Sustainable Children's Ministry

Are you a children's ministry leader on the edge of burnout? Do you find yourself working harder and harder to tame the chaos?Mark DeVries and Annette Safstrom know how you feel. Flash and fizz can be effective at attracting young families, but without sustainable systems beneath the unforgettable moments, the impact is almost always short-lived. In this practical resource, you'll learn how to recruit volunteers, partner with parents, navigate politics, and care for your own soul instead of frantically scrambling to do it all yourself. Sustainable Children's Ministry will help you build a ministry foundation that will still be standing long after you are gone.



Annette Safstrom is a senior consultant, speaker, and trainer with Ministry Architects and has served in children's ministry for over thirty years, including as director of a rapidly growing children's ministry in Texas. She speaks at a variety of children's ministry events, including the Children's Pastors Conference and Group's KidMin Conference.After graduating from Bible college with a certification in children's ministry, Annette earned a bachelor's degree in psychology from Texas A&M University and a master's in research psychology from Southern Methodist University. She and her husband, Kevin, have two children.



Mark DeVries (MDiv, Princeton Theological Seminary) is the founder of Ministry Architects, a consulting team that helps churches and ministry organizations build sustainable ministries for children, youth, young adults, and entire congregations. He served for twenty-eight years as associate pastor for youth and their families at First Presbyterian Church in Nashville, Tennessee. He has trained youth workers on five continents and has taught courses or been a guest lecturer at a number of colleges and seminaries.DeVries is the author of Sustainable Youth Ministry and Family-Based Youth Ministry, coauthor of The Most Important Year in a Woman's Life/The Most Important Year in a Man's Life, and he has been a contributing writer for Josh McDowell's Youth Ministry Handbook, Starting Right, and Reaching a Generation for Christ. In addition, his articles and reviews have been published in a variety of journals and magazines. He and his wife, Susan, have four grown children.

Introduction


1. From Chaos to Clarity: What's So Different About Sustainable Children's Ministry?


2. The Workhorse Syndrome: Moving Beyond a Do-It-Yourself Ministry


3. Beyond Goldfish and Bubble Machines: A Different Way of Doing Children's Ministry


4. Measuring Up: Knowing What It Takes


5. Building Your Ministry with Simple Machines: The Essential Systems for a Sustainable Children's Ministry


6. From Pearls to a Necklace: Putting the Pieces Together


7. Seeing What Others Can't—Yet: Clarifying Your Vision


8. The Delegation Dance: Building Your Ministry Partners


9. Beyond Rotation: Building Your Dream Team


10. Beyond the Victim: Swimming in the Deep Waters of Church Politics


11. Children's Ministry Is Family Ministry: A Recipe for Turning Parents into Partners


12. More Than Planning: The Essential Systems of Chaos Management


13. Your Ministry Marathon: Preparing Yourself to Go the Distance


14. Finding Your Bounce: The Inside Secret of Sustainable Children's Ministry


Acknowledgments


Appendix A: Communication Plan


Appendix B: Sample Goals and Benchmarks


Appendix C: Sample Values Statements


Appendix D: Core Competencies Samples


Appendix E: Resources for Parents


Appendix F: Preventative Maintenance Calendar


Appendix G: Systems Checklist


Appendix H: For Reflection and Discussion


Notes

"Ministry is hard work. I appreciate the honesty of Annette's story and experience. She practically breaks down how to help you develop systems. Whether you're beginning in ministry or on the brink of quitting, this book is a great reminder that it's not about doing ministry alone, but about you and your church thriving as you develop the foundational structure for a fruitful and lasting ministry."



"If you are looking for a book to help you be incredibly strategic with life-changing results in children's ministry, then this book is for you. Think of Mark and Annette as your personal leaders and consultants to help take your ministry to the next level. I love both the strategy and the practicality."



"Mark DeVries and Annette Safstrom have created an amazing resource for churches and their children's ministries. Senior pastors, church governing boards, ministry staff, and volunteers will all benefit from reading Sustainable Children's Ministry. It's not just a collection of good ideas, but a whole systematic approach to enabling your ministry to flourish. DeVries and Safstrom really focus on building a culture of shared ministry so that children's ministry workers do not experience frustration and burnout. Sustainable Children's Ministry is encouraging, inspiring, practical, and an essential addition to any ministry library."



"Wow! This book is awesome. I wish it was in my hands thirty years ago! Finally, we have the definitive children's ministry book. A must-read for leaders. With personal experiences that are all too familiar for those of us in ministry, Mark DeVries and Annette Safstrom provide practical ideas for building solid, impactful opportunities for children and their families. Sustainable Children's Ministry has encouraged and excited me about the future of my ministry!"



"Annette and Mark have given the church a much-needed gift. This book could become a textbook for seminaries and Christian education programs across America! It's a valuable guide for children's directors and pastors of churches who want to faithfully reach the next generation.Annette understands the demands and common challenges facing dedicated children's leaders. In a winsome and vulnerable style, she provides coaching in how to develop strong organizational systems and processes, and personal practices that build a sustainable and joyful ministry. The book is compelling and immensely helpful, and is full of practical tools and a good dose of humor!"



"If it is your hope to help children and parents know that the God of the universe loves them and that they can know, love, and serve this God in return, yet you find yourself frantically busy and overwhelmed, then authors Mark DeVries and Annette Safstrom would diagnose you and your church as suffering from chronic volunteer deficiency. Easy-to-implement remedies are available on every page of their new book Sustainable Children's Ministry. After decades of ministry, I cannot agree more that 'Putting functional systems in place will never be urgent, but without them, everything becomes urgent.' This book just may transform your children's ministry and also restore a sense of joy and purpose to your whole church as together you train up a child."



"There's hope for every tired and frustrated children's ministry worker out there, and you'll find it in this book. It's a step-by-step guide to building a healthy, effective, and collaborative children's ministry, and how to actually enjoy your ministry job again. Don't walk—run to read this book!"



"This is the book I wish I had had twenty years ago when I first started in children's ministry. I knew I wanted to do things differently but was not quite sure how. This is also the book I need to remind me to tend to the systems and not to get bogged down putting out fires. This is a resource that I will not only recommend to those in children's ministry, but will also use myself since so much of it transfers across ministry areas. The work of the church should continue well beyond any one person or leader, and Sustainable Children's Ministry helps the people of God, whether paid or not, to live and serve in the ways God has gifted and called them."



"If you need wise friends to walk you through developing a meaningful children's ministry built around systems that make sense and minimize chaos, take the time to read this book. Full of good advice, real-life examples, and strategies for remaining joyful while serving the church, Annette's and Mark's words are manna for people who want to do this work well for a long time."



"It has been many years since I received that frantic call from my pastor saying that the previous children's pastor just resigned and he thought I'd be perfect for the job. I suspect that many children's pastors backed their way into ministry in much the same way that I did. I've learned a lot in the intervening years of ministry. And some of that learning came from the work of Mark DeVries, who came to my aid many times over the years with his innovative writing in the area of youth and family ministry. Now, with the partnership of an experienced children's pastor, Annette Safstrom, Mark has finally moved into my neighborhood of children's ministry. In a practical and easy-to-read way, this book will introduce you to key systems for ministry, providing a solid foundation for your ministry to thrive. As I read this systematic and well-organized book, I wished that I'd had such an easy-to-follow plan all those years ago. It would have saved my sanity over and over again!" weniger anzeigen expand_less