Childrens Ministry Online

Chainsaw Juggling Clowns

Posted on 07. Apr, 2009 by Jonathan Cliff in Events, Fresh Ideas, Leadership

You’ve got Easter weekend all lined up.  You have the chain-saw juggling clown booked and ready for a fantastic Easter service.  (You’ve heard that he’s a few digits short of what he was born with, but it’s all cool because it makes him adventurous.)  You’ve even blown through your entire years craft budget for the most expensive glass-making project you could find online, and you’re sending everyone home with personalized silicone bracelets.   You’ve recruited 100’s of additional volunteers for Easter weekend, and check-in might never go smoother than it will on this Resurrection Sunday.  You’re still looking for volunteers to sweep up the elephant dung leftover after the elephant gives rides before and after each service, but you know that you’ll find some great Junior High students that think it’s gross and cool all at the same time.  You’ve even brought in real worship dudes from the adult service, with long straight hair that wraps around their head, and really tight designer jeans with different colored converse sneakers.  For the first time all year, you will have live worship for the kids!  And why the heck not?  It’s Easter weekend, why not go all out and make it the best weekend of everyone’s life?!?

But then you begin to think…Holy{insert Christian Bad word here}!  What am I going to do next week if half of these kids return?

Therein lies the great balance of Easter weekend ministry to kids.  In your desire to make this very special weekend special, you’ve managed to pull the great bait-and-switch on your visiting families.  You’ve ramped things up and in your effort to try and make Sunday morning look like Disney World merged with a Wiggles concert, you’ve really just pulled one over on everyone.  If we’re not careful we only cover up what we really offer the other 51 weekends of the year.  So what can we do?  I’m not advocating that we let them see how much we really stink on Easter Sunday since we stink every other weekend!  Instead how about using Easter Weekend to streamline the GREAT things you already do, and use it to hook up new, never before used volunteers to areas that they’ve never been introduced to before.  What if we dreamed really big, and planned a follow-up plan for those that served Easter weekend; in addition to the kids we follow-up with after Easter?

Don’t let the chain-saw juggling clown be the highlight of the weekend, instead let what we do GREAT be the light that shines on the risen Son of God!  Doing what we do and doing it Great for the glory of God is a greater testament of God’s grace, than pulling the Easter bait-and-switch!

Tags: Bait and Switch, Children's Ministry, Easter, Jonathan Cliff