We pray for growth. We ask God to send families. We pray for more children to walk through our doors. We pray that our ministries will reach kids in our communities who need to know Jesus.

And then He does.

Suddenly, the room that used to feel too big feels way too small. You need another table. More supplies. More volunteers. More check-in space. Someone is asking where the extra chairs are, another volunteer needs you, a new family just walked through the door, and you’re mentally rearranging the entire children’s ministry while smiling and saying, “Good morning! We’re so glad you’re here!”

There have been Sundays when I’ve looked around and thought, “Thank You, Jesus!” And approximately three seconds later thought, “Jesus, where am I supposed to put all these people?”

Welcome to growth.

I lead kids ministry at a satellite campus, and we are a mobile church. Every Sunday, we walk into a school and turn classrooms into ministry spaces. We unload. We set up. We move things around. We welcome families. We teach kids about Jesus. Then we tear everything down, load it back up, and do it all again the next Sunday. There is no permanent kids' wing waiting for us.

And lately, God has been growing our campus.

That sounds wonderful when you type it in a sentence. Living it can be a little more complicated.

Growth means more children hearing about Jesus, but it also means figuring out where those children are going to sit. Growth means new families finding a church home, but it also means needing more people willing to serve them. Growth means excitement, but it can also expose every system that isn’t ready for growth.

The check-in process that worked before might not work anymore. The classroom setup that was perfect for fifteen kids might feel completely different with twenty-five. Your volunteer schedule gets stretched. Your supplies disappear faster. The plan that worked last month suddenly doesn’t work at all. And sometimes, if we’re not careful, the very thing we prayed for can start to feel like a problem.

This is something I’ve had to remind myself: Never let the inconvenience of growth make a child or family feel like an inconvenience.

Because when you’re responsible for keeping a ministry safe, organized, staffed, supplied, and functioning, it’s really easy to see numbers before you see names.

“We had 20 in elementary.” “We had 12 preschoolers.” “We need another volunteer.” “We don’t have enough room.”

Those things matter. Ratios matter. Safety matters. Space matters. Good systems absolutely matter. But that “number” taking up the last chair has a name. That child has a family. That child has a story. And God brought that child through your doors.

Maybe their parents are going through a divorce. Maybe school has been awful. Maybe they don’t have many friends. Maybe their family hasn’t been in church in years. Maybe this is the first place they’ve ever heard that Jesus loves them. Maybe they are going to remember the adult who knelt down, looked them in the eyes, remembered their name, and made them feel like they belonged.

Suddenly, finding another chair doesn’t seem quite as frustrating.

One of the hardest lessons I’ve learned in leadership is that what got you here may not get you there. I love a good plan. I really love when everyone follows the plan. But kids ministry has taught me that sometimes the plan has to change.

We’ve moved kids. We’ve moved tables. We’ve changed groups. We’ve adjusted where kids meet. We’ve tried something one Sunday and changed it the next. There have been plenty of moments when I wished we could just keep doing things the way we’ve always done them.
But growth doesn’t always allow that.

Sometimes God answers your prayer for growth by forcing you to become a better leader. You have to communicate better. You have to develop more leaders. You have to trust other people. You have to rethink systems. You have to stop doing some things that used to work. And sometimes you have to be willing to say, “I don’t know exactly how we’re going to do this yet, but we’re going to figure it out.”

That’s not failure. That’s leadership.

Here’s another lesson I’m learning: when your ministry grows, don’t only pay attention to the kids. Pay attention to your team.

Growth can be exciting for a leader while being exhausting for volunteers. The classroom that suddenly has five more kids? Someone is serving in there. The complicated check-in process? Someone is standing at that desk. The extra equipment? Someone has to move it. The additional small group? Someone has to lead it.

If we’re constantly asking our people to “just make it work,” eventually some of our best people will get tired of making it work.

Celebrate them. Check on them. Listen when they tell you something isn’t working. Pray with them. Remind them why what they’re doing matters. And don’t just recruit people to fill holes on a schedule. Help them understand the mission.

They’re not filling a spot. They’re helping make room for another child to meet Jesus. That changes everything.

I don’t know what growth looks like in your ministry right now. Maybe you’re running out of chairs. Maybe you’re running out of classrooms. Maybe you’re running out of volunteers. Or maybe you’re reading this while praying for God to send the growth you’ve been waiting for.

Wherever you are, don’t forget why we do this. We don’t build kids ministries so we can have impressive numbers to report. We make room because every number has a name. Every name has a story. And every story matters to Jesus.

So when the room gets crowded, the plan changes, another volunteer calls out, and you’re standing in the middle of Sunday morning wondering how you’re going to make it all work, remember: This might be the answer to a prayer you prayed months ago.

Take care of your team. Be willing to change. Protect what’s important. Laugh when you can. Grab another chair. And keep making room.
Because maybe the goal was never to finally have enough chairs.

Maybe the goal is to never stop making room for one more.

Diana Hensarling serves as the MP Kidz Director at Marcus Pointe Baptist Church’s North Pace Campus in Pace, Florida. She leads children from birth through fifth grade and has a special heart for helping kids and families know, love, and live like Jesus. Serving at a mobile campus has taught Diana that kids ministry doesn’t require a perfect building, unlimited space, or a flawless Sunday—it requires people who are willing to make room for kids to encounter Jesus. She loves encouraging and developing volunteers, creating opportunities for families to serve together, and reminding her team that what happens in kids ministry reaches far beyond Sunday morning.