August 2023

Are all the kids in your ministry perfect angels who sit quietly for the lesson and immediately obey any instructions? No, doesn't like your Sunday morning? You're not alone. (And honestly, if you did have perfectly behaved children 100% of the time, I'd think something was wrong.) We all have behavior issues that arise in our ministries, especially as we enter back-to-school season and return to routines after the summer. If you haven't yet, at some point you'll have to talk with parents about a child's misbehavior. That can be an intimidating and uncomfortable task, but you don't have to go in unprepared.  Check out this guest blog post from David Rausch, creator of Go! Curriculum and a DKM Vendor, with 6 tips for talking with parents about their child's misbehavior: "Yay! I get to tell a parent about their child's misbehavior," said no...

What comes to mind when you hear "digital discipleship"? When I asked this question in a few different Facebook groups, most of the answers mentioned Zoom, online classes, or YouTube channels. But digital discipleship is so much MORE than live-streaming your children's ministry. So what exactly IS digital discipleship? Here's an excerpt from my new book Time to Update that defines digital discipleship and why it's something every kidmin leader needs to integrate digital discipleship into their children's ministry strategy: We update everything in our lives and ministries. We regularly update our phones and computers to keep them running correctly. We update the worship songs we use and the curriculum we teach. Even when transitioning from one teaching series to another, we often update the physical environment of the children’s ministry...

This week, I'm excited to share a guest post from Jason Noble, a team member over at Twelve Thirty Media. With my book, Time to Update, releasing next week, this post about creative ways to use media in your children's worship experiences was perfect! Learn more about my new book here, and keep reading to learn how to effectively utilize media with kids.  We live in a media-driven world. The children in your kid’s ministry are surrounded by media everywhere they look. The question is how do we effectively use media in our kid’s ministry experiences? Media cannot and should not ever replace leaders, or just be turned on to babysit children. A phrase that literally drives me crazy in the church world is “childcare”. Daycares do “childcare"; churches do “ministry to children.” Effective ministry to children must be...

"Now let's build something new!" says my toddler after we just completed the coolest freeform Lego treehouse that ever existed. "Don't you want to play with this awesome treehouse we just made?" I ask, not sure we'll ever be able to top the masterpiece in front of us. (It even had a garage.) "No Mommy, let's build something new!" Toddler responds. It's a true test of my creativity to come up with varying Lego layouts of a treehouse. But because my daughter loves building with Legos and enjoys the times we get to build together, I take a deep breath and we tear down our Lego masterpiece to start all over again. Leading children's ministry presents a similar challenge. We may be comfortable sticking with what we've got, doing what we've always done, and hosting the same events year after year in the name of tradition and comfort. But...