Ten Training Ideas
To train?…or not to train?…is often the question that churches ask about their leaders. Parents say "We want trained leaders!" Teachers say, "We’re busy. We don’t have time for long training sessions!" So…what are 10 "easy" ideas/options when it comes to training your kids ministry leaders? Consider these…
- Train your leaders during the Sunday School hour on Sunday mornings. After all, at this time slot, teachers are already present! Enlist parents to fill in for that one Sunday.
- Utilize mentoring. Invite new, less experienced leaders to observe in a veteran teacher’s room on Sunday morning. Enlist a parent to sub for that one week only.
- Choose veteran teachers to lead short, informative, inspiring sessions. Sometime teachers will be motivated to attend if they know one of their "peers" is presenting.
- Take a kids leader with you on a hospital/or home visit. Let them know that they are to relax and just observe and listen. Talk about the visit afterward.
- Invite your pastor in for a "brief" presentation to your leaders about his vision and his appreciation for all that kids leaders do.
- Provide "ParentLife" magazines at one of your leader meetings. Challenge each teacher to read at least three articles to help them be a better teacher/understand kids better. If your church does not already offer ParentLife, maybe a few of your teachers will be encouraged to subscribe.
- A few days prior to a training session, email each teacher and ask them to observe children in their world during the week (while shopping, on TV, at a recreational event, and bring at least one idea to the meeting about the importance of impacting the lives of kids.
- Find a blog on kids ministry that you like. Email or tweet your leaders bringing to their attention a specific post.
- Send emails to leaders spotlighting a specific teacher related to catching them doing something right…this will help you indirectly encourage teachers to learn from this example and put into their teaching the same practice.
- Consider an adult SS Bible study once a month for your teachers helping them overview the next month’s unit "on an adult level." You could lead this or invite a teacher in your church to be the leader. Remember…to teach is to learn twice!
