Take 2.0 Ministry for the Next Generation

A recent study by The Barna Group confirms those who attended religious programs as children or as teens are much more likely than those without such experiences to attend church and to have an active faith as adults. Among those who frequently attended such programs as a child, 50% attended a worship service in the last week (slightly higher than the national average and well ahead of those who rarely or never attended as children). Among those who frequently attended religious programs as teens, 58% attended a worship service in the last week. Less frequent participation as a teen correlates with less frequent adult participation. Furthermore, U.S. adults who were frequent religious attendees as children are less likely to have changed central faith views than those who attended less often.

Barna Update, 11/16/09

Well today I am sitting here in the lobby of the mechanic’s shop getting an oil change and having our cars front end looked at because every time we go to put the breaks on the front end begins to shake a little. So I am using this time as my time to write my Backstage review of this weekend in Take TWO. How many of us know that it is important to regularly take our ministries in for a regular check up? This is what I use Backstage for. It is in a way my regular check up and sometime a realignment. 

So let’s begin.

* Room set up is vital not only for controlling the room of kids and helping them to focus and not get distracted, but also to help the look for when parents drop their kids off. We are now redoing the room set ups for our preschools and nurseries because we have been growing so much in those areas that they rooms look (and are) extremely crowded. This often times with our current room set up makes the room dynamics appear completely different and possibly scary for some new parents. We love our new families we do not want them to feel this way at all.

* We are incredibly blessed to have the wonderful team chemistry throughout all of Take TWO. Doing anything as a team is always better than doing anything alone in ministry.

* If you challenge kids they will rise up to meet those challenges. Last night we had some kids holding the door open for people as they left church. I asked them why they were doing this and they reminded me that I often challenge the kids to find ways to serve people and this was one way they knew they could serve. Way to go kids. What are you challenging your kids to do?

* I still have not found a great way to put directional signs up for the Kids ministries.

* The younger families that we are getting in visiting us are wanting to get plugged into helping much sooner than their parents wanted to get plugged in. But ministry descriptions are having to be re-worked to handle smaller, much smaller bite size pieces. Plus the more that can be done throughout the week when their time opens up is always better.

* We are re-doing our nursery coordinator roles due to a system problem. We have had the same results with the same system so to get new results we are designing a new system.

I am just a little excited at this time so I am trying to type slow so you can keep up and understand (that was a joke referring to when people get excited and end up talking fast not typing). Here I was sitting down at the computer after my time with God in the morning and reading through my RSS feeds in Google Reader, when I came across one titled “Dad in the middle”. And as I was reading this one there to my surprise I saw it…yes something that made me feel like I had won an Oscar or an Emmy or something HUGE!! Yes Take TWO’s blog has made it to a top ten list.

Now for some, this may not be very big as you may have your blog hit the top 10’s all the time. But, now for me, this is still huge!!

Why?

I think it compares in ways to how some volunteers in ministries that I talk with around the globe feel as they volunteer. Let’s look at some common or much more common than any of us would like to think it may be, especially in today’s developed children’s ministry world.

How often do faithful volunteers show up and pour into the kids in your ministries? Often times through out the week volunteers are prepping their Sunday school, or object lessons, midweek material, shopping for the supplies they will need and taking the cost out of their own pockets as a way to just help the ministry out more, calling kids or sending them birthday cards, showing up at their school events representing us the children’s pastors and really the lists could go on and on. But the whole time this is happening they never seem to make the list of those we the children’s pastors have invited over to our homes to eat, taken them out for a coke, wrote a brief little card and sent it to them or maybe even built them up for their faithfulness in the site of their peers.

These volunteers don’t do it for any of the potential benefits or Kudos from above, they do it because they love to serve, they love the kids, they love the direction of the cm, they Love God and want to serve His Kingdom as much as they can. But, even through all of this, when someone takes some time to say - “Good Job, what you are doing matters to me”, well it still feels good. It still feels like they have just been nominated by their peers that what they have been doing is worth something, even if it may be just from you.

There it is. For me whenever I’m mentioned in a list or the Take TWO blog is, it feels like one of my peers as well is saying, “Thanks, what you are doing matters and has value”. Allow me to encourage you today to remember those volunteers in your ministries who would love to hear from just you - “Thanks for what you do. It matters me to me.”

Thank you Wayne Stocks for taking the time to say, “Good job”.

Well I may be a little late but I am here. Time for me to do a little review from this past weekend lessons for me that are either new or serve as a refresher. But as I share this with you let’s keep it between us. LOL.

* Changing “things” but keeping the “same culture” communication often times comes from outside as they are encouraging you to change things. Changing “culture” communication needs to come from you to help others pull the pieces together to see what you see. The fan fare does not usually come with this.

* The “big tent” type ministry of the past (as much as it may have filled a felt need) looked one way then. Maybe it included the children’s pastor being the main attraction, and maybe all 3 rings working independently of the others. The “big tent” ministry for today looks different. It is like the comparison of the Circus at the fair (past) vs. Cirque Du Soleil (today).

* The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place.

* Kids have a huge desire to know God.

* Whenever I get lapse on working my schedule, every time, it back fires on me and I am unprepared then.

* Ministry truly is best when done with all your team members. Whenever anyone is missing, regardless of where they fit in, you miss them greatly.

I have been viewing some Youtube videos and they have got me thinking and challenging some ideas, methods, reasons and more. After you watch these videos let me know what you think? How could this effect your church service? Should it effect your church service? If so, what are some ideas you may try and implement?

Here’s another one that made me stand back and say - Hmmm?

And another one…

And how to take all this and make my personal Savior - personal.!?