WCA Childrens Ministry

"Getting Ready to Let Go"

Have you ever felt God trying to tell you something, but you just couldn't figure out how it fit into your passion or your life?

That happened to me and I am still gaining insight into God's desire for my life based on what I heard from Him a few years ago.

Let me explain....Life was full for sure at that time....I was leading a children’s ministry team that was moving into a large brand new space at church, our son and daughter were busy with school, and my husband's place of employment was thriving...yes, life was definitely full!

I kept feeling God was telling me to "get everything in order but get ready to let go." "God, what are you saying?" I quickly asked.  I started cleaning out closets in our ministry area AND at home.

When the cleaning job was done, the prompting continued..."get everything in order but get ready to let go."

To shorten a very long journey, I went from cleaning closets, to having our daughter get engaged, to my husband leaving his job, to my ministry partner making a transition to another ministry in another state, to me being asked to leave a role in our church that I was in for 17 years (and loved by the way) to become the Director of Spiritual Formation.

I wouldn't be honest if I didn't tell you how hard this was for me. Getting everything in order was one thing but letting go is more difficult than I could ever have imagined. It wasn't that I felt God left me or that I felt anxious for the unknown. My difficulty came with going through a season of thinking I lost my identity. My 17 years with our children's ministry allowed me to grow in my gifts and my passion of spiritually developing kids. When I agreed to move from that department, it was so hard to move from thinking of a child's spiritual development to only looking at an adult's spiritual journey.

God gently reminded me through scripture and friends that my identity wasn't lost...it was getting refined into what God created me to be and do for Him.  See, my passion for a child's spiritual growth in our children's ministry led to frustration at times because I felt we needed to reach the family unit if we really wanted to impact a child's faith in Christ.  At that time, I believed if we could reach the child for Christ, then we could reach the parents.

Today, I still believe that can be true, but God has shown me yet another way...I’m now using my passion and gifts to impact the whole family to grow in Christ so that when a child leaves home, he or she is more likely to continue to live as a faithful follower of Jesus. God has placed me in this new role to lead teams that focus on the spiritual formation of the mom, the dad, the children and the church family around them.

God needed me to "get everything in order but get ready to let go" in not only what I did or thought....He took me through a loving journey to get my heart, my mind, my passion, and my gifts in order so that I could surrender them to Him in focusing on how to spiritually develop people of all ages.

Is God asking you, in some way, to get something in order and get ready to let go of it?

We’re hoping and praying God will use the upcoming Conspire Conference to provide connection and inspiration for YOUR journey.

Pat Cimo is the Director of Spiritual Formation at Willow Creek Community Church.
Click here to check out some of her published resources.

Deliberately Thankful

  I’m going to spend this week deliberately tuned in to something I’m very thankful for—the ministry team I lead. Sure, they wobble now and then; no one’s perfect. Especially me; I can be real wobbly.

Over the past couple years, one of the most common questions I hear from other leaders goes something like this: “What’s the most important thing a leader must do?” People we’ve hired in our ministry, directors of other ministries, and many people whose roles I don’t even know have asked this question. Some people might think the answer should be “vision cast” or “clarify and set direction.” I prefer a simpler response: Figure out why you love your people—and then do it.

I believe John Maxwell once wrote that people will continue to follow you as their leader, even when your vision is cloudy and your direction is unclear, when they believe in your heart. 

Even more importantly, Jesus said “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another.” (John 13:34) Have you ever deeply considered that Jesus said those words to His ministry team? Join that fact with the age-old quip “Speed of the leader, speed of the team” and the need to love my team becomes extremely clear to me.

So this week, I’ve decided to love my team by deliberately reflecting on all the reasons I’m thankful for them. We recently re-organized our leadership structure, so I’m thankful for their ability to flex and embrace change. Discussions now take place about making some major overhauls to the ministry, so I’m thankful for a team that dares to dream big. We’ve battled low volunteer numbers this fall, so I’m thankful for a team willing to do heavy lifting when needed.

Most of all, I’m thankful for a team that’s easy to love. Because in a bazillion little ways, the love we share will affect the kids we reach out to every weekend. “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13:35)

What about you? What reasons do you have for loving the team you lead, and have you discovered any strong ways to express your thanks?

For me—I sure hope my team reads this blog…because I love you all.

David Staal is the Director of Promiseland at Willow Creek Community Church.
Click here to check out his latest published resources.

Conference Conspiring in Chicago

In mid-August, we gathered together a small group of extremely gifted and highly creative children’s ministry leaders in order to kick-off the 2008 Children’s Conference Planning. We invited children’s ministry celebrities including: Phil Vischer, Ivy Beckwith, David Staal, Angela Burke, Dan Huffman, Kim Huffman, Pat Cimo, Lou Ann Pence, and Aaron Reynolds – and were shocked when they all said Yes!  It was an absolute honor that these folks would take time to help us plan an innovative and fresh conference experience.

We met together for 2 days in downtown Chicago. We had every moment carefully planned out – several brainstorm creative sessions, delicious meals, fun group activities, lots of prayer, and even a time of solitude. After spending 2 full days together – I walked away with some very important learnings:

First – Children’s ministry leaders would love to connect more regularly with other children’s ministry folks in their community – unfortunately the demands of ministry usually don’t allow for extra time to get to know the children’s pastor at the church down the street. If a conference experience could help connect leaders together – that would be ideal!

Second – Learning from other leaders who are implementing different models of curriculum is extremely helpful. While it’s great to learn from those who believe in the same philosophy and implement in similar ways, it’s sometimes more beneficial to be challenged by those who are doing things differently in their churches.

And Finally:  A conference experience is ideal when specific times of worship are planned. Children’s ministry leaders often aren’t able to enjoy worship on Sunday mornings, so genuinely look forward to several focused times of worship during a conference.

After our time in Chicago, our children’s ministry team spent a lot of time praying, planning and organizing a conference based on the feedback we received from this group and additional friends we know in children’s ministry. We hope the conference we’ve put together will serve you – the children’s ministry leader – so that you are able to serve the children in your church in brand new ways!

Let us know what you think – what are some of the characteristics you would use to describe the best conference experience you’ve ever had? We’re interested in your thoughts.

Thanks for sharing your comments.
Next week we'll have some Thanksgiving thoughts from David Staal, Director of Promiseland at Willow Creek Community Church.

It's Time To Conspire

Hi, my name is Amy Dolan and I’m thrilled to be a part of the team planning the 2008 Children’s Ministry Conference. I’ve been involved in children’s ministry for the past 15 years in which I’ve served as a volunteer small group leader, a staff programming teacher and curriculum writer, a children’s ministry director and consultant – I’ve experienced the whole realm of ministry! It’s been an amazing journey planning this year’s conference - I have felt God’s presence in an amazingly close way and now I’m absolutely bursting at the seams to tell you all that we have planned for this year’s conference.

We’ve set up this brand new blog so that we can get to know each other better and inspire one another in this journey called children’s ministry. It is my hope that together we can encourage each other to be fantastic leaders both online and at the events we’ll attend together. Check back often – you won’t believe all the surprises we have up our sleeves!

We’ve worked really hard to design an event that will encourage all of us to show God’s love afresh to kids this year. The title is Conspire and comes from 2 words: Connect and Inspire. More than anything, our hope is that we would come together on April 23-25, 2008 to connect and encourage one another, and then inspire each leader to be the best leader he/she can be within the context of the leader’s community and culture. It’s time to Conspire!

Let’s start the conversation today – when you think of children’s ministry leaders conspiring together – what do you picture?

Look for a new post each Monday…next week we'll hear about a unique conference planning session in downtown Chicago and we'll give you a chance to share YOUR best conference experiences.