Why Children's Ministry Directors Should Be Around Adults More Than Kids

Did you know, that as a children's ministry director/pastor, you should be around adults more than kids?

Your primary role is not to do the work of discipling kids.  Your primary role is to disciple adult volunteers who will disciple kids.

Look what Ephesians 4 says about this.

"Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. Their responsibility is to EQUIP God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ. This will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ."

Let me ask you a question. How much time do you spend equipping others to do the work of the ministry vs. doing it yourself? 

You may be able to go FASTER by yourself, but in the long haul you will be able to go FARTHER together.

Let me emphasize this again - You must be around adults more than kids if you want to see the ministry grow.

Here's an example.  At one church where I served as children's pastor, we had a guest reception after each service. People who were new to the church could come and meet the staff, hear more about the vision of the church, etc. 

Guess where I was after the service?  I wasn't in the kids' area.  I was in the guest reception area.  I was there meeting adults who might be potential volunteers in children's ministry.  I made sure I had the children's dismissal covered so I could be in the guest reception.  I was able to see a lot of people join the children's ministry volunteer team because I was in the reception. 

Am I saying that you should never be in the kids' areas?  Of course not.  But what I am saying is that you need to build a volunteer team that can effectively "run the program" when you are not around.  You know you are doing a great job when you can step back into the shadows and the ministry not miss a beat. 

Want to improve in this area?  Do this.  Make a chart.  Put "Equipping" on one side of the paper and put "Doing" on the other side of the paper.  Keep track of how much time you are spending equipping in a week and how much time you are spending "doing" the work of the ministry.  You may be surprised at the answer. Make it your goal to spend more time equipping than you spend doing each week.

If you are doing everything yourself, you will become the lid that keeps the ministry from growing and moving forward.  Do what only you can do and delegate the rest...even when it means not having as much direct contact with the children.

Focus your time on connecting with adults.

Use your time training adults about how to reach and disciple kids.

Narrow your time and pour your energy into raising up adult and student ministry leaders.

Always remember this:

The success of your ministry will rise and fall based on the strength of the volunteer team you build.

You can be a kid magnet, but if you don't spend time building an adult volunteer team, the ministry will implode. 

Focus on building adult teams, spend your time pouring into them, and you will see success.

Have you read my book "The Formula for Great Volunteer Teams?"  In this book, I will show you how to build a team of adult volunteers, equip them for the work of the ministry, and empower them to lead the ministry forward.  You can get your copy at this link.  This book contains the formula that I used to build a volunteer team of over 2,300 in a local church.

Am I saying you shouldn't spend any time with the kids?  Of course not!  But what I am saying is you need to spend the majority of your time equipping and empowering adult volunteers.

That will be the determining factor in moving the ministry forward.