Monday morning. It follows a weekend of ministry while simultaneously ushering in a new week of ministry opportunities. Successful children’s ministry leaders know how important it is to start their week off strategically and not just stumble through it. Here are 10 things they do to ensure Monday propels them forward to a great week of ministry.
1. They re-fill their tank. A weekend of ministry can drain your tank. You give…give…and give all weekend. It can deplete you emotionally and physically. Successful children’s ministry leaders know this and take time to re-fill their tank on Monday morning through time with God and meditating on His Word.
For many who are in full-time vocational ministry, Monday is their day off and they take time to rest and replenish physically as well. Whether Monday is your day off or not, it should be a day where you find time to re-fill your tank in some way.
2. They write appreciation notes. They take time to write at least four to five appreciation notes to volunteers, parents and co-workers.
3. They look back and learn. They look back at the weekend, ask these three questions and learn from the answers.
• What went well?
• What needs to be improved, changed or stopped?
• How did we see God move? What life change can we celebrate?
4. They check the dashboard. These are vitals like attendance, first-time guests, volunteers, salvations, baptisms, return guests, etc. They look for patterns, trends, areas of strength and areas that need attention. They keep a pulse on what areas are growing, plateauing or declining.
5. They make a to-do-list for the week. They plan out their work for the week. This includes incorporating any notes they made coming out of the weekend.
6. They prioritize their work. They prioritize the list they made to ensure the most important things…the biggest impact things…the things that will move the ministry forward…get done. This includes focusing on the things only he or she can do as the leader and delegating the rest when possible.
7. They prepare for meetings. If they have meetings with staff, volunteers, parents or other leaders, they prepare.
8. They make sure new families will be followed up with. Whether it’s a postcard, phone call, email, text or other form of communication, they make sure new families are contacted within 48 hours of their visit.
9. They respond to emails. Instead of letting emails pile up, they get to them early.
10. They send a report to their pastor or direct report. They are pro-active in keeping their pastor updated by sending a brief report from the weekend about what went well, improvement steps and praise reports.
