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| We have been very successful in using only "every-week-until-Jesus-comes-back" volunteers in our classrooms/ministries, supplemented by "substitutes" when our regular volunteers are out of town, sick, or otherwise unable to lead. As a next phase, we would like to start asking the parents of kids who attend regularly to step into the classroom as an Adult Helper (no teaching or preparation involved) every 6 weeks. Are any of you doing that? If so, here are some questions: Do you do a full background check/reference check on each of the parents? What if a parent has 6 children, does that mean that by default, this parent is expected to serve each week?
Are both parents expected to be on a rotation like that, or just one parent per family? Do you allow both parents to serve in the same room?
Those are about all the questions I have (I know, it's a LOT!). I would love it if some of you could help me put some answers to my questions. I appreciate you!! Christiaan VandenHeuvel Pastor to Children Cornerstone Fellowship 348 North Canyons Parkway Livermore, CA 94551 (925) 234-4415 |
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| Hey Christiaan, We do have a “parental involvement expectation” in our kids ministry. - We have all parents fill out an application and sign it giving us permission to do a reference and background check. We then check every reference (we ask for three, one family, one friend, one employer or community type leader) and run every volunteer against the Connecticut Sex Offender Registry to see if there are any hits. We run a full background check on any applicant who is filling a lead teacher position and or who we feel is questionable (they typically do not get vetted thru anyway).
- If a parent has multiple kids they serve the same as if a parent has one child. The only caveat on that is if they have disruptive or high maintenance children. At that point they may need to serve more often by default rather then by policy as I will have them come in and observe/supervise their child. Obviously, this is a flexible rule as sometimes the parent either needs to get some space from their kid or they themselves may be a distraction in the class. In that case see answer four.
- I like to have both parents serve together if possible. I like to have my kids see examples of healthy parental teams. It is a rarity for many of them. Unfortunately, it is also often a rarity in the church thus I do not have many of those teams. Typically I get the mom and not the dad (often due to our high number of single moms or situations where only the moms attend).
- Lastly, while we have the rule that the parent/s must commit to helping in kids ministry, not every one of them do I want in the classroom. In that case we have some parents who volunteer to clean the ministry space on a monthly rotation, we have some that set up crafts, assist with special services and events, and some who provide material support. One thing that someone mentioned that they do while we were in Colorado was that they had a “Classroom Dad’s” ministry where they have men that are in the room for safety and security. We are implementing that this year and it has instantly generated a buzz from guys in our church who would never have dreamed of setting foot in the classroom. That may be another way to get dads into your classroom (who was it who was doing that again? I owe you.).
I hope this helps! Mike Bulkley |
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| Hi Christaan and All! Here's what we do at Bear Creek UMC:
We do require a background check and Safe Sanctuaries training for all adults who work with the children - no exceptions. Last year we developed our adult volunteer program called Z Troop. We ask parents to each volunteer 7 times throughout the year, but it doesn't have to be just on Sunday morning. After 7 times they get a cool t-shirt. This evens out the playing field for large families. I won't say there is even 50% compliance at this point, but more and more are helping out. Most of our regular Sunday Morning teachers did not want extra parents in the classroom because it often proved disruptive, so we typically use non-teacher adults as substitutes, for special projects, or to help in our Large Group Zone. We do allow 2 parents to serve in the same room as long as there is another adult present, or if they have line-of sight with other cl.
Hope this helps.... Kymn Kymn Chapman Harrison Director of Ministries to Families with Children Bear Creek United Methodist Church |
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| Ok so didn't you read my article about rotating volunteers!!! LOL this is soooo helpful, thanks for all the responses. 1. we require everyone to have a background check - no exceptions 2. we allow both parents (as long as there is another adult), This has been great. We even have some "families" serving together in preschool. 3. We have what we call "helping hands" which is on a rotation basis (parents). This only for substitutions because it does more harm than good sometimes. We usually put the parent in a different room than their child. I love the idea of serving 7x and then you get a prize! Now I need some wisdom from you all.... For those churches that are elder led. Have you ever struggled with the elders getting into areas in children's that you wish they wouldn't? How have you handled it? and for those women out there, have you ever felt like you face other "roadblocks" or controls because you are woman? Any suggestions on how to navigate through as a leader of a major ministry in your church????? I appreciate your thoughts! Thanks, Bonnie Workinger Sr. Director Children's |
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