When my oldest daughter was ready to enter our church youth group, I found myself in a series of discussions with members who had decided to not allow their children attend. Maybe it shouldn’t have, but this caught me off-guard. Was it because they disagreed with what was being taught in our youth ministry? No….
Tag: teach
Entertainment Now, Sound Doctrine Later?
I was recently speaking with a member of a church who recently joined their children’s ministry committee. Her church uses a broadly evangelical Children’s Sunday School curriculum, focused more on fun and fluff than the sound teaching of Scripture. So, she recommended to the committee that they take a look at our One Story Ministries materials. The…
Teach your Children the Twelve Truths of Christmas
Our children learn a whole lot about life during the Christmas season. They learn how to indulge themselves. They learn how to be demanding and self-centered. They learn works-righteousness from Santa (Good=presents; Bad=lump of coal). They learn that getting new stuff equals happiness. They learn the secret of discontentment. They learn that our American economy…
Tinkering around in Children’s Ministry
Our pastor used a true story about the great American automobile giant, Henry Ford, as a helpful sermon illustration. Naturally, I thought of how it applies to Children’s Ministry as well as raising children in general. Here’s the story… There is a wonderful story of Henry Ford and Charlie Steinmetz. Steinmetz had one of the…
Seminaries for Children
Seminaries for children? That sounds like cruel and unusual punishment–almost child abuse! First graders poring over Greek and Hebrew verb tenses. Kindergartners subjected to medieval church history and systematic theology. Second graders forced to preach on the circuit and visit the sick. How is a seminary any place for a child? By definition it’s a…
Children’s Ministry 101. Lesson 16: Grounded in Compassion
When you come to firmly believe that a vibrant children’s ministry is essential because of the covenant of grace in Jesus Christ, then you will remain grounded in your purpose and mission. But how will you maintain and sustain the everyday work of the ministry? It will certainly help if you have dedicated covenant parents who understand the…
Children’s Ministry 101. Lesson 15: Grounded in Covenant
“Why do we have a children’s ministry in the first place?” This is a question you must always be prepared to answer. Sometimes it will come even more aggressively, like: “I don’t see children’s ministry in the Bible.” or “The early church didn’t have a Director of Children’s Ministry!” Before you read on, what answer…
Children’s Ministry 101. Lesson 14: Train for Relationships
If we rightly understand that the local church is a covenant community of believers, then we must always prioritize the development of Biblical relationships. So what does this particular task look like in children’s ministry? Do we just wait for our youth ministry associates to do this work, since that’s when children become more interested…
Children’s Ministry 101. Lesson 13: Train for Worship
One critical children’s ministry decision is whether to have some sort of “children’s church” during the Sunday morning worship service, or opt to keep children in worship with their parents. Ultimately, the pastoral leadership and elders of your church are responsible to cast the vision of what biblical corporate worship looks like, including how children are to be…
Children’s Ministry 101. Lesson 12: Protect ALL Children
It’s a sad reality that we need to devote a lesson in this series to the topic of child protection. But, we live in a fallen world. Evil people who want to hurt children. Churches tend to be “soft targets” where predators have plenty of opportunities. So your children’s ministry team must always keep a place on…
Children’s Ministry 101. Lesson 11: Serve ALL Children
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…
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…
One Story Ministries 