Children’s ministry training is a hot topic. How (and how often) do you train your kidmin volunteers? Basic laws and safety guidelines are always changing. And so are the kids we minister to. So with all this in mind, are we truly equipping our leaders and volunteers to be effective in what they do?
For children’s ministry training, I’ve heard of online trainings, paper handouts, and actual meeting formats. The question I’m asked most often is “how often?” As with any program or ministry, I think it depends on your format.
For example, we operate in seasons. Our kidmin program runs traditional Sunday school and kids church from September to June. Then we switch gears to summer Sunday programming, with a separate team of volunteers. So our trainings are geared for the season in which people will serve.
Although I appreciate this model and love that my team does effective training for what is to come, the danger is losing the basics. We’ve discovered that as the seasons change, we update the ever-changing elements but sometimes fail to bring the basic elements along for the ride.
This is an easy mistake to make, especially if you have returning volunteers that you feel know this information already. Repetition is your friend, in this case.
Must-Have Basics of Children’s Ministry Training
Basic elements (must-know info regardless of when or where someone serves):
- safety policies
- discipline in the classroom
- fire drills
- first aid
- mandated reporting
- ratio rules
- pickup/drop-off policies
- dress code
- special needs training
- curriculum shift/how to prepare, etc.
- format change
- sets/skits/music
- volunteer scheduling
