by Chase | Kid Min, Student Min
How are you trying to increase camp attendance this summer?
While we spend hundreds of hours planning for our camps it is easy to overlook the most import step – inviting students to attend. You may argue with me, but in the rush to schedule activities, coordinate with guest speakers, and finalize bus schedules, our invitation process is often limited to handing out flyers, sending one parent email, and talking about it a few times after student worship.
If you want to increase your camp attendance you must communicate more than the camp dates.
As you finalize your camp details, here are a few tips that can help you increase your camp attendance this summer.
5 Tips To Increase Camp Attendance
Communicate Life Change
The draw of a beach camp, zip line, or lake adventure doesn’t resonate with students anymore. With the vast amount of options they have to choose from this summer, your camp may be lost in the clutter of other events. The one thing that shines more brightly than any new camp game is the life change Jesus brings. How can you communicate that camp can impact more than their tan line or Snapchat following?
Communicate Financial Assistance
There will be families who need financial assistance to make camp work for their kids. While I do not promote that financial assistance is available (after all, I don’t have a budget line dedicated to send kids to camp) I do talk with parents who inquire about financial assistance to see how we can assist their family. From there, I communicate needs with our church leadership and key members in our congregation.
Communicate Ownership
Your two best camp recruiters are your small group leaders (those attending camp with you) and students. Think about how many times students have asked you, “Who else is going to be at camp?” Students are the best recruiters for camp. Make sure that you communicate the importance of bringing other students to camp.
Communicate Early
The further out you can communicate the dates and cost of camp, the better off you will be. Parents and adult leaders need to know these specifics nine to 12 months out so they can clear their calendars, ask off of work, and save up money. If a parent finds out about a beach camp two weeks before it starts, chances are that student will not be attending.
Communicate Directly With Parents
Have you ever picked up event flyers in the church parking lot 10 minute after handing them to students? I have felt that frustration as well! If you want your students to attend camp you need to make sure parents know the specifics of camp. Emailing is an easy way to transfer the information but phone calls are the best way to bring clarity to the event. Small group leaders are an incredible resource to leverage when planning a phone call blast to your students’ parents.
Now What?
What are your strengths in getting kids to camp, and what are your weaknesses?
by Chase | Kid Min, Leadership
If you are a kid ministry leader you know that summer means that it is time to promote VBS!
Many churches (especially in the Bible Belt) utilize Vacation Bible School to disciple children and serve as an outreach to the community. There are plenty of variations of the traditional VBS model of hosting daily programming on your campus, but no matter how your church ministers to kids you will be doing some promotion to get dates, times, costs, and locations out.
Can I be honest? VBS is one of those weird, churchy things. Trust me, I’m all for having a VBS event if it works for your community, but “Vacation Bible School” sounds weird and confusing for outsiders to the faith.
- Why would their child want to go to school during summer break?
- What is a Bible school?
- Will their children have fun or will they only memorize long passages of the Old Testament?
If we are not careful our event promotions can communicate a different message then what we are hoping is conveyed to the community. Because each church leads a different variation of VBS it is easy for parents to become confused as to what VBS is for YOUR church.
Even with an event like VBS, an event that we assume everyone knows what we are talking about, we must strive for clarity because the vast majority of people that we are hoping to reach have never stepped foot inside of our churches.
Before you design posters, set-up banners, and schedule Facebook ads here are two questions you need to answer:
2 Questions To Answer As You Promote VBS
Are We Communicating More Than Childcare?
Does your promotion material communicate life-change? Are there stories being shared or is your VBS viewed as free childcare? I know that you would never view VBS as childcare, but does your community? You will always have parents who are content with dropping their children off at the door and head home, but does your literature, promotions, and videos create a drop-off culture? How are you communicating the power of Jesus, importance of worship, and need to invite outsiders of the faith with your congregation?
Can Our Website Answer Parent’s Questions?
How much information is on your website? If you hope to leverage VBS as an outreach for your community you must think through the questions parents who have never been on your campus will have before they send their child. What food will be served? How are allergies handled? What is needed to register? How many leaders (and how are they screened) are in each class? Your website must be prepared to answer the most frequent questions that parents may have. This will limit the headaches you will experience and the number of phone calls you will receive.
Now What?
How can your team communicate the life-change that will happen at VBS?
by Chase | Kid Min, Student Min
Did you ever work at a summer camp?
Most adults remember the fun times, silly games, and weird stories they experienced as a kid at camp. Camps and retreats are incredible tools that churches and non-profits leverage to connect kids, students, and families with Jesus. During these weeks distractions are limited and the Gospel of Jesus is magnified.
But all of these camps don’t magically happen – it takes months of preparation, planning, and training to ensure camps run smoothly when the students show up on campus.
When I worked as a camp director we were always in need of high school and college age employees to run our day-to-day operations, offices, maintain facilities, and lead their peers.
Now, as a family pastor, I encourage our high school and college students to work at camps during the summer months. Some are able to devote their entire break to working at a camp, but others are only able to serve a week or two because of their sports schedules. Either way, working at a camp invests spiritually and professionally in a student’s life.
There are plenty of camps that your student could get involved in: day camps, music camps, traditional summer camps, conferences, and so on.
Regardless of the type of camp the truth is that serving at a camp is the best summer job for students to discover how God has wired them.
If you are a parent who is wondering what your student should do this summer, here are some reasons as to why they should consider working at a camp.
5 Reasons Your Student Should Work At Camp
Your Student Will Grow Spiritually
Would you rather your child to work with someone who views him or her as an employee or as a brother/sister in Christ? All of us need environments that promote spiritual growth and a camp is a perfect place for students to use God’s Word. As students use share their testimony, lead Bible studies, and pray for others they will develop a deeper relationship with Jesus.
Your Student Will Develop Christian Friendships
As your student hangs out with the camp staff they will develop some strong friendships with other Christians teenagers and young adults. This new peer group can be a catalyst for encouragement, growth, and community that your student has been searching for in high school.
Your Student Will Discover His Giftedness
Students hate the question, “What are you going to be when you grow up?” Let’s face it; you didn’t know when you were their age either! Camps will expose students to a wide variety of jobs. They will coordinate volunteers, lead games, write lessons, post to social medias, work with their hands, and lead a staff. As they are doing ministry they will discover how God has designed them for ministry.
Your Student Will Make An Impact In The Kingdom Of God
This is a no-brainer. Your student will be making an impact in the Kingdom of God instead of making milkshakes at the local diner or playing video games all summer long. Believers are called to be doers of God’s Word, no matter their age.
Your Student Will Be Developed Professionally
Camps provide on-the-job training that impacts students professionally as well as spiritually. While working at camps I have learned how to be a part of a team, lead a staff, and prepare meeting notes. I also learned how to relate with others, marketing, fundraising, time management and more. Since students are working in a variety of areas they are trained to be a well-rounded employee.
Now What?
How will your student spend their summer?
If you need help looking for opportunities, contact your church or local denomination to see what opportunities are available in your area.
by Chase | Kid Min, Leadership, Student Min
When you are stuck or unsure of how to proceed, what do you do? What is your go-to for making an investment in your ministry?
Maybe you check Google to see if there is some info out there that would help. My wife’s go-to these days is Pinterest. She knows that someone else has probably already written about the project she’s up against, and she’s a whiz at finding tutorials for just about anything.
But what happens when you are stuck spiritually? There are a lot of good answers to that question — reading Scripture, seeking out a fellow Christian for advice, and so on. But the one thing you cannot forget, the one we all most often leave out, is prayer.
Prayer. That’s it.
I know how we read blog posts so resist the urge to close out of this because there isn’t anything “new” here. The truth is that we, the spiritual leaders, can quickly dismiss prayer because we are busy working in ministry.
The Bible is full of instruction on this.
Not enough people to do the work you just know God can do in your group, community, family? Of course there isn’t! God says the laborers are few and to pray for more!
Feeling lonely and desperately desiring really fellowship with other Christians? Pray for it. Pray honestly and earnestly that you would be someone who understands what it means to bear one another’s burdens and that you would find others who are also willing to do that.
Kids in your Sunday school class not talking on Sundays? Pray. Ask God to use His Spirit to convict you where you need to change and to give you inspiration in your planning so you can add in questions tailored to your students.
4 Tips for Unceasing Prayer for Ministers
1. When the problem comes to mind, say a prayer.
This can be a long prayer or a short prayer, but bringing the matter to God in the moment of need is key.
2. Intentionally remind yourself to pray.
If you absolutely cannot forget to do something, what is your go-to method to remind yourself? Do you set alarms, make lists, e-mail yourself, tell a friend … whatever you do for the most important things you absolutely cannot forget, do it to remind yourself to pray.
3. Make a list and refer to it often to see how God is working.
When you pray repeatedly for the same list of things, you’ll start to notice the movements of God in those situations. If you’ve got a list handy of what you have committed yourself to in prayer, you will be able to update it. You’ll see where God is moving, and you will be able to rejoice in His faithfulness.
4. Pray Scripture over your situation.
You probably had some Bible verses come to mind as you read Point No. 4. If God says He is capable of something, and you need Him to do that for you, read those verses and ask God to act. Ask Him to bring you to other areas of Scripture that you need for your own growth, too, because let’s be honest — we aren’t perfect, and we need to be sure that nothing we are doing is hindering our situation.
Prayer that works is prayer with consistency, with regularity, with sincerity, and with strategy.
If you could get God to do just one thing to make your ministry so much ____ (better, easier, wider reaching, deeper, whatever you need) during this season of ministry, what would it be?
How can you improve your prayer life and ask God to give you that?
by Chase | Leadership
Have you ever seen someone hang on to something for far too long? As church leaders we are constantly strategizing about how we can update our programming.
For some reason programming reminds me about a time in middle school that we experienced a significant snow. My family lived on a corner lot at the bottom of a hill, and both the roads beside our house were perfectly sloped for sledding. My friends and their parents came over, and we went snow tubing throughout the night.
Tony, one of my close friends, brought his neighbor Jessie. For some reason, Jessie didn’t want to participate. One of my primary goals in any social situation is to get people to have fun. It’s not a phrase I would stick on a bumper sticker, but it’s a very real goal of mine. I want people to experience joy and fun and adventure as much as possible! I tend to convince people to get out of their comfort zones and try new and exciting (and terrifying) things. It was the same with Jessie.
We finally talked Jessie into tubing down the street with us. We told him all he needed to know: (1) Hold on tight, (2) scream with joy, and (3) let go and slide off the back of the tube before the bottom of the hill. Number 3 was probably the most important, because there was a bank at the bottom of the hill, and then a bunch of trees and bushes.
I’ll go ahead and skip to the part of the story you already suspect. Jessie didn’t get off the tube before it crashed over the bank. When it came time to slide off the tube, he was too afraid to let go. He was involuntarily gripping the handles of the tube tighter and tighter. He landed in a tree (yes in a tree), very bruised and thankfully not hurt.
This is a story I think about a lot, even though I don’t see my childhood friends all the time and it doesn’t snow a lot to remind me of it. I think about it because there is a tendency in the church to hold on to things quite tightly, even when it’s time to let go and move on to something else.
My experience that night in the snow with Jessie is the best illustration I can think of to remind myself (and I hope others too) that even when we are afraid to let go of things, sometimes it really it time to let go — because holding on more tightly causes a bigger mess with more pain and frustration.
The thing that churches and ministries have the hardest time letting go of is programming and be willing to try new things. It’s not the why of our ministries — we never change the message of Jesus. Instead, it’s the how.
Everyone else may have jumped off the bandwagon of a certain way of doing things, but we haven’t. And then we are left paralyzed and wondering why things aren’t working. Then, after holding on and holding on some more, there is a huge crash and we are left trying to heal our wounds. We may even question continuing that ministry at all, if the crash was bad enough.
- This looks like a youth group that is using the same methods and teaching points it used 20 years ago, when teenagers were dealing with problems differently and weren’t as tech savvy (obsessed). Attendance falls, leaders get frustrated, and the cycle continues.
- This looks like curriculum that transfers knowledge well but doesn’t include any components specifically geared toward relationship building. Attendance falls, leaders get frustrated, and the cycle continues.
- This looks like events that bring in a lot of first-time visitors who don’t return as second-time guests. Again, attendance falls, leaders get frustrated, and the cycle continues!
So what do we do when the way we used to do things — the way that used to work so well — is no longer bringing large numbers of people to the Lord? Do we accept the small numbers as God’s will, or can we imagine for a minute that change could potentially bring those large numbers back again?
Don’t misunderstand me, I’m all for programs in churches. We need a variety of strategic programs (activities, services, whatever you call them) to get believers invested in their relationship with Jesus and their communities. But at times, we are so reluctant to let go of something that has always existed or consider changing something that we end up crashing!
Here is the key: When we cling to a program more tightly than we cling to Jesus, it’s time to reevaluate our hearts, mission, and vision.
Programming must be fluid, flexible, and able to be adjusted to reach an ever-changing world with the unchanging love of Jesus!
It’s the ministry leader’s job to make sure people and programs stay on mission. I’m a pastor, so this is something I pray about all the time. A major component of my job is to prayerfully consider whether the activities and programs under my guidance need any changes or adjustments.
Four Ways To Update Your Programming
1. Spring Cleaning
Often times your ministry’s programs are fulfilling the mission and vision of the organization. To increase the spiritual depth, develop leaders, or reach outside of the church walls you might need a small adjustment. This might be something as simple as a shift in the curriculum you’re using. This uses the same model, but simply changes a small aspect.
2. Partial Remodel
If there is a core issue with your programming not fulfilling its mission and vision you will need to take on a larger project. Think about your kitchen. It might be time to remodel your sink, cabinets, and flooring but these changes do not warrant you knocking down your house and starting over. An example of this would be changes to Sunday morning kids worship. You will continue to do kids worship, but now you’re adding in a small group component to add in a relational aspect. Structure of the program doesn’t change, but you may need a revamp an aspect or make an addition.
3. Complete Rebuild
When your program or ministry is not fulfilling your mission and vision and there is no way that you can restructure you may need a complete rebuild. This involves shutting down that programming and creating something that aligns with the organizations vision. You don’t stop ministering to that group but you completely rebuild the way you’re ministering to them.
4. Continual Maintenance
Everything is going great, people are growing, you just keep it running smoothly. Your house will continually need TLC and your ministries are no different. You cannot leave them alone (or ignore the potential problems) for long periods of time. Regular care for leaders, clear communication, and management of the budget are required.
What’s Next?
What ares have your team been praying over and wrestling with? How can you bring your team around the table and start to evaluate the effectiveness?
