Article: 7 Trends to Expect in 2021 Children’s Ministry

I thought this article from Group has some interesting thoughts for ministry as the pandemic continues as well as into the future.

The author points out the urgent need for children's ministry to help kids deal with stress and isolation and depression that have come out of the changes necessitated by the pandemic.

In many parts of the country, schools are back in-person, and churches that can provide in-person ministry will attract families from churches that have not been able to get restarted.

Here is one of the things in the article that really caught my eye:

"The COVID quarantine mentality has elevated the desire and need for human interaction, fellowship, and participation.

Passively sitting and watching others has lost its patina. And wedging into a crowd to passively watch the person at the microphone has really lost favor during these contagious times.

Kids today want to be noticed, named, and known, (according to the research). If your teaching is primarily a spectator-show, expect steady decline.

Churches and children’s ministries that rely on stage performances will weaken.

Hands-on, participatory experiences will reign, along with breaking crowds into smaller relational groups.

Even children’s ministries that continue to offer online sessions will need to incorporate active, participatory, relational, hands-on elements."

Once again I can see how the relational and experiential aspects of our Workshop Rotation Model are exactly what our kids needs --especially now!