In holding with my husband’s Dutch tradition, we were having a family celebration on Christmas Eve.  I offered to help my granddaughter change from her play clothes, a t-shirt and bike pants, into her Christmas dress.

‘Nanna, I want to leave my shorts on,’ she said, ‘I might want to twirl.’  Those words stuck with me throughout the Christmas season.  Something about them resonated with me.  I asked the Lord about it and these words came to me: ‘It’s doing something practical in order to do something delightful.’

How does that relate to your Kid’s Ministry?  It’s time to reset your Kid’s Church before a new year of teaching begins.  Let’s get the practical jobs done in order to do the delightful!

Step 1:  Room Refresh

Hopefully you and your team have had a break over the summer holidays.  When you return to your Kid’s Ministry rooms, look with fresh eyes at the layout of your space.  Are there changes you can make to better utilize the area or better the flow of movement?  The place where you and your volunteers teach is your focal point.  You will need to arrange furniture around it.  Use a symmetrical layout for your seating so the room looks visually balanced.  Create a clear path to the focal point so children can walk from their seat to the front without difficulty.   And leave a space between the focal point and the first row of chairs so there is room for drama and games and assembling the Memory Verse.  Take these practical steps so you can have the delightful experience of sharing Jesus with your kids in a fun, safe and interactive way!

Step 2:  Declutter

Does your department attract unwanted donations of furniture, games or toys?  Well-meaning congregants would rather donate to the Church than an op-shop, or perhaps it’s easier to bring stuff to the Church as they’re going there anyway!  Now is the time to get rid of rickety tables and chairs, toys you have too many of and games or puzzles with missing bits.  The more inventory your Kid’s Church has the more you and your volunteers have to look after it:  cleaning, laundering and storing.  Take practical steps in decluttering so you can have the delightful experience of building relationships with your kids without frustration at what you couldn’t achieve because of space issues or dodgy equipment, furniture and toys.

Step 3:  Craft Cupboard Clean Out

By the end of a year (or even a term for that matter) a craft cupboard can become messy.  Volunteers who don’t know where things go, or those who just want to get out of Kid’s Church in a hurry, can shove supplies anywhere there’s a space.  Closing the door means no one can see the mess so that’s alright, isn’t it?  But searching for what you need on a Sunday morning is time wasting.  Not knowing you’re out of sticky tape or glue can mean your craft activity can come unstuck!  It’s frustrating for volunteers and children.  So go through the craft cupboard.  You know those 54 thingummy’s you were given 3 years ago that might come in handy some day?  Chuck ‘em.  If you haven’t used them by now you probably won’t.  Store supplies in see through containers so you don’t need to worry about labelling.  It’s so annoying to bring out the jumbo ice-cream container labelled wool to find it holds hardened pieces of playdough.  Take practical steps in organizing craft supplies so you and your kids can be delighted by time spent sitting and making crafts together.

Step 4:  Simplify Wall Decoration

I have to confess that by the end of a term my Kid’s Church space, in the eyes of the uninitiated, may have a negative aesthetic quality in the form of visual pollution.  Memory Verses, Bible story illustrations and crafts fill every wall.  I do think carefully where I display things.  I like symmetry and balance and believe in having negative wall space, but there’s no doubt the room looks like some kind of modern art instillation in its own right.  That’s why I strip nearly everything off the walls between terms.  I have a new theme to decorate to and the walls become a clean canvas.  Take the practical step of simplifying wall decoration so you can have the delightful job of displaying all the wonderful things you have been teaching the children, as a reminder to them, and as a way of communicating that teaching with parents or caregivers.

What’s Delightfully New at Cooee Kid’s Ministry?

Personally, I have been doing a lot of practical things in order to enjoy the delightful ones!  I recently learned how to use a split screen template in my editing program so I could create a new lyric video, ‘Let’s Party with Jesus!’  I am delighted that at the time of writing it has received over 1000 views.

You’ll find it here:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i0pGTP-eoGE

And I was able to release the first lesson of a new series ‘The Woollijumpa Sheep Station’ with a lesson on ‘Sheep Need a Shepherd’.

You’ll find it here:  https://cooeekidsministry.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Sheep-Need-a-Shepherd.pdf

I have plenty more practical steps to take in order to release more delightful content.  I’m preparing to twirl!

God bless you,

Deb Wassenberg