Administration – KidMin with Dr. Val and Dr. Virginia

Where do I begin…

No matter how much experience or training you may have…that first day in your new office as the director of a preschool ministry will be overwhelming…and it is hard to know where to start. Here are a few tips to get you started whether you have already been doing this for a while or it’s your first week.

Take a deep breath and don’t panic. There is a lot to do but you are only one person and you cannot do everything at once. We usually recommend that you do not make any major changes in the first six months to a year. It is important for you to take a good look at the ministry, evaluate how it works, and get to know your volunteers. Even if you know the schedule may work better a new way or you really don’t like the material and want to change publishers, it will be better for everyone if you move a little more slowly than you would like. Take the time to build relationships and create a team. It will give people a chance to get to know you and see your heart for the ministry. The only exceptions to this rule would be safety and security issues.

Safety and security should be your first evaluation, make sure the preschool hall is as safe as possible. Walk through the classrooms, make sure they are designed for safety. Review emergency policies, check-in systems, and ratios. Confirm that the volunteer schedule provides for at least two adult leaders in each classroom. Take time to research policies for safety and security. Find materials from your denomination leadership, your church’s insurance company, and your state’s guidelines.

Remember that every child – at every age – can learn. Encourage your volunteers to use the material you provide each week. Tape the weekly verses on the walls in the nursery. Schedule training opportunities for your leaders so they can learn how to use the material more effectively. As Preschool Ministry leaders, we are partnering with parents to help lay a biblical foundation for kids to develop a relationship with God. The church must provide age-suitable, Bible based activities but remember that your community is unique. The programs provided do not look the same everywhere. Get to know your families and find how you can best partner with them.

Finally, make your personal spiritual growth and prayer time a priority. You are leading from the overflow of your relationship with Jesus – so it is vitally important for you to make the time to spend in the Word and in prayer that is not connected with preparation for teaching. We believe that when you make the time to spend with God – He provides supernatural productivity to get everything else done.

The first year of ministry can be a challenge and you may face some resistance when you begin to make the changes your feel are necessary. Never stop learning or listening. Understand you will never make everyone happy…know God called you to this position and trust Him.

Also, you can check out our podcast episode and listen in as Virginia and I talk about where to start when you first begin serving as a preschool minister HERE.

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.

Tag: Administration

Help! I’m the New Preschool Minister!

3 Essentials of Great Volunteer Training