Training — Ministry Leaders

Shepherd or Sheepherder?

English Ministry Leaders

Shepherd or Sheepherder?

Remember when you first got in to children’s ministry? Remember the calling God gave you? The burden you had for children? The awesome responsibility you accepted? The urgency you felt back when it was about reaching lost kids and discipling those who had accepted Christ? What changed?You went into children’s ministry because you wanted to be a shepherd of children—and all too soon you became more sheepherder than shepherd. Just getting the kids where they need to be and hoping to have a reasonable adult-to-child ratio became a weekly battle. You feel your heart for ministry fading and you secretly...

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Teach the 10 Commandments with 10 Fingers

English Ministry Leaders

Teach the 10 Commandments with 10 Fingers

Start with your hands together in prayer. This reminds us that God heard the prayers of the Hebrew people when they were in slavery in Egypt and freed them (Exodus 3:7, 20:2). The commandments are a way for us to show our gratitude for God’s love in our lives. “I am the Lord your God…you must not have any other god but me. We worship one God.” (Hold up one index finger for the number one.) “You must not make for yourself an idol. Idols, or false gods, are not only things like statues, but also anything we place our...

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Why do you teach?

English Ministry Leaders

Why do you teach?

I prefer window seats in airplanes and always request them. I love watching the clouds and bird’s eye view of the world below. Probably most important, when I’m turned toward the window, people in the row rarely talk to me. I get precious hours of silence. I boarded a plane to Arizona. A woman in a business suit was on the aisle and a little boy traveling alone was in the middle seat. I love window seats, but I love kids more. So I offered him my seat. “No thanks,” he said. “I throw up when I look out the...

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Teach and Model Prayer: Part 1

English Ministry Leaders

Teach and Model Prayer: Part 1

The ministry focus with children is often mostly targeted to evangelism; presenting God’s plan of salvation and offering children opportunities to accept Jesus as their Savior. This is all well and good, but unless there is effective follow through, children may drift away from a godly lifestyle when going into their teens or adult years. Salvation is only the beginning of a lifelong spiritual journey and walk with God. Children need to be “taught up” in the principles of the Christian life. Prayer goes hand in hand with salvation. Children need to experience a new relationship with God. Prior to...

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Unleashing Creativity, Fostering Discipleship

English Ministry Leaders

Unleashing Creativity, Fostering Discipleship

Children often make things when they come to church. But what kind of making is happening in your ministry? Are you more interested in what things the children make, or in what they are experiencing as they make those things? Focusing on the products of making may yield Instagram-worthy photos, but focusing on the process of making facilitates discipleship. If children are thinking about what they have heard or read in Scripture as they make things, questions and conversations will naturally accompany the activity. If children realize that their results do not need to look a certain way, they will...

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