Keeping Your Children S Ministry On Mission

"This book presents a practical, four-fold strategy for gospel-centered, missional children's ministry (nursery-grade 5) to equip parents and the church"--

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)

It's tough to recruit volunteers--so hang on to those you've got! You'll keep volunteers longer and keep them happier by giving them more than just a volunteer job. Instead, give them a volunteer career. Help them become leaders as well as volunteers! Here's everything you need to know to get your volunteers in the right job, then help them to grow in their skills and enthusiasm. Noted children's pastor Jim Wideman, from Church on the Move in Tulsa, Oklahoma, offers practical strategies for any size church. Learn the secrets of retention, and ideas that really work...instill proven leadership skills...and grow your church volunteers to be happy, inspired, and in it for the long haul.

Children’s ministry has the power to change the lives of kids and families. Unfortunately, it’s not always clear that the work a person does with kids is really making a lasting difference. Ask children’s ministry leaders and kid-influencers if they are making the impact on children’s lives as they had hoped and most likely the responses will be mixed. And for good reason. Research over the past decade has revealed an alarming lack of long-term growth in the faith community as children progress through student ministries into adulthood. Clearly, something needs to change. Relational Children’s Ministry seeks to reverse this trend by equipping children’s ministry leaders with practical tools to disrupt the status quo approach to discipleship with children and realign their ministries for greater long-term impact. Ministry leaders will: Learn how to relate intentionally to kids and families by putting five discipleship invitations modeled by Jesus into practice Explore practical approaches to realign their children’s ministry for a new trajectory by hitting three “reset buttons” to ensure long-term discipleship is embedded Encounter examples of disruptive disciple-makers in action and learn key principles that can be translated into their own ministry context Children’s ministry leaders will receive practical training to refocus their children’s ministry along with time-tested tools to personally recommit to lifelong discipleship. Kid-influencers can become a disciple-making community that redirects the current trajectory for this and future generations.

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.

Attract kids to church, the logic often goes, and you get parents in the pews. All that's left, then, is to get the kids out of the way. Here children's ministers David Csinos and Ivy Beckwith draw on research in human development and spiritual formation to show how children become disciples and churches become centers of lifelong discipleship. For too long, the local church has focused primarily on programs for children rather than ways of doing ministry with children. But in light of emerging missional movements, the church is changing and forming a new kind of ecclesial culture. And children's ministry must follow suit. Csinos and Beckwith propose a new way of thinking for these modern churches—they suggest that children can contribute to our theological understandings, as well as invest in and practice Biblical justice just like adult church members. Here is a unique resource that explores children's ministry in light of true spiritual formation and discipleship.

"Easy-to-copy reproducibles included"--Cover.

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.