What Are the Responsibilities of Children's Ministry Leaders?

How Vacation Bible School, Sunday School, or Bible Club leaders interact with their students has been compared to the job of a counselor, adviser, peer, and coach. But the best description of a leader in Children's Ministry is as an architect.

An architect designs buildings, planning for physical stress, making them as functional as possible, and creating them to be pleasing to others. But once the design is finished, the architect's role is done. He has to let other people lay the brick and pound the nails. He has to let other people live and work in the buildings. An architect may work on a project for months or even years, so his job requires patience and endurance. Yet the architect is simply a planner; others will actually create the buildings and use them.

In many ways, the job of a leader in Children's Ministry is similar to the role of an architect. It takes patience and endurance. A leader can only influence the students with whom he or she works; the students will be the ones who decide how they will respond to the "plan" the leader has presented to them.

Whether you are a leader in a one-week VBS or a weekly Sunday School or Bible Club, think of yourself as an "architect" in helping develop the lives of your students. Your responsibilities as a leader in ministry can include the following activities:

• Lead weekly meetings.
• Plan and help lead parties and special activities.
• Work closely with the students (and parents) in creating meetings and events that interest them and help to meet their needs.
• Get to know each child in your group by name. Invite them to your house or to the church for a special activity or party.
• Develop a solid relationship with each child. Be sure all children are nurtured - not just a few.
• Have periodic prayer and sharing sessions with the pastoral staff of your church. Communicate victories and needs to them for their prayer and assistance.
• Personally, pray regularly for each student individually and for your Children's Ministry in general.
• Faithfully attend the services of your church, not only because you need the spiritual nourishment, but also because you are an example to the children who are watching you.
• Live an exemplary, Christ-honoring life before your students.

"Developing caring, Christian relationships" best sums up the role and results of effective children's ministry. The leader who establishes and nurtures Christian relationships with students and their parents, while growing in his or her own relationship with Jesus Christ, will experience great joy and effectiveness as a leader-servant.