Training — English

Teaching children to worship is not just sitting and listening, but is actively thinking about God, appreciating God for who He is, thanking God for what He has done, giving back to God, and praising God through song and other expressions. Children need guidance to learn how to worship God. Consider some of the following ideas: • Help children recognize, understand and accept God’s gift of salvation, as an act of faith, not based on works. Salvation teaching: The Wordless Book, first developed by Charles Spurgeon in the late 1800s, has over a century of verified success in teaching about...

Galatians 6:9 admonishes us “And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up” (ESV). As I have worked with hundreds of ministry leaders over the past 20 years, I have often encountered servant leaders working with diligence, persevering through long times of trial or difficult circumstances. I often encounter brothers and sisters in Christ who are genuinely pursuing good, and do not easily give up. But as I have coached ministry leaders who are dangerously close to burnout, my top encouragement to them in not growing weary...

As the journey to launch a 1-and-2-year old class within our church continues, we have fine-tuned the classroom schedule. We ask the teachers and helpers to arrive 30 minutes before the service starts. This not only allows time to review that day’s teaching, but also to pray over the room and the children before the first child arrives. Since our church services last between 75 and 90 minutes, our classroom schedule looks like this: 20 minutes Free play 5 minutes Prayer / snacks 20 minutes Bible / lesson / singing / mirror 30 minutes Guided play 15 minutes Clean up...

Games are a key part of Children’s Ministry. I believe no kids service is complete without a well-planned intentional game. However, no game should just be a time-filler. Some leaders have cut games because they don’t want to waste precious teaching time with a silly game. They are half right! I agree, no time should be wasted. But games are NOT a waste of time! That is, if the game serves a purpose! But a purpose-driven game is a key to a lesson that the kids will remember and that will impact their hearts and minds. WHY SHOULD WE HAVE...

It is not uncommon for children’s ministry leaders to heavily emphasize other ministry program components and avoid basic doctrine as dry and uninteresting. However, children need to be instructed in basic doctrine. Doctrine is what we believe about God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit, the Bible, heaven, Satan, angels, and Christ’s second coming. This is basic doctrine. Purposeful teaching of doctrine can be accomplished not only through direct teaching, but can be incorporated into music, games, and other activities. Keep in mind that every denomination or church may have specific doctrine distinctives that they will also want to have taught to...