What Does a Successful KidMin Look Like?

Whenever I meet a fellow kids minister I start by asking about their church. Over and over I hear the phrase, “We are not very big.”

“We don’t have a lot of kids in our ministry.”

“We only have about 9 kids.”

When did numbers become the only yardstick by which we measure success?

There are so many other traits a ministry should have to be successful.

I have seen large and small churches only babysit their kids. You can read my thoughts about that here.

I have also seen large and small churches have successful Kids’ Ministry.

A successful Kids Ministry has absolutely nothing to do with the size of their church but has everything to do with what they are teaching their kids.

Here are a couple of things that a ministry needs to have a successful KidMin:

Kids are excited to be there.

Please note that I did not say, kids are there every single week.

Let take a rabbit trail here – Stop focusing on things you cannot change.

You cannot change how often kids come to church. A lot of the time, the kids cannot even change that!

I live in Minnesota, where everyone knows someone who has a cabin on a lake. They take trips up to the lake during the summer time.

Numbers are very, very low in the summer months, especially on long weekends.

Divorce is also another reason why kids do not come every week. They spend one weekend with mom, and one with dad. A lot of times it is something the courts have decided, so it is hard to change.

Maybe the kids are involved in sports. The church should never think that it is us against sports.

Let’s teach our kids how to talk and minister to the other kids on their team.

Kids who are on traveling sports teams spend a lot of time with their teammates. Lets empower them to reach their peers.

Ok, back to our main point – Would it just be absolutely amazing if every child in your ministry came every week? Yes, without a doubt.

What are the probabilities that it will happen? Unfortunately, very low. But, that does not say anything about you. It is the culture we live in.

Stop focusing on the numbers, and start focusing on the people.

Stop focusing on the kids that don’t come every single week. And start focusing on what you can control! Make church fun and exciting! Teach the kids in your class the Word of God. The kids will want to come back. They will tell their teammates about church. They will beg their parents to come to church. –

Your kids know the Bible.

I do not mean that they only know that the Bible exists and that you can always find them in hotel room drawers.

No, I mean, that they KNOW they Bible.

They KNOW what God thinks about them.

They KNOW how to read the Bible.

They KNOW how to use the Bible as a weapon.

They KNOW how to look up a Bible verse.

We bought enough bibles for all the kids in our ministry and had them sit in a small group and actually read straight from the Bible, and then talked about it afterwards.

A successful ministry will enable the kids to learn from God for themselves.

Your kids welcome new people.

When there is a new kid in your class, the other kids go up and introduce them. They are leaders, and they see what needs to be done and they do it.

They do not enter into cliques at church. Cliques are the natural thing to do when a group of people meet regularly, but that does not mean that they are right.

They can have their friends, but they also need to be bold about meeting new people and making them feel welcome at church.

You are mentoring someone.

At least one person. That person doesn’t even have to be an adult!

Just be mentoring someone. Train someone to do what you do.

It’s important to learn the art of delegation, if your ministry falls apart when you are gone, that is not good.

Stop focusing on what you cannot change and focus on the things that you can change.

God gave you the kids in your ministry for a reason, wether there are hundreds or 10. He gave them to you. He trusted them to you.