Resources — Ministry Leaders

In a media driven age when children, youth and adults have become mostly passive participants in life, spending hours upon hours in front of screens and texting, we can miss the value of participating IN the experience of life itself. Where we used to connect with others face to face, connecting via media has removed communication nuances such as facial expression and body language that are part of the communication experience. When we don’t “see” those we are connecting with, our communication can be misinterpreted, and can lead to false or misleading understanding. Let’s pause and delve into a process...

I made a significant mistake early on in my ministry career. I made several decisions that were unpopular — but that was not my mistake. We are going to make decisions that don’t please everyone. That is a good case of the normals. My mistake was in recruiting some individuals who were vehemently opposed to the changes that I was making. My mistake came when I thought about the old axiom, “Keep your friends close but your enemies closer.” Of course I don’t want to view these individuals as my enemies by any stretch of the imagination! However, I thought...

When asked to summarize his theology, Karl Barth, the prolific Swiss theologian, was said to have simply replied, “Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so.” Now the question is, “How do we get that message to children?” Often this question has been answered through program and curriculum, and the challenge becomes to make the program fun, jazzy, and exciting enough that kids will want to be there. That just may be getting more difficult all the time as children are growing up in a world where they have access to all kinds of exciting things...

Preschoolers in a Dallas church opened their Christmas program with greetings in seven languages. In San Diego, Spanish, Sudanese, and Cambodian pastors are regular visitors in children’s Bible classes. These young global Christians are learning to look on the heart rather than outward appearances. (1 Samuel 16:7 NLT) Children are not born with prejudices. Preschoolers may notice physical, family, and religious differences, but they naturally accept them. It’s often in elementary school that children come into contact with negative attitudes toward those who are different from themselves. When children witness hurtful prejudice, teachers can help them respond with accurate information,...

In 1945, an atomic bomb fell on Hiroshima, effectively putting an end to World War II. Around the same time, another bomb was dropped smack-dab in the middle of the United States—a cultural bomb that spawned the birth of “youth culture.” Never in the history of our nation had such a distinct and fundamental change to our society occurred. All of a sudden, parents were dealing with a new kind of son and daughter. Kids now had their own kinds of clothes, music, idols and fashions, not to mention vocabularies. If you were to mention the word “tween” to the...