While the school year is wrapping up soon, it’s not too early to think ahead and take a few simple steps now to ensure that your club ministry continues strong with a successful kick-off next fall. Here are a few things you can do now: #1 Team leaders should check with the principal about plans…Continue reading 3 Things You Can Do NOW For a Successful Start Next Fall
Crossroads Kids Club is more than a weekly 90-minute ministry. What happens on a weekly basis at your club makes a huge impact on children. But in addition to that, Crossroads is also about reaching families. The Crossroads club is one piece of a larger mission: entire churches adopting their local school community to reach…Continue reading Deepening Your Church’s Engagement in The Crossroads Ministry
1. Throw a Christmas party for families at the school during or after club. Hosting an event during club often means parents are readily willing to join, because they are already comfortable and familiar with the school and with your club program. Invite members of your church to come and help with the event, and…Continue reading 3 Easy Ways to Connect with Families This Christmas
Here is a template for team leaders to use to introduce themselves and the Crossroads program to the school. Click on below and download the file to customize. Welcome Letter to School
At Crossroads Kids Club, we believe in partnering with parents to help them build kids of character. As leaders, you recognize the importance of reinforcing what kids are learning in club throughout the week, and you know that parents are often the best situated to make that happen. Here are three simple ways you can…Continue reading 3 Ways to Bring Crossroads Home
Overcoming the five biggest challenges Challenge #5: Discerning God’s Will. As you have probably seen the last five weeks, there are some challenges to starting a Crossroads Kids Club®; however often the biggest challenge is making the time to discern whether this ministry is something God wants you to do. If God is calling you to…Continue reading Getting Started (for churches): Challenge #5 …Continue reading Getting Started (for churches): Challenge #5
Overcoming the five biggest challenges Challenge #4: Finding the time. For most of us, time is our most limited resource. Even though you want to engage kids and families in your community, you probably struggle to find the time for an extra commitment. The great thing about partnering with Crossroads is that we create an opportunity…Continue reading Getting Started (for churches): Challenge #4 …Continue reading Getting Started (for churches): Challenge #4
Overcoming the five biggest challenges Challenge #3: Finding the money. Crossroads partners with churches of all sizes and budgets. One of the ways we do that is by providing grants to churches to cover the essential costs of running a Crossroads Kids Club®. These grant covers curriculum supplies, sports equipment, snacks and more for…Continue reading Getting Started (for churches): Challenge #3 …Continue reading Getting Started (for churches): Challenge #3
Overcoming the five biggest challenges Challenge #2: Finding the right school partnership. Service is one of our core values at Crossroads. We aim to add value to churches, kids, families and school communities. Our approach toward securing space in a school is to make friends and partner with school administrators and faculty, seeking to humbly…Continue reading Getting Started (for churches): Challenge #2 …Continue reading Getting Started (for churches): Challenge #2
Overcoming the five biggest challenges Challenge #1: Finding People Churches of all sizes can struggle to find volunteers. An important step to getting started is finding a team leader or co-leaders for your Kids Club ministry. Some church leaders hesitate to commit until they have found a team leader. However, a church’s commitment to…Continue reading Getting Started (for churches): Challenge #1 …Continue reading Getting Started (for churches): Challenge #1
As Kids Club leaders, you’ve invested a lot throughout the school year to build relationships with kids in your small groups, and you’ve probably also made efforts to get to know their parents. How can you stay connected and deepen relationships with these kids and their families over the summer? Here are five ideas: 1.Send…Continue reading 5 Ways to Stay Connected Over the Summer …Continue reading 5 Ways to Stay Connected Over the Summer
You may not immediately think of your Crossroads ministry as “cross-cultural.” But the reality is that kids in your club and their families most certainly come from a variety of backgrounds, traditions, religions, races and ethnicities. In our diverse modern culture, virtually all ministry is “cross-cultural” and effective connections and relationship building will depend up…Continue reading Enhancing Your Cross-Cultural Connections in Ministry …Continue reading Enhancing Your Cross-Cultural Connections in Ministry
Check out this outreach spotlight from Calvary Christian Church in Rockford, IL, where they host an annual “Crossroads Sunday” event to engage families and kids from their club. Joel Harrison, the team leader and pastor from Calvary, shares how they came up with this idea and what the event is all about. What is Crossroads…Continue reading Outreach Spotlight: Crossroads Sunday …Continue reading Outreach Spotlight: Crossroads Sunday
Service is one of our five core values at Crossroads; this value is often expressed through the creative ways that our church teams support their local school outside of the Kids Club program itself. Calvary Community Church in Schaumburg had reached out in many ways over the years to serve the school where they host…Continue reading Outreach Spotlight: School Partnership Recognition …Continue reading Outreach Spotlight: School Partnership Recognition
Earlier this fall, I was in a Kids Club where the large group teacher was introducing the children to Crossroads and the purpose of the club. They were told that in Crossroads, they would be learning stories from the Bible each week. One child raised her hand and said, “What’s the Bible?” I was reminded…Continue reading 4 Tips for Gifting a Bible to Kids …Continue reading 4 Tips for Gifting a Bible to Kids
Need a simple idea for your Kids Club at Christmas? This is an easy thing to make and send home with your students as a reminder of what you are teaching them in club about the meaning of Jesus’ birth. Click here to get the free printable and instructions. …Continue reading Free printable: Legend of the Candy Cane Poem
Here are 7 tips for being an effective small group leader: #1 Proactively prepare. Read the lesson before club. Pray for God to help you teach and love the children in your group. Come to club early to make sure you are ready and have all your team leader’s instructions before the kids arrive. #2…Continue reading 7 Habits of Highly Effective Small Group Leaders …Continue reading 7 Habits of Highly Effective Small Group Leaders
In our Outreach Spotlight series, we are highlighting some of the ways that Crossroads teams have creatively reached out to the families of the kids they are serving. Our hope is to share ideas and inspire others to think of ways to serve their broader communities of families and schools. This article features Calvary Baptist…Continue reading Outreach Spotlight: Family Christmas Store …Continue reading Outreach Spotlight: Family Christmas Store
Here’s a fun activity to do as a family (or with your Kids Club small group) this spring – take your kids outdoors or to a park and have a nature scavenger hunt together. Click here to download a free printable Family Spring Scavenger Hunt sheet….Continue reading Family Spring Scavenger Hunt
Looking for ways to enhance your Kids Club outreach to the school? Here are a few tips and ideas to get started. Step 1: Identify the school’s needs. Start by asking! The principal, teachers or PTO would be a great place to start. Step 2: Pray for discernment. Ask for God’s direction in how to…Continue reading Ways to Serve the School Community …Continue reading Ways to Serve the School Community
