2. Tapping into Teen Helpers
in Children’s Ministry
KIDMIN 2012 (#kidmin12)
Anthony Prince
3. You’ll Never Have
Enough Volunteers
• Recruiting Teens into Children’s Ministry
can be a part of your solution
• Recruiting Teens into Children’s Ministry
cannot be your entire solution
4. Why Teens Need to Serve
• We learn through experience
• Scripture comes to life when you teach it
• Models for children what a teenager who
loves Jesus can look like
6. Churches and families overestimate youth group
graduates’ readiness for the struggles ahead with dire
consequences for the faith.
•Only one in seven high school seniors report feeling
prepared to face the challenges of college life with few
ready for the intensity of the college experience:
loneliness, the search for new friends, being completely
on their own for the first time, and the sudden
availability of partying.
•One pervasive struggle for college students is finding a
new church, as evident by the 40 percent of freshman
who report difficulty doing so. Young people
retrospectively report that the first two weeks of their
college freshman year set the trajectory for their
remaining years in school.
7. • Intergenerational Insight #1: Involvement in all-
church worship during high school is more
consistently linked with mature faith in both high
school and college than any other form of church
participation.
• Intergenerational Insight #2: The more students
serve and build relationships with younger children,
the more likely it is that their faith will stick.
8. Why Teens Need to Serve
• Adds other non-parental adult voices in
the lives of students
• Provides a connection to the
congregation at a multigenerational level
• Service is a key indicator of a student
sticking with their faith after high school
9. There is no
“Junior” Holy Spirit
• The same God who gives adults spiritual
gifts also gives students spiritual gifts
• Many of the Disciples were teenagers
• The church began as a youth group who
served. That seemed to work out.
11. You Need a Plan
• Ideal Volunteer Entry Process
12. Volunteer Entry Process
I want to volunteer…
1.Do you know where?
2.1 week shadow
3.Given application
4.Phone call or email – any questions?
5.Assigned as a shadow for two more weeks
6.Email or phone call of affirmation – you’re doing great!
7.Talk about permanent placement – will they thrive?
8.After 3 weeks of shadowing, volunteer can be placed with
a signed job description (place w/ partner)
9.2 month follow up - email or phone call
10.Put 1 year anniversary on calendar
13. You Need a Plan
• Ideal Volunteer Entry Process
• Volunteer Role Description
• Background Checks / Training
• Protect your leaders and your children
14. Start with Baby Steps
• Are there youth already serving?
• Are there youth interested in serving?
• Are there events on your calendar where
you need lots of one-time volunteers
15. Serving Should Not
Replace Worship
• You are a part of the congregation
• Your adults volunteers are too
• Your teens need to feel like they belong
16. Practical Next Steps
• Who do you need to talk to?
• Set a “1 Year from Now” Goal
• Brainstorm Best Fits for Teens