Ep. 38: Shared Spaces, Shared Ministry: Navigating the Challenges of Weekday and Weekend Programs with Julie Hammer

I'm looking forward to introducing you to our podcast guest today.  Julie Hammer is a Christ-follower, wife, mom, and minister to preschoolers and kids - in that order! She serves as Children's Minister and Interim Preschool Minister at First Baptist Church Lewisville, Texas, where she oversees weekday ministry. Julie also leads conferences for Texas Baptists and serves as a part of the Texas Baptist Conclave Next Gen Planning Team. In today's episode, we are discussing the challenges and importance of sharing classroom space between weekday preschool programs and weekend church programs! We dive into just how important it is for both sides to see themselves as one ministry working together for the same goal of ministering to families and children. Julie shares with us her thoughts on the importance of clear communication, cooperation, and organization in shared spaces (and the need for a well-organized resource room). We also shed light on the importance of teamwork, prayer, and assuming the best of each other in order to create a harmonious and effective shared space. We finish our conversion reminding listeners of the ultimate goal of showing love and unity to families and children as representatives of Christ. Listen, sharing classroom spaces, office spaces, and hallways can be really challenging.  However, I really think if we can shift our mindset to remembering that we're all in this together for the benefit of children and their families, we can do this a lot better than we have been.  Some of y'all are rockstars and you have an amazing partnership with your children's ministry team.  And some of y'all are struggling in this area.  I want to challenge you today…if your weekday program feels really separated from your weekend church preschool ministry, YOU be the one to take the first step to build a relationship. Sharing space is hard.  But there are some practical things you can do to make it easier – whether you're the teacher in a classroom or whether you're the director of the weekday program or the children's ministry leader.  Evaluate your attitude.  Pray.  Then take a step toward building relationships.  We can do this!   As always, we would love to connect with you on Instagram and on Facebook