by Chase | Kid Min, Leadership, Student Min
Smart leaders understand that there will be a time where they will need to step back and take a break from their role. In the simplest form this is why our employers offer vacation time. They understand that we work better when we are refreshed.
The same applies to church volunteers.
Every now and again volunteers simply need a break from serving.
Unfortunately, most people will not take a break because they feel guilty that they are giving up their post in the church.
Now I will say deciding to take an indefinite break from serving in the church is unbiblical and sinful! You should not do that!
God gifted you uniquely to serve others so that they may glorify Jesus. I don’t think the majority of volunteers serving in church are looking to quit serving forever.
[Read: 16 Ministry Quotes That Will Encourage You To Keep Serving]
However, most volunteers are not looking for a way out, they are simply looking to catch their breath.
Think of this concept as a sabbatical from serving. Albeit this is a short sabbatical, but the principals hold true. Sabbaticals are meant to re-energize, re-focus, and renew leaders so they can jump back into ministry.
When our volunteers are spiritually refreshed our ministries are positively impacted.
Wondering if you need a mini-sabbatical from serving?
Here are 6 signs that you need a break from serving at church:
- You Are In A Spiritual Drought
Are you lacking in spiritual passion, growth, and excitement?
Trying to serve the church when you are spiritually dry means you’re trying to do God’s work in your power. This always leads to burnout.
- You Dread Attending Church
Do you dread attending your church?
Are you avoiding people when you walk in the door, hoping to make it to your group’s room unnoticed then slip out the back door when worship is over?
Whether there is a broken relationship, unconfessed sin, or burnout, dreading church attendance causes negative emotions towards God’s church and His people.
- You Are Convinced No One Can Do What You Do
In your mind, you are indispensable. Without you, the church would fall apart!
When you start thinking you are essential it causes an arrogant view of yourself and leads to a small view of Jesus.
Don’t forget, Jesus is the head of the church (not you) and He builds and sustains His church (once again, not you).
- You Are Serving In Too Many Ministries
When you are spread too thin, you will eventually fail at all of your responsibilities.
It might be time for you to stop focusing on every ministry the church has to offer and see how God has uniquely gifted you to serve in one or two ministries. When you narrow your focus you are able to invest more deeply.
- You Are More Concerned With The Process Than The People
When your focus shifts from ministering to the people to maintaining a program, you might need to take a break and ask God to give you a renewed vision and mission.
An easy tell is to ask the question, “Am I protecting the program or providing for people?”
- You Are Unwilling To Submit To The Church’s Leadership
If you are questioning every decision simply because you don’t want it done “their way” then it is time for you to take a step back from serving.
There is no room for pride in the local church.
Here is how to take a break
- Communicate with Your Leadership that You Need a Break
A strong leader will understand and respect your decision and help make accommodations while you step back. Make sure that you stay in contact and set a definite time period for your rest.
- Continue to Attend Worship
If you need a break from serving take one, but don’t take a break from church. You are created to worship. Skipping out on corporate worship and small groups will only contribute to your spiritual drought.
Prayer has a unique way of encouraging and correcting us. Resting in Jesus means we commune with Him.
- Consider Your Talents and Giftedness
You might feel burned out because you were not serving in the correct area. Taking a break from serving will allow you to gain some clarity.
- Return with a Renewed Spirit
When you are ready, hop back into serving the ministry. But before you get too deep, remember what contributed to your burnout and establish some boundaries on the front end.
Now What?
Taking a strategic step back can set you up for some awesome ministry down the road.
So step back, take a couple week sabbatical, and prepare for God to use you for 40 more years in the local church.
by Chase | How To, Kid Min, Student Min
Family ministry leaders are constantly sharing the bigger vision with their volunteers.
No matter how you communicate it, many volunteers seem to miss the point.
Before you question their commitment, heart for the ministry, or intentions, answer this question:
What is the best way to make your vision stick?
While I have trained our leaders in a variety of ways (guest facilitators, email trainings, online discussions, and the most boring way – meetings) the best way for your leaders to capture vision is to see that vision working firsthand.
Firsthand experience is the BEST way to make your vision stick.
Now you may be wondering, “How do I get my team to experience my vision firsthand?”
I’m sure you can come up with some creative ways for your team to see, smell, touch, and experience the vision for your ministry. Good for you, but I’m not that creative.
One of the most humbling realizations is that you do not have everything figured out! Especially in church ministry, there are plenty of people who are more creative, more organized, and more administrative than you are.
Why not channel in some of their expertise and extend it to your volunteers?
Here is the easiest way for your leaders to catch your vision:
Take leaders to see other ministry spaces and meet other thinkers.
Seriously. Pick a day on the calendar, load your volunteers into a church van, and visit a few area churches that are great at certain aspects of your vision. This works for preschool, kids, student, college, and camping ministries!
Here is how I facilitate a ministry field trip:
- Pick a Field Trip Day
I try to see when the majority of my leaders can attend. I know that I will never have 100% attendance (and we have nearly 100 volunteers which would make this impossible). I take those who can attend knowing their excitement will be contagious for the rest.
- Schedule 2-3 Churches
Call 2-3 churches that you know of and respect and see if they would give your team an hour and a half to visit with the family pastor and tour the facilities. Plan your route before hand and make sure you leave in time to travel between churches.
- Load Up the Van and GO!
Make a big deal about the trip. Remember, you are taking them on a journey to see your vision in action. Most of your church members have not visited another church in YEARS because they have been serving at your church.
- Meet with the Family Pastor
Allow the family pastor at the church you visit to share their vision, mission, and schedule with your team. Let them ask some questions. When they see your ideas are being utilized around the area to reach people for Jesus, they will be less defensive when you implement change.
- Tour the Facilities
Look in the classrooms, check out the worship center, take some promotional materials, and snap some pictures. You never know what ideas your team will come up with as you tour another facility.
- Eat Lunch Together
I use this time to laugh, hang out, and debrief. Remember, this might be the first church your volunteer has visited in 5 years! Get their thoughts and make sure to plant the ministry’s vision in their minds and heart.
- Send a “Thank You” Note to the Church
Express your appreciation and fill them in on the highlights of your field trip. Let them know how beneficial their hospitality is to the ministry of your church.
- Get to Work
What action items do you have from your field trip? Make sure you communicate with everyone (including those who were not able to attend) and strike while the iron is hot!
Now What?
Have you taken any ministry field trips? How did it benefit your team?
by Chase | How To, Kid Min, Student Min
With TVs being inexpensive, many businesses are opting to use them to scroll announcements. Bulletin boards are a thing of the past. Printed flyers are becoming obsolete.
Setting a TV up to scroll announcements is easier than you would think. Most companies are not big enough to have a tech department and are trying to save money by having someone on staff set up the system. And if you are under the age of 35 then “tech consultant” is typically added to your job description.
Last year our church installed 5 flat screen TVs that scrolled announcements in strategic locations around our building. This was a major jump from the bulletin and bulletin-board driven culture that we had.
After a ton of conversations and Googling, we found a simple way to install the TVs so that we can utilize them for scrolling announcements.
What you will need
Here is how to set up an announcement TV
- Pick a High-Traffic Area
- If you are going to spend money on a new announcement system, make sure it is located in a high traffic area. For a church this would be your welcome center, front entrance, nursery, kids ministry area, and student ministry area.
- Ensure Your Wifi Connection Is Strong
- Once you have picked your area, make sure that you have a strong enough wifi connection for that area. If your internet connection is weak you will need to run an additional hotspot to get a strong connection where you want to mount the TV. No internet = no announcements.
- Secure the TV Mount To The Wall
- When you are ready to mount your TV first figure out the height of your screen. Too high and it will be hard to read by people as they pass. Too low and you will constantly be clearing finger prints off of the screen.
- Once you secure the wall mount I suggest installing a receptacle directly behind the TV so power cables will be hidden from view. The area will look better and people will not accidentally unplug the cords.
- If this can’t be done, then there are some cable hiders online.
- Reminder: The power cord to the Apple TV isn’t long, so make sure the receptacle is close enough to plug it in.
- Attach Apple TV
- Once you take the Apple TV out of the box use some Command velcro strips to stick the Apple TV to the back of the TV.
- Use wire ties to tie up the power and HDMI cables to keep them from hanging down.
- Setup Apple TV
- Use the remote to set up your Apple TV. Tutorial here.
- Set your Apple TV up using a secured wifi network. If your Apple TV is on a guest account, anyone can access the Apple TV.
- Setup Flickr Account
- Flickr is an online photo album that will enable your team to upload and manage pictures and photo albums.
- Your announcements will simply be slides (JPEG) that you can create in your favorite design program and upload into Flickr.
- My suggestions is that you create an album for each TV so you are able to control which pictures show for different demographics (i.e. kids area, welcome center, front entrance).
- Connect Apple TV to Flickr Account
- Now that you have Apple TV setup and a Flickr account, you will need to open the Flickr App on the Apple TV.
- The screen will display a set code that you will need to type into your Flickr account.
- Simply go to the link (www.flickr.com/appletv) and input the code.
- Run Slideshow From An Album
- Congrats, you are connected!
- Using the Apple TV remote, click “albums” and then “start slideshow”
- The slideshow will give you the option to pick a variety of transitions. Remember, less is better. A simple fade to the next slide is sufficient.
Do you have another way of setting up announcement TVs?
by Chase | How To, Kid Min, Student Min
Is there anything better than playing games?
Games are an integral part of any ministry. Kids love running their energy out and students enjoy non-threatening moments to be goofy. If done well, games can bring Bible lessons to life and add an experiential element that most Bible studies lack.
While everyone plays games, there is definitely an art to lead effective games. Trust me, if the leader is not a strong communicator, fun, and willing to be crazy, the students and kids will not participate. Great game leaders are prepared to lead once the kids arrive.
I don’t claim to be an expert by any means, but below are some tips I have picked up over the 10 years I was involved in camping/retreat ministry. By the way, these tips work for kid and student ministry. I use the word “kid” just to make the read easier.
8 Awesome Tips For Leading Games
Safety First
If all your kids end up in the hospital, no one gets to have fun. You go from having fun to sitting beside a sit old man in the ER who won’t stop coughing on you. But seriously, if a kid get hurt because of an oversight on your part, the parent will not let the kid come back. That means you have lost opportunities to share Jesus with that family. Safety is the most important aspect of game facilitation. Never play a game that will sacrifice safety.
Always “Look In” On a Game
Look at all games as if you were a parent/teacher/principal. “Head-lock Tag” might be fun, but it looks like all the kids are being bullied. (NEVER play “Head-lock Tag”) If the game looks like kids are ganging up on a few kids, odds are a parent might get upset. Best thing to do is to step back and ask, “What would a parent think if they walked in right now?”
Never Play the Same Game Twice
Keep variety in your planning. Make sure the game is a positive spot in their mind, not the reoccurring norm. If you need some ideas, funninja.org is awesome.
Don’t Use Tons of “Out” Games
The more games that you play were kids get “out” means the more kids you have standing around with nothing to do but get in trouble. Try to involve as many kids as you can as long as you can.
Be Creative
Relate games to your theme. Change up the supplies needed to bring a theme alive in the games.
Participate, Participate, Participate
If you don’t think the game is fun or worth while, why would the kids?
Practice Leading the Game
Make sure your volunteers know the rules/explanation of the game before kids arrive. That way you can ensure directions are clear and concise for everyone. “Without clear game instructions, the children perish.” I’m pretty sure that is in the Bible somewhere.
Excitement/Energy/Enthusiasm
They are all contagious! At the very least, you should enjoy yourself. If YOU are having fun, I promise that the kids will enjoy themselves.
Now What?
What are some other tips you have for leading awesome games?
by Chase | Student Min
Student ministry can be downright weird.
As a leader, you are in a mix of teen culture, puberty (not you, but that middle school kid), and social media.
- Which Kardashian did what?
- When does the new gaming system come out?
- Why can’t students stay with a social media for more than three years? Come on students, you are exhibiting some commitment issues!
You are continually reliving middle and high school as if you’re the church’s equivalent to Billy Murray in Groundhog Day.
Often you are looking for an outlet to have conversations with adults, but until that happens, you are content arguing why DC Comics is better than Marvel.
Let’s be honest, deep down you would rather talk about Krypton than health insurance premiums.
Student ministry is unique to say the least!
To celebrate the greatest phase of ministry in a local church, here are a few student ministry proverbs.
Student Ministry Proverbs
- Sugar stirs up trouble within the group; Caffeine emboldens the meekest.
- Leaving your phone unattended results in 1,000 selfies on your phone’s camera roll.
- Identify the student who has an obsession with medieval weaponry and befriend him at once.
- Always screen the jokes students plan to use during the welcome time. An un-supervised joke will end with a call from your supervisor.
- Messy games are all “fun and games” until someone throws up – then it is legendary!
- An angry high school girl is like a roaring lion – make them all mad and you are dead.
- Glow sticks are a lamp unto my feet and a light during Neon Night.
- Three things we will never understand: How the soundboard is always messed up, how the girls’ bathroom is dirtier than the guys’, and how that one kid wins the March Madness bracket by picking the mascots…
- It is better to take ahold of a mad dog by his ears than to argue with a middle schooler about Minecraft.
- If a parent drops a student off hopped up on sugar, we shall send them hope with the same amount of energy.
- The leader who allows a student to drive him to an event deserves the high blood pressure that he will receive during the drive.
- The man who challenges a high school guy to a pizza-eating contest is a fool – may God have mercy on his digestive tract.
What proverbs would you add to this list?
