Typically, children's ministry leaders focus most of their
attention on kids, parents, volunteers, and staff. Many don't
consider their senior pastor on the list of those they lead. Or at
least those they lead well. Bill Hybels, one of the leading pastors
in America, offers a different perspective. Discover what you can
do to work effectively with your senior pastor.
Bill, the senior pastor of Willow Creek Community Church in
Barrington, Illinois, and author of Courageous Leadership,
often speaks to church leaders on the critical role they play in
their local churches. In a candid conversation about effective
leadership in children's ministry, Bill provides specific examples
and practical approaches you can use to work well with your senior
pastor.
David: In the early days of your church, you
were not a big proponent of children's ministry. Today you're a
very vocal supporter. What caused you, as a senior pastor, to make
such a big change?
Bill: I admit I was a late-arriver to see the
value children's ministry could bring to Willow Creek. It started
when, occasionally, a mother or father would share excitement over
how much their kids learned in Promiseland. [Promiseland is Willow
Creek's children's ministry.] Parents noticed that their kids were
changing, and that grabbed my attention. Then I would run into
volunteers fired up about working with children. I never really
looked at children's ministry as a place where scores or even
hundreds of volunteers could find their most meaningful place of
service in the church. I always thought most people would find that
adult ministry was the place to use their gifts. But a picture was
developing of kids' lives changing -- and a place where significant
numbers of volunteers were using their spiritual gifts.
Then came a real turning point. Promiseland began to align all
its horsepower with the overall objectives of our church. Sue
Miller [Promiseland's executive director] began to vision-cast and
challenge nonmember volunteers to join the church. Then she
transitioned to a small group structure designed to intentionally
shepherd all kids and volunteers. And to help our church's efforts
to care for the poor, Promiseland kids, with adult supervision, had
begun to serve meals to homeless people at our church -- building
compassion into children's hearts. When I saw all the ways our
children's ministry was in stride with the goals and priorities of
our entire church, I said, "This is genius." All of a sudden, I
realized we were all playing on the same team, going in the same
direction.
David: What's important for children's ministry
directors to understand about their senior pastor?
Bill: I've never seen a day where it's harder to
be a senior pastor than this day, and I've never seen senior
pastors under higher levels of stress. And that's for good reason.
The world is changing, ministry is harder, preaching is harder,
team-building is harder, and fund raising is harder. Capturing the
attention of lost people is more difficult, and people are more
broken. So there's a lot going on in a senior pastor's mind.
And despite appearances, we're not as dumb as we look! Pastors
know if life change is happening. So when we don't see some
indication from parents or kids to that effect, if there's no sign
of passionate volunteers in children's ministry, if we can't find
obvious evidence of a ministry's alignment with the rest of the
church, we will turn our attention to areas that'll show that kind
of impact.
David: How would you counsel children's
ministry leaders who have a difficult time just getting the
attention of, or establishing credibility with, their senior
pastor?
Bill: As a children's ministry director, you know
you must lead down. You have other staff members or volunteers to
lead through vision-casting and team-building. You have to motivate
and inspire. You engineer change, and then establish and enforce
values. You develop future leaders. Everyone will agree all of this
is very important and your responsibility. What most people don't
understand, though, is that leadership also requires that you learn
to lead up.
David: What are actions that children's
ministry leaders can take in leading up to their senior pastor? And
how are these effective?
Bill: First and foremost, it requires
relationships. You can't lead up well unless it's to a person who
knows you and knows your heart. That's been true with Sue and
me.
When she has a big issue and says, "Bill, I don't bother you
much, but this is one where I need to ask for some time," then I
trust her. So build a relationship that respects your pastor's
time. Leading up also requires you to use influence and cast vision
so the person you report to can see a picture he or she might not
see now.
Unfortunately, when most pastors see a children's ministry
director coming, the only vision they see is someone who wants
more: more staff, more square footage, more toys, more diapers, or
more money. So try this -- say to your senior pastor, "Could I have
30 minutes of your time? I'll bring the meal or buy the lunch. I'm
not going to ask you for more money, more staff, more anything. I
just want to paint a picture of the children's ministry we're
dreaming up, and I want to show you what a huge win it'll be for
the whole church." Now you're talking the senior pastor's
language.
Sue sells me on vision all the time. If we're walking out to our
cars together after a Sunday service, she'll say, "I met about six
new families. Their kids love Promiseland. Their parents will be
back." That's code, meaning I ought to like what they're doing
because it helps me too. Pastors need to see that if children's
ministry wins during the services, then there's a much stronger
likelihood that new families are going to come back. So talk often
about this win-win situation.
David: What would you say to people whose
senior pastors are resistant to someone leading up?
Bill: Take an honest look at how you're trying to
lead up. Do you go to the pastor's door constantly? Do you send
frequent pleas for financial help? Think relational intelligence.
When was the last time you wrote a word of encouragement to the
senior pastor for the content or delivery of his message? When was
the last time you said, "Most of the time I am in the children's
ministry, but I really honor your teaching for our entire church
body." Back that statement up by making sure your ministry
volunteers serve at one weekend service and attend another.
David: What communication do you like to
receive from your children's ministry?
Bill: An information loop is very important. At
least one time a week, I'd suggest writing a personal note to the
senior pastor telling him about some good thing going on in
children's ministry. "We've added another volunteer this week and
thought you'd want to know and rejoice with us." Or, "Had a kid
pray for the first time in fourth grade -- first time he ever
prayed out loud. Just wanted you to know that there's probably a
family celebrating this." Maybe try, "Just want you to know that I
think you do a great job and I'm proud to be on your staff." And
definitely, "You'll never know how grateful we were for your
mention of children's ministry this weekend." Authentic affirmation
and encouragement go a long way.
David: On a number of occasions, you've said,
"Senior pastors, if you have one ministry card to play, invest in
your children's ministry." What do you mean?
Bill: Throughout the years, society offers the
church just a certain number of entrance ramps into the
"non-church" world. At times it's been sports. Then it was marriage
enrichment. Today I believe the single remaining common interest or
entrance point for non-churched people into the life of the church
is children. No matter how lost a guy is, he still usually loves
his son. And no matter how off track a woman is, she still has a
soft place in her heart for her kids. This means we have a
wide-open door to almost every family in every community worldwide
when we love and serve their kids. If a kid comes home from a
children's ministry and says, "I met some kids, I had fun and loved
it, and I want to go back," most of the time a parent will say,
"okay," and then return to that church. From a strategic
standpoint, to reach families, it's a wise investment. From the
perspective that a lot of volunteers are raised up, it's also a
win. There are church-wide benefits on all sides of a thriving
children's ministry.
David: Describe what you and other senior
pastors want to see in your children's ministry director.
Bill: I look at the "non-spectacular" side that
many folks never see. Does he or she show up with work gloves and
work boots and work hard? You don't have to change your
personality, IQ, or anything else to do that. Just show up with a
monstrous work ethic to build a children's ministry. Secondly, I
look for a flat-out passion for kids. You don't get that from a
college degree, and you don't have to become any smarter or
funnier. You can just be you and be passionate about kids. When you
love kids when no one's looking, God's going to use you. And that
goes for volunteers, too.
David: What's your outlook for children's
ministry throughout the kingdom?
Bill: Seven or eight years ago during my travels,
I really thought children's ministry as a part of the church was
going to die. For years I never heard of a single positive
children's ministry breakthrough in any of the countries that I
visited. But that's changing. For example, at the first Promiseland
conference, just a few hundred leaders from across the country
gathered to get real serious about the future of children's
ministry. Then the next year several more came, and even more the
year after that. Now more than 4,000 attend. It's clear that an
increasing number of leaders are devoting themselves to changing
the belief system for the future of children's ministry; they're
not going to let children's ministry fade away and die.
You give a fully yielded life to God, and let your passion for
children get stoked on a regular basis, find your spiritual gifts,
honor volunteers, and put your work gloves on every day -- God will
build a great ministry through you because he will notice. Second
Chronicles 16:9 says, "For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro
throughout the whole earth, to show himself strong on behalf of
those whose heart is loyal to him." These are the people helping
all of us believe there's going to be a whole new run, a whole new
day, a whole new revolution in children's ministry. cm
David Staal is the Promiseland Director for the Willow Creek
Association. For more information, visit www.promiselandonline.com.
Please keep in mind that phone numbers, addresses, and
prices are subject to change.
