Fall is coming and I’m already getting excited! From the turning leaves, the return of football, crisp air, homemade applesauce, and pumpkin spice ev-ry-thing… It’s my absolute favorite time of year. At Morningside Assembly we invite the community for a party on our church campus. It’s scheduled the Wednesday before Halloween, and we call it “Big Orange Party” (aka B.O.P.)

I hear it all the time from Kidmin leaders: “We’re taking the summer off!” “We are canceling kids’ ministry services during the summer and just having kids sit in the adult service every week.” While I completely understand the rationale, here are a few reasons to NOT take summers off.

Children’s pastors today have more resources than ever before to reach children who live in the shadows of the steeple. However, based on the stories I hear children’s pastors tell about their summer outreaches, I get the feeling we are missing the mark by only reaching kids who are already attending other churches.

Summertime is here and that means it’s time to get outside the walls of our churches and start impacting the kids of the community. Outreaches have the potential to unite your team around a common vision, bring new volunteers into play, and even help you develop deeper relationships with the core members of your team.