First, a children’s missions program helps form a heart of compassion in a child for the world that God loves. Every child can be helped to develop a tender heart for people in faraway places and for the missionaries that serve those places. Secondly, through that heart of compassion, kids can raise money to help fund the preaching and teaching of the gospel all around the world.

I believe God has raised up large churches to be a blessing to small ones. God has allowed me to serve in a couple of medium to large churches, as well as a few smaller ones. Serving in churches with more than 400 children each Sunday carries with it administrative and ministerial challenges. I know, I’ve been there. The large church children’s pastor cannot use these as an excuse to ignore the smaller works in his or her area.

In the Gospel of John, we find a great story where the disciples of John are playing a comparison game. We pick it up in John 3:26, “They came to John and said to him, ‘Rabbi, that man who was with you on the other side of the Jordan—the one you testified about—well, he is baptizing, and everyone is going to him.’” If you were to play this out in today’s church, it may have sounded a bit more like this… “Pastor, that man who you introduced me to at the coffee shop yesterday, the one you said just moved to town—check out his new website, he’s starting a capital campaign and wants to purchase the land we had our eyes set on.

Your large group or kids church time gives you the opportunity to create a space for kids to learn God’s Word in a dynamic, age-appropriate environment. The best way to maximize the time that you have with your kids is to craft an experience in which they want to participate. Here are some techniques you can use to create a large-group experience that is engaging and educational.

There is a significant ministry opportunity that is going largely unmet in many of our children’s ministries: an intentional strategy to reach kids with special needs. It may sound a little daunting to you. You may be saying, “Mark, I’m barely getting by as it is!” I hear you, but I want you to know that there are small and simple ways you can develop a strategy for reaching special needs kids.

Many children’s ministries have at least one or two kids with some sort of special need. This can feel overwhelming for those without an established strategy or plan to minister to these kids. Today, I want to encourage you to overcome these roadblocks in order to establish quality ministry to children with special needs.