Children’s ministry brings a joyful spark to churches of all sizes and denominational lines. While it’s always a challenge to get enough volunteers, keeping those volunteers enthused and committed to serving week in and week out can be the biggest challenge in building your children’s ministry team.

Willow Creek’s Sue Miller and David Staal want to share a little secret with you: You can keep and care for your children’s ministry volunteers! As key leaders in Promiseland, the children’s ministry that serves thousands of kids each weekend, Sue and Dave have seen what it takes to maintain healthy volunteers — often through lessons learned the hard way.

“Too much time went by in my ministry before I fully understood that I must value, connect, include, and challenge volunteers. And when that happens, they soar — and so does Promiseland,” Sue says. “In an area of the church where the number of paid staff is a tiny fraction of the workforce, the health of volunteerism determines the strength of the ministry’s heartbeat. And when people abound, the pulse pounds.”

This broadcast will help you better understand what Sue calls Ministry Monsters and what you can do to counteract them:

• Used and Abused … “Value Me”
• Isolation … “Connect Me”
• Power Monger … “Include Me”
• Stagnation … “Challenge Me”

Plan to gather with your children’s leadership team and key volunteers as you discover that serving in children’s ministries can be a joy and a challenge each and every week.

Sue Miller is the director of Promiseland at Willow Creek Community Church in suburban Chicago . Sue has a strong passion to raise the value of doing children’s ministry with excellence across the Kingdom to reach and teach the next generation of Christ followers. With the substantial contribution of 1,000 volunteer and staff people, she continues to make that vision a reality. Sue taught in the public school system for 15 years before shifting to Promiseland.

David Staal is the director of Promiseland Movement for the Willow Creek Association, helping churches across the country and the world hold up the value of children’s ministry. In addition, he is the coauthor with Sue Miller of Making Your Children’s Ministry the Best Hour of Every Kid’s Week.