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| | I'm not sure if this question fits here but here goes: Not to complain but how does everyone else manage hearing a sermon once in a while. I've been the CM Director for 2 years and have heard 2 sermons in those 2 years. I'm feeling a little "Spiritually Undernourished". Who is everyone else managing this? Melissa |
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| I worship 50 Sundays a year. (2 Sundays, I lead a New Members Class that runs during both services.) I find it keeps me in focus with the church's vision, allows me to interact with people outside children's ministry and restores my soul. That's benefits above and beyond the joy of worship and the nourishment I get from the sermons and prayers. Matter of fact, I make a point to worship each Sunday to set that example for my leadership team that leaders need to participate in corporate worship for spiritual balance. I tell them it's hard to teach a child the importance of worship, if their adult leaders never attend.
Our church has volunteer SS directors with Assistant Directors who either arrange substitutes or fill in if a teacher is absent. Only a few times a year are we so short handed that directors have to teach.
What I struggle with is that some of my volunteer directors do not attend worship...even with 2 assistant directors pushing them toward the sanctuary! Either they want to micromanage their departments, try to use Sunday mornings to do administrative tasks that could be done before Sunday or they truly think their department can't function without them present.
Lisa B from NC |
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| | Thanks Lisa, We're a small church and I recently had a lady who has more experience in children ministry than I and is a retired 2nd grade teacher who would like to teach for a quarter. This would give continuity to the class. Not having to teach for the fall quarter would give me more time to work on the Christmas program and tie up some loose ends. Regardless of whether the elders will approve having someone else teach for the quarter, I really need to step away from the children some and have adult interaction, not to mention, my spiritual needs. It sadden me that church has turned into a work place instead of a worship place. Thanks for listening. Many blessings on your day, Melissa |
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Last Login: 6/18/2009 2:00:39 PM
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| | Hi! I've also been running our Children's Ministry for 2 years. There was no program when we started at the church back then and no one was wanting to step up. The pastor is a very close friend of ours and had asked us to come to his church as a missioin project to get the church going. It started with 13 as the avg sunday attendence (including the pastor and his family of 5). Now it has grown to and avg of about 65 a sunday. He didn't realize that I had not heard a sermon for 2yrs until last month. We have worked out a schedule with the youth leader that every 2nd sunday he does the children's church so that I can hear a sermon. It worked out great last month. Hopefully it will continue to work! This also gives the children some male leadership at church too! God Bless, Stephanie |
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Last Login: 6/22/2009 2:33:17 PM
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| | Melissa- I'm in the same boat. The summer was especially hard trying to fill in with all the vacations. We have a volunteer staff of about 15 that run our SS hour and about 7 for our second service (Kid's Church & ETC). Just this past week our pastor asked me what I do during Sundays. HA! Funny. He did ask that I get off of the monthly schedules and attempt to attend a service each Sunday. It's going to take more volunteers, but I think it will definitely be worth it. I'm running into not having enough volunteers. Our older crowd is burnt out and we have many kids that come without parents. This leaves a small pool of willing parents or helpers. I'm having to find myself get out of my comfort zone and ASK. I'm not always great at that. I would love more than anything to not have to fill in for a whole month. We'll see if I get there.  Kate
Kate Radford
Children's Ministry Coordiator
Carmichael, CA 
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| | I am the Children's Minister at my church & have been here about 1 1/2 years. Fortunately we have 2 services, so even though I teach Children's church each week, I still make it to one worship session each Sunday, except on rare occasions when teachers are sick or out of town. If I didn't attend worship on a regular basis, I would burn out pretty easily. I think it's very important to attend worship -- it not only helps you connect with God, but with the church as well. I also think it's something you have to determine that you're going to make a priority. I knew coming into the position that I needed to be in worship every week & my Pastor affirmed that my first month here. If you're already in a place where you are with kids during worship every week, you have a couple of options: you can explain the situation to other adults & ask them to fill-in for you once a month, every other week, etc. Or if there just aren't any adults who are willing/able to help, try dismissing Children's Church once a month. You get to worship & it's good for the kids to experience "Big Church." It's about creating the mindset: "I have to go to worship today," and then you do whatever it takes. That's my 2 cents! Jamie in IN |
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| | Hi Melissa, I completely agree with you - you need to get to worship stat! Here's another question though....when do the children worship with your congregation? Are they being fed spiritually through corporal worship? I suppose that is a topic for another discussion, but running Sunday school programs during worship automatically eliminates a large section of your faith community from the cornerstone of our faith - worship. |
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| | I'm reading this message string a few months after it was started, but... I agree with others that the paid staff person needs to worship, as do all the volunteers. Because we have 2 services, some of our volunteers have their own children in a class while they teach. They are rotating with other teachers (not an ideal, but a reality these days) so supposedly they attend church during the class hour on other weeks. As for me, I always attend worship but check in on the Children's Church room (sermon time only) if I think there might be a need. If the church records the service on DVD or CD, I suggest anyone who missed worship/sermon (two different things though one is part of the other) be given a copy of the recorded version for free. It's not the same as being there, but a helpful compromise if missing the service is truly necessary for ministry. Another option is to encourage the person to listen or view the service online if the church is doing that. |
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| Let's all commit to prayer that our leadership will see the importance of worship for leadership in all areas of ministry!
Time and time again, I observe that the longer people stay away from worship, the more disconnected, resentful and joyless they become. I think it is because they lose focus on The One Thing... that personal relationship with Christ.
AND I also observe that those who DO make worship a priority are more resilient, more alive and more centered on Christ!
Lisa B from NC |
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| | I have been in Children's Ministry for a little over a year and in Jan of this year my pastor and I decided that on the 5th Sunday of each month there would not be Children's Church. The kids sit in church with their families and we have a family focused Sunday. It is a great chance for the kids to be in "big" church but I also have a few Sundays a month where I get to sit and listen to the sermon as well. Our kids are in the service for worship and then right before the Pastor gets up to speak we all exit and go upstairs to the Children's room and have Children's Church |
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