The basement fellowship hall was stuffy. I waved a stack of papers, trying to coax a breeze from its ruffled pages. It was late July, time for the annual Vacation Bible School training. I paused my fluttering, looked around at those gathered, and asked if there were any questions.
The first hand that rose was smaller than most, with chipped hot pink nail polish and stacks of corded bracelets—a tween girl who had been in VBS herself the year before. She led the fray: do I count as a kid still or do I, like, now count as an official volunteer? Other small hands shot up. The enthusiasm of these young volunteers bubbled out of their mouths and into their questions:
How do I take a kid to the bathroom when they can’t reach the sink to wash their hands?
What happens if there aren’t enough adult leaders for that activity, am I the adult?
If it goes well, me helping with VBS, then can I start helping in the nursery, too?
I smiled. It was not the first time this group of young adults and adolescents had peppered me with questions. At this point in working as my church’s children’s ministry director, our youth group attendance numbers were climbing. Increasingly, more young families were joining the church, having babies, and participating in children’s ministry. And as the kids moved up through our children’s ministry, they became some of my most faithful, if not youngest, ministry partners.
For many of the youth in our church, volunteering in the children’s ministry is a rite of passage. Once they graduate fifth grade, their time as students in our children’s ministry ends. Many want to turn around and serve. This rich blessing caused our church to consider: how can we help our kids disciple younger kids?1
Selection And Training Process
At the church in which I served in children’s ministry, our teenagers went through much of the same process as their adult counterparts. They begin by indicating their interest. Then they fill out a Volunteer Application and Teen Reference Form, as there are no background checks for minors. They then express the areas in which they want to volunteer. These new volunteers attend the required annual training. Though we ask adults to complete an online training, we modify this and present an age-appropriate version for the teens in person. Once they complete this screening process, they receive a name tag and are officially “Helpers” in children’s ministry (a title that is specific to our church for youth volunteers).
How Teenagers Can Serve
It’s important to remember that while teenagers are old enough to volunteer, they are still minors and churches need to continue to prioritize their safety. We had a rule at my church that middle and high school students can serve when there are two other adults present, or if there was just one adult in the room, there needed to be an open line of sight. The reason for this is two-fold: first, as minors, our goal is to provide youth the same ongoing “child” safety offered in the children’s ministry, including adult supervision; and second, having them serve provides a unique discipleship opportunity.
It’s helpful for teenagers to have latitude in their serving. There is much they can help with: planning games, leading worship, distributing snacks, serving at VBS or other events, and even teaching lessons to young children. Once a student demonstrates growth and maturity, he or she can move into new roles demanding more responsibility.
Discipling Teenage Volunteers in Children’s Ministry
The manifold ministerial opportunities for youth are enough to warrant their own article! For our purposes here, I believe that student discipleship does not pause when teenagers enter a children’s classroom to volunteer with younger children.
First, we remind them (indeed, all our volunteers!) of the importance of their work. Giving children a squirt of hand sanitizer is kingdom work. Passing out goldfish is kingdom work. Doing laps around the room with that one squalling baby is kingdom work. Keeping their phone turned off and away while serving is kingdom work. Watching an adult volunteer, then stepping in to calm a crying child the next week, is kingdom work. We want our students to know that they are contributing to the overall mission of the church: making disciples of Jesus Christ, of all ages.
Second, we remind them they are not alone in this work. One of the benefits of serving alongside teenagers is the ability to get to know them at a different level than we would if we were just serving over them (as a youth group leader, for example). The conversations that result from week-by-week, elbow-grease interactions are meaningful. Adult volunteers get to help teenagers grow in their ability to share the gospel with younger kids. Teenagers get to put into practice the conflict resolution they were taught at a young age when teaching the next generation the same lessons. When conversation turns and a youth expresses interest in baptism, membership, volunteering, or other church involvement, it provides adults the chance to invite their parents into the conversation to encourage their interest.
We want our teenagers—and our children—to know that they are not merely the younger tag-alongs at their parents’ church. This is their church too, and in serving, we want them to be served by the relationships they form and the skills they learn.
The Fruit of Intergenerational Integration
The work of utilizing teens to volunteer in children’s ministry can feel tedious at times. It may seem like we’re signing ourselves up for double childcare when allowing youth to serve. But the fruit of the ground makes the tilling worth it.
I have heard shrieks of laughter down the hall from four-year-olds and too-cool-for-school 14-year-olds boys alike, as they play yet another round of hide and seek. I have seen girls immediately step into leadership volunteer roles upon turning eighteen. Often they are the first to sign up for extra shifts. They take younger girls under their wings. They arrive prepared with unique crafts and well-thought-out lessons. I have even received emails from 11-year-olds who logged into their moms’ emails to send me questions and suggestions. When one such email was accidentally overlooked, I received a very nice handwritten reminder on my desk the next Monday!
The whole process reminds me of Paul’s writing that he “planted, Apollos watered, and God caused the growth” (1 Cor. 3:6). Stepping back with our pastors and elders to survey the harvest, in all areas of our children and youth ministries, is a gift from the Lord and a glorious sight to behold.
An Eternal Impact
I’ll end with a story from a youth volunteer in children’s ministry—one that I will never forget. A young lady, aged sixteen, sat on the floor with a little two-year-old in her lap. She held a book open for the two of them, slowly turning the pages and reading aloud. It was a short book, maybe four or five pages, with illustrations depicting Passion Week. They flipped the page, and there it read: “And Jesus died for them, because he loved them.”
Those words pierced the core of that young girl’s heart. Tears dribbled down her face, plopping onto the blond curls in her lap below. She started laughing, then crying harder, but smiling, too. She understood: Jesus died for her, too, because he loved her.
Friends, that young girl was me. My parents were faithful to raise me in the Lord, but I have a distinct memory of the gospel’s redirecting my life from that one moment serving in nursery. If not for that experience, I don’t know if I would have ever served in children’s ministry.
I do not say this to toot my own horn—I still have a long way to go on the road of sanctification! I say this to encourage you. You never know what one little board book, one Bible lesson, or one Sunday of volunteering can do. The gospel is a beautiful, glorious message to both proclaim and hear again and again. It seizes hearts and changes lives—even in our teens and the kids they serve.
- In our efforts to integrate youth volunteers, our church pursued accreditation with the Evangelical Counsel for Abuse Prevention (ECAP), working to get our policies and procedures up to speed to achieve compliance with their standards. Along the way, ECAP has provided helpful guidance in integrating our youth and children’s ministries. I recommend their website and guidelines as a resource for any youth minister or children’s director wondering how to set up teen volunteers for success. ↩︎
We hope you’ll join us for the 2025 Rooted Conference in Chicago, IL October 23-25, featuring several workshops about children’s and family ministry!
