Posted on November 4, 2009 - by rfrank

9 trends in CM leadership – part 5

Trend #5: The traditional children’s ministry model is changing

Eleven years ago when I was hired to be the children’s pastor at my church, I was expected to oversee the ministries of the church for birth through sixth grade. A big part of my job was recruiting and training volunteers, teaching children’s church, and overseeing programs like Sunday School and Awana. Today, that job description has changed, and not just for me but thousands of others. It’s changing because the traditional model of children’s ministry is changing.

Children’s pastors are now expected to formulate a plan for helping parents. In the hiring process, children’s pastors had better be prepared to answer the question, “What are you going to do to help the parents of our church grow great kids?”

This change is for the good. We are waking up to the fact that the children’s/youth pastor is not the main spiritual influencer of a child—it’s mom and dad. This means that the children’s pastor must put tools in the hands of parents and help them take the lead. The model of ministry is changing from doing ministry for parents to doing ministry with parents.

I recommend that you read Larry Fowler’s book, Raising a Modern-Day Joseph (David C. Cook). Larry is the executive director of global training for Awana. In this book, he compels the church to rethink the way it does children’s ministry. Larry recognizes this change in what ministry to kids looks like and encourages the church to formulate a plan that includes the senior pastor, the youth pastor, the children’s pastor, and parents.

As a result of this model change, we are seeing more and more experiential ministry events. The idea is that the family should learn and grow together, which is often characterized by family fun nights, movie nights, family camps, and family services. If used properly, these can really help families connect and grow closer together. However, taken to an extreme, there would be no age-level programming. It is also difficult to find extra time outside of the regular service times for these venues.