are four types of work that each minister needs...

Photo by Lukas Blazek on Unsplash It’s summertime and for many in NextGen ministries this is not a time to kick back and relax, but the busiest time of the year.  You have more and bigger events over the three summer months than you have for the rest of the year. Add to that you have vacations, volunteer turnover, absences, and overall lower attendance, it can be exhausting and overwhelming. So, what do you do? How do you juggle all the things and still grow the ministry or at least survive the summer? I’ve been there. It’s tough.  One June I had something church related every day of the month except two. I was exhausted and needed a break. Thankfully, I’ve learned how to manage all of it and find a healthy pace. So, here’s 5 steps to managing your time this summer. 1. Balance is a myth. For years, I’ve heard people talk about work/life balance. They’re looking for some magical Zen moment when work/family/God is all in perfect equilibrium.  However, this is a ...

Working in a smaller church as a kids’ pastor can be really tough. Yes, I have fewer kids than most of the larger churches, but I also wear a lot of “hats” in addition to children’s ministry director. These responsibilities can include building maintenance, pastoral care, event production—the list could go on and on. With all these other responsibilities, focusing on children’s ministry can be difficult. I’ve heard many first-year children’s pastors ask the question, “When do I actually get to work with kids?” The truth is, within a 40-hour work week, you may work with kids anywhere from 2-6 hours per week, depending on how many services your church runs. That’s about 10 percent of your time spent in doing what you love. Over the years I’ve dealt with this problem, and discovered some strategies that have helped me maintain ministry excellence while also getting everything else done. Below are some of these strategies: 1. Set your priorities. Sometimes I ask people, “What are your...

I have a confession to make.  I'm a procrastinator.  I'm in recovery, but it's been a long road.  In high school, I was king of homework in homeroom.  In college, term papers were written the night before, and, when I first started leading children's ministry, the best time to plan for kids church was an hour before service. I knew I couldn't continue this way, and to be honest, I still struggle from time to time.  So here's some easy thing you can do today  to help you better prepare for tomorrow. Start planning just one week ahead.  When I first started out in ministry, I would plan for Sunday on Thursdays.  It worked for several years, but then one week life happened, and it all fell apart.  My volunteers were mad and confused, and I looked stupid.  It was not a good day.  Now I plan three weeks in advance, but I got there by simply planning two services in my planning time instead of just one.  I did that for two we...