Recruiting leaders

As this year draws to a close, it is time to begin recruiting for the next. Waiting till January or February next year is too late.

Here are a few things you can do now to help you find leaders for 2012.

1. Pray for leaders. Together with your team seek God for the leaders you need next year.
2. Confirm which of your current leaders will continue next year. Make sure you approach this in a positive way. For leaders you wish to keep, begin by affirming their value, gifts and contribution (hopefully this won’t come as a shock to them since you’ve been doing it all year.) Then discuss their commitment into next year.
3. Create a list of potential new leaders. Be clear on what you are looking for. Choose people (both old and young) in whom you see genuine potential for children’s ministry.
4. Create written job descriptions that clarify the role, responsibilities and commitment you are looking for.
5. Between now and the end of the year invite potential leaders to come to the ministry and involve them in some way.
6. Set aside time to personally talk to potential leaders about children’s ministry. Don't just ask them to do a job. Cast your vision, convey your enthusiasm and uncover their heart for children's ministry. 

Here are some questions that need specific answers.

1. How is your team mobilised to pray for new leaders?
2. When have you planned to speak to existing leaders personally?
3. What names are on your list of potential leaders?
4. Do you have a written job description?
5. On what days will potential leaders visit your ministry?
6. What will you say to potential leaders?

Telling Great Stories

Watch this video for tips and reminders about how to tell stories that connect with kids.

Planning for Faith Development

During my (Mary Jo’s) recent holiday in the USA, I had the privilege of worshiping in the congregation where I worshiped as a child and teenager. Back then, it was a middle-size congregation, using a middle-size facility, with a very predictable program. It was in this church that I was mentored as a junior Sunday school teacher. Things have changed in the intervening years. The congregation has grown in numbers and moved to a new, much larger facility. Connected with that growth — possibly one of the reasons for it — is the congregation’s deliberate commitment to ministry with children. This includes staffing and a long term plan for faith development. I happened to visit on the Sunday when this was demonstrated with both the installation of the Children’s Ministry staff for the new school year (it starts in September over there) and an infant baptism.

The following information is from their web site:

Faith Journey  

At Grace, we believe that faith in Jesus Christ is a gift from God — given freely, neither earned nor deserved. For some individuals, faith is first realized in baptism. Others realize it first in a conscious process of conversion. Whenever faith begins, its development continues for a lifetime. Taking the Faith Journey means living out a commitment to make Jesus Christ the Lord of Life. 

Children’s Faith Journey (birth - grade 4)  Youth Faith Journey (grades 5-12) 

Faith formation activities at Grace begin with instruction and encouragement for parents of newly baptized children. The faith journey begins in infancy with the Rite of Welcoming a Child, enrolment in Grace’s Cradle Roll, the Rite of Holy Baptism. 

Faith Journey Sunday school classes begin with preschoolers and continue through 12th grade. They follow a 9-year curriculum plan that includes the study of the Bible, Ten Commandments, Apostles’ Creed, Lord’s Prayer, Sacraments, church history and morality as well as leadership and witnessing skills, stewardship and personal spiritual disciplines. 

The Sunday school hour is 9:30-10:30. Children and Youth are expected to worship with their families at 8:00 or 11:00, where most services are fairly traditional, but include children’s addresses. A nursery is available during Sunday morning services and the Sunday school hour for children from infancy to age three. 

In addition to the regular classes, the Faith Journey includes special Sunday afternoon family events and ‘rites’ of passage at various points of the journey, plus camps and service opportunities. The lifelong faith journey continues through many educational and service opportunities for people at different stages of adulthood. 

I didn’t have time to get answers to all my questions, eg: How do they get family commitment? How do they involve children who come to the church at an older stage?

But two things impressed me most as I spoke to people at Grace church about their program.

First is the word ‘expected’. There is a congregation-wide expectation that all children will participate in the entire Faith Journey program, regularly. And that adults would continue the journey. What do our churches ‘expect’ of their families, children and youth?

Second was the plan — the idea that leaders, parents, and children know from the start what they will be doing. They also have a framework that allows them to see how what they are doing at any one point relates to the overall journey. How far ahead are our congregations planning their work with children, youth and families?

Used with permission from Uniting church Mission Resourcing SA, Children and Family

Family mission.

Ever thought of a family mission trip? While there are many things to consider, the benefits of such an experience may make it tremendously worthwhile. Earlier this year father and son, Bruce and Hayden Smith from Bray Park, joined a team to the Solomons and I asked Hayden to pen a few words about his experience. Here is what he wrote.

"When I went to the Solomon islands Bethesda mission trip I didn’t think that I would get to do much of the building, but when we started we were being taught how to do lots of things like roofing, concreting, brick laying, frame working, cladding and building a heap of things.
I would encourage parents of teenaged children to let their kids go on a mission trip because this was one of the best experiences of my life. I learnt so much, met some of the locals in the Solomon Islands and saw so many different things. If you send your child they will come back refreshed and will have lots to say and teach you about. We also had lots of fun snorkelling and swimming in the beautiful ocean over there, the ocean is clear and wonderfully warm.
There are not many rules in the Solomon islands so when we were driving we were standing on the back of cars and trucks, when I was over there I went fishing overnight and caught 3 fish it was lots of fun but it started to rain and we were under a tarp for 4 hours.
After we had done all the work in the afternoon we would go and play soccer with the locals and have lots of fun we taught them a couple of new games like clap ball and doge ball. One of the locals gave me a necklace to say good bye to me and I really liked that. The food over there was pretty good and we had the locals cook us a feast that was lovely then after they performed a music for us.
I loved this mission trip and I would go again if I have the chance.
Hayden Smith aged 14"


As parents we aim to provide experiences for our children that will help them grow into people who serve and please the Lord. A mission trip ticks many boxes in it's potential to be a wonderful formative experience. I'm sure Hayden and his father are much richer for the trip.

Have you gone on a similar trip? I'd love to hear about it, especially how it impacted your children and relationship as a family.

It's only an hour.

Most Sunday children’s ministry goes for about an hour. One day as I was talking to a group when someone said, “It’s only an hour.”

An hour is not much time. Can you really make a difference in an hour? Is it worth the thought, effort, time and prayer?

Have you ever read the following?

If you want to know the value of a year, ask a P.O.W. that has lost his freedom.
If you want to know the value of a month, ask a mother that has given birth to a premature baby.
If you want to know the value of a week, ask the editor of a weekly newspaper.
If you want to know the value of a day, ask a child on their birthday.
If you want to know the value of an hour, ask lovers waiting to meet.
If you want to know the value of a minute, ask a person that just missed their flight.
If you want to know the value of a second, ask a person that just avoided a serious car accident.
If you want to know the value of a millisecond, ask an Olympic silver medallist.
The value of time is what you put into it and an hour can make a huge difference.

I mentor a young child for one hour a week through Kids Hope. Every week I spend only an hour but I know that this one hour of personal care, repeated every week, makes a huge difference in the life of that little boy.

There was a book with a lofty goal titled “Making your Children’s Ministry the Best Hour of of Every Kid’s Week.”

What is the best hour in your children’s lives at the moment? How is it influencing and shaping them? By God’s grace could your hour become life changing? Could it be the difference between walking in Christ and wandering in the world? How might it become that?

Don’t underestimate the time you have, instead pray and work in such a way that you may make the most of it.

What's happened in the hour you have with children?

Proactive Care for children with Allergies.

Most people are aware of anaphylaxis and how serious it can be. However, few churches have policies or training in how to deal with such a serious allergic reaction.

Geelong has tackled the issue and has created an anaphylaxis policy.
In short they have,

1. put up 'Nut free' signs through out the rooms used by children and prohibited foods containing nuts.
2. posted instructions on how to administer an EpiPen on the wall in every room used by children.
3. informed teachers and parents about the procedure.
4. obtained parent consent for children who have allergies.

 Their excellent work demonstrates a proactive attitude to the care of children in the church.
If you'd like a copy of their policy please simple email me since they are happy to share it around.

Do you have similar policies that could be shared with other churches? Let us know if you've tackled an issue that is easily overlooked so we can help each other in this important work.

New material for Intergenerational Events

The CRCNA has prepared a new raft of material simply called 'WE' designed to help churches create faith shaping, genuinely intergenerational events (see below why these are important.)

These are not services where children are given activities while adults are addressed, nor are they simply beefed-up Sunday school lessons. Rather around a meal, people of all ages gather, talk, learn, sing and participate in activities that are designed to help the generations mix and share faith. Each event goes for about 1.5 - 2 hours and all the resources needed are included in the outlines.

The event has three parts (with a meal or snack).


Step 1: Welcome, gathering, and building community

Step 2: Learning experiences for all ages

Enter the story through things like dramatic readings or a photo montage combined with a reading. Then live into the story as you do a fun activity.

Step 3: Reflect and praise
Share what you’ve learned, praise God in song, and learn how to “take it further” with ideas for living out what you’ve learned.

You can get a sample here.



Behind the 'WE' curriculum is the belief that intergenerational interaction is vital for healthy faith development. It was certainly the pattern God established for Israel (see Deut 6.) While our traditional  approach of separating children, youth and adults into separate groups has some benefits, it also has had some unintended consequences:

• Children and youth don’t feel like they are an integral part of the church’s life and ministry. They’re a part of “children’s church” or the “youth group.” They feel a sense of belonging to their particular silo rather than to the church as a whole.


• They don’t have an opportunity to see their parents and other adults talk about and live out their faith close-up. They miss out on hearing the “faith stories” that abound in the church—the struggles and triumphs, the doubts and deep faith—that make faith real and ground it in practice.


• Adults lose the opportunity to learn from young people’s faith. Anyone who has spent time around children and teens knows that they can be excellent teachers if adults are listening.

For these reasons WE is a welcome addition to the stable of Reformed material that can be used to build up the people of God.

Why not download the sample and let me know what you think.

Has anyone tried this or another kind of intergenerational event? How did it go?