A few weeks ago Dan Scott did a great post on objectives in children’s ministry. At the end of the post he opened up the floor to the kids ministry blogosphere and asked: “What are some of your ministry objectives?” Here’s what I wrote back:
Hey Dan,
Here are the objectives for our three primary programs:1. WEEKEND SERVICE WIN: Incite wonder and provoke discovery of God in kids and help parents do something about it at home. One way that we will know we’ve won is when at least 30% of the kids who come on the weekend are in a small group.
2. SMALL GROUP WIN: Connect kids with a caring, consistent leader and group of peers. One way that we will know we’ve won is when at least 60% of the kids who signed-up for a small group actually showed up to their group.
3. MINISTRY TEAM WIN: Create consistent opportunities for kids to experience personal ministry. One way that we will know we’ve won is when at least 20% of the kids who come on the weekend also served in a ministry.
We added the % measurements to help show movement through our process. It’s not so much about having a lot of kids show up on the weekend as how many of them are taking the next step in their faith: from casual attendance, to being cared for by one of our leaders, and ultimately to serving others. It’s not enough for us to paint a picture of what we want to do or where we want to go; we also need to figure out how we’re going to measure success. We take this info and put it on our weekly scoreboard.
Setting these kind of objectives has helped us to clarify the win for each area of our children’s ministry. These objectives are S.M.A.R.T. (specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and timely) and give us a quick read on the pulse of our ministry. They are not the only wins that are important to us, but they do give us a good way to have healthy discussions on how well we’re reaching and serving the families in our community.
Click here to download a sample scoreboard.
For more information on how to clarify the win and measure success in your ministry check out7 Practices of an Effective Ministry and Simple Church.
Jeff McClung 