As you make plans for a new church year, challenge yourself to try something new, expecting God to do what only He can do.
By Vicki Hulsey
Kicking off a new church year can be a great time for helping children, students, and parents get connected to a small group. Let’s look at five ways to celebrate this important opportunity for your church.
1. Plan for a successful year
- Enlist carefully. Begin the enlistment process early, allowing time for you and potential leaders to pray about the place God would have them serve. Make personal contacts when talking with individuals about serving. Avoid rushed hallway conversations. Consider providing opportunities for potential leaders to observe in a class or work alongside an experienced leader for a few weeks. Follow your church’s guidelines and policies for enlistment, including membership requirements, background checks, and safety and security training.
- Provide resources. Prayerfully select curriculum that’s age appropriate, Bible-based, and doctrinally sound. Other key resources include needed supplies and adequate teaching space.
- Equip through training. Training is an essential part of ensuring that leaders feel confident in the ministry God has called them to. Training opportunities may include training within the local church, associational, state, and even national training. Providing books for self-study and online training options are helpful in accommodating the varying schedules among enlisted leaders. Wholly Kids is an excellent book for new kids leaders. This easy-to-read book is full of fun graphics and includes the following topics:
- Characteristics of kids
- Levels of biblical learning
- Levels of Bible skills
- Approaches to learning
- Adapting to different learners
- Creating an environment for learning
- Provide a calendar. Help leaders feel supported as they see scheduled times for planning, praying, and playing with other leaders. Encourage preschool and children’s leaders to take advantage of spending quality time with adults. When that element is missing, leaders are more likely to give up teaching a children’s class to return to an adult class.
2. Set a kick-off date
Place a date on the church calendar. Look for creative ways to promote and celebrate the new church year. Planning a special emphasis cultivates excitement, often bringing new families into the church and seeing church families return that have not attended for several months. Consider these options:
- Sunday or Wednesday before or after the first day of school
- First Sunday after New Year’s Day
- Beginning of summer
- Weekend before moving to new classes
3. Choose a theme
Create an atmosphere of excitement by planning a fun theme to celebrate a new year. Creative ideas I’ve seen used in churches include:
Kick-off Sunday
- Sports-themed food, activities, and decorations (varying theme depending on the time of year)
- Publicity to church families and neighborhood families
- Church parking lot or fellowship hall set up with food tables in one area and booths in another
- Booths staffed with ministry leaders providing information on kids ministry programs, school partnerships, special events, parenting classes, parents’ nights out, family fun nights, and more
Pop on up to new classes!
- Popsicles or popcorn-themed snacks and decorations
Launching a new church year
- Rockets and other space-themed snacks, games, and decorations
Promotion sundaes
- Ingredients for making ice cream sundaes
- “Get the Scoop” handouts with ministry events for the year
Back to school Sunday
- Plan a special prayer emphasis during worship.
- Pray for teachers, administrators, and other school faculty members.
- Pray over kids and families as they prepare to go back to school.
- Encourage adults to pick up an arm band with the name of a student they will commit to pray for during the school year.
Move up weekend
- Individual class fellowships the weekend before moving to a new class
- Kids, parents, siblings, and new teachers getting to know one another in a relaxed and fun setting
- Food, Bible games, and activities that might be played in class
4. Celebrate milestones
Transitional years bring lots of change for children and students. Intentionality about celebrating and providing support during milestone years helps kids, students, and parents realize they’re not alone. Establishing traditions becomes a time families look forward to as they approach a milestone year.
“Intentionality about celebrating and providing support during milestone years helps kids, students, and parents realize they’re not alone.” — @vhulsey Share on XExplore these ideas:
Preschoolers’ first Sunday in worship
Help parents and teachers prepare older preschoolers for first experiences in corporate worship. When I Go to Church: Guiding Preschoolers in Worship is a colorfully illustrated book featuring four stories about preparing for and going to worship services.
Bible presentations
Celebrate transitional years by presenting an age-appropriate Bible in worship or hosting a breakfast or lunch for children and families. Favorite Bibles include:
- First Graders: Explorer Bible for Kids
- Preteens: Defend Your Faith Bible
- Students: Apologetics Study Bible for Students and Student Study Bible
Ages and stages
Resource parents and teachers by providing helps in teaching God’s truth at home and church. Parents often feel ill-equipped to spiritually train their preschoolers, elementary-aged kids, and teenagers. Based on the principle that kids and teens learn and comprehend concepts differently as they grow in maturity, Every Age, Every Stage provides an age-suitable discipleship approach, equipping parents to teach their children biblical truths. This book is also helpful for church leaders as they teach biblical concepts in the classroom, putting children on a path of growing in biblical knowledge and spiritual maturity.
5. Expect great things
It’s easy to get caught in the cycle of repeating the same thing year after year, expecting different results.
“It’s easy to get caught in the cycle of repeating the same thing year after year, expecting different results.” — @vhulsey Share on XI once had a married couple approach me with the idea of hosting a cookout fellowship at their home on the Saturday before promotion Sunday. I was skeptical about the value of this type of fellowship and the impact it would have on promotion Sunday. Ordinarily, a cookout is a fun fellowship idea, but these teachers taught two-year-olds on Sunday morning.
The goal was to begin creating relationships on Saturday night that would make for a less tearful first Sunday as parents brought their two-year-olds to Sunday School. Preschoolers promoting into the two-year-old class, their parents, and their siblings were invited.
That Saturday night, I was amazed as I observed preschoolers getting to know their new leaders in a relaxed setting rather than meeting them for the first time on Sunday morning. Parents enjoyed meeting the new teachers and getting to know other parents. For the first time on promotion Sunday, there were no tears in the two-year-old class. An unexpected win was seeing parents visit a small group for the first time after being invited by parents of other two-year-olds who attended their child’s small group.
As you make plans for a new church year, challenge yourself to try something new, expecting God to do what only He can do. Let’s give God the glory as we win the next generation to Jesus.
Now to him who is able to do above and beyond all that we ask or think according to the power that works in us — to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.
Ephesians 3:20-21, CSB
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