Kidmin Makeover

By posting this, my intention is not to criticize or mock those who previously or currently work with and in our children's ministry.  They work hard and do a great job; however, as children's pastors, we are always looking for ways to improve the way we minister to children.    We are new at this and probably unintentionally step on people's toes from time to time.
We've been helping in kids church for a year, observing and learning from our church's wonderful and dedicated children's church minister ways in which our children's ministry can be improved.  In January, we began helping the children's church minister shoulder some of the weight and responsibility of kids' church.  Now, we rotate teaching, so all of the leaders have an opportunity to worship in the sanctuary on the Sunday they're "off".

Here are some of the kidmin makeovers we're striving for this year:

Themed Series
Trying to come up with a new and creative lesson each week was wearing everyone out.  The themed series have made lesson planning much less stressful.  I pray God continues to give us an overflow of creativity.  You can read some of my previous posts for more information on the series we have planned for this year.

Stage & Props
Currently, our kids church is held every Sunday in the Fellowship Hall.  We share this space with the youth.  It is also used for church events, weddings, baby showers, etc.  Obviously, the space has limitations on what we can do with it.  Thankfully, we our blessed with senior pastors who are passionate about reaching children with the gospel.  This year, we will be building a stage to help with the atmosphere during our worship services.  We already have a sound board and pretty awesome lighting, so we are ecstatic about the stage.

Puppet Ministry
Of all the things we hope to upgrade/makeover, the puppet ministry will be the most time consuming and perhaps the least budget friendly.  Whether we buy new puppets, try our hand at making our own, or somehow make our current puppets a little more modern looking...it's definitely going to be a time consuming task.  For the past two years and most likely quite some time before then, our puppet ministry hasn't been holding the kids attention very well.  The puppets, until recently, would do three back to back Righteous Pop Music songs.  Don't get me wrong, I think RPM's music is great, I just don't think it was being used in the most effective way.  The kids would stop paying attention and start causing a rukus before the first song was finished.  The puppeteers were tired of doing the same songs.  It just wasn't working.  We now only do one puppet song a week, have invested in a blacklight puppet and glowman costume to give the regular puppets a break some weeks.  We still have alot of work to do.  I don't feel that puppetry is a lost art or that puppets are a useless media in ministry, but as all things change, we must adapt our puppeteering techniques and methods to reach and teach today's kids. 

Skits
We've began occasionally doing small comedy skits that go along with our sermons/themes each week.  The kids really enjoy watching my husband, who has a very Dick Van Dyke style of comedy.  He can trip on purpose in the most comical way imaginable and even I will be wondering if it was planned or accidental.  He can start a laugh riot just by making a face or gesture, and he's quick on his feet always ready to improvise and ad lib when needed.  I envy his humorous nature sometimes, but honestly, I think we compliment one another quite well.