By: unSeminary

Kids ministry has always cultivated some of the most innovative church leaders. And kids ministry is a growth engine behind the fastest growing churches today. To reopen your church without a kids ministry, I would contest, is not actually reopening the church.

Listen in today as I’ve gathered four kids ministry experts from across the country to gives us a peek into their reopening plans.

Heather Celaya, Executive Pastor of Ministries – NorthRock Church, Texas. // This season has allowed the staff to add new levels of creativity and parent engagement to the programming. Pre-school and elementary services are available online and KidzRock increased its engagement on social media. These changes have proved a great success and will continue as parents now see KidzRock as more of a ministry than a childcare option. Plus parents have become more active participants in their children’s faith journey. As NorthRock has reopened, initially kids sat with their parents during the services to help them feel comfortable attending church. The following weekend the kids ministry fully reopened. When entering, children’s temperatures are checked, and their parents are asked if their kids have experienced any COVID-19 symptoms in the last seven days. Traffic in the halls is limited by allowing only one parent at a time to check in their child with a QR code for a touchless experience. Classes are kept small and parents are required to reserve a spot for their children so staff know how much space is needed. Start by assessing your volunteers’ readiness to come back. Keep class ratios small at the beginning and establish plans for cleaning and safety.Christine Kreisher, Executive Director of Ministries – GT Church, Pennsylvania // At GT Church they are looking to do a soft-launch approach where attendees come back and get acclimated before reopening kids ministry environments. In the meantime the staff has worked hard to enable parents to have church at home by providing resources from Orange. Every couple of weeks the kids team is making phone calls to check in with every family, to pray with them, and to make sure they know how to access all the church’s resources. Families are engaged and the church has seen a shift where parents are recognizing that they are the number one influence in their kids’ spiritual lives. During this time parents are developing intentional rhythms at home and the church is looking to partner with them even more by making resources easily accessible online moving forward as well as engaging more on social media. It’s easy to get caught up in the logistics of reopening and forget about your staff and volunteers; take a step back and check on their emotional health. Create a solid mental health plan so that the staff and volunteers can talk with a counselor to help them care for their souls and the souls of the people around them. Prioritize people over programming.Aanna Smalley, NextGen Pastor – StoneBridge Church, Nebraska // Use this time to get creative about dealing with the COVID challenge. Although social media has been a great way for the team at StoneBridge to connect with parents, it needs to be done in moderation. This is already a really overwhelming time for parents and rather than being encouraged, parents can feel like they are being weighed down with a list of things they haven’t done. Ask parents what resources are most helpful and plan activities with easy-to-find and inexpensive supplies. Refine what is shared so it’s the very best and attainable for families. Have multiple contingency plans in place to move forward as things continue to change. Think about what has been successful as well as what has been failing so that you can polish or replace those systems. Keep in mind what serves families best.Suzi Soares, Kids and Special Needs Pastor – Liquid Church, New Jersey // At the start of quarantine, everything was moved online and the LiquidKids team began sending out a parent prompt each day. They broke up small group teachings to allow parents to do activities with their kids at home. Additionally they created midweek calls on Zoom so that kids could hang out for an hour at lunch time with each other and team members. Parents also needed a chance to talk, pray, and relax together so eventually a Zoom call was created for them too. In July and August LiquidKids is creating online small groups for all age groups, including toddlers as well as sending daily devotionals and boredom busters to parents via texts. Previously Liquid Church focused so much on getting families to come through their doors that the building had become a crutch. They never thought about how to reach families who might never walk through their doors. But now they are working on plans to maintain their digital presence so families can engage online and the building won’t be a barrier. Think carefully about what it communicates to your kids if your church reopens without including kids ministry options. What is the story that kids will one day be telling about these days we are living in? What message is it sending if they can’t be included in a gathering? Help parents and kids process this time through a lens of faith.

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Thank You to This Episode’s Sponsor: Ministry Grid

Ministry Grid makes it simple to train every volunteer and leader in your church. With a library of over 3,500 videos and 850 courses, you will find training for every ministry area and leadership level.

To get unlimited access to Ministry Grid for just $597, just go to? MinistryGrid.com/unSeminary?

Source: Kids Ministry in the Reopening Phase: Roundtable with Christine Kreisher, Suzi Soares, Heather Celaya & Aanna Smalley

The post Kids Ministry in the Reopening Phase: Roundtable with Christine Kreisher, Suzi Soares, Heather Celaya & Aanna Smalley appeared first on Passion for Planting.

Home > Blog > 9 Considerations for Reopening Your Church

9 Considerations for Reopening Your Church

By Todd Adkins

This season may not seem beautiful at the moment, but I believe we have a unique opportunity to see our ministries thrive today and in the days to come. Some of the greatest moments in church history have been when the boldness of the gospel meets severe constraints. 

We often assume creativity, boldness, and innovation come from an abundance of resources, time, and opportunity. In reality, the opposite is more often the case. Necessity is the mother of invention after all.

We often assume constraints are a bad thing, but they don’t have to be. One of my friends works for a missions organization and shared how the gospel is spreading through China during COVID-19. It seems that protective masks make the government’s facial recognition software unable to work, so Christians can share the gospel with less risk of being caught. Christians are creatively and boldly taking advantage of a constraint and turning it into a gospel opportunity.

I want to help our churches approach the current crisis with boldness, creativity, and innovation to restructure, realign, and go through the phases to reopen. I know we are all processing the phases of reopening then hoping to find a normal rhythm of church, but we must realize it won’t be as neat and clean as spreadsheets. 

9 Considerations to Realign, Restructure, and Reopen Your Church

Here are nine things to consider. 

1. What are your current constraints? How are you embracing them? You should view constraints not as a restrictor but as a stimulus for increased creativity and positive change. 
2. What is your posture or mindset related to your current constraints? Are you responding as a victim, neutralizer, or transformer? You must understand your mindset, methodology, and motivations as you face constraints.
3. Have you recently heard “That’s the way we’ve always done it …”? Sometimes, we get locked into doing things certain ways without even thinking about why. However, a crisis forces us to challenge our assumptions and break path dependence.  
4. How are you currently using your resources? Your church and ministries will likely need to re-allocate resources during this time. You must consider what to stop, shift, strategize, and scale in ministry. 
5. How can you shift the attitude of “We can’t because …” to “We can if …” to find new solutions that you didn’t consider previously? You must ensure your team remains optimistic, flexible, and focused on what essential ministry has to happen with a “make it work” approach. 
6. What have you observed that informs how you realign ministries to serve your people best during the crisis and after? You must consider how to do ministry during the crisis, what ministry looks like right after the crisis, and how the crisis establishes a new normal for your ministry. 
7. What’s your contingency plan? Contingency planning ensures continuity of church and ministry operations as you respond to the crisis and will help your church to restore normal operations with the least amount of disruption following the crisis. 
8. How are you evaluating your ministries and adjusting as needed? As we face uncertainty, sometimes we must quickly move forward in making a decision. The quicker you are at making solid decisions, the better leader you will become.
9. What are the components of your church’s success right now? Or what are the things that may be hindering it? You must understand the key components of success in leading through this time.

Want more information on these 9 considerations? We have created a free course that includes 9 videos and 15 downloadable documents to help your churches move toward a new normal in response to COVID-19. Get started here.

Source: 9 Considerations for Reopening Your Church

The post 9 Considerations for Reopening Your Church appeared first on Passion for Planting.

In Episode 486 of the NewChurches Q&A Podcast, Daniel and Todd discuss how to develop a future strategy.

In This Episode, You’ll Discover:

What you need to consider in creating a ministry strategy
Considerations for a financial strategy

 Shareable Quotes (#NewChurches):

“Multiple weeks into being online, winter has set in. This is the new normal.” – @danielsangi
“We are settling in with our staff and saying this is our strategy for ‘the winter.’” – @danielsangi
“I am not an expert that is here to tell you what to do. I am really trying to help you get tools so you can get clarity to figure it out for you and move forward.” – @toddadkins
“It’s not going to be as clean and easy as the three phases the U.S. government has put out there.” – @toddadkins
“Vision and action are super important in this time.” – @toddadkins
“Regardless of the size of your church and staff, you can make sure that your weekends are engaging.” – @danielsangi
“In your communications, move toward not just one way, but two way engagement.” – @danielsangi

Recommended Resources:

Read Leading Beyond the Blizzard by Andy Crouch
Learn more about Ministry Grid

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This Episode’s Sponsor:

For more than 25 years, Portable Church® has helped thousands of churches launch strong and thrive in a mobile setting. They design custom solutions that fit each budget, vision, and venue. Everything you need to launch a mobile church — an inviting worship space, kids ministry areas, welcome spaces, storage cases, etc — all in a system refined to make it fast, easy & fun for the weekly volunteer teams.

The post Episode 488: Your Ministry Strategy for COVID-19 – Part 1 appeared first on NewChurches.com – Church Planting, Multisite, and Multiplication.

Source: Episode 488: Your Ministry Strategy for COVID-19 – Part 1

The post Episode 488: Your Ministry Strategy for COVID-19 – Part 1 appeared first on Passion for Planting.