016: 5 Fresh Ways to Structure Children’s Ministry If You’re Short Volunteers Or Just Need A Break

Episode 016: 5 Fresh Ways to Structure Children’s Ministry If You’re Short Volunteers Or Just Need A Break

Intro  0:01  
Hey, this is Laurie Graham. Welcome to The Small Church Ministry Podcast.

Laurie Graham  0:15
Hey, welcome to episode 16, I hope you’re having a great day and that you’re actually experiencing God being at work. 

Whether you’re in a church of 20, or a church of 200, I want to assure you that God is very much at work. The Holy Spirit doesn’t just show up when attendance hits a certain benchmark. God never said, “I’m going to do great things, if you have enough people there.” No, our God is a God for the one as much as for the many. He’s at work in your life, in your heart, and in your church right now. 

If you’re not feeling that, it doesn’t change the truth. However, if we’re frustrated, or spinning down like a feel of failure spiral, that can actually block our vision of God’s presence and His activity. Sometimes, it’s really important to ask God to help us stop the negative thought train, if you’re in that, and open our eyes to what He is doing. I’m betting if you’re like me, and you’re totally ready to join God, where He’s at work, then all we need to do is see where it is, and we’re all in. Let’s open up our eyes, even today, and do whatever we need to do to join him. 

As we talk about Sunday school a little bit more today, I want to start just by mentioning tradition for a quick minute. I love tradition, there is beauty in tradition. In our family, we look forward to opening one present each on Christmas Eve, it’s just tradition. Maybe you’ll have a certain hymn that you love to sing at Easter, or a favorite treat to celebrate a goal accomplished. Maybe you begin your day with coffee or end each day with chocolate. We all have traditions. 

Laurie Graham 1:53
Churches have traditions too. They can serve us really well. They can bring comfort and connection; connection to history or to other people that we love. They connect us together as a body, and there is nothing wrong with tradition. When Jesus said, “Do this in memory of me,” He was basically instating a new tradition. Throughout biblical history, traditions were honored, they were celebrated, holidays were set apart. Traditions aren’t just things that we practice. The word tradition also includes beliefs, patterns of thoughts, customs, stories retold. 

As we delve into some fresh ideas for children’s ministry and Sunday school, please don’t hear me saying to throw out tradition, that is not my heart at all. Sometimes traditions can bring us lots of goodness. Sometimes tradition can also hold us back. Like when our thoughts or practices no longer line up with our beliefs. Or when we practice tradition on autopilot with no intention or even the memory of why we’re doing what we’re doing. Sometimes we discover that the traditions we are hanging on to just aren’t as effective anymore in turning our hearts toward what it used to do.

Adding a new twist, taking a break, or re-examining our culture, doesn’t mean we’re throwing out a tradition or even lessening the value of it. In fact, taking a break from a tradition, whether it’s something you’ve practiced for decades, or even just a few years, it can actually strengthen your values, and even increase your desire to return to the tradition. 

Let’s take a look at Sunday school as a tradition, and something worth examining with intentionality. The tradition of Sunday school is the custom of how we teach people about the Bible. If you’re not listening to this podcast for Sunday school tips, but maybe you’re involved in a midweek children’s program or something like that with a different name, don’t worry. The five ideas we’re going to cover work in a lot of different settings. 

Laurie Graham 3:54
They’re also great for teens and adult classes too, but keep in mind that having Sunday school is not a biblical command. Having Sunday school is not required to teach children or adults about Jesus. Discipleship can and often does happen outside of Sunday morning. Sunday school is a tradition, it’s a custom. It’s how we’ve done it or how many churches have done it, and they’ve done it really, really well. 

Quick reminder, the history of bringing kiddos into a classroom setting for Sunday school started way back in the Industrial Revolution. Its original goal was actually to teach literacy, not biblical discipleship. The church saw a need in society as kids were working in factories instead of going to school, and the church stepped up to meet the need and did it very well. From there Sunday School morphed into what we know it as today, and many churches rely on Sunday school as the main venue for teaching scripture and Bible truth to children and often adults as well. 

The structure remains really educational in format, usually with a teacher or sometimes two, kids are divided by age group as much as possible; and we know in small churches, that’s not always so possible. Sometimes even adults are split into demographics like here’s a women’s group, a men’s group, a young adult group, an older adult group. Most Sunday schools are structured with chairs and tables, often with a whiteboard, mimicking a school setup. 

This is all great if it works for you. Again, there is nothing wrong with tradition. However, taking time to evaluate this custom is so incredibly healthy. Many churches today struggle with Sunday school for attendance and even engagement, or how about finding enough teachers or volunteers. If the setup isn’t working, as well as it used to in your church, you are not alone. Many small churches are struggling with some of the things I even mentioned already. Not having enough teachers or the right kind of teachers or struggling to maintain a safe and productive learning environment. 

Laurie Graham 5:59
Specifically, in regards to children and teens’ Sunday school, adults struggle to get kids to sit still and listen. Kids aren’t super excited to go to possibly the least exciting place they’ve been all week. There seems to be no end to behavior management, and there’s a growing number of new safety standards that many of us are struggling to meet, especially in small churches, like two teachers in every room, safety training and various emergency procedures. New volunteers are hard to find, often because they don’t feel competent to teach. They also know that they’re going to miss out on adult Sunday school or adult worship if they commit to teaching and the commitment to teach Sunday school, often it’s intimidating.

If these struggles sound familiar to you, I have some ideas to help. If you only know a traditional Sunday School setup, a few of these ideas might feel like a little bit of a stretch, but here’s the reminder: the goal is still the same. Kids knowing and loving Jesus and loving His church too. The method is the only thing changing, we are not changing the message. 

As I mentioned, I love tradition. I truly love old church practices. I am a stained glass fanatic. I appreciate the old church fathers, the reverence of silence and the structure even in responsive readings. I’m not all for glitter and jazz and fancy fun. I’m also not just about melding with the culture, or giving the new generation what they want for the sake of entertaining them and making them happy. That is not the goal. 

However, it’s so wise to look at what’s working and what’s not, and why, and being open to new things, because this is so like Jesus. Consider some new stuff, tap into the creativity God gave us. Let’s see what ideas resonate with you today. Then toss in your church culture, the unique gifts God put in your church, and start developing what could be instead of hanging on to what is and maybe what’s not working so well.

Laurie Graham 8:07
Along with these five ideas, I’m going to suggest that you structure Sunday school to match the volunteers you currently have, do not stretch their capability, their availability or sacrifice safety. There are other options, please hear this, than frustrating your current volunteers. So many churches today are trying to staff two teachers in each of the three kids rooms, and you don’t actually have six adults to do it, who are willing and able and excited. Each week just starts feeling like a chore. It’s frustrating. The people that end up filling in are unhappy or burnt out. 

If you don’t have six happy and willing adults, don’t structure like you do. Does that make sense? Instead, find a different idea that does work with your current happy tribe, like what can you manage with joy? Maybe one of these five ideas are going to work for you. I’m also going to suggest that you make it easier for your volunteers to get a taste of awesome ministry to children. I’m also suggesting that maybe you take a break from what you’re currently doing, shake things up, add some creativity for some new momentum. 

Everything we’re talking about today is just all about adding a little bit of intentionality. Consider some new ways of getting at the same goal. Kids loving Jesus and experiencing His church as an extension of His love. Taking a break from your traditional setup might be just what you need to actually have safe ratios again. To create some new excitement. To give your long term teachers a needed break. To get some new folks involved on the teaching side of things. To watch the kids eyes light up in brand new ways and even create some great publicity and new fans of your children’s ministry too. Does this sound good to you? 

Never compromise on safety. Your Sunday school needs to be safe. This is not an option. I get so frustrated when churches refuse to cancel a program like nursery or Sunday school when they’re understaffed or wrongly staffed. It’s like it’s not an option to cancel it. I think the bigger no option is for it not to be safe. If your volunteers are overrun with behavior issues, it’s not safe. If you have a child with special needs, who’s running out of the classroom, it’s not safe. If you have a nursery with babies and only one adult, it is not safe. 

Laurie Graham 10:41
I’m going to dedicate a future episode all about safety standards and suggestions for children’s ministry and youth, specifically for small churches. For now, let’s just agree that what’s not an option is not to be safe. If you don’t have enough volunteers or the right volunteers or healthy volunteers, canceling is an option. It’s a much better option than not being safe. 

Let’s get into our other five awesome ways for creatively restructuring your kid’s Sunday school when you’re understaffed, or you just need a breath of fresh air. Well, this is all about a few creative ways to staff your Sunday school with the people you already have. I’m just letting you know, most likely you’re going to end up with some new faces who want to join in on the fun too.

Here’s the five ideas. Number one, six-week learning themes. This is all about a short-term theme with volunteers who only commit to the short-term, we’re going to have fun talking about that one. The second one is guest speakers. There are so many ways to utilize guest speakers. That one’s gonna be fun, too. Number three is service-based projects. Engaged kids are happy kids and doing is better than sitting. This one is so perfect for mixed ages combined classes and more. The fourth one is just a different twist on learning centers with rotating teachers instead of rotating spaces. Number five is take a break. This is not the same as canceling. We’re going to talk about how this works so that your program not only doesn’t lose momentum, but it actually gains momentum.

If you’re having fun creating positive space for kids and adults, you will attract more people; kids, adults, and volunteers. Keep in mind, the more adults you involve, the more volunteers will need background checks. My personal dream is that every single adult in church is approved to work with kids. Again, that’s for a different episode. Just keep that in mind as we go through these five ideas. 

Laurie Graham 12:50
Here we go. Five ideas to structure and staff children’s Sunday school, when you are understaffed or looking for a breath of fresh air: number one, six-week learning themes. Six-week learning themes are so much fun and can give a much needed boost of momentum, and also a break for your regular teachers. There are a few ways to do this. One way is to use old VBS materials, (Vacation Bible School material) for all their great ideas, resources and learning pieces, even decorating ideas. 

Most churches hang on to their old VBS curriculum because they feel guilty throwing it out because it’s crazy expensive. Eventually, somebody goes through some storage space and tosses it all out. Which leads me to a great benefit. It’s free, so find an old VBS curriculum, maybe from your own storage room or the church down the street. Maybe you’ll find one that’s a jungle theme or construction, or cowboys or the farm, whatever it is, create some excitement and decorate with all that jazz. Set up your Sunday school rooms or your hallways or whatever leads up to the Sunday school area and create a six-week series so that each Sunday for six weeks is around that theme. 

Another resource to check out is The Creative Little Church website. There’s a link in the show notes to an easy six week rotation I wrote called The Neighborhood. It’s not a full curriculum, but it’s an easy setup for six weeks that uses this idea plus a few of the other ideas that are coming up on my list too. It’s just another way to use a six week learning theme to make it fun and effective and give people a break from the norm. 

Laurie Graham 14:31
If you’re sitting here thinking “How can this give my regular teachers a break? VBS for six weeks, this seems like more work.” This all depends on how you look at it. When you do something fun and different for a short term project, like six weeks. Different people are really happy to step up. Usually they actually are happy. You’ll find people who would never commit to teaching Sunday school happy to be a snack leader for six weeks, or to run the movie clip room, or to be part of a skit or learning experience. 

Other creative people like older students and teens might love painting trees on cardboard pieces, or building palm trees out of crepe paper, and voila, you’ve got your decor. Give it a thought and consider it. There are lots of ways to do this. But a fun six week learning theme can really set things apart for a very cool, exciting time and a really great breath of fresh air too.

The second idea is all about guest speakers. Without changing too much of your already planned curriculum, I highly encourage you to involve guest speakers. If you’ve never done this, this is one of my favorite go twos for lightening the teaching load and also giving others a safe, fun taste of the children’s ministry. 

A few years ago, I was asked to teach the main learning center at Vacation Bible School, and I was like, Oh, totally, I’d love to do that. But only if I involve guest speakers. And everybody’s like, awesome. This is what it looked like for me. Of course, I had a story and points to make and a scripture memory verse. But each story always has a main character. 

I recruited an older person in our congregation, one for each day just to play the main character. They didn’t have to research or anything, they would just knock on the door, dress up as the character and we’d invite them in and ask them questions. Like, “What’s it like to be a shepherd?” Or “What was the coolest thing about meeting Jesus in person?” The kids got to have extra fun. I got a few minutes off from wrangling their attention to teach the lesson. Our recruited actors had so much fun putting on a bathrobe and acting like a shepherd or whatever their character was. They only had one day to show up. That was it, so that made it fun, and not a burden for them. It was a win-win all around. 

Laurie Graham 16:49
There’s lots of ways to involve guest speakers other than having them dress up or act a role. You can have someone come in to share their hobby, kind of like a career day, whether it’s quilting, or building model cars, invite someone in to read a Bible story, like a story corner. Another fun idea is having an interview panel; bring a few different adults in or teens, have them sit on a panel and talk about a certain topic or ask questions about a Bible story or whatever. It’s super engaging. It allows the kids to interact with other members in your congregation and hear their stories too. It gives people in the congregation a taste of your awesome children’s ministry without all that fear or a commitment to teach. There are so many benefits to having guest speakers. 

If you’re having a hard time picturing this, just think about the old Mr. Rogers Neighborhood. If you’re too young to remember Mr. Rogers, and that knock on the door, just Google it, it is a great model. If you’re concerned that having guest speakers are going to disrupt your class, or your plans to get through the curriculum, keep this in mind. The curriculum is there for the kids and the teacher, not the other way around. 

My goal is never to just get through the curriculum. Also, I’m betting if you’re listening to this podcast, you already have plenty of other things disrupting you from getting through the curriculum; like the kid’s behavior because they’re bored, or burnt-out teachers, or a lack of committed volunteers. So let’s get some creative ideas out there. That just might give you a refresh and a reset that bring some new life, new hope, and new momentum into your kids program. 

Third idea, do service-based projects. We humans like to do things. We like to be busy with our hands, learn new things, and try out new experiences, too. We also like to make a difference, to see the work of our hands. Our littles like this, too. 

Laurie Graham 18:47
What service-based projects could you actually do together? Maybe this is once a month, maybe it’s one for a few weeks straight, maybe even for a season? Can you plant a garden indoors or outside? Can you redesign the kids area, together with the kids? Can you build something, pack Christmas shoe boxes, learn about homelessness and do a care project, even deliver it? The ideas really are endless. Keeping kids engaged, man, they are happy. 

Think about how many things we do for kids that they would love to help with, like even redesigning the kid’s room. You could talk about how everyone wants to feel in the space, how they feel now, what’s working, what doesn’t, what colors would be fun, designs. What do you want to sit on? Do we want more shelves? What about sensory items like when they’re bored? Then engage the kids in helping, building, painting, moving things. 

If you’re saying “Wait, what about the curriculum? How are they going to learn the Bible if they’re doing all these things?” Well, let’s think about it. If you include kids in doing and you show them your patience and understanding as they mess up and make mistakes. If you listen, when they want to talk and you value them, aren’t you being just like Jesus, this is what Jesus did. He did not make everyone sit down and listen when He spoke. He lived connected with His father and He spoke as people did life together, He would thank God for provisions as they happened and teach people to pray in different places, in different times. He spoke of Scripture as they walked along the road. 

This is active learning and teaching moments, people don’t have to sit still, to learn about God. In fact, most of us learn better when we are doing. In this way, in teaching moments, more is caught than simply taught. You are modeling Jesus, not just talking about him, and that’s catchy. It is a change from strictly following a curriculum. 

Laurie Graham 20:59
Think about it. What if you memorized one Bible verse over a six-week focus on homelessness, and you recited the verse and laughed together as you messed up, while your kids were doing a service-based project, and learning? If you studied homelessness, think about this. What if after six weeks, your five kids in class, and you too maybe, now looked at homelessness with compassion and understanding instead of fear and judgment? What if everyone, including you, ended the six weeks with a whole new understanding of the passage? When did I see you hungry and not feed you? Can you imagine, this is life change, and I think God would be very pleased. 

Think about some service-based projects that you could do in Sunday school class, whether it involves things inside your church or ministry outside your walls. This could be a little break and a little breather in your regular calendar, or it could be a once a month special that everyone looks forward to.

Alright, how are you doing with my ideas? Are you ready for idea number four? Number four is all about putting a different twist on centers. If you’ve been in children’s ministry for a while, you’re probably familiar with learning centers. They’re used a lot in curriculum, in VBS, even in preschool. This is where you may have a play center, a reading corner, an art table, etc. Different activities happen in different locations, and usually in different time segments. Lots of big churches will move kids around between rooms. They actually have a whole game room and an art room and that is tons of fun. If you’re in a small church like me, it looks more like this corner of the room is for this or turn around and face the whiteboard. That’s our Learning Center, right, the things we do. 

Laurie Graham 22:53
Here’s idea number four. Instead of using learning centers, with one or two teachers who are teaching the whole thing and moving around from one focused activity to the other, why not find different people to lead the different centers? Before you ask this idea, because you already don’t have enough teachers, remember, we’re not recruiting more teachers. 

Instead, you’re asking a dad if he would come in and lead a 10-minute game once a week just for this month. You’re asking Grandpa Chuck to come in and read a Bible story with his fun voices just for 10 minutes each Sunday, just for a month. What about your artsy high school student? Could she lead a cartoon drawing lesson for 10 minutes, just once a week, just for this month?

The transitions of welcoming new center leaders, almost like guest speakers, except that they’re doing something. It’s really exciting for the kids. The dad who would never teach Sunday school loves popping in to spend 10 minutes playing Jenga and he has a great experience with the kids. People who avoid the kids ministry because they hate behavior management, or they’re too stressed out to think they could possibly plan a lesson, right? They’re thrilled to pop in and lend a hand doing something they can do. Let’s think about it. Your regular teacher gets a break too. 

What do you think? Is this an idea you could consider or maybe adapted to fit your particular needs or your church culture? What about this? What about your pastor? Would your pastor be willing to pop in once for 10 minutes on a Sunday, or maybe one Sunday a month and do a mystery object lesson? The kids pick an object and hand it to the pastor and the pastor has to make an impromptu kid’s sermon about whatever the object they were handed. It’s so fun. It also connects your kids to your pastor in a whole new way. You’re connecting your congregation to the kids. This is intergenerational ministry right here. The body of Christ being the body.

Laurie Graham 24:58
Alright, and for my last but not least, fifth idea is simply taking a break. Please hear me. I am not saying cancel Sunday school, but do something instead, kind of like a vacation. No one wants to lose momentum and canceling is such a negative word, but most of us love a vacation. A vacation means something fun. We’re going to come back too. A vacation isn’t permanent. A vacation also doesn’t mean we’re failing or quitting. It means we want to experience something else. There’s not a void of activity. It’s just a different activity in its place. It’s engaging. What could “take a break” look like for your Sunday school? 

A few years ago, our church started doing waffle Sundays. It was a day, or a month, or a season of intergenerational community in place of Sunday school. Not in addition to Sunday school, but in place of. We made waffles and ate waffles together and had breakfast together during the Sunday School hour. It was intentional. It was intergenerational, it was purposeful, and it also gave our teachers a break. It was fun. We built more community, families were happy. Even the adult small group teachers were really thrilled just to have a few weeks off. 

Please hear this, taking a break is not waving a white flag. This is not surrender. It’s: let’s have some fun and regroup. Let’s enjoy each other in a new way. Community is part of the church. We’re creating something new, we’re not canceling in defeat. When we’re ready to go back, we’re gonna go back with new energy and new ideas because we had a break. Isn’t that what a great vacation does too? Consider it, just consider taking a break. 

Laurie Graham 26:56
There’s your five fresh ways to structure children’s ministry if you’re short volunteers, or you just need a break. All of these ideas are intentional, and they’re on purpose. They all provide multiple opportunities for new people to get involved. If you have long-term teachers who are tired, each of these ideas provides a break, whether it’s a physical not being in the room break, or just a mental break, to regroup and rethink and renew a bit. Breaking a cycle of feeling stressed or feeling failure is so important for making mental space for creative ideas and solutions to start popping up. We all need that, we actually need it more often than we give ourselves permission. 

We’ve covered five fun and effective ideas. I’m just going to run through them really quick. We had six week learning themes, guest speakers, service based projects, a different twist on centers with rotating teachers instead of spaces. And the fifth one was taking a break. These ideas can be standalone, or some of them can just be added into your regular mix as an addition to your current curriculum and your plans but try one. 

Please don’t be afraid to try something without knowing if it’s going to work perfectly for you and your church. You won’t know until you do it and have fun on the journey. If we’re open to learning along the way, or bringing new ways of teaching and learning and experiencing Jesus in, we’re going to start tapping into the creativity that God gave us and solutions that work for the details of our situations. God does this and it is so beautiful.
 
Laurie Graham 28:38
Thanks for joining me today and I’m so grateful that you chose to spend your time with me. Come join us in our free Facebook community. If you’re not already there yet. We have tons of ideas and encouragement every day, just for small churches in tons of different ministry areas. 

Check out our upcoming conferences too. We have one right around the corner. If you’re listening to this when this episode is released, the one coming up is just for small church Kidman and youth. It is one of the best things we do and you’re not gonna want to miss it. If you are listening live when this episode is released, it’s less than two weeks away, so go grab your free ticket today. 

The link to get a free ticket for the conference and also the link to join our free Facebook community, they’re both in the show notes, so go check them out. As always, I appreciate your reviews and rating for this podcast episode. We got to get the word out there that small churches are not alone and that God isn’t just working in small churches, but He’s working greatly. So please take a minute and leave a review and I’ll talk to you next week. Be a light.