Home Children's Ministry Leaders Articles for Children's Ministry Leaders 7 Bad Habits That Are Crushing Your Children's Ministry

7 Bad Habits That Are Crushing Your Children's Ministry

Bad Habit #1 –  Tolerating disunity.  Disunity will crush your children’s ministry.  If you are allowing backbiting, gossip, hallway conversations, and personal agendas to propagate, then you are crushing your children’s ministry.

Confront it.  Get everyone on the same page…everyone aligned to the same vision.  If this means asking some people to move out, then do it.  Unity doesn’t happen naturally, you have to fight for it.

Bad Habit #2 – Not following ratios.  When parents look into a room that is out of proportion and out of control, they are hesitant to bring their child back.  It also leads to volunteer burn-out.

Follow ratios.  In this post, I share what proper ratios should be.  Do the work to enlist enough volunteers to make it happen.  

Bad Habit #3 – Not maximizing the first 8 minutes.  People decide if they are going to return to your church in the first 8 minutes.  If you are not being intentional about what they experience in those first 8 minutes, then you are diminishing your return rate.

In this post, I share how to maximize the first 8 minutes.

Bad Habit #4 – Begging for volunteers.  When you beg for volunteers, you are devaluing your children’s ministry.  Never appear desperate, even when you are.

Here are some ideas for building your team.

Bad Habit #5 – Not keeping your facilities clean.  People are turned off by dirty rooms, clutter, dirty walls, stained carpets, and toys that are not sanitized.  

This has nothing to do with the size of your building or your budget.  Whatever God has provided you with…you can keep it clean.

Bad Habit #6 – Only being inwardly focused.  Children’s ministries have a tendency over time to turn their focus inward.  They begin to only cater to the needs and whims of those already inside the walls of the church.

Yes, meet needs, but let the biggest need be your biggest focus.  The world around you that is in desperate need of a Savior.

Bad Habit #7 – Making kids feel like they are going back to school on the weekend.  Kids have been at school all week.  The last thing they want is another school experience on the weekend.

Use engaging, out of the box, dynamic lessons that will capture kids’ attention and communicate God’s Word in a relevant way.  Make it fun.  Let them laugh, play, and have a blast.

What other bad habits do you see children’s ministries perpetuating?  Share your thoughts with us in the comment section below.