It’s always fun to hang around and connect with parents as they pick up their kids from our children’s ministry on Sunday mornings. I enjoy connecting with the parents and I love watching the interaction of our small group leaders and parents. If you don’t make time to watch this process make time for it this year. It’s a fascinating process!

When parents pick up their kids they always ask 2 questions. It’s universal I think because I always ask the same 2 questions. Do you know what they are? Here are the 2 questions I hear every time parents pick up kids after church…

Did you have fun?

and…

What did you learn today?

I know there are other questions we should ask as parents but these are the two that we always ask. They have become almost habit questions but I also believe that they reveal some expectations that parents have for the ministry we lead (student, preschool, or children’s ministry). These questions reveal that there are some important things that need to happen every week if they are going to partner with your ministry. Parents expect that you…

Create an engaging experience for their child. >>

When parents ask “did you have” fun you can translate that to mean “were you engaged!” Parents will not tolerate a boring experience for their children because they had to endure church growing up that made the God of the universe boring. Parents today will not settle for boring. Nothing in the world makes a parent more excited than to see their kids get excited about being a church. I know it’s simple but parents have to force their kids to go to school, to eat broccoli, to practice piano, and they don’t want to have to force their kids to discover Jesus. As you work to make your environment engaging for the next generation you are actually serving parents because you are meeting a desperate need they have.

Translate the message of Jesus in a way their kids can grasp. >>

When parents make the effort to plug into a local church they want to know that when they come (we all wish they would show up every week!) that they will walk away understanding God more clearly. People will not show up to church week after week if every time they walk away and wonder why they came. Our job is to translate the truth of God in a way they can understand and the same goes for their kids. People want truth, they need truth, but they need us to translate it so they can live it out. Parents want their kids to learn about God every week so it’s our job to never waste a chance to teach powerful truth to kids.

Take some time and think about what questions you ask your kids when you pick them up from their ministry area of after church. The questions you ask consistently can help you evaluate how your ministry is doing meeting the real needs of parents!