Well-Equipped Volunteer: Train & Grow Your Children's Ministry Volunteers

It’s a New Year! Have you made any resolutions?

People make personal resolutions at the beginning of a new year.

Children’s ministry leaders can take the opportunity to make ministry resolutions as well.

Do you have goals for the kids in your ministry? Now is the time to start planning. It is so important to take some time and plan out what you want kids to learn this year and in the years to come. Without a plan you end up with haphazard learning.

Take a few hours and look at the curriculum you are using for this year and the next few years. Does it have a clear scope and sequence?

Does it clearly show what is going to be taught and what order it’s going to be taught in?

Scope is the extent of content to be covered in a curriculum at any one time. That could mean one week, one year, or the whole of a child’s life. Sequence means the order in which this content will be presented over time.

How easy is it for you to see what the kids will be learning over the next months and years? Is there order and context?

Whatever format your curriculum takes, it’s important for you to have a plan for using it. Any good plan will include goals.

Goals are important because they give you something to work towards and a means of measuring success.

The ultimate goal in children’s ministry is to make disciples. In order to reach that goal, you need to take some time now to plan out the year and the next few years. What are the kids going to be taught and when are the kids going to be taught it?

Take some time at the beginning of the year to plan out your curriculum.