Keeping Your Children's Ministry on Mission

Keeping Your Children's Ministry on Mission
Author: Jared Kennedy
Publisher: Crossway
Total Pages: 200
Release: 2022-02-23
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1433576902

Practical Strategies for Gospel-Centered Children's Ministry When building a children's ministry at a church, there is so much to consider: Which curriculum should we use? How many volunteers do we need? How do we keep parents in the loop? And that's before we run into stalled check-in computers, missing activity sheets, and floors that need to be vacuumed. While all of the tasks of children's ministry are important, leaders can get easily distracted with the everyday work of doing ministry and lose sight of the main focus—the gospel. Writing from personal ministry experience, Jared Kennedy shares a four-fold approach for gospel-centered, missional children's ministry: hospitality, teaching, discipleship, and mission. This practical resource covers a variety of topics ranging from creating child protection policies to putting together lesson plans to catechism, helpful for children's ministers and volunteers alike as they disciple children with the powerful message of the gospel. Applicable: Includes questions for reflection and evaluation Helps Leaders Disciple the Next Generation: Features advice for sending kids and their families on mission Ideal for Nursery–5th Grade Teachers and Leaders: A practical and helpful resource for children's ministries Published in Conjunction with the Gospel Coalition (TGC)

Gospel-Centered Kids Ministry

Gospel-Centered Kids Ministry
Author: Brian Dembowczyk
Publisher: B&H Publishing Group
Total Pages: 123
Release: 2018-10-15
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1535939567

The story of Jesus interacting with the Emmaus disciples after his resurrection provides an outline for what a gospel-centered kids ministry looks like: gospel-centered teaching that points to Jesus in every session, gospel-centered transformation that positions the gospel to change a child's heart and then his or her behavior, and gospel-centered mission where kids join in on the big story of Jesus that continues to unfold. Seven out of ten kids will walk away from church after they turn eighteen. About five will return when they have families of their own. But two will never return. Clearly, something isn’t connecting with our kids. As kids ministry leaders, we need to take a hard look at what we are missing in our kids ministries and provide kids the one thing that will satisfy them and keep them connected to the church—the gospel. Gospel-Centered Kids Ministry also addresses how to communicate with and encourage gospel-centered leaders and parents as part of your ministry.

Best Practices for Children's Ministry

Best Practices for Children's Ministry
Author: Andrew Ervin
Publisher: Beacon Hill Press of Kansas City
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2010
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9780834125568

There is a growing number of local church laypeople entering children's ministry leadership. While this is helpful for furthering the Kingdom, these leaders face a huge learning curve. There are few resources available in the Wesleyan tradition for children's ministry leadership.Best Practices for Children's Ministry seeks to answer this need. With insight and understanding of the children's ministry world, author Andrew Ervin provides leaders with the tips, strategies, and skills they need to develop a strong and successful children's ministry.Times have changed. No longer does programming alone satisfy as the summation of children's ministry. No, the role of the children's ministry leader is far more complex. With Best Practices for Children's Ministry, leaders will find the answers and solutions they need to better practice children's ministry.

Children's Ministry on Purpose

Children's Ministry on Purpose
Author: Steven J. Adams
Publisher: Zondervan
Total Pages: 289
Release: 2017-03-28
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0310523028

Many children’s ministries are a flurry of activity, run by dedicated volunteers and staff who put in long hours and work hard for the good of the children and parents they serve. Yet despite good intentions, many children’s ministries today are not effective. They lack purpose and intentionality. A twenty-five year veteran of children’s ministry in the local church, pastor Steve Adams has ministered to families in multiple churches, from tiny church plants to his present position at Saddleback Church. In this book, Steve applies the revolutionary insights of the Purpose Driven Church to children’s ministry and leads readers on a journey of discovery, showing them how to develop an intentional ministry process that moves children toward spiritual health while building a healthy ministry environment for those who work with kids. You will learn how to ask and answer five simple but powerful questions: Why are we on this journey? Where are you and where are you going? Who are we trying to reach? How will we move our children towards spiritual health? What are the essential elements necessary for the journey? There is no single key to a successful children’s ministry, nor is there only one way that works for everyone. But there is a proven process you can follow and Steve shows how children’s ministries all over the world are reaching their God-given potential by discovering their biblical purpose, avoiding the traps of frustration and burnout.

The End of Youth Ministry? (Theology for the Life of the World)

The End of Youth Ministry? (Theology for the Life of the World)
Author: Andrew Root
Publisher: Baker Academic
Total Pages: 350
Release: 2020-03-17
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1493420178

What is youth ministry actually for? And does it have a future? Andrew Root, a leading scholar in youth ministry and practical theology, went on a one-year journey to answer these questions. In this book, Root weaves together an innovative first-person fictional narrative to diagnose the challenges facing the church today and to offer a new vision for youth ministry in the 21st century. Informed by interviews that Root conducted with parents, this book explores how parents' perspectives of what constitutes a good life are affecting youth ministry. In today's culture, youth ministry can't compete with sports, test prep, and the myriad other activities in which young people participate. Through a unique parable-style story, Root offers a new way to think about the purpose of youth ministry: not happiness, but joy. Joy is a sense of experiencing the good. For youth ministry to be about joy, it must move beyond the youth group model and rework the assumptions of how identity and happiness are imagined by parents in American society.

Making Your Children's Ministry the Best Hour of Every Kid's Week

Making Your Children's Ministry the Best Hour of Every Kid's Week
Author: David Staal
Publisher: Zondervan
Total Pages: 210
Release: 2009-05-26
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0310540070

Promiseland is Willow Creek’s highly successful children’s ministry. Using examples from Promiseland and churches of all sizes around the country, this book provides step by step guidance and creative application exercises to help churches develop a thriving children’s ministry—one that strives to be the best hour of every kid’s week. Included are Scripture-based principles and practical resources for church staff members and volunteers who agree with the critical role children’s ministry plays in a local church. Making Your Children’s Ministry the Best Hour of Every Kid’s Week, based on twenty-eight years of experience at Willow Creek, explains four ministry foundations: Mission, Vision, Values, and Strategy. Content includes: Detailed answers to questions facing every children’s ministry: • What does Jesus expect from children’s ministry? • How can we evangelize lost kids and disciple saved kids at the same time, and should we? • How do we engage kids so they don’t become bored? • How do we get better at recruiting and leading volunteers? • How can our ministry be a safe place for children? • Six specific ministry values that address the needs of today’s children • Practical first steps for ministries that want to get serious about change • Clear indicators of success in children’s ministry

A Biblical Theology of Youth Ministry: Teenagers in the Life of the Church

A Biblical Theology of Youth Ministry: Teenagers in the Life of the Church
Author: Michael McGarry
Publisher: Randall House Publications
Total Pages: 180
Release: 2019-05-30
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9781614840961

Michael McGarry explores the foundation of youth ministry in the Old and New Testaments and brings that together with Church history in a compelling way. McGarry presents a thorough biblical framework to think about youth ministry as the church's expression of partnership with the family for co-evangelizing and co-discipling the next generation.

Postmodern Children's Ministry

Postmodern Children's Ministry
Author: Ivy Beckwith
Publisher: Zondervan
Total Pages: 178
Release: 2004
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0310257549

Presents a new paradigm for children's ministry in the emerging church of the 21st century and explores current ways churches are putting that vision into practice.

Leading KidMin

Leading KidMin
Author: Pat Cimo
Publisher: Moody Publishers
Total Pages: 170
Release: 2016-07-19
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0802494617

Want to see your church’s kids transformed for Jesus? Struggling to get the whole church on board? Know what you want to see happen, but not how to make it happen? Leading KidMin is about what it takes to achieve big-time change. Moving past the “why” and getting straight to the “how,” Leading Kidmin provides tools and strategies for actually leading, influencing, and implementing change on a local church level—all from the vantage point of the children’s ministry director. The mission of Leading KidMin is to create a movement of change-agents who don’t just know that change is needed, but are equipped to make it happen, leading their churches in becoming more aligned, effective, and geared for growth. Pat Cimo and Matt Markins, veterans of KidMin, are prepared to make you the change-agent you want to be—and that your church needs you to be. Are you ready?

Gospel-Centered Youth Ministry

Gospel-Centered Youth Ministry
Author: Cameron Cole
Publisher: Crossway
Total Pages: 210
Release: 2016-02-12
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1433546981

Youth ministry is an essential part of most evangelical churches. And yet, there is a surprising lack of resources written specifically for youth workers focused on viewing all aspects of youth ministry through a gospel-focused lens. Featuring contributions from a host of experienced youth workers from a wide variety of churches, this how-to manual offers guidance related to every facet of youth ministry, from planning short-term mission trips to working with parents. Theologically rooted yet eminently practical, this handbook will equip youth leaders to effectively shepherd the young people under their care—training them to live faithfully in their homes, churches, and schools.