Encouragement — Ministry Leaders

Children play an important role in ministry for God. But that is often overlooked. We, as adults, have an opportunity to learn from them. Jesus said, “Let the little children come unto me.” He cared for children and wanted to have a relationship with them. He even told His followers that unless you have the faith of a child, you cannot enter the Kingdom of God. What is the faith of a child like? Until they have reason not to, children will believe what their parents tell them and follow their instructions, as they still possess a level of trust...

In over two decades of ministry leadership, I have seen the benefits of game play in ministry from every angle. I’ve served as a camp counselor where lots of relationship building happened over multi-day games. I’ve organized and executed quick game play for Sunday school and mid-week programming. I’ve written dozens of games to coordinate with VBS themes. I’ve been the dad listening to my kids talk about a team building experience with their peers or a shared moment of victory during game play in ministry time. I love games. Most children’s ministry leaders incorporate games into a portion of...

“Those who think they know something do not yet know as they ought to know” (1 Corinthians 8:2, NIV) Lately, I’ve been doing some thinking. Thinking about what? Oh, you name it, I’ve probably had a thought about it. Yet if my wife would ask me the infamous question, “What are you thinking about?” My response would be the typical response, “Nothing.” According to Murdock (2020), “The average person will typically have more than 6,000 thoughts in a single day.” That’s a whole lot of thoughts! But, thinking about thinking brought me to the question: What does Scripture have to say about...

The post-Christian culture we live in today has forced church leaders to evaluate, seeking answers to the questions such as: What happened? Where did we go wrong? What can we do better for the next generation? The search for answers has added words to our vocabulary such as nones, deconstruction, and church hurt. Church hurt is not a new term. I would argue it has existed since the church began. However, church hurt is a term that children’s ministry leaders and parents today need to be acutely aware of. The future church depends on it. In Stephen Mansfield’s 2012 book,...

I credit my mother for fostering my lifelong love of the Bible. She began reading and teaching me Bible stories at the age of five. However, other than my mother, it was certainly children’s church that had the most significant impact on my childhood spiritual development during the elementary years. I looked forward to attending church every Sunday, especially children’s church. My pastor’s son was the children’s church leader, and he had the ability to make it interesting and fun. I still remember a particular lesson he shared; it was the story of Billy Sunday who was on his way...