How to Handle
Childcare in Small Groups
Small Group Ministry
Crossroads Fellowship
Our vision
for small groups is to have them off-campus in homes where they assume full ownership
of all logistics for their group. This
allows us to create an ever expanding circle of small groups out in the
community. Childcare is always the
"kicker" that makes it difficult for groups to do this. However, one
thing we've found is that once a group makes the move off-campus, they
experience a significant increase in the depth of their relationships. Most small group members perceive this is
because “it’s just more intimate in a living room setting”. The reality is that because groups are forced
to take full ownership of their group’s needs when they move off-campus, they
end up growing closer to one another because of this. This is what gives group members that sense
of “we really got close once we moved into a home”.
The
challenge for a group as it moves off-campus then is the very thing that makes
it grow deeper: Having to do
"whatever it takes" to keep the group functioning in a healthy way
builds deep bonds of trust. We know this
is HARD to do but your group will not grow and form as God intends unless it
embraces this reality and makes it happen!
Let me challenge you to take the vision for our expanding small group
ministry out into the community to heart.
To help you with this challenge, I’ll provide you with some practical
ways to handle one of the number one issues faced by groups when making this
move: Childcare!
Remember
that the early church had thousands of new believers join the church in a
single day and they did not even have a central campus facility to meet
at! They only had homes. Homes without running water, no electricity, no space for the kids, no age appropriate toys….not even an
indoor bathroom! However, God manifested
His church in this way so that it could expand and “take back” territory the
enemy had captured: people enslaved to
sin being brought to freedom in Christ with no limit in sight!
Regardless
of how many people were converted to Christianity, the capacity to help them
connect, grow, and serve in the new family of Christ was unlimited. All they needed was just one more house! This is the same vision Crossroads has for
its small groups (see http://hstrial-jfrye.homestead.com/SG_Ministry_Vision.pdf).
So, given
we want to follow God’s direction for us as a “
1. The best approach is to have one to two folks from
the group itself sign up each week to do childcare. If you have 6 couples (for example), this
would only require two guys or two gals to sign up every six weeks to do
childcare. This allows the group to get
to know one another’s children, encourages serving one another, and is the most
reliable form of care (you always have childcare workers available!).
2. Another option is to have group members provide
names of sitters they use and then exhaust this list. This will provide the broadest age range you
can get because group members will be able to “pick up” and “drop off” younger
childcare workers that can’t drive yet.
Also, the group will feel more comfortable with having sitters “someone
in the group knows and has used before”.
3. I always encourage a group to have a “backup group
member” signed up each week to do childcare anyway even if a paid sitter is
coming just in case something happens and the sitter can’t be there. This way you don’t have to determine this “on
the fly” one night if they sitter can’t make it.
4. A final option (I prefer to go with option #2
above vs. this one), is to have folks get their own sitters at home and only
come as couples.
5. Also, be sure to have each child
bring their own age appropriate toys, books, and videos with them. This eliminates the host home from having to
try and gather age appropriate toys, etc… for a varied number of children. If each child takes care of their own
activity needs, then all the children will get exactly what they need (and they
can even learn to share with one another!).
6. This really works! If you have a high speed internet
connection, watch this video that talks about small groups and has a good
explanation of how #1 & #2 works effectively: Small Group Promo Video.
Note that
with any of these options, you can also include your children in applicable
portions of your small group meeting time such as worship, story telling, and
prayer time. Each group handles their
childcare as they feel led to do so.
There is no specific way to do this.
Keep trying various approaches until you find the one that works best
for your group.
Here is a
tool you can use to get input from your group members to help you decide which
option is best for your small group: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.asp?u=722942651736. You can cut and past this link (the one to
the left in this document) into an e-mail and send it to your group
members. Then e-mail John
Frye and he will send you the results.
Don’t let
this challenge discourage you! Small
Groups have faced this challenge since the inception of the church in
Acts! Embrace this as part of building
true Christian community as God desires for all of us!