Ruth Bromley, PCI’s Children’s Development Officer, shares her story of recommencing children’s ministry and some simple tips for doing so that might help your congregation take its first steps in doing likewise.

Beginning again

All was ready. The room was marked out. The video was prepped and ready to play. The hand sanitiser was at the door. The other adults were in place to direct the children. We had our masks on and the windows were ajar. And I was a bit nervous! It had been months since we had all been together. What if we got it wrong? What if we had forgotten one crucial piece of protocol? What if the children were not prepared to follow the new way of doing things? What if...?

These, and many other questions, may be swirling around in your head as you plan for and begin in-person children’s ministry.

Possibilities

The first thing about beginning to recommence children’s ministry is to see the possibilities. Make the most of the gradual easing of restrictions to see that you can do some children’s ministry in person with real children in front of you. It may not look like it did in February 2020 to begin with - more on that later - but that is all right. The important thing is to realise that we can have children in the room – in Northern Ireland anyway and soon hopefully also in the Republic of Ireland – and we can spend time together. Being in-person is always going to be better than being online. Even if your online ministry is on Zoom rather than pre-recorded, it cannot compare with seeing and interacting with children in person.

Take your time

The worst thing for everyone at the minute would be a mad rush to plan for the full weekly programme of events pre-pandemic. If lockdowns have taught us anything it may be that slowing down a little can be a positive. We need to set a sensible, gradual pace for the return of church life. So, start with planning for your Sunday morning children’s ministry. Don’t go ‘all bells and whistles’ either, just keep it simple. Then take time and, as restrictions allow, begin to think about what else is needed.

You will also need to prioritise conversations with your leaders about their readiness and willingness to come back, their capacity to lead and the rebuilding of your team. Get together online, or in-person if allowed, to pray and spend time together.

Priorities

As we begin to reintroduce in-person church life and rebuild our children’s ministry, we have the opportunity to identify our key priorities. This allows us to focus on what we might need to tackle first. For example, we may identify pre-school ministry as being vital to reconnect with young families and enable them to return to worship, and this may mean that this takes precedence over other things. Work out what the priorities are for your congregation.

Big question

Not every organisation we had pre-pandemic needs to, or maybe even should, come back. Someone recently said that you should ask yourself the question, “if we did not run this pre-pandemic, would we be starting it up now?” Take some time to reassess and be realistic about what is needed for now and in the future.

Adaptability

Don’t necessarily expect everything to come back smoothly, without any bumps, looking exactly as it did pre-pandemic. You may have different leaders. You may not have the same space that you did because it is being used for other things. You may not have all the children and families returning. You may still be living with restrictions for a while. The programme that you previously ran may also not be possible. Do not see this as a setback but as an opportunity to adapt and work out what it is that you can do, for this season, to reconnect with children and families and have face-to-face ministry. What one-off, short term or occasional events and activities can you do in this time to rebuild those relationships, knowing that this is not set in stone? It is all right in these days to do some things differently or alternative activities.

Some things that you might want to consider are:

1. Could you do some of your children’s ministry outside? Obviously, this needs to work with the weather, but giving a bit more space and scope for activities outside may be a possibility. This may also allow for the removal of masks, the use of movement and space and the ability to use nature to help us to worship and learn about God together. And to simply have fun!
2. Can you use videos to do your Bible teaching when inside to reduce the amount of teaching from one person at the front which may be necessary to begin with as social distancing can make small groups more difficult. There are some resources available to you on the PCI website here.
3. How might you support and enable families to learn together and be discipled as family units during this time?

One thing that is important to keep in mind is that, although the restrictions are really important to understand and the protocols are vital to follow, we need to not be overwhelmed by the current circumstances. They are simply there to keep us all safe and to allow us to run some children’s ministry. We need to remember that the reason that we make the effort and adapt to fit the current climate is to ‘tell the next generation the praiseworthy deeds of the Lord, his power and the wonders he has done’ (Psalm 78:4).

Let me take you back to the story at the beginning. I had so many questions. I was uncertain about how it would all work. That was until the children walked in the door and I remembered the reason for making sure that all the protocols were in place. It was so that we could do ministry with children. It was so that we could see their faces. It was so that we could share from the Bible.

And every single extra thing that we had put in place was worth it for that.

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Next month, Ruth will host a webinar, Fanning the Flame: Together again for children's ministry, to think through and share some ideas of how we can reintroduce children’s ministry creatively in this next season. This webinar is for ministers, elders and those involved in the leadership of children’s ministries in congregations.

• Thursday 3 June 2021
• 8pm - 9.15pm
• Online via Microsoft Teams

Complete the registration form here to book your place for free.

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Ruth Bromley is the Presbyterian Church in Ireland's Children's Development Officer.

This blog is part of the digital programme series, Refined: Fanning the Flame, an emphasis within the Refined initiative on gradually resuming more regular patterns of congregational activity.

Visit the Refined hub here.