Coming Back to Club Part 3: How to Facilitate Change to Move Your Ministry Forward

We’ve all either been affected by change in the past year or effected the change. Because life dictates that things never stay the same, chances are there will be more to come. If you are involved in making a change, the speakers from our recent Coming Back to Club online event have these tips to make the process easier for all involved.

Put first things first: “Pray,” says Bob Bob Bennett, Awana missionary to Pennsylvania and New York. “You know we need to be in prayer. We need to make sure the change is not just something that’s more convenient for [us] and going to impose [our] will, but it’s something God has led us to.”

Besides staying close to God through prayer, Bob recommends you have meaningful communication both upwards – to church leadership, if necessary. And then outwards – to anyone who would be affected by the change.

How to Communicate With Church Leadership

When communicating with your pastor, elders or children’s director, Bob cautions you to not go to them on a Sunday morning, when their mind is on the service. Make an appointment. Schedule enough time so no one feels rushed. 

“When you bring the idea for the change to them,” says Bob, “you also need to say why you need it. Then [they’re] going to need time to process that and really ask questions.”

Bob explains that if you get what appears to be push-back from church leadership, remain calm and realize the people you are speaking to may not spend a lot of time in your children’s ministry and need to understand the situation a bit more in order to determine how they can help.

“Don’t get offended or upset,” he says. “[They’re] just trying to process … if this is going to be a good move and what can we do.”

If you remain calm, you can work together to plan a strategy for implementing your change – or even a better one! Says Bob, “I’ve met a lot of people over the years who are very passionate about the ministry they’re working with, especially if they come up with an idea for change that they think is going to help them reach more kids. It’s great to show passion, but not to make it an emotionally charged meeting.”

“I’m a big fan of preparing,” says Andrea Perkins, missionary to the Heart of Texas. Before she meets with anyone in leadership, she puts together a proposal, “one page with plenty of white space.” Included on it are the need for the change, what you intend to do, how it fits the vision and mission of your church, who will be impacted and how much it will cost. Doing so gives the people you’re speaking to something to take with them, research and consider. 

“Hopefully you can get to yes for what you want,” she says.

Melanie Hester recommends meeting with them on a regular basis before you have a change. She suggests you “Pitch it to your pastor, ‘ Hey, I’d like to meet with you twice a year at a minimum.’” 

The first meeting would be to cast vision for where you’re headed. At the second meeting you would show your pastor all that God did. And perhaps you want a midpoint meeting to let your pastor know how things are going.

“If you guys can connect specifically outside of changes, then you’ve already created a framework to be able to have conversations when changes are needed to happen,” says Melanie.

How to Communicate to Others

As important as it is for you and church leadership to be on the same page, it’s pertinent that families affected by your change are not caught off guard. Bob likens it to casting a net to catch fish.

“We need to cast a vision to others … to the people we work with, the parents and even to the kids,” he says. “If that can be centered around your church’s vision and mission statement … all that alignment is so important.”

When everyone understands the need for the change, says Bob, it’s a “no-brainer.” But what about when they don’t? When that happens, he suggests you pause, return to prayer and see if you need to make adjustments to align. The important thing, he says, is to communicate to anyone who would be impacted.

“Nobody likes to be surprised by something that’s going to be changed,” says Bob. Before it appears in a public announcement or on your website, “make sure you go personally to [anyone who would be affected] or have a small group meeting where you can discuss the issue.”

To make the meeting and changes go more smoothly, he recommends you prepare a list of frequently asked questions. You may not know yet what questions you’ll be asked, but you can proactively plan for them. In the end, your list becomes a useful tool for your directors as they share the news with others. 

“They can use the talking points to make sure [you’re] all on the same page, seeing things the same way,” he says.

Change is Hard for Everyone

Change is difficult for anybody on every level.

Whether you get the answer [or response] you want or not, “there’s always a solution,” says Tyler O’Donnell, missionary in Kansas and U.S. field director.

When you don’t get what your heart was set on, it’s important to take that “position of humility,” says Andrea, “because your ministry has seasons where you don’t get everything you want. Those things are for a reason. … None of those pinch points are surprising to God, and none of them are going to hamper His ability to bring His Gospel to people He is calling.”

For biblical direction on how to implement change, Tyler recommends reading the book of Nehemiah and the prayerful request Nehemiah took to the king.

The past two weeks, we’ve presented you with tips and ideas to help you relaunch your children’s ministry for the fall, including how to recruit and how to retain leader volunteers, what’s essential in child discipleship, and why its important to evaluate your ministry as a starting point to greater success. 

This topic and the others are covered in more detail in our recent Coming Back to Club online event and our free Back-to-Club Guide. For more ways to prepare for the coming ministry year, check out our free resources,  read our blogs and join us at the Child Discipleship Forum, Sept. 15 and 16 in Nashville and online. 

How has the three-part Coming Back to Club series helped you plan for ministry this fall? Let us know in the comments.