Kidmin Leaders Struggle With FOMO, Too

Everyone’s headed to the beach after VBS, and you’re still teaching a handful of kids on Wednesday night because the volunteers and families have left town. When you do go on vacation, you head the opposite direction to attend the annual family reunion. Does that describe your summer prior to COVID-19? It does mine; however, this summer is different.

VBS has been postponed for a month and will be in a city park, mission trip style. Our family reunion in Texas was on Zoom. We’re not meeting at church on Wednesday nights, and we are doing virtual preschool Sunday School on Sunday mornings. But, my colleagues and friends are still going to the beach. So, I have a touch of FOMO (fear of missing out).

FOMO isn’t relegated to the summer. We can be tempted all year long to look at other churches, kids ministries, kids ministry leaders, and our own church families and feel like we’re missing out on all the fun. Some other ways we experience FOMO in the kidmin world include:

• Our kidmin attendance is not as big as everyone else’s.
• We don’t have new kidmin facilities like the church across town.
• We’re not doing anything cool or innovative for VBS this year like other churches are in the midst of a global pandemic.
• We don’t have a big kidmin budget.
• I’m not as creative as my kidmin friends on social media are.

If you’re not already depressed, consider making your own FOMO list. Or, don’t. I believe that Satan uses the fear of missing out to tempt us to focus on ourselves rather than placing our attention where it truly belongs—on Jesus. 

Here are three simple ways to avoid kidmin FOMO:

• Spend time with God in prayer and Bible study, focusing on the person of Jesus. Doing so gets your mind off of yourself.
• Resist comparing yourself, your family, your church, and your kids ministry to others. God has placed you and your church in your community for a purpose.
• Limit your social media intake. Spending too much time following kidmin conversations can leave you disillusioned and unhappy.

Perhaps FOMO is not an issue for you. If so pray right now, thanking God that He has freed you from this temptation. If you are like I am, however, you are prone to FOMO and the many forms in which it appears. Ask Jesus to help you avoid falling into Satan’s trap. Remember, the grass is greener on the other side of the fence until you climb over the fence, set foot in another person’s pasture, and come face-to-face with an Angus bull.

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Landry Holmes is the Manager of Lifeway Kids Publishing and Network Partnerships. A graduate of Howard Payne University and Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Landry served on church staffs before joining Lifeway Kids. He is a church leader, writer, workshop facilitator, and publisher.  Landry also teaches children at his church in Middle Tennessee. He and his wife Janetta are the parents of two adult sons and two daughters-in-law, and the grandparents of four adorable grandchildren.