{"id":31471,"date":"2017-01-05T16:22:49","date_gmt":"2017-01-05T23:22:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wwv.group.com\/childrens-ministry\/?p=31471"},"modified":"2017-02-14T09:37:26","modified_gmt":"2017-02-14T16:37:26","slug":"childrens-minister-feels-like-failure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wwv.group.com\/childrens-ministry\/blog\/sunday-school\/childrens-minister-feels-like-failure\/","title":{"rendered":"An open letter to the children&#8217;s minister who feels like a failure"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Dear Children&#8217;s Minister,<\/p>\n<p>Let me tell you, I&#8217;ve been there. Only two volunteers showed up for training. A well-prepared, super-creative Bible lesson was drowned out by third-grade giggles. The facilities director pointed out\u00a0the decorations were a fire hazard. A disgruntled parent whose gluten-free child ate a cracker last Sunday called to voice concern.<\/p>\n<p>The stories go on and on.<\/p>\n<p>As a children&#8217;s minister, you carry a\u00a0lot on your\u00a0plate. In fact, your schedule and workload may feel more like a smorgasbord. Things drop. Plans spoil. And we\u2019re left picking up the pieces of what seemed like a good idea.<\/p>\n<p>But, friends, don\u2019t confuse frustration with failure. Bumps along the road are bound to happen when blazing new trails. When you feel like you\u2019re failing, consider these questions:<\/p>\n<p><strong>Why are you doing this in the first place? <\/strong>Is the reason still relevant and realistic? Trainings bring unity and excellence. Kids like snacks. And an over-the-top decorated environment communicates value to children. Don\u2019t be too quick to abandon purposeful ideas.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Why didn\u2019t it work?<\/strong> Was the training scheduled on Super Bowl Sunday? <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=HcDUWWMXQto\" target=\"_blank\">Was your lesson R.E.A.L.?<\/a>\u00a0Was there a record of the food allergy? A little level headed investigation helps pinpoint problems and zero in on solutions. Examine the details so you can avoid\u00a0future snafus.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Who can I talk to? <\/strong>Failures humble. We may want to defend decisions or blame others. \u201cKids these days don\u2019t know how to listen.\u201d \u201cThe facilities team just wants to make things difficult.\u201d \u201cThese people just hate change.\u201d But a negative attitude will only bring isolation. Find a trusted friend or <a href=\"http:\/\/childrensministry.com\" target=\"_blank\">fellow children&#8217;s minster<\/a> who\u2019ll listen to your frustrations and hear your heart. A little friendship and encouragement goes a long way.<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u00a0<\/strong>Failure is a part of life and ministry. But reframing failings allows you rediscover purpose, learn from mistakes and lean on others for support. And don\u2019t forget your biggest why\u2026helping kids, their leaders, and YOU grow in relationship with Jesus and each other. Be encouraged and keep going!<\/p>\n<p>Grace and Peace,<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/wwv.group.com\/childrens-ministry\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2016\/12\/CharitySignatureThick.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-31462\" src=\"http:\/\/wwv.group.com\/childrens-ministry\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2016\/12\/CharitySignatureThick-300x197.png\" alt=\"charitysignaturethick\" width=\"125\" height=\"82\" srcset=\"https:\/\/wwv.group.com\/childrens-ministry\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2016\/12\/CharitySignatureThick-300x197.png 300w, https:\/\/wwv.group.com\/childrens-ministry\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2016\/12\/CharitySignatureThick.png 530w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 125px) 100vw, 125px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Dear Children&#8217;s Minister, Let me tell you, I&#8217;ve been there. Only two volunteers showed up for training. A well-prepared, super-creative Bible lesson was drowned out by third-grade giggles. The facilities director pointed out\u00a0the decorations were a fire hazard. A disgruntled parent whose gluten-free child ate a cracker last Sunday called to voice concern. The stories go on and on. As [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":113,"featured_media":31461,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[706,711,707,4],"tags":[710,709,593,708],"class_list":["post-31471","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-devotions-for-teachers","category-dig-in","category-open-letters","category-sunday-school","tag-charity-kauffman","tag-childrens-minister","tag-childrens-ministry-2","tag-open-letter"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>A children&#039;s minister who feels like a failure is not alone.<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A children&#039;s minister feels like a failure when things aren&#039;t perfect. Children&#039;s ministry is difficult work that requires a lot of trial and error.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/wwv.group.com\/childrens-ministry\/blog\/sunday-school\/childrens-minister-feels-like-failure\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A children&#039;s minister who feels like a failure is not alone.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A children&#039;s minister feels like a failure when things aren&#039;t perfect. Children&#039;s ministry is difficult work that requires a lot of trial and error.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/wwv.group.com\/childrens-ministry\/blog\/sunday-school\/childrens-minister-feels-like-failure\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Group Children&#039;s Ministry\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/GroupChildrensMinistry\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-01-05T23:22:49+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2017-02-14T16:37:26+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wwv.group.com\/childrens-ministry\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2016\/12\/failure.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"687\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"520\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Charity Kauffman\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@groupkidmin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@groupkidmin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Charity Kauffman\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wwv.group.com\/childrens-ministry\/blog\/sunday-school\/childrens-minister-feels-like-failure\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/wwv.group.com\/childrens-ministry\/blog\/sunday-school\/childrens-minister-feels-like-failure\/\",\"name\":\"A children's minister who feels like a failure is not alone.\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wwv.group.com\/childrens-ministry\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wwv.group.com\/childrens-ministry\/blog\/sunday-school\/childrens-minister-feels-like-failure\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wwv.group.com\/childrens-ministry\/blog\/sunday-school\/childrens-minister-feels-like-failure\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/wwv.group.com\/childrens-ministry\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2016\/12\/failure.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-01-05T23:22:49+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-02-14T16:37:26+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wwv.group.com\/childrens-ministry\/#\/schema\/person\/411208070b9dd38c4256494a75eb0fa3\"},\"description\":\"A children's minister feels like a failure when things aren't perfect. Children's ministry is difficult work that requires a lot of trial and error.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wwv.group.com\/childrens-ministry\/blog\/sunday-school\/childrens-minister-feels-like-failure\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/wwv.group.com\/childrens-ministry\/blog\/sunday-school\/childrens-minister-feels-like-failure\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wwv.group.com\/childrens-ministry\/blog\/sunday-school\/childrens-minister-feels-like-failure\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/wwv.group.com\/childrens-ministry\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2016\/12\/failure.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/wwv.group.com\/childrens-ministry\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2016\/12\/failure.jpg\",\"width\":687,\"height\":520,\"caption\":\"children's minister\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wwv.group.com\/childrens-ministry\/blog\/sunday-school\/childrens-minister-feels-like-failure\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/wwv.group.com\/childrens-ministry\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"An open letter to the children&#8217;s minister who feels like a failure\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wwv.group.com\/childrens-ministry\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/wwv.group.com\/childrens-ministry\/\",\"name\":\"Group Children&#039;s Ministry\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/wwv.group.com\/childrens-ministry\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wwv.group.com\/childrens-ministry\/#\/schema\/person\/411208070b9dd38c4256494a75eb0fa3\",\"name\":\"Charity Kauffman\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wwv.group.com\/childrens-ministry\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/62cea6a122f88e49ca80b63b7f8795173767bf2b73f5e3118822633756597db2?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/62cea6a122f88e49ca80b63b7f8795173767bf2b73f5e3118822633756597db2?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Charity Kauffman\"},\"description\":\"Charity Kauffman served kids and their families in local churches for eight years before joining Group\u2019s Children\u2019s Ministry Editorial staff. She holds a Masters in Children and Family Ministry from Bethel Seminary in St. Paul, MN. Charity loves to host family church events, groove to VBS music, and cheer for Pittsburgh Pirates baseball.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/wwv.group.com\/childrens-ministry\/blog\/author\/ckaufmann\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"A children's minister who feels like a failure is not alone.","description":"A children's minister feels like a failure when things aren't perfect. Children's ministry is difficult work that requires a lot of trial and error.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/wwv.group.com\/childrens-ministry\/blog\/sunday-school\/childrens-minister-feels-like-failure\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"A children's minister who feels like a failure is not alone.","og_description":"A children's minister feels like a failure when things aren't perfect. Children's ministry is difficult work that requires a lot of trial and error.","og_url":"https:\/\/wwv.group.com\/childrens-ministry\/blog\/sunday-school\/childrens-minister-feels-like-failure\/","og_site_name":"Group Children&#039;s Ministry","article_publisher":"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/GroupChildrensMinistry","article_published_time":"2017-01-05T23:22:49+00:00","article_modified_time":"2017-02-14T16:37:26+00:00","og_image":[{"width":687,"height":520,"url":"https:\/\/wwv.group.com\/childrens-ministry\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2016\/12\/failure.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Charity Kauffman","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@groupkidmin","twitter_site":"@groupkidmin","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Charity Kauffman","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/wwv.group.com\/childrens-ministry\/blog\/sunday-school\/childrens-minister-feels-like-failure\/","url":"https:\/\/wwv.group.com\/childrens-ministry\/blog\/sunday-school\/childrens-minister-feels-like-failure\/","name":"A children's minister who feels like a failure is not alone.","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/wwv.group.com\/childrens-ministry\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/wwv.group.com\/childrens-ministry\/blog\/sunday-school\/childrens-minister-feels-like-failure\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/wwv.group.com\/childrens-ministry\/blog\/sunday-school\/childrens-minister-feels-like-failure\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/wwv.group.com\/childrens-ministry\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2016\/12\/failure.jpg","datePublished":"2017-01-05T23:22:49+00:00","dateModified":"2017-02-14T16:37:26+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/wwv.group.com\/childrens-ministry\/#\/schema\/person\/411208070b9dd38c4256494a75eb0fa3"},"description":"A children's minister feels like a failure when things aren't perfect. Children's ministry is difficult work that requires a lot of trial and error.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/wwv.group.com\/childrens-ministry\/blog\/sunday-school\/childrens-minister-feels-like-failure\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/wwv.group.com\/childrens-ministry\/blog\/sunday-school\/childrens-minister-feels-like-failure\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/wwv.group.com\/childrens-ministry\/blog\/sunday-school\/childrens-minister-feels-like-failure\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/wwv.group.com\/childrens-ministry\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2016\/12\/failure.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/wwv.group.com\/childrens-ministry\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2016\/12\/failure.jpg","width":687,"height":520,"caption":"children's minister"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/wwv.group.com\/childrens-ministry\/blog\/sunday-school\/childrens-minister-feels-like-failure\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/wwv.group.com\/childrens-ministry\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"An open letter to the children&#8217;s minister who feels like a failure"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/wwv.group.com\/childrens-ministry\/#website","url":"https:\/\/wwv.group.com\/childrens-ministry\/","name":"Group Children&#039;s Ministry","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/wwv.group.com\/childrens-ministry\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/wwv.group.com\/childrens-ministry\/#\/schema\/person\/411208070b9dd38c4256494a75eb0fa3","name":"Charity Kauffman","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/wwv.group.com\/childrens-ministry\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/62cea6a122f88e49ca80b63b7f8795173767bf2b73f5e3118822633756597db2?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/62cea6a122f88e49ca80b63b7f8795173767bf2b73f5e3118822633756597db2?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Charity Kauffman"},"description":"Charity Kauffman served kids and their families in local churches for eight years before joining Group\u2019s Children\u2019s Ministry Editorial staff. She holds a Masters in Children and Family Ministry from Bethel Seminary in St. Paul, MN. Charity loves to host family church events, groove to VBS music, and cheer for Pittsburgh Pirates baseball.","url":"https:\/\/wwv.group.com\/childrens-ministry\/blog\/author\/ckaufmann\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wwv.group.com\/childrens-ministry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31471","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wwv.group.com\/childrens-ministry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wwv.group.com\/childrens-ministry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wwv.group.com\/childrens-ministry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/113"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wwv.group.com\/childrens-ministry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31471"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wwv.group.com\/childrens-ministry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31471\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wwv.group.com\/childrens-ministry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31461"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wwv.group.com\/childrens-ministry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31471"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wwv.group.com\/childrens-ministry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31471"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wwv.group.com\/childrens-ministry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31471"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}