I have the pleasure of connecting with leaders from all over the US and Canada who want to reach families in the local church. Trust me, there are some amazing people are out there doing what you do every weekend. You are NOT alone in wanting to draw kids and families to Christ, and help them grow in Him. Sometimes a leader can feel isolated doing what they do. That’s why connecting is important!
Once in a while I run in to the “we write our own” leader. They talk with buttons bursting about how their team is “super” creative. Having been in your shoes, I want to give you some things to consider. There is a lot riding on that. And what’s more, people get tired. What if you could re-focus that amazing talent, and tons of your time spent creating your own curriculum? What might happen?
Sometimes those who write their own lessons might need to check the ego. Writing your own ministry curriculum is great. I did it for years at a big church. My ego was also great at letting people know how proud I was that we did that. (Like we had the market corner for what really needed to be shared). That’s ego. It’s also a spinning plate which is exhausting after awhile (and I am a creative). I was not open to consider how much time was going in to that process. I never really took time to learn from others on what might be working as they used curriculum. If we could sit down and talk I’d ask what you could do with those hours to elevate your volunteers or families instead. You have such limited hours with kids and families. Is that the best focus? Check the ego.
The other challenge I want to talk through are teams who compartmentalized their curriculum by service time. A bigger strategy would be to align your service times around the same theme. With limited time you have, you are handing off a bigger opportunity to parents with consistency. Not repeating a same service time over again, but adding to the monthly theme. Bigger win.
Be open-minded in this process. We never bothered to really seriously consider how to customize a published curriculum to make it our own for Sunday mornings. Again, I think pride and not budget was the source. When I heard about Orange and how I could customize and edit lessons to fit our DNA of our church, I was intrigued. Everything was online and doc’s were editable. My creative flair, and ministry focused values could be added in. Salvation messages, Biblical content, and more could come alive. Video’s were available that would engage kids that our team just could never produce quality wise. Media helps engage kids. We could also program multi service times with a common thread. That’s strategy. And with extra time I could then turn my focus to building IN to my team. We could promote the entire application to help families. I could attract volunteers with a clear guide for them of curriculum (and option for their own flare being added). My energy came back.
How could using curriculum and customizing it help you be a better leader to your team and families?