Dale Hudson

Here are some telltale signs your children’s ministry is on life support and needs an infusion of health and vitality:

1. You have to close classrooms because you don’t have enough volunteers to open them.
2. You don’t see kids, parents or volunteers smiling.
3. Parents are having to make their kids come to church.
4. First-time guests don’t return.
5. The number of kids in your church is less than 10 percent of the overall attendance.
6. You don’t have any teenagers serving in your children’s ministry.
7. You ask the pastor to beg for volunteers.
8. People are serving out of necessity rather than passion.
9. When parents ask their children the famous question—”Did you have fun today?”—The answer is “no.”
10. There is no money to purchase supplies, resources and crafts.
11. You don’t hear giggles and laughter in the hallways.
12. Your ministry calendar is full, but not effective.
13. Kids’ attendance is declining.
14. All of the volunteers have been serving since Noah got off the ark and are burned out.
15. The kids are shoved in the basement or get the leftovers when it comes to ministry space.
16. Volunteers are having to serve in multiple areas to keep things going.
17. There is more talk of what God did in the past than what He is doing now.
18. Your elementary playlist includes “Father Abraham,” “Deep and Wide” and “I’ve Got the Joy, Joy, Joy … Down in my Heart.”
19. There were very few, if any, babies dedicated last year.
20. There were very few, if any, kids that stepped across the line of faith last year.
21. There were very few, if any, kids who were baptized last year.

Dale Hudson has been in Children’s Ministry for over 25 years. He is the director of children’s ministry at Christ Fellowship Church in Palm Beach, Florida. Christ Fellowship has nine campuses and ministers to over 22,000 people on weekends. Dale leads a Children’s Ministry staff team of over 50 and a volunteer team of over 2,600.

From:  www. relevantchildrensministry.com web site.  February 2016.

The above article, “21 Signs Your Children’s Ministry Is On Life Support” was written by Dale Hudson. The article was excerpted from www.relevantchildrenministry.com.

The material is copyrighted and should not be reprinted under any other name or author. However, this material may be freely used for personal study or research purposes.

This article may not be written by an Apostolic author, but it contains many excellent principles and concepts that can be adapted to most churches. As the old saying goes, “Eat the meat. Throw away the bones.”