The first time I heard it I didn’t think much of it. “What is kidmin?” Seemed like a normal question.
I didn’t notice the question was a trend until our team was in Hong Kong talking about Children’s Ministry and one of us asked a question about “kidmin” in our friends church. Their first response was a look of confusion… “kidmin?” They didn’t understand what the phrase meant.
It’s become increasingly normal with my friends in the U.S. to substitute Children’s Ministry with kidmin. However, it creates a language barrier with others I’ve connected with internationally. When I was in the Middle East I had to explain what kidmin means. In Australia, they get it if they are on twitter… but, most of my friends there said it’s kind of silly. At a recent event with some Children’s Ministry leaders from France, Denmark, Philippines, England, Lebanon, South Africa and various other countries, none of them used this phrase. The english guys actually poked fun at the term and said they think “Americans are a bit different, if you know what I mean.” I don’t think they meant it as a compliment.
So, I did some poking around using Google translate. I was curious to see if the term even translates to other languages.
I pretty much confused Google translate. It found no way to translate kidmin to any other language then yiddish. In yiddish, apparently, the translation of kidmin is germination.
So, I thought, let’s try a common phrase one might use in conversation. “I am a kidmin” translated to yiddish is איך בין אַ קידמין. Translated back to english it says, simply, “I am a germ.” Great… so, basically when CMConnect says it is a “free kidmin network” it translates to a “free GERM network.” Nice… that should go viral.
In arabic, where Children’s Ministry is thriving under remarkable conditions, the phrase, “I am a kidmin” becomes انا 1 kidmin. This translates to “I 1 kidmin” … whatever that means.
Maybe we should rethink how we have begun to use a shortcut terminology developed for ease of use in the twittersphere and if it makes sense in real life? The hashtag #kidmin works great in the twitter world where it was developed. It was fun to be part of the conversations when it was developed. However, it is causing confusion when it comes to connecting with others who are serving in Children’s Ministry. Unless, of course, you’d like to tell people you work in “germination.”
What are your thoughts? Am I over thinking this? Is this facepalm worthy?
You’re over-thinking it. ’nuff said.
Thanks for the feedback, Jamie. I don’t know… I’m a communicator and I try to think about the impact words have and what they mean. What do you call your Children’s Ministry at your church? Do you refer to it as the kidmin department or children’s ministry department?
Interesting thoughts running we refer to our children’s ministry as greenhouse, still in training but I find it inspiring that we are raising future pillars of society who would later become fearless achievers.
So many people don’t understand the term Kidmin, I have had to explain, even to my Pastor what it meant! You are not over thinking it, maybe with more time comes more exposure.
Thanks for the feedback Jen. I was using the term with parents at our church and got the same response… unless they were on twitter.
Something I have learned over 16 years in the ER is that you have to talk to people where they are. You have to be culturally sensitive. So, if your in a culture where the term is unknown, or might have/give a negative image, then don’t use it. As Paul said, “I become all things to all men so that some might be saved.”
I’ve never looked, but I’d have to guess that the term Geek might have a similar response elsewhere in the world, but I still embrace my Geekdom.
We don’t use it at our church, Down Under, but we understand it when you use it, along with many other American terms that we automatically translate in our heads.
I’d love love love to get that list of terms, Patricia.
I guess that will give me something to do on my trip down to Melbourne, then, eh?
What’s that? Oh, yes, the list… Please do!
Kidmin is a term that is understood only within the world of twitter. I will use #kidmin to tag tweets, but that is where it ends for me. Even in the US, kidmin means nothing unless someone is familiar with the term. I tend to stick with the terms children’s ministry, or kids ministry. That eliminates any possible confusion. My 2 cents: kidmin is fine on twitter as a hashtag, but is not a word or description to be used in conversation or writing.
As an first generation immigrant in the U.S. (actually, just a resident alien), I understand the confusion with the word “kidmin” overseas.
But then again, when Americans say the word “football”, the rest of the world has to switch gears and translate it into something other than football with a white round ball played on a field with two opposing nets. I had to make the switch early in my time in the U.S., because I was living in Dallas in the early 1990′s.
With “kidmin” (and to some degree even the term “children’s ministry”) the term is pretty recently coined, but it’s not a difficult shortcut to understand. Kid for “children” and min for “ministry.” So I woud say that it is acceptable for use especially when you use interchangeably rather than exclusively.
We can take a page out of newspaper writing on this (yes, I long for the days of print journalism). I note that acronyms or shortcuts are used quite frequently but the first mention of any term is its full spelling with the abbreviation or acronym in parenthesis. Then in every usage of the term henceforth, the shorter term is used.
Good point, Frank. I think Ron made a similar point too.
So… I guess I am over thinking it and just need to be intentional in not using it exclusively in a way that excludes others or makes me sound like a hipster. It is funny, though, that it translates to “germ” in yiddish. I’m going to have a hard time forgetting that one.
Astute observations for sure. I really had no clue about the international impact of a word. I was involved in the creation of the word kidmin in it’s current context. We were looking for a short hashtag word for twitter. That is all. However, when talking in kidmin circles (see how nicely that works), many of us will often use the word… because we get it. Its become much more popular, even to the point that Group would name their conference after it. I can’t imagine that it will overtake the term Children’s Ministry and I don’t think I’ve ever used it when talking to my church or parents. Parents don’t care. My pastor doesn’t care. I have no interest in investing any energy in getting them to understand why I would call something as clear as “children’s ministry” something other than that.
As far as other countries not getting it or it making sense… that’s normal. Terminology often doesn’t translate. I’ve had conversations with many internationals where I thought what they said was silly too… it’s just your context. It’s not a good or bad issue. I do think you have a point though when it comes to the international audience. Many things dont completely translate and it’s worth paying attention to. Children’s Ministry can literally be translated to most languages I assume… although there are probably some places where even “ministry” doesn’t have a direct translation.
Good thoughts, but in the end… I’m not sure it really matters. Other cultures will call it what they want and they’ll probably even have their own terminology that we don’t use either. Not a good or bad thing in my opinion… it just is what it is.
Thanks for posting, Kenny. I remember the conversation about what to use and was a part of that discussion too. I think a lot of people were. Kidmin made sense as a twitter hashtag and I agree with the rest of what you are saying about it.
Appreciate you taking the time to share your perspective.
When I was teaching grammar to students in high school, we discussed how language evolves and how technology has caused it to “devolve”. By that I mean, phrases that were longer, for the sake of time and typing, have becoming shorter. “All right” is always condensed to “alright”. “Alright” is not a word but we use it. In speaking it, however, it is reduced further still, in some cases, to “aight” (a two syllable nothing). It’s just how it goes. Electronic mail became “e-mail”. Internet became “net”. Weblog became “blog”. Every culture creates it’s own kind of language. For example the term “blox” may not mean much to anyone but those in the forums of collecting Disney Vinylmations it means “blind box”. Blox also means other things to other people (puzzle games, etc.)
For those that know what “kidmin” is, it works just fine. As long as you use it in the culture and circles for which it is intended. Kidmin would do well for twitter, cmconnect, and the like. It may even transition well into conversations with others in the same field. It would also even do well at conferences where those who attend are aware of it (which will happen more and more over time.)
For Americans, we do like things to be faster, and shorter, and kidmin is so much easier and faster to say and write than “children’s ministry”.
In that regard, the term “children’s ministry” makes no sense either grammatically. I’m sure that came about because people got tired of saying “Ministry to/for children”.