The teacher tea was yesterday and was a big hit with the ladies and the gentlemen teachers. The theme was A Little Taste of Children's Ministry, and we did a tea tasting with 5 different teas, finger sandwiches, and desserts. My committee decorated beautifully with purple, sage green, and ivy, and the breakout training sessions were very helpful, according to both new and veteran teachers. It was a nice way to start off the year, and everyone was pleased with the changes I made for the fall, which was a relief to me.
Last week, of course was the BTSW, which brought back 50 visiting families who had fallen out of touch with us and brought in 11 new families who are interested in joining the church. Plus, it really pumped up the kids and youth, who have told their parents that they are bringing friends to church from now on.
That known, I worked hard to make sure that all the last minute details were in place, ensuring that we had 2 shepherds for each group (1st graders, 2nd and 3rd, and 4th and 5th) and filling all but 2 off the teaching spots for the entire fall rotation. A little nervous, I kept consoling myself with the fact that everything was smooth sailing--that is, until today!
You know, I think that God waits for the exact moment that you become comfortable to do wonderous upside down twirls in your little rollercoaster of a ministry. I walked in confident and secure only to find that we TRIPLED our regular attendance, and I didn't have nearly enough adult volunteers to even out any sort of ratio of adult to kids. Kids brought 3 or 4 friends apiece. My volunteers literally stood there shellshocked, and even the most gentle of shepherds showed a little agitation.
Now, of course, this is a WONDERFUL problem to have in CM, and it was so great to see so many kids pumped up about being in SS. I mean, they were so full of vitality and energy that the building rocked. It was chaos, but we made it through with what we have, and if I can get my volunteers to come back next week (I kept coaxing them saying, "It will all be fixed next week"), we are going to have one heck of a ministry on our hands. Not only are we going to have to split into 5 groups (one for each grade level), but we may even have to split some grade levels into As and Bs. Children's Worship doubled in size, as well, and the coordinator for that was pretty stunned.
So, back to the drawing board it goes for me (and back to the lovely job of recruiting--ugh, I thought I was done with that). But where God opens a floodgate of little lambs, He surely has plans for shepherds to lead them, so onto my knees I go with nothing but faith and open ears.
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2 comments:
That's amazing! To what do you attribute the drastic increase in numbers? Do you think it will hold through the year? You're right - God will bring the leaders if he brought the kids!
Well, I think that the huge back to school weekend brought in a lot of folks and also fired the kids up. Many parents told me that their kids dragged them to SS that morning. Like I said, we had 11 families interested in joining the following weekend.
Also, though, apparently this church (suburban, affluent) has a tendency to take off summers from church. When one of my volunteers (new to the church) said, "Wow, there are a lot of kids here," one of the parents said, "Well, yeah, it's back to school." I find that a little odd, really, but from asking around, it's not that uncommon.
Still, there were a lot of visitors (kids brought by kids), and I can only attribute that to the big push from the pulpit and in SS on being an inviting church. We had kids make homemade invitations during the summer for the BTSW. Maybe that philosophy stuck. Also, we started a new incentive program for them to bring friends, and they are really fired up about that (they get to pick a goal to work toward--most wanted to have a barefoot movie day), so they are pumped about that.
Will it hold through the year? The visitors I talked to said that they planned to come with their friends "from now on," but with kids, you know it's ultimately up to the parents.
No matter what, though, it was a wake up call. We've got to step it up and really reach these kids at the heart. Many of the visitors were first time church attenders. I'm really praying for them to be truly affected and not just enticed by flashy lights (especially since we don't have flashy lights!).
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