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Who would have thought that the seed of an idea around a casual coffee table conversation would take root and grow many years later?
The idea of establishing a network with KidMin leaders from churches in the EMMC conference was discussed when Lyn Dyck made a visit to the Winkler EMMC and connected with pastoral staff over coffee. It was agreed that building a network to give ministry leaders an opportunity to connect and share resources would be extremely beneficial to most, if not all, churches, especially as many churches in the conference do not have a paid staff person overseeing areas of children’s ministry, relying solely on volunteers.
Fast forward five years, and Children’s Pastor, Annie Bergen, joined the conversation and the idea of establishing a KidMin community started to take shape. Meetings via Zoom were instrumental in establishing purpose and vision for this network of children’s ministry leaders, in addition to setting important benchmarks. Meagan Friberg was brought into the conversation during this developmental stage, joining the endeavor by putting her skills as a graphic designer to great use in creating a logo design that captured what we hoped to convey to KidMin leaders across the conference: this community would become a place for key children’s ministry leaders to get plugged in. We recognized that being a leader in children’s ministry can sometimes be a little lonely and it was our hope to encourage other KidMin leaders that there are people – just like them! – who are passionate about leading children to become fully devoted followers of Christ! More than simply a place to share information, knowledge, experience and resources, we wanted KidMin Plugged In to be a supportive community existing to encourage and inspire its members to learn and grow. By providing opportunities to share amazing experiences – as well as challenges – each member of the community would be enabled to better pray for, encourage and support one another. By establishing regular community chats and through our online social media platform (KidMin Plugged In Facebook group), we are hoping to create opportunities for KidMin leaders to ask questions and share information, tips and resources so that we can help to support, equip and encourage our brothers and sisters who are serving children, and their families, across North and Central America!
We appreciated the responses we received from our online questionnaire, as this has helped to establish and prioritize discussion topics that are most important to KidMin leaders in our churches. We have been encouraged to see our Facebook group and list of KidMin contacts from the conference growing and have been inspired, encouraged and enlightened through discussions in our community Zoom chats! The connections made through these chats – one in February and a second in May – have been very meaningful, increasing our awareness of challenges (and celebrations!) that other churches have encountered, particularly during the past two years. We also believe there is tremendous value in hearing new ideas or gaining a fresh ministry perspective from fellow KidMin leaders who are more removed from one’s own church body, and the discussions in these online forums have been interactive, supportive and filled with a wealth of information!
If you are a KidMin leader and haven’t been receiving emails from
us about community chats or connected with us in our Facebook group yet, please contact the conference office at info@emmc.ca; to join our Facebook group, KidMin Plugged In, send us a request HERE . You may also contact Annie (annie@deerrun.church) or me (carolyn@winkleremmc.com) directly to make sure that you’re kept up to date with community chats and have access to resources shared through social media.
It has been exciting to be involved with breaking the ground on this children’s ministry initiative and we look forward to what is in store for our KidMin Plugged In community!