CentriKid

Group Leader

Staying Focused During the Summer

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Staying focused during the summer in kids ministry can be difficult. With warm weather, no school, sports, camps and everything else crammed into June and July, summer can be crazy and hectic. Your kids ministry attendance might be lower than normal. For the kidmin leaders, it can be a distracting time as well, or might seem like a less important time since less kids are there each week. I encourage you to do two things:

Encourage kids and parents to prioritize Jesus over any sport, practice, or activity. 

In today’s world, sports and extra-curricular activities are highly esteemed. Which means that parents tend to encourage their kids to do every sport, dance class, or program, and end up having some type of practice or game every single day of the week. For many, this means sacrificing time spent at church learning about Jesus, or even time spent at home in personal, or family, Bible study. Encourage parents and kids to seek out Jesus above all things and to make Him the number one priority in their lives. Reach out to parents through social media, phone calls, or even emails with a challenge to finish out the summer with a new priority on having their kid involved in the kids ministry at church.

Encourage yourself to prioritize Jesus and not check-out. 

It can be just as easy for you to take your mind off the throttle during the summer and coast through it. Constantly remind yourself that the summer season is just as important as any other season. With great times for outreach during the summer, it isn’t a time you want to just slide by. Be intentional, plan out the summer, and engage kids in a whole new way to make them want to come back and learn more about having a relationship with Jesus. Summer can be a more carefree time, but the eternal urgency for the kids is still present during the summer as much as it is during the school year.

Stay focused this summer, and keep pointing kids and their parents toward Jesus. What are some tips and tricks you use to keep your parents, kids, kids ministry, and yourself focused during the summer? 

CentriKid Promises

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Camp starts next month, can you believe it? We are so excited to serve your church, kids, and adults this summer. There are different themes, different games, different bible stories every year at camp, but you can always count on these four things every year at CentriKid.

Rooted in Scripture

Communicating the Gospel to kids is why we do camp. At CentriKid you’ll find solid biblical content woven throughout every element of camp, from interactive Bible studies and fun rec games to worship, activity tracks, and even hang time. We are a camp with a clear purpose – building a biblical foundation for kids.

A Seriously Safe Place

We take safety seriously, and make it a priority with kids. At camp you’ll find a safe place for kids – emotionally, spiritually, and physical. You can rest assured that our trained staff value the safety of your kids!

Ministry through Relationships

Our staff will invest in your kids’ lives by showing the love of God through the way they live. Staffers aren’t performers; they are ministers. Meanwhile, we take care of all the details of camp, so you can focus on relationships with your kids rather than running around with a clipboard delegating tasks, or worrying about picking up the rec field.

Kid Friendly Programming

We are committed to providing excellent programming that keeps kids engaged. We know they learn differently at each stage of life. We train our staff to teach kids about Christ in a way they can grown and learn with kids their own age. In addition to Bible study, we keep God’s Word at the center of every aspect of camp.

We can’t wait to serve you and your church at camp this summer!

Recruiting the Orange Team

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When people ask me who the craziest color team is at camp, most people assume I will say the Blue 5th graders or all of those little Yellow 3rd graders. The Truth- the Orange team! Few teams are more excited for I Can’t Wait, make more noise during their cheer (even if they don’t know ALL the words), or cover me in more shaving cream during OMC. But what happens when you are having trouble finding those adults for your team?

Here are few tips to help you find the Orange Team you are looking for:

Ask them!
I know, it seems simple but this is the best place to start. When I say ask them, I don’t mean putting a slide up during the opening of the service or typing a paragraph in the bulletin. Although these can help, take some time and be very intentional about who you ask to come to camp. Share with them the impact that they can have on the kids and the amazing responsibility that they are given at camp to be a role model to these kids as the Gospel message is preached. By sharing with them that you trust them with this responsibility and the importance of this position, you will be able to find volunteers that share your excitement for sharing the Gospel with these kids in an atmosphere full of fun!
Play OMC!
After a Sunday service, have lunch with your kids, parents, and volunteers and then play a great game of OMC. Let your volunteers play and don’t forget lots of shaving cream, pool noodles, and tasks cards. This is a great way to have fun with the different people who are part of your ministry and also give them ways to interact with the kids outside of the Sunday School room or the Worship Center. At the end, don’t forget to tie it back to the Gospel!
Team Assistants!
Do you have any students in your ministry that love children? If they are a Junior in high school through college, they are able to serve as Team Assistants. Team Assistants give your students a chance to serve alongside you as a chaperone for your kids but they also get to be a part of our camp team for the week. Whether it is helping out at Recreation or Track Times, they will see a glimpse into what it is like to be a camp staffer.

We can’t wait to see you and your group leaders at camp this summer!

Reaching Spiritual Orphans Through Camp

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For many kids going to camp is a tradition every summer. There are inside jokes, funny stories, and things that they look forward doing year after year. Many of these kids have grown up in church and have incredible parents who talk to them about Jesus and encourage them in their faith. Yet, there is another type of child that is in our ministry and that comes to camp. They are spiritual orphans. These are the kids that do not have the name of Jesus spoken in their home and they do not have a spiritual influence in their home. The time spent at your church  might be the only time they hear about Jesus and the gospel.

So how can we reach these kids? Camp is an excellent way to introduce Jesus to these kids. These types of kids most of the time do not understand church rules. Being still and quiet to listen to a a bible story or to pray is a foreign concept. But at camp we are allowed to run around, play games, and get covered in shaving cream. These kids will be able to encounter Christ in a completely different way. They will be immersed in a safe environment with other kids and staffers who will show them so much love.

The week of camp may be the only week out of the year that these spiritual orphans are able to hear about the love of Jesus. At CentriKid, we love to invest in kids and make this the very best week of the year for them. If there is a scholarship available for another kid to come to camp, think about those spiritual orphans that are in your community. Think of the impact CentriKid could have on these kids if they could spend a week with your church group at camp. As camp approaches, think of some kids that you might be able to invite to come to camp next summer. We know that it could be a life-changing week, and we pray that no one leaves camp without a life-changing encounter with Christ!

Creating a Culture

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From the moment church groups get off the bus until they drive away at the end of the week, there are promises that every CentriKid team looks to uphold. They have become a part of our culture, but they are not just for camp. They can play a major role in  presenting the gospel in your children’s ministry every week.

Root EVERYTHING in scripture
We believe that the Word of God should be at the forefront of every program, activity, and game at CentriKid camp. We love to have fun and go crazy, but it is all to get children excited for the gospel. As children’s ministers, creating an atmosphere that is centered around the study of the Bible and teaching it to children should be the most important part of any programming. Kids love playing games, making crafts, and singing songs. Let’s be honest, I love all of that too! However, when we are able to connect these fun events to the scripture they take so much more away from Sunday morning than just a good time. They will see that the Bible is God’s truth in their lives.

Production KidsMinistry through relationships
At camp, CentriKid staffers see meal times and Hang Time as another opportunity to build relationships with kids. The conversations that happen during these times are sometimes more powerful than the conversations that happen during worship response time. Building these relationships create many avenues of conversation that can lead to presenting the gospel and learning how best to pray for and love on these kids. Working in a kid’s ministry, you have an amazing opportunity to create these relationships all year. Knowing the kids who are in your Sunday School class or in children’s church will create an environment that stimulates discussion. By loving these kids through a meaningful relationship, we are able to show them a small glimpse of the amazing love that God has for us.

Kid friendly programming
CentriKid would not be CentriKid if it were not for the high energy I Can’t Waits, crazy recreation games, and the amazing times of worship that kids and adults can experience at camp. We know that Biblical truths such as the Holy Spirit, the Tabernacle, and God’s redemption are not always the easiest things for kid’s to understand, but at camp it is our promise that all of the programming and Bible studies will be created with kids in mind. Kids from 3rd to 6th grade will enjoy the games and songs and they will also be taught the Bible at a level that is understandable to them and is applicable to their lives. Every week, you have an amazing opportunity to share the Word of God with kids so that they can apply it to their lives now and grow in their relationship with God.

Through a culture based in scripture, relationships, and fun, staffers are able to minister and love kids throughout the summer. How have you used the CentriKid culture in your church’s ministry?