Having a large Church group brings many wonderful benefits; children can enjoy interaction with more young Christians, and this, in turn, aids more extensive discussions around faith and the importance of God. Plus, having a large group is plenty of fun for ministry games and other creative activities!
However, if you’re a new church leader, or you’re just struggling to find confidence in your leadership and teaching skills, ministering to a large group of kids may seem like an incredibly daunting task, particularly as working in a church with a high number of members requires more careful planning to ensure that every child is safe, confident and engaged with their bible studies.
Read our simple guide for big children’s ministries, and you’ll be able to create an action plan in no time that helps you feel secure in your role as a leader while allowing you to help children truly understand their faith and their relationship with God.
Tips for Managing a Large Children’s Ministry
Put Safety First
When working with a large group, it can be difficult to monitor all of the children closely, which is why it’s even more important to create a child church safety plan, including specific church workers training to ensure that every volunteer and leader knows how to prevent accidents and keep classrooms clean and hygienic.
Considering the current global situation, it is more important than ever to sanitize your classrooms regularly. Be sure that you stock up on cleaning supplies and create a cleaning checklist for staff and volunteers so that they can keep on top of these tasks. Cleaning in between gatherings has never been more crucial, so be sure that the church team knows how to carry out the necessary safety tasks.
When it comes to keeping an eye on children, be sure to have extra volunteers and teaching assistants on hand in large groups, as this is the best way to prevent accidents before they happen. Create a rule in your classroom where kids must ask the main leader before leaving the room, to use the restroom for example, and have a volunteer take them there so that you know exactly how many kids should be in the classroom at any one time.
Keeping track of a child’s whereabouts while they’re attending Sunday School is the best way to ensure their safety, so always take a register before lessons and monitor kids until their parents pick them up at the end of class.
Create a Solid Children’s Church Curriculum Plan
To alleviate any nerves you may have about ministering to a large group of kids, the best thing to do is to create a solid and reliable curriculum to follow that is sure to keep kids engaged while effectively teaching them about the bible. If you’re struggling to choose the best curriculum for your kid’s ministry, our carefully curated guide to the Top 5 Kids Ministry Curriculum in 2021 has plenty of advice and ideas for church leaders.
At Playlister, our top pick is Think Orange, which provides plans for first-time churchgoers and older kids alike, meaning you can effectively tailor your lesson plan depending on the age group you are teaching.
Think Orange also has different curriculum packages for different church group sizes, meaning it can cater to even the largest of kid’s ministries. It covers all bases for Sunday School lessons, including worship music, group activities, and bible scripts, meaning you have nothing to worry about except supporting the children in their learning.
Plan Activities that Include Everybody
With large church groups, it can be challenging to make sure that every child feels involved with group activities, so plan tasks and games that are easy to understand and will include everybody. To explore youth ministry games for large groups Spiritually Hungry offers plenty of suggestions for exciting games - complete with instructions - that require little to no planning and can accommodate groups of over 10 kids. You can also split kids up into smaller groups for games, assigning a volunteer to take care of each group.
If you’re searching for group church activities that are a little quieter and calmer than games, family church videos are perfect for large groups as they involve every member and help to explain difficult biblical concepts with ease. Our guide to The Top 10 Bible Story Videos to Use in Your Kids Ministry is a great place to start when it comes to choosing videos to show to your ministry group and covers everything from The Story of Creation to why we attend church and the importance of maintaining a strong relationship with God and Jesus.
Invest in Appropriate Church Management Software
When it comes to managing a large church group, it’s vital that you have access to comprehensive and reliable church software that will allow you to manage your curriculum and media files with ease, allowing you to focus on keeping kids safe, happy, and healthy.
Anything that can make the process of running a large ministry easier is a must, so eliminate the need for dozens of USB sticks with Playlister: the only kid’s ministry presentation software that allows church workers and volunteers to create and instantly import the curriculum and access it from any classroom, allowing for easy file sharing and video streaming with all the materials you need in one place.
Because Playlister is easy for staff and volunteers to use, it means that they can focus on what is really important: sharing the word of God with every child and helping them to understand and embrace their faith. To learn more about how Playlister works, and how it can help improve the efficiency of large churches, find out about the different packages we offer today and minister to even the largest of church groups effortlessly!