Heart & Soul of Children's Ministry - Jesus House

Heart & Soul of Children’s Ministry
Denrele Runsewe
6 th July 2012

Reaching The Heart -INTRODUCTION
How Important is Children’s Ministry??
Why do we need a Children’s Ministry?
Vision
Mission Statement
Proverbs 22:6
Train up a child in the way he should go [and in keeping with his individual
gift or bent], and when he is old he will not depart from it.
Culture

Reaching The Heart
The Journey to build a dynamic Children’s Ministry
The Big Question?
“ Consider for a moment” – If you are a ministry
leader, are you willing to change even if you don’t
have the answer or the plan?
Is there anything holding you back from making
changes?

PRAY
PRAY
PRAY

Reaching The Heart
Imagine the best hour in Children’s Ministry
‘Yes’ Opens Doors, ‘No’ slams them shut.
Let your NO become YES
Your ‘I can’t’ become ‘I can’ in order to move your Children's
Ministry forward.
Children’s Ministry can take place in any local church,
including yours- and to start it simply requires one YES!

Reaching the Heart
Core Ministry Values to reach Today’s Children
Why Do we need these values ?
The Six Core Values

Reaching the Heart
Must be child targeted
Must be safe
Must be relevant
Must teach the Bible Creatively
Must be intentional and shepherd in small group
Must be fun- e.g. slumber party weekend, Big Christmas
party, fashion show.

Reaching The Heart -Children’s CSR
Corporate Social Responsibilities for Children- What is it?
Ideas to Implement CSR

Reaching The Soul- Equipping The Teachers
Teachers Training
Essential
Continuous Process
Internal Training
External Training
Specialised Training

Reaching the Soul - Your Volunteers
Developing your Volunteers Spiritually
Praying with them and for them

Reaching the Soul
WHAT DO THE VOLUNTEERS NEED?
Value Me
Include Me
Challenge Me

Reaching the Soul -Recruiting Process
Have you ever felt like you were trapped in a
revolving door when it comes to recruiting?
Just when you begin to feel you finally have
enough volunteers, someone quits, and you're
back to recruiting again.

Ideas For Recruiting
One to one
Advertise
Use people networks
Offer incentives
Children’s church awareness weekend

Health and Safety In Children's Ministry
Health
General well being

Health and Safety In Children's Ministry contd.
Safety
“Jack Anderson (not his name) thought it could never happen -- at least not
at his church. The colour drained from his face when he received the call that a
police investigation was in progress due to a report of sexual misconduct from
one of his volunteers.”
The days of thinking nothing like this could ever happen at your church -- or to
the people your volunteers serve -- have long since ended
To check -- or not to check -- is one of many questions children's ministers are
asking.

General Statistics
A report of child abuse is made every ten seconds
More than five children die every day as a result of child abuse.
Approximately 80% of children that die from abuse are under the
age of 4.
It is estimated that between 50-60% of child fatalities due to
maltreatment are not recorded as such on death certificates.
More than 90% of juvenile sexual abuse victims know their
perpetrator in some way.
Child abuse occurs at every socioeconomic level, across ethnic
and cultural lines, within all religions and at all levels of
education.
About 30% of abused and neglected children will later abuse
their own children, continuing the horrible cycle of abuse.

Health and Safety In Children's Ministry contd.
Fire and Emergency
Security

Special Needs
Awareness
Responses

Successes
Breakdown of age groups
Baptismal classes (10-12yrs)
Lessons are more interactive and contemporary
Gifts (Bibles, Ruck Sac, stationeries)
Excellerate check-in check out system
Ministry Website
Birthday notices
Volunteer Spiritual Development
Weekly prayer points / Communications
Volunteers welfare
Child Protection and Special Training

...

Areas For Improvement
Classes too large
Children's opinion not always obtained
Children staying for multiple services
Assessing spiritual growth
Class closures due to inadequate adult/child numbers
Volunteer workforce buying into the vision
Communication with Parents.

Going Forward
Discipleship classes
Children's council
Database Update
Recruitment Drive
Friends of Children’s Ministry

Isaiah 54:13
And all your [spiritual] children shall be disciples
[taught by the Lord and obedient to His will], and great
shall be the peace and undisturbed composure of your
children.