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

Confession Time – I love Nascar! My husband and I look forward to the Sunday afternoon race. When I first started watching Nascar I was focused totally on the drivers. They were the ones in the car driving skillfully, or not; getting caught up in accidents or causing accidents. One man does the work and wins the race. Successes are celebrated by one person and failures are carried by one person.

But I realized pretty quickly that Nascar is not a one-man sport. It is a team effort. Actually, it is a huge team effort. For example, the pit crew trains for 14 seconds of work in which everybody needs to do their job fast, accurately, and still keep their eye out for a teammate who needs a hand. It’s impressive.

Children’s Ministry is a team effort. Sometimes leaders can start to feel like they are all alone; that they are doing the work with little thanks or maybe that there isn’t anyone else who understands or carries the same burden for the children in their church.

But effective children’s ministry happens when a team of people are working towards a single goal, have a passion for making disciples, and understand that each part of the team is important.

An effective children’s ministry team is one in which each member of the team knows their role on the team and works together as a team

So, remember that you are not alone! Value your team, build your team, praise your team, train your team, and let each member have their moment (give credit where credit is due.)

For by the grace given me, I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you.  Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. Romans 12:3-5