After serving just a few weeks at my current post, one of our long-time elders and his wife paid me a visit. After the opening pleasantries, he threw down the gauntlet with this provocative question: “Are you here to minister to ALL the children of our church, or just MOST of them?” All sorts of thoughts…
Tag: Christian
Children’s Ministry 101. Lesson 10: Teach with Purpose
If the principal activity of Children’s Ministry is teaching, then this essential work must be tied to our overall goals for children. Teaching with passion is useless if you don’t know WHY you are teaching or have in mind WHAT outcome you desire. To put it another way, teaching that doesn’t elicit true learning ends…
Children’s Ministry 101. Lesson 9: Teach with Passion
In a Christ-centered, gospel-driven children’s ministry, teaching is the fundamental activity. Unfortunately, the educational element of ministry to children has gradually receded into the background over the past decades, as more entertainment-styled programming has been thrust into the foreground. Correspondingly, teachers in the local church aren’t typically trained to be effective and productive, since knowledge and wisdom aren’t valued…
Children’s Ministry 101. Lesson 8: Choose the Courses
In our last lesson, we discussed the general principles for choosing curriculum. Since curriculum is the “totality of student experiences in the educational process,” we refer to its components as “courses.” Think about it this way: A college curriculum is comprised of dozens of courses that must be taken before the student can graduate. So, what are the…
Children’s Ministry 101. Lesson 7: Choose the Curriculum
Curriculum (n): The totality of student experiences in the educational process. This important term originates from the Latin “the course of a race,” which helps us to understand what choosing curriculum is truly all about. In children’s ministry, we have the high responsibility of “setting the course” on which our children will run. Prayerfully, the chosen curriculum…
Children’s Ministry 101. Lesson 6: Recruit the Laborers
Do you enjoy rejection? Do you like it when people duck their heads to escape your gaze when they think you are “after them?” Do you relish the thought of getting dozens of “no’s” only to see some of the same overworked members step up to the plate? Well, welcome to the world of recruiting volunteers! Do I paint…
Children’s Ministry 101. Lesson 4: Set the Core
Whether you have inherited an existing children’s ministry or are working from the ground up, it’s vital to set the CORE of your ministry. These are the essential components that are (humanly speaking) unmovable and unchangeable–the backbone of your entire ministry to children. And, just like your own body’s “core,” your ongoing task is to strengthen…
Children’s Ministry 101. Lesson 3: Set the Mission
Now that we have our dual starting points for children’s ministry (parents AND outreach), the next step is to set the mission. This essential part of the process is more than just writing a mission statement that goes on your website and letterhead. Setting the mission is all about establishing the foundation of the ministry and seeking…
You Never Graduate from the School of Christ
Two weekends, two graduations. Our daughter number three graduated from high school, and daughter number one from college (that’s right, my children have no names, just numbers). It’s that time of year in America! As we transition to summer, hoards of young people walk across the stage, and into another chapter of their lives. They are told…
Home of the Brave…or Home of the Fearful?
Our national anthem proclaims that America is “the land of the free and the home of the brave.” While it’s tempting to question the first part of that pronouncement, the last part has also fallen on hard times. Certainly, we still see many individual acts of bravery and courage every day, such as in the…
Christians Should Challenge One Another More Often!
Have you taken the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge yet? Or are you one of just a handful of people in the entire world who has stayed dry? This ultra-viral social media campaign designed to raise awareness and money for this dreaded disease has been amazingly successful. Celebrities, politicians, and almost all of your friends have…
Leviticus is for First Graders
It had been at least five years since we did a major expired food clean-up out of what we call the “deep freeze” in these parts. All sorts of unidentifiable food encased in ice had to be chiseled out of the bottom shelf. My son and I enjoyed chipping out Zip-lock bag after Zip-lock bag,…
One Story Ministries 