God is always on time! Easter, however, is a bit late this year! For many of you, this could mean that Easter Sunday falls right in the middle of your school’s Spring Break, which can wreak havoc on your leadership!
While our heart’s desire as kids ministry leaders is to have consistent teachers in every room every Sunday, in reality, sometimes that just doesn’t happen. This may be one of those times. The best we can do is recruit substitute volunteers who’ve been prescreened and have a heart for sharing Christ with kids. To help with that, we have to make it as easy as possible for them to be able to step in – sometimes at the last minute.
Here are four tips to help you stay out of crisis mode on Easter morning!
- Plan ahead! Even if right now your Easter morning appears to be fully staffed, last-minute trips and illness will almost certainly happen! Recruit a list of volunteers who will agree to be on “stand-by” mode.
- Bribery does help. Offer to have a special Easter morning breakfast ready for those volunteers so they have one less thing to worry about. This will help them get there early, too!
- Prepare a tub of resources for each class to help ensure that the Resurrection of Christ is celebrated and not the Easter Bunny. Stock the tub with the Bible story and activities appropriate for the age group.
- Coloring pages are an option for a very simple activity. Remind your volunteers to make this a teaching time by sitting down with the kids as they color their masterpieces and discuss how the picture relates to Easter. Here are a couple of coloring pages for you: Jesus is Alive! and He has Risen!
Download Jesus is Alive! coloring page. (PDF)
Download He has Risen! coloring page. (PDF)
Now, with all this in place, remember that just as sure as God can raise the dead, He WILL take care of your needs on this day of Celebrating His Risen Son!
Blessings!
Klista Storts is a Kids Ministry Specialist at LifeWay Christian Resources. Before coming to LifeWay, she served as the Weekday and Preschool Specialist at the Tennessee Baptist Convention and as Director of Preschool Ministries at churches in Oklahoma and Tennessee. Klista has a passion for equipping leaders to share the love of Christ and lay foundations for conversion in the lives of kids.
