In this episode, Nick Ballard shares some of the shifts Harvester Church has made over the past five years in family ministry and in most recent days due to COVID-19. Kid's and student ministry looks different around the country, but everyone should be considering a few steps to take before regathering.
Nick Ballard
Connect with Nick on his Website or on Twitter.
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Notes
Before COVID:
- Focus on a year-long shift from students on Sunday mornings to Sunday evenings
- 5 years of this plan
- high schoolers sticking after graduation
- students experiencing “the church” rather than just “their youth service”
- students serving in multiple areas (beginning with 6th graders)
- Student engagement and leadership has led to more young adults being involved and engaged with the church
During COVID:
- Student ministry online
- staying interactive through online chat during a “show”
- keeping them engaged through groups online (mainly junior high)
- Launched programming again in June/July
- Phase 1: small groups in-person and moved off of Zoom (10% increase in numbers)
- Phase 2: large group format (rotating weekends in homes and weekends on campus)
- Future – Phase 3: getting back to normal in-person ministry
- Camps still happening for students
- Decided not to regather unless they opened with kids
- soft launch of July 5th
- some volunteers not comfortable coming back
- still working towards having both an effective on-campus and online ministry experience
Action Items
- Thorough evaluation of your in-person plans
- Check out the resources Nick's church used
- Create in-person + online MUST have list
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