Encouragement for Children's Ministers

Ever have one of those days in Children's Ministry?  Or maybe one of those weeks, months or even years?  If you're feeling discouraged or tired, you're not alone.  Children's Ministry can be a tough place to serve.

But no matter how bad your circumstances seem, there is always hope.

Check out the short video devotional below to see what God's Word has to say when you feel like giving up.  

Children's Ministry Recruiting Videos

Help Kids Discover a Big God from Big Picture Show on Vimeo.

Are you looking for an engaging way to connect with potential leaders?  Maybe it's time to try a creative video in your weekend service.

Every spring our church gives us the opportunity to craft a fun video piece to cast vision and invite people to serve in Children's Ministry.  It doesn't solve all of our recruiting challenges, but it does give us a much-needed shot in the arm, yielding dozens of new contacts who we can mobilize for ministry.

If you want to give this a try in your church, here are a few tips that I use when writing the video scripts each year.

1. Find a fun commercial to inspire you.
You can either do a straight-up parody of a commercial or you can use the commercial as a jumping off point to create something that works for you.  See if you can guess which commercials inspired the videos I've included in this post.

2. Include cute kids.
You want to reach people who love kids.  Put cute kids in your video if you want to connect with their hearts.  If you can show compelling video from your Children's Ministry environments, and it makes sense in the video, go for it.

However, if you don't have good footage or it doesn't fit with the video, leave it out.  Notice the last two videos I included don't have any scenes from Children's Ministry.

3. Keep it short.
We aim for 30-45 seconds with every recruiting video we shoot.  Anything longer will lose your audience.  Always leave them wanting more!

Here are the videos we've used over the last several years.  Huge props to the Southland Creative Team for making these videos look amazing!  It pays to surround yourself with talented people.

I hope these videos will inspire you to find ways to creatively showcase Children's Ministry in your church.


Be Unforgettable. from Southland Christian Church on Vimeo.
When I Grow Up from Southland Christian Church on Vimeo.
Children's Volunteers from Southland Christian Church on Vimeo.

Kidmin Promo Video

Children's What to Expect from Southland Christian Church on Vimeo.

Here's a video our Southland team just put together to help communicate to new parents what to expect during a typical weekend kids' service.  What's simple and transferable about this to your context?  The transferable principle is to find a way in your church to communicate what you do to parents.

If you have someone with the skill, record a cool video like this one.  Stick it on your website.  Share it during a weekend service.  E-mail it to all of your leaders to pass on to their friends.

If you don't have anyone who can do video, you could still achieve a great effect using still pictures from your ministry set to music and a voice over.

Simpler still is going live.  If you can get some stage time in the adult service, tell parents about the fantastic ministry you have going on with kids while they're in church and how you want to partner with them.  While you're talking, show pictures from the kids' environments to give your parents a first hand look.

Scale it to your available resources, but find some creative way to let parents know the awesome things God is doing with your do with kids in your ministry.