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What does it really mean to put Jesus at the center of your Kids Ministry? Bill Emeott, Lead Kids Ministry Specialist for LifeWay Kids, joins the podcast to share how being intentional in four areas can result in a Christ-Centered, transformational Kids Ministry that sticks for eternity.
We could not figure it out. Out of four of our sons, two definitely were struggling. A pleaser and very calm child, despite his best efforts, one of our sons could not succeed at his schoolwork. No matter what we tried, it wouldn’t work. Nothing made a difference and we couldn’t find an answer. One of our other sons did not really misbehave but flittered around from place to place, room to room, toy to toy with an unbelievable amount of inability to focus. We began talking to our friends and medical professionals to try to determine the source of the issue. While the presenting issue was different for both children, it was suggested and determined that they might both have ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder). On the advice of our pediatrician, we chose a medicine that would help our sons focus. Our decision wasn’t made blindly and we really agonized over it. That’s why it’s quite hurtful when a stranger or even a friend makes a comment about children who have ADD. I’ve decided to list a few so that hopefully you can share with your ministry volunteers so that they don’t accidentally alienate a family from your church.
Now, for the good news. Our children are thriving with their newfound ability to focus on their tasks. They have a great medicine and we work closely with our doctor to monitor it to the lowest possible dose. Our son who struggled so much to read is now on the honor roll and loves to read. Our other son is able to focus and have real, meaningful conversations. Choosing to use medicines for ADD in our home was a difficult one, but it is one that we feel was right for our family. Encourage your kids ministry leadership to consider this as they speak with parents of children who may have ADD.
Jeff Land is Publishing Team Leader for Bible Studies For Life: Kids. He holds a BSW from Mississippi College and a MACE from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. Jeff has served as children’s pastor and currently teaches second graders each week at his church. Jeff, his wife Abbey, and their four sons live in Coopertown, TN.
Many folks ask for tips on where to begin or what to read next so we’ve compiled the 2018 Essential Reading List for a Kids Ministry Leader. Make 2018 a year of growth in your ministry and in your leadership skills. The list this year features some of the recent kids ministry books from LifeWay and a few leadership classics as well.
At CentriKid, we pour into our camp staff as leaders for us at camp and for their service back home. We believe that you can never have too much leadership. During the fall and winter of 2017, the CentriKid Camps office team read through “Nothing Less” and “Gospel-Centered Kids Ministry.” These books are great for your growth, but also beneficial for your ministry team to read and discuss.
Kids Ministry & Leadership Books from LifeWay — find each of these books at lifeway.com or local LifeWay Stores.
These leadership books are considered “classics” in our CentriKid culture — we’ve read through these at different times with our office team and with summer staff leaders like our Camp Directors.
As a bonus tip—add the Kids Ministry 101 podcast to your commute or your workout. This podcast is always quick, it stays on-topic and gives great insights from voices in Kids Ministry and ministry leadership.
I hope that 2018 is a great year for you personally—and my prayer is that all leaders in kids ministry will be strong in their faith, grow in leadership, and make the message of Christ clear in the lives of kids under your care.
Jeremy Echols leads the CentriKid Camps team and manages the LifeWay Kids events. He, his wife Emily, and their precious daughter love their church, their neighborhood, and spending time together. Jeremy loves to read, watch sports, and grill burgers.
Every fall kids head back to school, churches kick off their fall programming events, and fall sports teams start their seasons. Some church leaders may be unaware of the kid-athletes in their church. Others may carry resentment and harbor a critical spirit towards sports families who allow their kids to play on Sundays. Both of these positions can mean missed opportunities for ministry to the sports families in our churches. As kid leaders we need to prepare our hearts and shape our ministry strategies so that we can serve the families who play as well as the families who stay. Here are three tips to help you win whether your athletes are home or away on Sunday.
Be careful to not discourage, disparage, or disengage from your kid-athletes. Most sports seasons are just that: seasons. They come and go quickly, and your travel sports kids will be back in your Sunday services before you know it. When we can look at athletics as an opportunity for ministry instead of a threat to it, we may find creative new ways to engage with kids and families on a deeper level.
By the way, the principles that we have used here to talk about ministering to sports kids apply with equal validity to any child or family that spends seasons away from your ministry. Some due to travel associated with a parent’s job, or with families of divorce where kids are only present every other week. We as kids leaders need to learn to minister to our kids in a consistent way whether they are home or away.
Chuck Peters is Director of Operations for LifeWay Kids. A graduate of Columbia Bible College, Chuck has served vocationally & voluntarily in Student and Children’s Ministry for many years.
Working together as a team is not the latest management fad, but springs from the heart of the biblical concept of leadership within the church. Check out Proverbs 11:14; 15:22; and 24:5-6 to see the wisdom of including a team.
Don’t forget the early church. In Acts we learn that the early church was founded under the leadership of TWELVE apostles. Acts 6 tell us about SEVEN deacons chosen to serve. Acts 13 teaches that the first missionary venture was a TEAM, Paul and Barnabas and Acts 14 talks about the appointment of MULTIPLE elders.
Paul writes to the Ephesians about the BODY with various parts closely fitting and firmly adhering to one another and in 1 Corinthians he talks about the diversity of gifts but the same Spirit.
So, how do you do it? Below are 8 tips for developing and working with a ministry team that I think will be helpful:
Over the years Ephesians 4:12 has become one of my favorite verses. Develop your team and equip them to do the work of ministry to build up the body of Christ. I hope this verse become part of your ministry philosophy, too.
Bill Emeott serves as Lead Ministry Specialist for LifeWay Kids. A graduate of Mercer University and New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. Bill has served as a Kid’s Minister and currently teaches 2nd Grade Bible study.
If you are a mom who happens to also be in full or part-time ministry, then you know the tug-of-war that happens on your time, energy, and even your heart. There are so many women in ministry today—and particularly in children’s ministry. Because of this, I felt it was timely to address the dynamic of doing mothering and ministering well and in conjunction with God’s plan. Here are three things to remember about motherhood and ministry:
Jana Magruder serves as the Director of LifeWay Kids. She is a Baylor graduate and offers a wealth of experience and passion for kids ministry, education, and publishing. She is the author of Kids Ministry that Nourishes and Life Verse Creative Journal, which she co-authored with her teenage daughter. She and her husband, Michael, along with their three children reside in Nashville.
The “to-do” list for the beginning of a ministry year seems endless. Enlist teachers. Train volunteers. Pass out new curriculum. Organize children into their new classes, and on, and on. However, a few years ago as I was serving on a local church staff, I felt we needed to provide an opportunity to pray together as a ministry for the upcoming ministry year. In addition, the teachers of our various preschool ministries needed time to fellowship together. Why would we want to add one more task to the “to-do” list? We wanted to communicate the importance of prayer and fellowshipping with other adults. As we visited with teachers about their plans about returning to teach for the next year, many shared they were missing adult fellowship. As a result, an event called “Pray and Meet” began.
In planning, we were intentional with the purpose of the event. We wanted to provide a specific time teachers and other church members could come to the church and pray for the upcoming year. We encouraged the teachers to pray together. Preschool parents and other church members were invited to come pray with and over the teachers. Also, a goal was to provide a time of fellowship for the teachers to build connections with other adults who were serving in the ministry.
We selected an evening prior to “Promotion Sunday.” We sent invitations to all volunteers in our ministry, letting them know of a come-and-go time of prayer and fellowship. We put together a pamphlet including prayer prompts/requests from each of our preschool ministries. Outside each classroom door, we listed the names of the teachers for each ministry. This allowed people to pray specifically for each teacher by name. We also provided ice cream and cookies for a time of fellowship together.
It was encouraging to see how God used “Pray and Meet.” We saw new friendships among teachers form and other friendships grow. Teachers were encouraged as others came and prayed for them. Families came and prayed for the new year with their child’s teacher. Our leadership was able to build connections with teachers and other preschool families.
As you plan your ministry calendar, intentionally plan for a time of prayer and fellowship. How can you provide an opportunity for teachers to pray together and connect with one another and other families?
Delanee Williams serves as a Ministry Specialist with LifeWay Kids. She is a graduate of Baylor University and Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. Delanee has served in kids ministry for over twenty years and is passionate about developing, equipping and encouraging leaders.
Kids Ministry 101 welcomes guest blogger Eric Boswell. Eric serves as the Children’s Pastor at Tulip Grove Baptist Church in Old Hickory, TN.
“It’s impossible!” That’s what I thought when I heard other people talk about ministering in the public school setting. As we all know, over the years religious freedom in public schools in the United States have been limited and I was the biggest skeptic about ministering in a public school. Well folks, I am here to say that it is possible! Our church has been blessed to minister in a public elementary school in the Metro Nashville School System for the last five years.
So, you may be thinking How do you minister in a place like that? Here are few tips if you sense God is leading you to minister in a public school.
Pray—It should go without saying that anytime we consider a new ministry opportunity, we should bathe it in prayer. I prayed about ministering in a public school for over three years before I was able to directly do so. The ministry we started in an elementary school was a result of a campaign to pray for the teachers at the school.
Build Relationship and Serve—Find ways to build relationship with the school and its leaders. In our situation, it was pretty easy since the principal attended our church. From my experience, school leadership greatly appreciates community involvement. An easy way to build relationship is by serving. This could be as easy as taking treats for the teacher’s breakroom, collecting school supplies, or tutoring. If your budget allows, you may be able to become a community partner and provide financial support for the school.
For us, we began with a prayer ministry and then began tutoring students. After a couple of years of building relationship and serving, we were able to start an after-school program. We have on average 30 kids that come each week and hear the gospel presented. We have had families from our after-school program connect with our church by attending church services, VBS, CentriKid, and other family ministry events. We recently hosted a prayer-walking event at the school as they prepare for the start of the new school year.
Observe—As our ministry in the school has grown, we are constantly observing the needs of the students, parents, teachers, and faculty. We have developed a first response ministry called Father’s Heart, which allows our church to meet the needs of the school when unexpected situations come up. This could be providing food from our Food Pantry to a family in need or collecting items for a family in the school whose house burned down. Our goal is to be the hands and feet of Christ.
I believe that our responsibility as children’s ministry leaders is to minister to both children inside and outside the doors of our church. Building a relationship with your local school gives you the opportunity to reach children and their parents, who may never step inside the doors of a church.
WARNING: Ministering in the public schools is not easy. Sometimes school policy keeps you from ministering the way you would like to do it in the ideal world. The kids may act, think, and even speak differently than the kids at your church. However, I can truly say it is completely worth it when a child comes to know the Lord because of your willingness to minister in a difficult place.
“Let us not get tired of doing good, for we will reap at the proper time if we don’t give up.” Galatians 6:9
Eric Boswell serves as the children’s minister at Tulip Grove Baptist Church in Old Hickory, Tennessee.
Ever wonder if you should still plan a VBS for your church and community? Let’s be honest, it takes a lot of time, resources, and energy to put on a week of Vacation Bible School, Bible Camp, Bible Adventure—or whatever your church calls it! Some leaders debate if it’s worth it for a couple of reasons—“we’re just reaching our church kids” or “parents hop around from church to church to get free childcare.” I get the frustrations behind these reasons, but I want to challenge and encourage you to broaden your vision when it comes VBS.
VBS is not just for kids: we all know that preparing and producing a VBS of any size takes an “all hands on deck” mentality from the church. This is a time for parents, empty nesters, teens, college kids, and senior citizens to lock arms and go all in for the purpose of sharing the gospel in a fun and impactful way. Therefore, parents should be exposed to all the biblical content their child will be hearing which will help them have engaging conversations at home. You are equipping them without them even knowing!
VBS is a place for families: Even if parents are not volunteering due to work schedules or other reasons, VBS should still offer something for parents to be engaged in either daily or sometime during the week. It may be a kickoff “party” where the Pastor gives the heart behind VBS being about sharing the gospel or it may be a family worship night where parents get to worship with their kids. Corporate worship is so important in the life of the family because kids need to see Mom singing and Dad reading the Bible, all while sitting together and hearing a message about what was learned at VBS.
VBS is a launching pad: Families who experience VBS together should leave with a refreshed heart to live on mission together. Your goal as a kids leader should be to challenge them to live on mission in their neighborhoods, schools, and sports teams. Provide tools for them to share their faith and remind them that Jesus calls ALL of us to “go make disciples.”
If you broaden your vision to reaching families, not only kids, VBS can be seen in a totally new light. Vacation Bible School is for kids of all ages, their families, the local church congregation, and the community it serves. If all of these groups are engaged, and VBS is used to its fullest potential then it will surely have ripples of faith that last to eternity.
Jana Magruder serves as the Director of LifeWay Kids. She is a Baylor graduate and offers a wealth of experience and passion for kids ministry, education, and publishing. She is the author of Kids Ministry that Nourishes and Life Verse Creative Journal, which she co-authored with her teenage daughter. She and her husband, Michael, along with their three children reside in Nashville.
As the Thanksgiving and Christmas season is upon us, we have an incredible opportunity to model how to serve others. The kids and families in your ministry need you to provide ways to accomplish this. Ideally, we want them to serve together throughout the year, but we know that the holidays evoke a spirit of giving while also offering the gift of more time together. The reality is, families need to see YOU model serving. Here are three practical ways to do just that:
For the most part, the kids and families in your ministry are blessed with everything they need. They need opportunities to leave their comfort zone and realize they can have an impact on those who don’t have basic needs or who simply need an extra dosage of gospel love. Model this for your families and watch how the Lord will use these opportunities to deepen gratitude and ultimately increase our faith in Him!
Jana Magruder serves as the Director of LifeWay Kids. She is a Baylor graduate and offers a wealth of experience and passion for kids ministry, education, and publishing. She is the author of Kids Ministry that Nourishes and Life Verse Creative Journal, which she co-authored with her teenage daughter. She and her husband, Michael, along with their three children reside in Nashville.
