We are making some changes in our church that affect the kids ministries. My senior pastor asked what other churches are doing and while I guessed somewhat anecdotally I know I need better more concrete info. If you could take a bit of time and answer I would be extremely grateful. Here are my questions:

1. What is your length of rotation for lead teachers and or classroom assistants?
2. If you have long rotation commitments (3+ months) how do you facilitate keeping your staff spiritually nurtured (i.e. do you expect them to attend other services, offer free sermon tapes, etc.)?
3. Do you have a mid-week service and do you provide children’s ministry for it?
4. Does anyone have a mid-week corporate prayer meeting which is solely focused on praying with no preaching?
5. Does anyone have a Kids Prayer meeting?  

I appreciate all you do for God’s kids and for your wisdom. I look forward to seeing you all again in the near future.

Mike

Lisa B from NC

1.       What is your length of rotation for lead teachers and or classroom assistants?

We ask volunteers to serve for one year. We offer them three different teams to choose from:

·         Team A – Every week (we’ve found that most weekly volunteers serve 40 weeks/year after you factor in vacations, sick days, etc.)

·         Team 1 – 1^st & 3^rd Sunday’s of the month. This team also covers the 1^st & 3^rd fifth Sunday’s during a year

·         Team 2 – 2^nd & 4^th Sunday’s of the month. They cover the 2^nd & 4^th fifth Sunday’s

2.       If you have long rotation commitments (3+ months) how do you facilitate keeping your staff spiritually nurtured (i.e. do you expect them to attend other services, offer free sermon tapes, etc.)?

We offer two worship opportunities for adults and children, therefore we expect our volunteers to attend one service and serve one service. Knowing that this isn’t always the case, we offer our volunteers a free CD of the sermon that they can pick up at the end of each service.

3.       Do you have a mid-week service and do you provide children’s ministry for it?

No.

4.       Does anyone have a mid-week corporate prayer meeting which is solely focused on praying with no preaching?

No. We do have a Saturday night prayer time that meets at 9:30 on Saturday’s. The primary purpose is to pray for the upcoming Sunday services.

5.       Does anyone have a Kids Prayer meeting?  

The first Saturday of each month we offer a Saturday night prayer time specifically for our children’s ministry. We do it earlier than the above mentioned adult prayer time and encourages parents, volunteers, & their children to come and pray for our children’s ministry.

We also have a Sunday morning prayer ministry that is primarily covered by our Next Generation Team (children’s, students, & college ministries). Each ministry is assigned to cover one Sunday a month in prayer during our services. Our children’s ministry participates in this with our elementary aged children. We actually have the children on our worship teams spend 5-7 minutes in the prayer room praying for the services each Sunday. They are given a prayer guide based on the message for adults.

Eric

Lisa B from NC

Mike here are the answers to your questions:

1.What is the length of rotation for your lead teachers and or classroom assistants?

We have all our children’s workers sign a ministry covenant for a school year Sept.2007- Sept. 2008.

We have various levels of service. Nursery is once or twice a month, Preschool Praise is two weeks on and two weeks off as is the Elementary Children’s Worship on Sundays.  The Sunday school teachers and helpers teach every week or rotate with another teacher in the classroom. 

2. How do you facilitate keeping your staff spiritually nurtured?

As part of their ministry covenant we ask them to sign that they will attend a worship service/or an adult Bible class every week.

3. Do you have a mid week service and do you provide children’s ministry for it?

Yes we have Bible Institute cl for the adults mid week.  We have a program for every age from nursery – preschool – elementary- junior high and high school.

4.  Does anyone have a mid week corporate prayer meeting?

We have as one of our Bible Institute cl a prayer group.  Once a quarter we may have a corporate prayer meeting but not weekly.

5.  Does anyone have kids prayer meeting?

No we have prayer as part of our small group activity at both hours on a Sunday.

I hope this helps.

God bless,

Nancy

Lisa B from NC

1. What is your length of rotation for lead teachers and or classroom assistants?

We do not have a rotation. Our volunteers serve year round (and for years).

2. If you have long rotation commitments (3+ months) how do you facilitate keeping your staff spiritually nurtured (i.e. do you expect them to attend other services, offer free sermon tapes, etc.)?

they must attend the other 2 services held weekly.

Do you have a mid-week service and do you provide children’s ministry for it?  yes we have a service, no CM.

Does anyone have a mid-week corporate prayer meeting which is solely focused on praying with no preaching?  yes.

Does anyone have a Kids Prayer meeting?  

 yes. we have ours on Sunday evening 30 minutes before the service (same time as adult prayer). This has done wonders for our children and our church.