There are more options than ever for children’s ministry curriculum! There are digital options, old-school hard copy options, topical, chronological, and of every theological tradition! Join us as we share a handful of considerations to keep in mind when evaluating and choosing curriculum:
What is your goal for the curriculum?
How does it fit into the broader vision/goals/plans for your ministry?
Where does this curriculum provider fall on the theological spectrum?
What is the scope and sequence?
It’s important to understand how the curriculum cycles through scripture or topics.
What is the teaching style of the curriculum and what supplemental materials are included?
Some curriculum will be technology heavy, others will be more craft or activity based, and some will focus on a lecture teaching style. It’s important to get a feel for the style and resources that are included in the materials.
Listen here for a great discussion of these considerations and others for choosing curriculum!
Ideas and considerations for choosing materials for your children’s ministry!
For many churches, VBS is their largest and most effective outreach event all year, but we want to make sure we are maximizing our opportunities to reach new families with the Gospel. Studies have shown that unchurched families are more likely to attend VBS if they are invited by someone they know (It’s Worth It, LifeWay).
Encouraging our congregation to invite friends and neighbors to VBS is a key first step to reaching out community, but there are many more steps we can take to effectively reach families through VBS and beyond. Join our conversation about reaching families effectively through VBS!
Dr. Val and Dr. Virginia talk about ministering to families through VBS.
We all want to host great volunteer training. We want our volunteers feeling valued, coming away with useful tips and ideas, and most of all, we want them to want to come to training! We want training events to be the highlight of their semester, quarter, or year!
Here are three non-negotiables for great volunteer training:
1) Honor Volunteers’ Time
We honor volunteers’ time by starting on time, ending on time, and filling our time with useful and encouraging content. We don’t want volunteers leaving thinking “this could have been an email.” We want to encourage them, give them practical, applicable strategies to try, and communicate new information in an engaging way.
If volunteers feel that training is a good and beneficial use of their time, they are more likely to return for future training events and encourage others to attend as well!
2) Honor Diverse Learning Styles
We know that our students have a variety of learning styles and preferences. When we teach our volunteers, we not only want to keep them engaged in our content, but we also have the priceless opportunity to model teaching to diverse learning styles. Using active learning techniques and keeping in mind the three basic learning styles (auditory, visual, and kinesthetic), we can build elements of interaction and diverse activities into our training time.
3) Honor Wisdom, Experience, and Contributions of Volunteers
Most churches have volunteers with a variety of experience levels. You can likely think of some seasoned, rock star volunteers. Give your volunteers opportunities to discuss and problem solve with one another. Allow your experienced leaders the time to encourage and share their wisdom with newer volunteers. I often find that many of the best ideas that come out of training sessions don’t come from me, they come from seasoned volunteers with a passion for ministry.
Allowing seasoned volunteers to share and encourage others helps them feel valued, appreciated, and seen.
There are lots of great ideas for volunteer training, but these three essentials can set you on the right course for training events that leaders love!
Dr. Val and Dr. Virginia share some fundamental elements of children’s ministry volunteer training.
All of the decorations have been cleaned up, the senior adult classroom is back in order, and the resource room has been declared a disaster area…Vacation Bible School is officially over. Now it is time to move on to the next event and there are many new ones to plan for before promotion Sunday. For children’s ministry, the summer is such a busy time…not only do you have so many immediate activities to plan for, you also are getting ready for a busy fall kickoff. But, before you jump ahead too quickly, make sure you have taken a few moments to follow up on the wonderful relationships you made during your VBS. You put so much time and hard work into making the event successful, don’t miss out on the opportunity to pour into the people that made VBS so much fun!
Hopefully you set some exciting goals for VBS and now is the time to review your strategy for follow-up. Don’t feel like you have to do this all on your own. Put together a team of leaders to help you make the personal connections. Find a few people that were not able to help with VBS. Maybe they were on vacation or had other commitments. Now is the time they can step up and help you thank all of the people that worked so hard during the big event. Work together to create a plan for how your team can make intentional contact with the kids and families that attended VBS.
New Visitors: Plan for a personal visit with a gift (be sure to call ahead to set up a convenient time) or make a phone call. Thank the child for coming to VBS and invite the family to come to church on Sunday. Provide information, with dates and times, for your fall/winter events. (Kickoff Sunday, Fall Festival, Christmas Family Event, etc.)
Returning Families: Maybe there were families attending VBS that you have not seen on Sunday in a while, make a personal contact. Let them know how much you enjoyed seeing them and invite them personally to small group/Sunday School.
Church Families: Make sure you contact each child that is regularly a part of your ministry and thank them for coming to VBS, those who are usually at church every single week. Kids love getting mail, send a card to let them know how much you appreciate them!
Another important contact for you to make after Vacation Bible School is with your VBS leaders and volunteers. Make sure each one receives a thank you, so they know how much you appreciate them. If you have volunteers that do not usually serve in the kid’s ministry throughout the year, consider meeting them for coffee and let them know about opportunities you have for service that you think they would be perfect to fill. You may be surprised by how much they will appreciate being noticed and given an opportunity to be a part of your amazing ministry!!
We put so much work into having a successful VBS and part of what makes it successful is to grow the relationships that were planted during this important time in our church. Don’t allow yourself get so busy that you miss out on the opportunity God has given you to make a genuine connection with your families!
KidMin with Dr. Val and Dr. Virginia 