During last night’s session at the Gathering Conference, Albert Tate told us that we simply must hear Bishop Kenneth Ulmer preach before we die. He even went as far to say that if we get to heaven without hearing him, that we should ask for a 20 minute extension so we can catch a sermon. I didn’t want to take that chance, so I tuned in one of his youtube videos this morning. Want to catch it yourself? Check it out below!
Have you heard about Worlds of Wow? I had heard of this super creative company before, but have recently begun to take a closer look at all they have to offer. As Reagan Hillier, president of Worlds of Wow, puts it: “Worlds of Wow creates ridiculously cool play spaces”. I have to agree. Check out the promo video below which showcases some of their work:
I think the guy on the video put it perfectly in saying that these types of murals and decorations really “set the tone” and communicate that kids are important in your church. So, head on over to Worlds of Wow and check out some of the cool stuff they have!!
Disclosure: Worlds of Wow has chosen to sponsor Growing Kids Ministry. All opinions expressed in this post are honest and my own. Be sure to stop by their website to say thank you for their support!
Next week (April 21-27, 2013) is the time to pull out all those great volunteer recognition ideas and honor those who help pull your Children’s Ministry together. What? You’re a little short on ideas? Well, you’ve come to right place! Here are some great ideas to show our Volunteer Team that you care:
Picture from CafePress.com
Personalized Magnets: You can get magnets the size of business cards with for about $10 for 25 at Vistaprint. You could put an inspirational saying or a group picture on the magnet. We did this once (about 2 years ago) and I still see it on my volunteers’ fridge when I go to visit.
Appreciation Stations: For National Volunteer Recognition Week, we had “Appreciation Stations”. At each station the volunteers could pick a treat, tea, and a seed packet. All of the gifts had volunteer sayings on them.
Flickr by grytr
Memory Keepsake CD:
Submitted on 15 March 2008 by Alaa El Ghatit
Dollar Store: Go to the dollar store and find cute cheap things that I can write nice sayings with for my student staff. For example, I buy Pop Rocks candy and attach a note telling them “you rock for…” Submitted on 1 April 2005 by Rachelle
National Volunteer Week Packet: A great National Volunteer Week packet is located on the University of Nebraska – 4-H website. It has a lots of general recognition ideas! Submitted by Tina Veal, Extension Assistant, Youth Development, McLean County 4-H, Illinois
Host a Volunteer Appreciation Lunch: Now that the weather is getting warmer, this would be fun as a backyard BBQ where volunteers brings pot luck items for lunch and the site is decorated with low-cost items from the Dollar Store. Welcome the volunteers to invite their family and friends. Take a minute to thank each volunteer.
Coffee: (Fuel for life!) Give your volunteers coffee (bag of beans in a coffee mug) or coupons to local coffee shops. If you’ve got more eco-friendly group, consider Nalgene
Hang it High: Put up a large thank-you banner with all of the volunteers’ names (make your you get them all!)
Make a Plan:
Don’t worry if you don’t think you can pull off a Volunteer Recognition thing this week. The important thing is that you’re taking time to do it regularly. A nice note every few months would be good with a bigger gesture once or twice a year.
What About You?
What are some of your favorite volunteer appreciation ideas? Leave a comment and let other readers know!
Some Ideas Taken From:
Have you ever been to a mega-church? You know, the ones with amazing wall murals in their “Children’s Wing”? Every time I visit one of these churches, I get such church-envy. I’m jealous of their amazing decorations. I’m jealous of their huge selection of Fair-Trade coffee. Jealous of the 3-Story playhouse in the lobby. At least I used to be jealous. I had to do a lot of praying, but I realized that all those fabulous features don’t actually bring people into the Kingdom of God. Sure, they might get a few more people in the door, but I’m not convinced the over-the-top decorations and play structures are the way to go, especially after hearing this little girl’s story. However, I do think we need to make the church appealing to the eye. That means keeping things neat and clean and it often means decorating classrooms to make them more inviting for kids and families. Oh yeah, and there should always be coffee around!
Often, smaller and midsize churches are limited by the budget and the “multi-purpose space dilemma”. Here’s a few options we’ve come up with in order to jazz up the Children’s Ministry spaces a bit.
I can’t begin to tell you how much I love this invention! These easily removable, easily repositionable wall stickers are the perfect low-budget alternative to painted wall murals. I picked up this Solar System
We also use a set of circle wall stickers to display monthly jobs on the wall. We meet in the gyms, so any time there is an all church function, we can pull down these circles quickly and then put them back up easy.
Sometimes you can find Scripture verses on sites like Etsy that would be good for highlighting the month’s key verse.
You can find this wall sticker on Etsy for $24 and can customize it to any color you want.
This is a super easy way to add a BIG decoration to your space and coordinate with your monthly theme. For the poster above, I used a drop cloth style canvas and simply hung it with masking tape. I can’t remember where I originally got the canvas, but you can pick up DIY Craft Banners at Oriental Trading for $10.50 per dozen. Paint is much more effective than markers when it comes to coloring a large space so break out those brushes and get to work!
Inspired by this post over at Sugar Bee Crafts, I tried my hand at the whole engineering print thing. The photo above was 11×14 inches and it was $3. The woman at Sugar Bee Crafts got hers printed at 4 feet by 3 feet and it was $8. I mounted mine on canvas because that’s what I had on hand, but Mandy did her 1st one on foam board and then another one on plywood. Read all about it here!
You can see another example of modge poster photo over at Life as a Thrifter. Here’s her finished product:
Kids love pictures! Especially pictures of themselves! I saw this great project over at Bits of Everything that showcases a ton of photos in a super neat and orderly way. I haven’t attempted this project yet, but its on my to-do list! If you mount it on the wall with some fishing wire and a command hook, it will be a cinch to remove if needed.
My dear friend Paulette picked this up for our ministry at Sam’s Club the other day and we’ve been using it a ton ever since. We used it for the Easter Event (pictured above), but we also use it to display the month’s theme for the parents. Last week, I also used to do a little chalk talk (with the back-light off) and at the climax of the story (Jesus’ death), we shut off the overhead lights and turned on the sign, showing that there is light even when it seems like we are surrounded by darkness. You can pick this up at Sam’s Club for around $110.00 and don’t forget an easel.
Of course, displaying the kids artwork and making bulletin board displays are another great way to keep the room brightly colored and relevant. Check pinterest for some great bulletin board ideas!
How do you decorate your classroom and stay within the budget?
The 2013 National Volunteer Appreciation Week is April 21-27 and it’s a perfect time to show your team how great they really are! I have to tell you, I have an amazing Children’s Ministry team — they work hard, have fun, and are always coming up with great ideas. That’s why I try hard to make sure they know how grateful I am to have them around. Here’s one project I recently completed to thank the team for their excellent service.
I decided to write each team member’s favorite verse on the mug, so first I needed a super secret way to acquire his information. I sent around an email about a month before I started working on the mugs, asking for everyone’s favorite verse for a “special project” for our Wednesday night program. I’m not sure if this was actually a lie or not. :)
Once I secured everyone’s verse, I got to work writing them out on mug. I wasn’t crazy about the tips on the paint markers, to I gave the Sharpie Permanent Markers, Fine Point a try, but I have since heard that these did indeed wash off after about 10 washes so I wouldn’t recommend it.
The paint markers took a little while to dry, which was nice for me because I could wipe off the mug and start again if I didn’t like how it turned out. After the writing was done, I put all the mugs on a cookie sheet and put them in a COLD oven.
Turn the oven on to 400 and then turn it off in about 30 minutes. Leave the mugs in the over until completely cool again.
Finished!
Just FYI, I wrote the verse on the front of the mug and the Scripture reference on the back. Then, I filled the mugs with some little candies and chocolates and passed with them.
I’ve heard good things, so I hope everyone liked them!
You work hard in Children’s Ministry, and chances are, so do the people around you – your team members. Whether you’re in charge of a volunteer team, or you’re a volunteer yourself, appreciating those around you is always a good move.
1) It shows people they are making a difference. In Three Signs of a Miserable Job, author Patrick Lencioni explains one thing that brings drudgery to the workplace is feeling your job doesn’t matter. When you appreciate the volunteers around you, you’re communicating that they count.
2) Everybody needs a pat on the back or a kick in the pants sometimes. Believe it or not, appreciation can accomplish both these tasks. Someone might be feeling insecure and inadequate – appreciation gives them the pat on the back and the encouragement they need. Someone else might be feeling discouraged and insignificant, slightly bitter and ready to throw in the towel – appreciation helps them to see they are part of something bigger than themselves, and helps them get back on track.
3) Appreciation keep things in perspective for you. When you take the time to appreciate those who are helping you, you are forced to see how many people it takes to make a successful ministry. It helps you to see the support you truly have and keeps you from feeling that “you’re in this all alone” feeling.
There are many ways to show appreciation, from thank you notes to displays in the church. Here are some ideas to consider:
Write one on a whiteboard/chalkboard in your volunteer’s room letting them know how much you value them. You could also hand out treats with a little message if your volunteers don’t have their own classrooms (Example: Give them a pack of lifesavers and say “You’re a real life saver in this ministry!”)
Grab these cool printables from this site for an even fancier presentation!
Make posters with volunteers names and pictures (separate posters for each person) then hand out post-it notes to kids, congregation members, other church staff people etc. Instruct them to write something special about a volunteer – a certain stand out characteristic they have or something they did that was helpful or meaningful. Then stick the post-note on the appropriate poster. Seasonal Splendor – pick something applicable to the season (snowflakes, leaves, rainclouds) and write each volunteer’s name on one before hanging them all together from the ceiling or on a display wall. Write a catchy phrase such as “These volunteers produce a blizzard of fun around here!” Public recognition like this is a great way to boost volunteer spirit.
Dedicate a bulletin board to volunteer appreciation. Have forms available at the bulletin board as well as at special events. Encourage kids, parents, other volunteers (and yourself!) to thank a volunteer through the Kudos Korner (idea found at Energize Inc). Feed them Spiritually – Find a powerful devotional book and buy it for your volunteers. The best volunteers are those who are actively growing in Christ, so encourage them with some good study material!
Feed them Physically – Nothing says appreciation like a doughnut! Bring in a special snack for your volunteers once in awhile to say thanks. Make them a coffee station so they can fill up before the mid-week program. Have bottles of water available for when they need it. A little thing that can add up to a big morale boost.
This will be different for every ministry, depending on what kind of time you have to devote to “the little extras”. As a rule, I always try to send out thank you notes after a big event (VBS, Fall Fest, Christmas play, etc) within a week of the event ending. In addition to that, it might be nice to do some kind of public recognition two or three times a year. Ideally, you want to do something every quarter, but we all know the ideal doesn’t always happen. Just make sure you’re scheduling a regular time to do it and stick to it. These Team Members work hard and deserve to be appreciated!
What are your favorite ways to share your gratitude?
Lindsey Whitney is the Children’s Ministry Director at East Lake Road Alliance Church in Erie, PA. She manages the Children’s Church program, mid-week Kids for Christ program as well as special events and mentoring programs. She has an excellent volunteer team and is grateful for all the support and encouragement the church members provide. Lindsey has been married to her wonderful husband for over five years and together they have two fun, energetic kids. She operates a family home day care and loves the interaction with kids she has both in the home and at church. She operates Growing Kids Ministry, a Children’s Ministry blog and recently served as one of the contributing authors on KidMin1124. She has been published by Children's Ministry Magazine and Stuff Christians Like and hopes to do more writing in the future. In her spare time, she loves to see the sites in Erie, watch the Steelers with her husband, read books and magazines, visit with family and sneak in a few stops at the local coffee shop. You can find her on Twitter @lrwhitney or on Facebook. You can also email her directly at lindsey@growingkidsministry.com.
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