What is lacking in your children’s ministry right now? What do you want the Wednesday night program to do that no other program is doing?

These are very important questions to ask. Look at your entire children’s ministry and write out what your goals are for each program you run. What do you want the Sunday school to teach and do? What is the children’s church teaching and accomplishing? What should the Wednesday night program accomplish and teach? Many churches don’t know these answers, so the result is every ministry tries to accomplish every task. For instance, Sunday school has a memory verse and a devotional they send home, children’s church has a memory verse and a take home sheet. The children’s choir gives a prize for memorizing a verse. Then on Wednesday there are more verses. The teaching is probably random as well.

Our suggestion is you gather all your children’s workers and lay out the goals for each program. Give specific goals for each program and show those teachers and workers how the programs complement each other. Your proposal may look something like this:

Sunday School

This program will teach our children the content of Scripture. The materials teach all the Bible stories and a chronology of the Bible. By the time a child leaves this program, he will learn: the books of the Bible, how to find all 66 books, and all the main stories of the Bible.

Children’s Church (or other Summer Program)

This program will teach our children how to be a godly person and how to sing for the glory of God. The materials the children are taught teach children to have the character of Christ and to sing in a proper way. By the time a child leaves this program, he will have learned: all the character traits the Bible teaches a Christian should have and a number of godly songs.

Wednesday Night

This program will teach our children the core doctrines of our faith and help evangelize our community. The materials the children go through help them memorize the word of God, do their daily devotions, and learn Biblical doctrine. By they time a child leaves this program, he will have learned: all the verses important to have memorized and all the doctrines that define our faith.

Do you have a video that lays out how we can do this?

This message lays out how a church can partner with parents to disciple their children. It was preached and presented at Calvary Baptist Church in Simpsonville, SC by Pastor Ben Ice. It is called Learning and Living: Partnering with Parents in Discipling Children.

Here is a handout that was used as a guide for parents.