Guest Post: Level Up with These Ten Questions in 2023

Taking your organization to the next level in 2023 is a worthy goal. To help, we are sharing a guest post from one of the children’s ministry’s most esteemed thought leaders – Dale Hudson. If you have spent time serving kids or youth, you may have heard his name, attended one of his workshops or speaking sessions, or read one of his books.

Dale takes a no-nonsense approach to leadership development and is passionate about helping ministry leaders thrive and grow while embracing their organization’s unique calling. In the Post, Dale calls out ten big questions every leader should ask in 2023 to take their organization to the next level.

Wow! It’s already February! I hope you and your ministry are off to a great start.

I was thinking yesterday about what it will take to get our ministries to the next level.  When I am not traveling and speaking, I volunteer in the children’s ministry at my home church.  We are growing, but I believe we are just scratching the surface of what God wants to do in us and through us.

We are all looking for answers that will help our ministry get to the next level.  But remember this, great answers come from asking great questions.  I’m not going to share my answers because each church is different, and these are things you need to find the answer to in your local context.

That being said, here are 10 questions we should be asking in this new year and opportunity for ministry.

1. How can we get more guests to return?

The national return average for churches is about 7%.  How can you raise your return rate to 20%? 30%?  Increasing the percentage of guests who return to your church will bring automatic growth.

2. How can we better equip parents to lead their children spiritually?

We all know that parents are the biggest spiritual influence in the life of a child.  We try to equip them for this task in a variety of ways.  Often, we get frustrated at the results.  Are parents using the take-home papers that we send?  Are conversations about the lesson happening at home?  Are they engaging with online content we have created for them?  Do they even open the emails we send to them?  Are they engaging with our social media posts?

It’s time to sit down and have a conversation.  Include parents in the conversation.  Ask them how you can better partner with them?  What would be the best discipleship plan for their weekly family flow?  What discipleship tools work best for them?  What do they need from you to help them raise their children to love Jesus?

3. Who can we invite to join our volunteer team this week?

Your children’s ministry will never rise above the strength of your volunteer team.  Building a great volunteer team takes a lot of determination.  And remember this…you have not because you ask not.  Don’t complain about not having volunteers if you are not asking new people to join your team on a weekly basis.

Everyone on your staff team should have a list of people they are inviting to serve.  Hold each other accountable for this.

4. What is going well in the ministry?

What are you currently doing that is bearing fruit?  Do you need to add even more fuel to that fire to enlarge the spiritual influence?  Fan the flame for what is going well.

5. Is there anything we need to tweak, adjust or stop doing? 

Ask this question every single week.  Ask key volunteers and staff members to answer this question.  This gives you the opportunity to improve the ministry every single week.

6. How can we see kids and families be more consistent in their church attendance?

This is a big question that everyone is asking. We know that a big percentage of families only come to church once every three to four weeks.  What can we do to see them attend more consistently?

7. How can we get kids involved in serving?

We know that kids who serve are more likely to grow up and serve Jesus for a lifetime.  How can we instill in them a heart for serving others? What are some opportunities we can provide for them to serve?  How can we help them serve outside and inside of the church?

8. How can we help children develop a solid faith foundation? 

Today’s kids are facing an avalanche of heretical doctrine.  They are told that Jesus is not the only way to heaven.  They are told that we should never take a stand against a different religion.  We are not helping the situation by teaching values instead of solid doctrine that emphasizes the great truths of God’s Word.

The generations coming behind us are Biblically illiterate.  How can we change that?

9. What is it going to take to see the ministry grow this year?  

More space?  Adding a service?  Going multi-site?  Better guest retention as mentioned earlier?  Encouraging children to bring their unchurched friends, family, neighbors, and teammates?

What is standing in the way of us growing?  What obstacles are hindering us?  How can we remove these things?

10. If we had a magic wand that we could wave and one thing would immediately change, what would that be?

I’d love to see some of your answers to these questions.  Also, what are some other big questions that we need to be asked?

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Photo by Matt Walsh on Unsplash