In case you haven’t noticed, technology is a big deal in our culture—especially with kids and students. But the church isn’t exactly known for our cutting-edge innovation, or even for knowing how to use all of the latest gadgets.
That’s one reason why Orange has partnered with Playlister to make technology work for your ministry. Their service makes putting Orange content on your devices easier than ever and allows church leaders like you to make the most of your curriculum.
To demonstrate how your ministry can take full advantage of your technology, Playlister talked to a few church partners about how they leverage technology.
Chris Classeen, Executive Pastor at Harvest Church, and Josh Miller, Kid’s Director at Crossroads Church, talk about how using technology to incorporate video content into the children’s curriculum makes the church-going experience even more engaging. Chris and Josh have been involved in children’s ministry for nearly thirty years combined.
Church should be fun
Chris mentions how using technology to incorporate video content into the children’s curriculum makes the church-going experience even more engaging. It truly emphasizes the crossroad between sharing the world’s oldest message with some of the newest technology.
By utilizing Playlister technology in tandem with curriculum like Orange, pastors can really jazz up the classroom experience to show the children how fun God really is.
“I think that God is amazing and fun, and so church shouldn’t be boring.”
Removing the barrier of technical glitches allows ministry leaders to focus on the kids they’re trying to reach. And it allows the kids in their church the chance to have fun worshiping and learning.
It streamlines the process to keep everyone in sync
Josh touched on the notion that one of the biggest challenges in kids’ ministry is staying in sync. Especially at large, multisite churches, it can be increasingly difficult to all stay on the same back from week-to-week.
However, Josh has found that consistency is the key to building and facilitating a trusting relationship with the children, volunteers, and ultimately, Jesus Christ.
Josh stated that one way he strives for consistency with his role at Crossroads is by sticking to one “playbook”, or using Orange curriculum, that all of the volunteers and teachers are bought in on. This helps establish a shared goal and keeps everything moving in the same direction.
Get volunteers excited about serving
Another way to improve consistency within children’s ministry is by encouraging volunteers to serve more frequently.
“If you serve every other week or if you could serve every week, the amount of information that you’re going to gather from the kids about who they are, about what they’re passionate about, that’s going to stick a lot faster,” said Josh. “Your influence on the class is going to be incredibly different than if you’re just there once a month.”
Part of the beauty of technology is it helps the volunteers and makes them excited about serving more and simplifies curriculum playback. Long gone are the days of trying to pull together subject messages for lectures and activities.
Using partners like Playlister and Orange takes care of a lot of the front-end work so that pastors and volunteers can instead focus on giving the children their undivided attention.
“[Playlister] allows my leaders to focus on the relationship and community building versus having to learn a lot of content or teach a particular lesson because that’s taken care of for them,” says Josh. “One of the things I will just speak to in that is one of my favorite things about technology is when it kind of presses into the background. It executes flawlessly and you don’t even really notice it.”
Focus on what matters
When done right, technology is like a perfect symphony. This sort of seamless coalescence empowers the volunteers, the children, and even the teachers. Not only does it enhance the curriculum and what is being taught, but it avoids appearing clunky, overused, or distracting.
Streamlining the technological process helps those presenting are able to focus on their message rather than any tech-related frustrations.
“The volunteers can come in and the technology just works for them,” said Josh. “It’s a button that they click and it just works. They don’t have to think about that, but it serves them and what they’re doing and helps them have a greater impact.”
You’re in control
Time flies when you’re having fun with kids in the classroom. Oftentimes you only get about an hour to spend with them at a time. Chris noted that Playlister has helped immensely in controlling the time of video components to make sure he is able to fit in all of the material he wants to share for the day.
More so, with Playlister he has the ability to ensure the message is delivered in a clear, concise manner. This optimizes his time with the children, allows leaders to spend time building relationships, and ensures that his message is applicable and effective.
