{"id":12887,"date":"2025-06-10T10:29:37","date_gmt":"2025-06-10T16:29:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wonderink.org\/?p=12887"},"modified":"2025-06-10T10:31:56","modified_gmt":"2025-06-10T16:31:56","slug":"training-your-volunteers-for-wonder-ink-what-they-need-to-know","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wonderink.org\/training-your-volunteers-for-wonder-ink-what-they-need-to-know\/","title":{"rendered":"Training Your Volunteers for Wonder Ink: What They Need to Know"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I once started a position at a church and was handed a list of leaders\u2019 names and curriculums \u201cI needed to order for them,\u201d on my first Sunday. Each leader from each age group had chosen their own curriculum, and it was like the time of the Judges, and \u201ceveryone did as they saw fit\u201d (Judges 17:6<\/a>). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When I introduced the end to this madness, people were not so quick to get on board. Anytime change is made, people begin to fear what they will lose in the change, so it wasn\u2019t so much about a new curriculum, but about the loss they were experiencing by not doing a curriculum they had become accustomed to. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was a process to move people into a place where not only were they ready to begin to hear the benefits, but they would eventually see the curriculum we were using as a piece of the bigger picture of our overall mission.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whether you are starting a new year of Wonder Ink or you are starting a new curriculum<\/a> in Wonder Ink, chances are you will have the opportunity to do some training with your leaders to help them feel enthusiastic and confident in what they will be teaching. Equipping your volunteers to lead a curriculum with intentionality means we do more than just hand them a lesson plan. We cast a vision for their role as disciple-makers of children, who are communicating truth from God\u2019s Big Story<\/a> and modeling what it looks like to be known, loved, and led as a disciple of Jesus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here are some intentional moves you can make as you train your volunteers<\/a> for Wonder Ink.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cast a vision for their role as disciple-makers of children, who are communicating truth from God\u2019s Big Story and modeling what it looks like to be known, loved, and led as a disciple of Jesus.<\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Layer the vision. <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Start with your ministry mission statement<\/a>, and be sure to cast a vision<\/a> for what you are aiming to do as a ministry. If this is the foundation of your training, your leaders are more likely to engage with the content of the curriculum. Remember, they didn\u2019t sign up to serve because they looked at Wonder Ink and thought, \u201cI really want to teach this curriculum!\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

They likely raised their hand to serve because they want to help children become followers of Jesus! Starting your training with a reminder of why we are all here gets everyone on the same page, moving in the same direction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The next layer of your training can then be the core values that form Wonder Ink: God Knows Me, Jesus Loves Me, The Holy Spirit Leads Me, and I am a Child of God<\/a>. If your foundation has been laid in your church or ministry mission statement, then these values become the four pillars that provide support for what you ultimately want to see in each child\u2019s life. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As your leaders hear you unpack these truths, they will also begin to fall in love with the why behind what you are doing, and even when they may not appreciate something in the curriculum, they will be able to see and understand why it would support your mission of making disciples. The weekly declaration becomes a battle cry of a generation becoming followers of Jesus, and your leaders will be ready to follow you into that battle!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Starting your training with a reminder of why we are all here gets everyone on the same page, moving in the same direction.<\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Once your volunteers have the compelling vision of what your \u201cend game\u201d is, a child walking into middle school would be a disciple who knows they are a Child of God, known by God, loved by Jesus, and led by the Holy Spirit, it\u2019s time to help their heads follow their hearts. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you start with the why, and fill in the how, your volunteers will be ready to teach any lesson you send them!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"happy
Credit:Unsplash\/Brooke Cagle<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Fill in the how. <\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The theological guideposts of Wonder Ink become the walls around those pillars (see them in the Scope & Sequence<\/a>). Help your leaders to understand what they will see in every lesson, so they can anticipate and look for the specific ways these guideposts will work out in the age groups they work with. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

These guideposts<\/a> can help your leaders to see what is gained from Wonder Ink, rather than thinking about what might be lost in moving into a new curriculum, and can be a refocusing as you cast an annual vision for your mission.<\/p>\n\n\n\n