WILLOW Magazine, Volume 15, Issue 1 Ministry Connections: Children by David Staal & Ashley Cornelius Ministry That Rocks I love children’s ministry. Even in the tough times. One recent Sunday morning, an unusually high number of volunteers cancelled. Not good. Unfortunately, nearly all serve in the same area — the toddlers room. Very not good. Fifteen minutes into the 9 a.m. service, I found myself pushing a giant stroller with four toddlers while I held an especially fussy young one in my left arm. OK, this qualified as one of the tough times. Fortunately, the stroller group quickly calmed down. But not Adam, who remained on my shoulder. His little hands now clung tight to my shirt. I found him a fresh blanket, we sat in a rocker, and then we glided back and forth until he fell asleep — as did my left arm and leg. Clearly, Adam just needed to feel comfortable. So do parents. No, we don’t need to rock moms and dads to sleep — that’s what big church is for! OK, I’m just kidding; humor is a healthy thing. A more serious issue, though, is the need to help parents feel comfortable with our ministry. After all, they must decide to entrust us with what’s most precious in life to them (their children) — and we rely on them to make that same trust-filled decision every week. The place to start when faced with this “comfort” challenge is to build a communication channel with parents — which will serve as a foundation for trust. Over the last two years, our ministry dedicated ourselves to better communication practices with families in order to satisfy three goals: 1) To build relationships with parents so that they see our ministry as a valuable partner who supports their child’s spiritual development 2) To relay relevant, important information that parents will appreciate 3) To inspire, encourage, and challenge parents. While we don’t have it all figured out and certainly haven’t revolutionized the world of communication, our focus seems to have resulted in a stronger partnership with parents — as evidenced by positive comments and less confusion. Along the way, we learned plenty. To begin, we decided to recognize reality. Mail, e-mail, e-news, special offers, taglines, hurry-now-because-this-ends-soon, and can’t-miss opportunities — it seems communication has become over-saturated, watered-down, and down-right futile. So what hope exists for those of us in ministry with something important to say? Plenty — when you communicate with purpose. Or you can call it “common sense communication.” Based on multiple years’ experiences, we learned five key lessons: 1) Over-communication is the kiss of death. Eventually — and maybe quickly — people will see your return address and immediately discount whatever is inside. 2) Plain letters are boring — no matter what the letterhead looks like or how cleverly worded. 3) Only communicate when you have something to say. And blatantly state how and why the information you share is relevant to parents. 4) Alternate between mailing communication pieces and handing materials out in your ministry — variety is good! 5) How and what you communicate is a critical factor in defining the reputation and culture of your ministry. Use creativity in the look, and insist on high quality. When Adam’s parents came to pick him up after the service, they thanked us for making Adam comfortable enough to sleep — a challenge they face daily. I shook hands with Adam’s dad and thanked him for trusting us with his son. Then I went to our break area for a cup of coffee, and chuckled about Adam’s drool mark on my shoulder. Can’t get that in big church. I love this ministry. Ashley Cornelius and David Staal partnered on this article. Ashley oversees communications for Promiseland, the children’s ministry at Willow Creek Community Church. David serves as the ministry director. Top