9 Priorities of the Children’s Ministry Leader (Pt 2)

Yesterday we listed 9 Priorities of the Children’s Ministry Leader. This isn’t necessarily an exhaustive list, and certainly individual situations might mandate different or additional priorities. But, based on our experience, leading effectively in children’s ministry requires these focuses.

So over the next few posts, we’re going to elaborate just a little bit on each priority. Please join the discussion and add your thoughts and experiences via the comments for each post.

Priority #1 - A growing & healthy walk with God.

Seems obvious, doesn’t it? After all, isn’t that what we’re all about – helping others to develop a growing & healthy relationship with God?  Yes & yes. It should be obvious, and it is what we’re all about.

But that doesn’t mean it is always a priority.

One of the unique challenges about being a church leader is that much of what would normally be done to grow a person’s spiritual life is actually our job. We are paid to be at church. We are immersed in the world of “spiritual things”. We work at helping others know what that means & develop their own spiritual lives.

And sometimes this results in our own spiritual life becoming just that: work. We get so focused on the path to spiritual growth for others that we let our own path grow up with weeds. I can’t tell you how many leaders I’ve talked to where this has become a problem. And I have been guilty of this, also.

So what is the answer? I wish there were a simple formula. But there’s not. It takes an on-going commitment to personal spiritual growth. It takes a recognition of the difference between my own walk and my work. It takes a plan to do the things you need to do in order to grow personally.

That plan looks different for each of us, but generally speaking, it must include:

• Daily Bible intake. And this means for the purpose of personal spiritual growth, not for preparing your next lesson.
• Regular time in prayer. I have learned that prayer is a way of life…an on-going practice throughout my day. I want to be in continual conversation with God just as I would if one of my friends was hanging out with me throughout the day. It also should be intentional, specific and, at times, shared corporately.
• Corporate worship. Yes, you need to be in church. I know – and I’ve been there – your church only has one service; you have to lead during both services; you don’t have enough leaders to be able to attend the services – I’ve heard (and made!) all the excuses. None of them fly. Find a way to be in church on a regular basis. I can address this more thoroughly in another post, but here are 4 compelling reasons to make sure you are in service:

1. Because you need it for your own spiritual health. Is this not obvious? Why would being in service be important for everyone else but not for us?
2. Because you need to set the example for your family, and for their spiritual health. Is it ok for your kids to believe that not being in church is ok?
3. Because not attending church yourself implicitly gives your volunteers permission to not attend church. Again…is that the message we should be sending as the leader of our ministry?
4. Because you need to hear the heart of your pastor. Church is where this happens in a public setting. Yes, you hear from him privately, but as part of the body you need to hear his heart – his passion, his instruction, his vision, etc. – publicly, just like the team that you lead does. How can you align your ministry with his leadership if you are not consistently hearing his heart?

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Priority #2 - A growing & healthy relationship with their family. 

As I sit here thinking of how to address this, my heart breaks for the leaders who I have seen sacrifice their family on the altar of their ministry (as Jim Wideman would say). And there have been times when I have been just as guilty.

Friends, you simply can not do this. You will regret nothing more than looking back after a long and “successful” career in ministry only to realize you lost your family along the way.  It would be better for you to get out of ministry than to do this.

Rarely does this happen on purpose. Few of us would ever say that our ministry is more important than our family. But, all too often, our calendars do not reflect that belief.  It’s important that we check ourselves on this on a consistent & regular basis.

Here are a few ways to make sure we keep our family a priority amidst the demands of our ministry:

• Manage your marriage. Not very romantic sounding, is it? But the idea of managing carries the thought of being intentional. Plan for it’s success. Handle challenges with timely & focused attention. Make it a priority. You know what you’re supposed to do – do it! And if you don’t, that just became your #1 priority!
• Understand the importance of your child(ren). I’ve always reminded myself that if I am wildly successful at leading children’s ministry, but fail to guide my children to a life-changing relationship with Jesus, then I’ve failed. Seriously, why are we willing to pour ourselves out for other people’s kids only to neglect our own, or give them the leftovers of our time & attention?
• Maintain your physical health. This is part of making your family a priority? YES!! I have come to believe this with all my heart. I’m not talking about being fanatical, but just eat right, make sure you exercise & do what you need to do to maintain a healthy lifestyle. This will enhance your ability to make both of these first 2 priorities work, and may, in fact, help you keep them a priority for longer!

We’ll talk about the others priorities in coming posts but, in reality, if we don’t get these first two down, the rest will always be a mess. I challenge all of us to consistently step back and see how we are doing in these two areas. And if you find yourself at a roadblock you can’t find your way around, seek counsel from another ministry veteran – we don’t have all the answers but we’ve made enough mistakes that we might be able to help you!

These are just a few ideas for these first two priorities, but there is so much more that could be added. 

What are your thoughts and what would you add
to help keep these priorities? 

Click here to see Part Three of this series

Click here to see Part Four of this series