Meet Anxious Amy. She loves, loves, loves Jesus, and she loves kids. She has been leading a large children’s ministry at her own church for over 7 years. And Amy has been running at full speed, ever since she can remember. Her motto is, “If you want something done right, you have to do it yourself.” She is energetic, and will do whatever is required to get the job done. However, she rarely slows down long enough to take care of herself, or tend to the multiple piles of paper on her desk. She knows she needs systems but there’s no time! That’s all right with Amy, though, because she keeps anything of importance mentally filed away in her ultra quick, filled to the gills brain. She remembers every volunteer’s name, and the names of his children after one meeting.

Right now, Anxious Amy is putting out some children’s ministry fires. Come to think of it, she seems to spend most of her time dealing with some level of ministry crisis. This week, she is dealing with volunteer and equipment issues. Volunteers are consistently inconsistent. For the last three weeks, one of the third grade Sunday school teachers has been MIA. While Amy hopes that the teacher is all right, her real concern is how she is going to replace this teacher.

Beyond that, rumor has it that the Kindergarten teachers have gone off the proverbial curriculum rails. Apparently, they’ve been “teaching” whatever comes to mind. In the pre-school class, the video projector hasn’t been working for a couple of weeks. Worse still, Amy just found out about it this morning via a curt text from a frustrated volunteer asking when it would be fixed. Amy is thinking to herself, “How can I fix a problem if I don’t know about it.”

Amy’s dream is that one day, programs will run smoothly, volunteers will be responsible, and she will get to bed before 11:30 p.m.

Meet Calm Catie. Catie leads a children’s ministry across town from Amy. She has been hoping to meet Amy for lunch for a while. However, every time they have planned to meet, Amy has cancelled at the last minute with a frantic apology and a promise that she’ll make it up to Catie. For the past five and a half years, Catie has been serving as the director of children’s ministry at her church where she loves building relationships with her volunteers, parents, and kids. Catie’s motto is, “The more, the merrier.”

 This week, Catie is focused on planning the details for her volunteer gathering/training event for the next quarter. She is anticipating honoring her pre-school volunteer coordinator on being named “Volunteer of the Year.” Catie’s husband marvels at how she always does her job with a smile on her face. It seems that every Sunday, someone that Catie is counting on gets sick, or has some sort of unforeseen emergency. However, Catie just smiles and says, “Honey, that’s what substitutes are for!”

Every Tuesday, Catie does a walk through of each of her Sunday school classrooms. She gathers individual incident report forms, classroom needs forms, and lesson feedback reports. She heads to the kitchen, pours a cup of hot coffee, and heads back to her office to enjoy it as she reads through Sunday’s paperwork and crafts her “to-do list” for the rest of the week. In addition to planning her volunteer event, Catie will make some recruiting calls, parent calls, and ask her supply coordinator to order craft supplies for the next quarter. Before Catie leaves for the day, she will complete a maintenance request to check the projector light bulbs in the preschool rooms.

At 5:30, Catie is headed out to watch her son play baseball.

While Amy and Catie are fictional characters, they clearly reveal the difference between a children’s director who is tirelessly focused on content and a director who is utilizing solid systems to manage her ministry.

Content thinking is short-term, isolated-incident thinking.

By nature, my personality is to deal with an incident and move on. On the other hand, my husband’s nature is to deal with the root issue of the problem. That way, we never have that particular crisis to deal with again. Sometimes, this approach takes too long for my short attention span. However, in my experience, I have learned that while it may be easy in the short term to deal with the immediate crisis and get it off of my plate, in the long run, those issues will come back to haunt me, over and over again. If I address the system rather than the content, I will solve the problem once and for all.

Do you see why I say this isn’t rocket science, but it is hard work?

For example, both Amy and Catie had issues with their video projectors. Amy was completely unaware for weeks that this was a problem. If part of her lesson included a video component, there is no telling how long those volunteers may have been supplementing the lesson on the fly. (And, building ongoing frustration in those volunteers!)

Systems thinking is long-term, sustainability thinking.

Catie has a system for volunteers to report when something is broken and a preventative maintenance plan as well. By providing a feedback form for classroom needs, she’s always made aware of issues like these. Now, properly trained volunteers fill out the form, and the problem can be addressed before frustration rears its ugly head.

Additionally, it appears that Catie has a substitution system in place. She knows the nature of families and understands the surprises that life can dish out on a Sunday morning. Catie has prepared systems for that by having an on-call sub each week who is trained, ready and available wherever needed.

In Song of Solomon 2:15, The Beloved mentions the “little foxes that spoil the vine.” What a perfect picture of how being focused on content affects our ministry!   When you get focused on the little things (content), you tend to become anxious and lose your focus. You allow those “little foxes” to spoil the productivity or fruit of your ministry.

However, when we have the proper systems in place to protect the precious content of our message (and the programs supporting the message), those little frustrations won’t have access to you or the ministry. You won’t find yourself in a panic over last minute emergencies (like broken equipment) when you have systems in place for volunteers to communicate those types of things. Jesus said that his desire for your fruit was that it should remain. (John 15:16) The right systems, can act like a fence, and offer protection for the smooth operation of your programming. Once you have employed the right systems, you will find things running smoother. Most importantly, you will move from constantly being reactive to working proactively able to prepare for a bright and well-ordered future.

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Annette Safstrom

annette.safstrom@ministryarchitects.com

Annette fell in love with children’s ministry in the 1980s and has never looked back. After graduating from Bible college in 1991 with a certification in children’s ministry, she earned a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology from Texas A&M University, and a Master’s from SMU. Over the years, she has consistently served in various roles in the church from volunteer to director of children’s ministry. Annette has been a member of the Ministry Architects team since January of 2012, and co-authored Sustainable Children’s Ministry with Mark DeVries in January of 2018. She loves to share the joy of children’s ministry with others through workshops, trainings, and national conferences. She lives in McKinney, TX with her husband Kevin, and their two children, and enjoys traveling, cooking, and writing.

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Here’s a good starting metric: check the level of enthusiasm in your church. Can you find it? Is it focused and aligned or scattered and invested in all sorts of places?

If the enthusiasm isn’t palpable, that’s one characteristic to note. If it’s not directed towards a particular program, goal, or vision that’s also noteworthy. And both are good indicators that it’s time for your community to do some strategic planning. 

While guiding vision conversations is one of our favorite things to do (this work aligns perfectly with implementing healthy systems and innovative change for the future of the church), if you’re aiming to set some goals and steer direction on your own, here are a few things to keep in mind: 

Still need help in creating a strategic plan for your congregation’s future? Sign up for a free coaching call with one of our experts who can begin walking you through your next steps towards a more focused and aligned vision.

The post Planning for the Future appeared first on Ministry Architects.

The good news is that it is entirely within our power to change the story. I’m not saying it’s easy, especially when you’re feeling burned and burned out. However, there are some things you can do to make sure that your ministry is recognized for what is being accomplished rather than what is lacking. What I’m about to share with you is not an instant solution, so if you choose to change the story, you’re going to have to commit to trusting the process and have a little patience while things slowly shift. 

Here are three action steps you can begin doing today that will change how people see you and the ministry you’re leading.

Communicate up. Don’t wait until your church leadership asks you for a report to give them information. A simple weekly email will keep your successes and challenges front and center, and keep them in the know when church members ask them, “Hey, what’s going on in the _______ ministry?” 

Here’s a simple, stress-free way to accomplish this. It shouldn’t take you more than five minutes per week and will reap great benefits for you.

1. Decide who needs the information. I would always choose the lead pastor, the governing body (elders, session, council), and whoever you report directly to.
2. Send a weekly email with the following information:
   1. Weekly attendance.
   2. Something you’re celebrating. (this can be a new volunteer, a visitor, a child learning the memory verse, or volunteers arriving on time)
   3. A problem you’re solving. It’s important that these leaders know that it’s not all sunshine and rainbows in your ministry. Ask them to pray or just let them know that you’re working on overcoming the obstacle.
   4. Events coming up in the next few weeks. Your church leadership can’t support you if they don’t know what you’re doing. Additionally, each of them have friends and neighbors who they might invite to your event. Plus, you are less likely to be pulled into additional work if everyone knows you’re working on upcoming projects.

Celebrate the wins publicly. I mentioned celebrating wins weekly to your leadership, but it’s also important to share with your other audiences when things are going well. Give the congregation something to talk about!

• Did you have record attendance on the first Sunday after the new year? Ask the congregation to pray for all the families who attended. 
• Do you have a seasoned volunteer who is making a difference? Let the church know that you’re grateful. 
• Is a new family finding their place in your ministry? Highlight them to members.

Share the vision. Continually remind the congregation and the community why you’re doing what you’re doing. Take every opportunity to paint the picture of the growing faith that you’re cultivating in students, or the welcome feeling you’re creating for visitors. Whatever your end goal, make sure that people understand what you’re doing and why.

• Teach your team the language of your vision and emphasize it each week. Include it in meetings, weekly communication, and casual conversations so they can’t help but use it in their casual conversations. 
• Use signage and social media to communicate your why to the congregation and community.
• Intentionally share the vision with other influential people who will pray for you and talk up the ministry.
  • Know someone in the choir? Ask them to share an update from time to time about your ministry.
  • Are you in the choir and know a mission trip leader? Ask the mission team to exchange prayer requests so each group is praying for the other – on purpose.

These ideas will not dramatically reshape the culture of your community overnight. But I believe you will see some changes quickly, especially when you start sending that weekly report. You’ll start to notice that your ministry is getting noticed by the church leadership in a more positive light.

Commit to six months of intentionally sharing your vision, celebrating wins, and communicating up and see what happens. After taking these steps, I would love to hear what has happened! When you ask for support, when you present your 2024 budget, and when you just need some grace, I believe you will notice a difference in response because you told the story of your ministry in a different way.

Annette Safstrom
Director of Marketing

annette.safstrom@ministryarchitects.com

Annette fell in love with children’s ministry in the 1980s and has never looked back. After graduating from Bible college in 1991 with a certification in children’s ministry, she earned a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology from Texas A&M University, and a Master’s from SMU. Over the years, she has consistently served in various roles in the church from volunteer to director of children’s ministry. Annette has been a member of the Ministry Architects team since January of 2012, and co-authored Sustainable Children’s Ministry with Mark DeVries in January of 2018. She loves to share the joy of children’s ministry with others through workshops, trainings, and national conferences. She lives in McKinney, TX with her husband Kevin, and their two children, and enjoys traveling, cooking, and writing.

The post Championing Your Ministry appeared first on Ministry Architects.

• Balcony time is an intentional, weekly practice of spending time working on your ministry rather than just in your ministry.
• Often, doing church ministry and other non-profit work can feel like putting out one fire after another and prioritizing what feels urgent over what feels important.
• Balcony time helps alleviate those issues by increasing the intentional time spent on vision planning and preventative maintenance.

Imagine you could get an arial view of your ministry. What would you see? Not physically, but what is the 30,000 ft view of what is happening, and coming up, and challenging, and successful in your ministry. That’s exactly what the practice of balcony time will give you. How would you operate differently if you sat in the balcony and looked over the edge to see what is happening, what just happened, and what is coming up without putting out fires, responding to emails, ordering supplies, and just generally making it all happen?

I’ll tell you how this affects me, personally. When I spend this strategic time weekly, I don’t wake up at night wondering what I’ve forgotten or who I will disappoint. I have a confidence in knowing that I’ve looked at everything and the important tasks have landed on a list that guides me throughout the week. Then, when emergencies happen, I can make a conscious choice about what can be deleted, delegated, or postponed.

How Balcony Time Works:

1. Find a place and time where you will be free from distraction. If you can, make this a weekly appointment on your calendar, and guard that time.
2. Create a Master Task List. This is a mix of the great ideas and urgent tasks that swirl around in your head throughout the week. Tame them by putting them on paper.
   • Write down everything you can think of, from the down-the-road ideas to immediate and urgent tasks
   • Add projects with just a name or break down these large ideas into their minute details. This list is yours and whatever helps you move your tasks from swirling around your head to having a place on paper, write it that way.
3. Use your weekly balcony time to review and Update your Master Task List.
   • Read emails (but don’t respond right now) capture all tasks on your Master Task List. Appropriately file or flag emails so that you can respond later.
   • Review your calendar for the upcoming week (and add tasks to your Master and Weekly Task Lists as necessary).
4. Prioritize any unpleasant tasks and determine when you will complete them.
5. Dream and pray over the Master Task List and then pick a limited number of items to put on this week’s Weekly Task List.
   • Ask what needs to be accomplished in your ministry this week and for your ministry this week.
   • Ask what else can be accomplished in the remaining time you have available so that you’re intentionally planning to have time for other people and places, too.
6. Create Today’s Task List.
7. Give yourself permission to be content with the week you have planned, and let the other tasks on your list wait patiently for their turn.
8. Review next week’s schedule and make sure you have a slot for your balcony time
9. Spend a few more minutes dreaming and praying for your ministry

Establishing the habit of weekly balcony time is a strategy that will give you space and confidence to rise above task management and get into a regular rhythm of dreaming and praying about what is next for your ministry.

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