Ever heard yourself say ‘if only I had more leaders’?

It’s a common problem and with the new year beginning and as kid’s church, kid’s club or other ministries start to crank up for another year, you may find yourself asking the same question.

When I left Bible College and first started out as a children’s minister we had about 75 to 100 kids coming every week, but the leaders numbers had fallen sharply before I arrived and the losses continued for the first six months or so of my time.  The church expected the existing program and the service of the past to continue without recognising that something significant had to give. Your situation may be different but like me I reckon you’ll want to give it your best shot, so what can you do?

Here are two ideas that I think you need to consider. One is short-term and the other a more long-term decision, both are proactive.

Win any senior staff over to your position ASAP

The first one is to make some structural changes to the existing ministry so that the remaining leadership can effectively continue with the teaching of the Bible to children. Put simply: you can’t just keep on doing the same style and type of program with a small-team that previously required a large team to pull it off.  Something’s gotta give.

But here’s a little secret for you, make sure you win the ear and obtain the vocal support of the remaining ministry team and church organisational body. If you don’t it could unintentionally wind up being a battle of you versus them, which is unhelpful. They need to ‘get it’ and create the space for you to modify the ministry, protecting you from the inevitable parental complaints. Now if your boss isn’t prepared to weather some storms for you, you may have to look for another church. A junior member of staff can only be as effective as the space the senior minister is prepared to create for him/her. Put simply, ‘it’s his/her lounge room and they have to move the furniture so you’ve got somewhere to sit’.

Invest in people and they will become the leaders of the future

You also must consciously look around at the people you have and make sure that you invest in them as people so that they are inspired and equipped to be the leaders they are.  Be thankful for them and work within their strengths. Change the ministry so that they can be more effective with the gifts they have. Of course we can all be stretched and doing new things is good for us. But you really have to work within your means. Love and treasure these people where they are and prayerfully take them on a journey. I’ll take longer to shape and growers leaders because they are older and have been influenced by other leadership that you have not had any control over.

The other decision is to recognise those who could be leaders that are not yet. In the children’s church there was a whole stream every year of children aged 12 and 13. These boys and girls were a little bit too old for kids church and were too young to stay at home by themselves while mum and dad came to church, but who could help in various ways. Folks these are your leaders of the future. These are the ones you can shape and form exactly according to your template. These are the ones that will get you, be loyal to you and gladly serve having benefited from the style and shape of the ministry they were once a recipient of.

Don’t miss this opportunity. Don’t neglect this opportunity by using them as ‘runners’ or grunt fodder for your grand schemes. Make sure you intentionally spend time praying for them, working alongside them and dropping little nuggets of proactive, planned training that will boost their capacity and confidence to lead in the future.

You’ll be amazed what sturdy people they become and over a few years you may even stop asking that question ‘ if only I had more leaders’.