20 Questions to Ask Before Kids Come Back to Church

Who would have ever thought we would experience weeks and even months away from gathering in person? Hopefully, soon we will be able to gather back together. But there will be things that are new to everyone as we walk into this new normal. It's important to think through what your strategy will be when they return. What should you do? What should you not do? Your answers to these questions can help you formulate what your strategy will be. 1. Should we require masks to be worn? 2. What extra precautions should we take by cleaning and disinfecting our toys, books, rooms, etc.? 3. How will we communicate our plans to parents? 4. What will we tell older volunteers who are at a higher risk if they catch the virus? Will we ask them to wait until there is a vaccine to start serving again? 5. What will we do if we are limited to having 10 people at a time in the service? 50? 100? 6. Will we host VBS this summer or do it online or cancel it? 7. Should we switch to family worship and not have children's worship starting out? 8. Will we continue to post kids' services online since we started them because of the pandemic? 9. How can we get kids and families excited about coming to church? 10. Will we still offer snacks and juices for smaller children? 11. If lots of volunteers step down, what will we do to maintain our rooms and ratios? 12. Will our greeters take precautions and adjust what they do? 13. Do we need to adjust our budget and resources since offerings are down? 14. Are we going to postpone mid-week services and activities? 15. How will we do small groups? 16. Will we send hard copy take home papers or switch to all online? 17. Will we be able to run the program with the amount of volunteers we may have? 18. Can kids bring their own hand-sanitizer? 19. How can we keep kids 6 feet apart? 20. How can we reduce expenses since offerings are down? What are some other questions that need to be addressed before kids come back to church? Share your thoughts and insight in the comment section below.