Reforming a children's ministry

I have found that the two most common problems in children's ministries are being disorganized and lacking volunteers. Both of which require change to fix the problem.

However, reorganizing a ministry can bring immediate resistance from even the most committed people. For a variety of reasons the current systems that are in place, unorganized as they may be, have become holy. Changing these systems are immediately seen as damage to a ministry instead of improvement. Accepting this change requires people to get back to the basics of why they are doing the ministry. This in itself is what brings acceptance to change and an adoption of the new system. As difficult as this may be, the results are always the same, people will agree and appreciate it once it is in place and the system is running smooth. Smoother than they ever thought was possible. The disagreement that was once creating tension has now become something that brings a smile.

Not only does reorganizing make the ministry smooth and more enjoyable for volunteers, it makes it possible for more to join. Possible? Yes, possible. The reason being, that the old system requires everyone to do the same thing the same way. The current volunteers are usually devoted to the ministry but ignorant of how they disinclude others to join. Not everyone is gifted in the same way and many are not even mature enough to even think of being that devoted or confident in discipling children. In order to bring volunteers you have to provide a way for people to start. If it's "all or nothin" you will get nothin. When you welcome people to get involved and do not overwhelm them with responsibility, you begin to plant seeds that over time (not overnight) will produce more volunteers.

When the ministry is organized and the volunteers flourish, the ministry will explode. Most of all God will make more disciples.