5 Reasons Kids’ Ministry is So Important to Churches that Want to Break the 1,000 Barrier - a podcast by Rich Birch

Churches that grow beyond 1,000 in attendance are today among a radical minority. In fact, 98% of all churches never reach this size. During my interaction with hundreds of churches that have been able to overcome this barrier, I have realized that they present several striking common characteristics. Correspondingly, effective and growing Kids’ Ministry is one of the things evident across the board in churches that have smashed the 1,000 barrier. These churches have invested both finances and leadership to lead their Kids’ Ministry to a healthy place where it constitutes an essential thriving aspect of the church’s ministry.

Kids’ Ministry is vitally important to build the strength of your church if you want to break the 1,000 barrier in the weekend service attendance. This might seem as a surprise to a leader who doesn’t spend much time directly engaged in Kid’s Ministry, so here I’ve pulled together a few reasons to stress upon its significance:

Kids’ Ministry Requires A LOT of Volunteers – A Very Good Thing!

Churches that break the 1,000 barrier have unlocked the super-secret that getting more people plugged into the church service drives the growth in attendance. People who are committed enough to the church to volunteer are thus bought into the Ministry vision and are willing to invest their most prized possession – time. Prevailing churches are looking for more ways to get the congregation plugged into the service and similarly a thriving Kids’ Ministry requires lots (and lots) of volunteers to make it happen.

Three things result in the process when someone decides to volunteer within your Kid’s Ministry:



Understand the Vision // Serving in the Kids’ Ministry in your church is a totally selfless act, which requires a strong connection between the vision of the church and the individual’s personal action. Only churches with a high level of vision casting at work are normally able to convert volunteers into this area. A growing Kids’ Ministry volunteer team implies that the church is thriving at explaining the “big why” behind everything they do which in turns drives the growth of the church.

They Tell Their Friends // Once someone starts to volunteer in your Kids’ Ministry they are bound to tell their friends. They’ve gone beyond just merely attending the church to making a conscious and willing decision to invest time, effort and energy into the church. The accompanying sense of accomplishment and pride is high, which in turn drives these individuals to share the Kids’ Ministry idea with their friends. We know that the church grows when people tell their friends about it and this gives another excuse for the people of your church to talk and share with their friends.

Kids’ Ministry Improves! // There is a positive upward spiral effect of adding more volunteers to your Kid’s Ministry. As more people start to initiate, get involved and serve – the ministry starts to improve and become even better, which in turn encourages more people to serve. This marked improvement drives more and deeper engagement with this aspect of your ministry, with increasing number of people joining the team.



I’ve seen lots of churches where the Kids’ Ministry department is somewhere around 50% of the total volunteer team. Growing your Kids’ Ministry team persuades people to see your church because it will help you engage a higher number of people in the mission of the church.

Kids’ Ministry is All About The Next Generation

Effective Kids’ Ministries are all about impacting the next generation. This sort of “next generation” thinking gets inherently woven into the fabric of the church as each generation turns to draw in the next. In the end, this drives innovation at the largest scale of the church. The focus being: “How we are going to reach those people who aren’t here yet?” Churches that break the 1,

Further episodes of unSeminary Podcast

Further podcasts by Rich Birch

Website of Rich Birch