It doesn’t seem to matter how long you do kids ministry at a single location. When you shift to multi-site there are a myriad of things to address. Questions like:
How do we define “one church, multiple locations”?”
How consistent will each campus be from looks to branding to teaching?
How will each location obtain supplies? Will they receive them from a ‘central’ distribution location like most chain companies? Or will each location be responsible for purchasing their own supplies from toilet paper to Bibles?
Will we create an entity/team that is not assigned to any one location but functions in a global capacity making decisions for all campuses & disseminating those decisions to the campuses? Or will we give each location complete autonomy to make decisions on their own? Or will we land somewhere in between?
The questions are endless when you shift to a single location to multi-site. Although multi-site systems is an all-church conversation, I want to share some of the things we are putting in place that are specific to kidmin.
As it relates to kids ministry, we have some non-negotiable’s in place to help support the concept “one church, multiple locations”. One of those non-negotiable’s is that all kidmin teaching will be consistent from one campus to the next. This means that what is taught in elementary on the Pellissippi Campus is also taught in elementary on the Blount Campus that same weekend. To make this happen, I have two people on my team that shape the elementary & preschool experiences for all of our campuses (Programming Coordinators). They work through volunteers and the kidmin staff team to create an engaging environment for kids. These environments are duplicated at both campuses.
Though these two roles have global impact (i.e. their decisions impact all campuses) they also have direct leadership over their respective areas at a single campus. So they ‘feel’ the direct impact of the decisions they make… the songs they implement… the activities they choose… the stories they shape. The challenge lies in the uniqueness of every campus. Though each campus is only 30 minutes away, the communities each campus serves can be dramatically different. This means these Programming Coordinators need exposure to all the campuses in some respect. We opt to accomplish this in two ways:
- Volunteer Creative Teams
- Campus Visits
Each Programming Coordinator is developing a Creative Team consisting of volunteers from all campuses. This team will have opportunity to have a voice in how the experience is shaped. Ultimately the decisions fall on the shoulders of the Programming Coordinators, they will have input from a variety of people representing different communities. Here are the potential pitfalls:
- Strict production time lines, distance and varying schedules can make it challenging to pull a group of people together to work on a project.
- Too many “cooks in the kitchen” can have the opposite effect and do more to muddy the waters than to improve the quality.
Our solutions to these pitfalls:
- The Programming Coordinator has the decision making power. It is imperative that they have a clear vision of what should be communicated to the kids and that they keep that in the forefront. By remaining tightly focused on the main points, the Programming Coordinator will have the freedom to utilize the input/ideas that effectively communicate while discarding those that don’t.
- The Programming Coordinator will work in “pockets”. Everyone on that creative team will not contribute to every single lesson. Rather the Programming Coordinator will work with small groups of people within that team on different projects. One group might be shaping February curriculum while the next shapes March.
Each Programming Coordinator is also required to have a presence at each campus. This means they will travel to the different campuses on different weekends to see their work in action. Context is everything. It’s important to see the curriculum executed within the varying contexts of each campus. Potential pitfalls, again:
- Presence at other campuses can negatively impact the area these roles directly lead. If the direct leader is consistently absent, volunteer teams will suffer.
- Presence at other campuses can ‘feel’ like that campus is being ‘graded’ or ‘assessed’. Will the Programming Coordinator have a true picture of what is happening at that campus if the volunteer team feels they have to put their best foot forward?
Our solutions:
- Relationships, relationships, relationships. It all boils down to relationships. The Programming Coordinators need to have a presence with the teams they directly lead at least 75% of the time. Developing those relationships is critical to the success of the ministry at their respective campuses.
- The Programming Coordinators (as well as myself) must have a great relationship with the kidmin leaders at each campus. The Campus Children’s Ministry Director always sets the tone for how their volunteer team will respond to any visitors at their campus. It is critical that these two roles have a strong trust relationship as a foundation. Why? Because if the Programming Coordinator sees something they believe is not executed to the appropriate standard their relationship has to be strong enough to weather that conversation successfully. (There is so much more to expound upon here… maybe another blog post…)
