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Improve Your Ministry in 2016!

Christmas is just around the corner, and before you know it 2016 will be here! If you are like me, you already are starting to think about goals for the New Year. You are starting to day dream about ways you want to improve your work habits, how you can work smarter, be more efficient and ultimately be better at what you do. Children’s Ministry is incredibly demanding! There is always more to do than time permits. The secret to success is to do what matters most and in the best possible way. Many Kidology members over the years have discovered my Kidology Online Training. It is simply one the most enjoyable and effective ways you can take your ministry up several notches in the New Year. In a nutshell, it is five short self-guided training sessions that come with both a video training and supporting materials so you can learn on your own time, go at your own pace, and watch as your personal and professional skills improve. Why not make one of your 2016 goals to go through my Online Training Course? Its easy, fun, and has the potential to make you the best you can be in…

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How to be an AWESOME Small Group Leader

Many churches today use a Large Group / Small Group format. That simply means all the kids first gather together for a large group teaching that may utilize videos, skits, object lessons, puppets or games, and a gifted teacher who is able to engage a large group of children effectively. Then, the kids break into small groups for discussion, a simple game perhaps, and other activities to help dig a little deeper into the lesson topic. If you are a small group leader, here are FIVE TIPS to make your time as effective as possible: #1 Understand how important you are! Often small group leaders sell themselves short. They may not have the “up front” skills of the Large Group teacher and so they may mistakenly think that they aren’t as important. Nothing could be farther from the truth! Your role is critical. No matter how amazing your large group teacher may be, they are teaching to a LARGE group. They can’t have the relational impact that you can. Notice, Jesus amazed large crowds, but he poured his life into a small group called the disciples. The crowds ran when Jesus was dying, but it was those disciples who carried on…

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It Just Stacks Up!

If you are a regular reader on Kidology.org, you know my passion for relational ministry, a term I started using over twenty years ago before it was hip. (Download my free book on the topic.) Jesus did a lot of teaching – but first he formed relationships with those He wanted to reach. It is no different in children’s ministry. When we play with kids we create a relationship, and out of that relationship we can have a huge impact! One of the BEST tools I have discovered for connecting with kids is with Speed Stacks. I helped introduce sport stacking to the world of kids ministry years ago when I discovered what a magnet it was for drawing and engaging kids. As I promoted it on Kidology, Speed Stacks credited me with expanding the growing sport from schools to churches across the country. I even headed up the effort to introduce sport stacking as an official Awana Game. (See Awana.org/sportstacking) I even got to be their spokeman! Kids LOVE sport stacking with Speed Stacks! It is fun, easy to learn, and is probably the best sport when it comes to allowing kids of all athletic ability compete equally. Regardless…

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How Do You Teach Abstract Knowledge to Kids?

I love thinking of ways to explain things to kids that are difficult for even adults to understand. Kids are “concrete relational” – meaning, if they can’t see it, hear it, touch it, smell it, or taste it – it isn’t real. So how do we teach abstract spiritual concepts like faith? Or reconciliation? Or the difference between justification and sanctification? Some would say we shouldn’t even be teaching these lofty concepts to children, but we must! My first “boss,” was Pastor Erwin Lutzer the senior pastor at The Moody Church in Chicago. I have never forgotten the preaching advice he once gave me as a young rookie. “Karl, I like to preach in such a way that even adults can understand.” Have you ever noticed how much Jesus taught like a children’s pastor? He used people in the audience as volunteers, he used food, he did object lessons – in fact, I argue he was the first Gospel magician, only, He didn’t have to cheat! There was nothing up His sleeve when he did a miracle. One of the challenges I faced as a young minister was how to help kids understand the incredible story of Christmas, and exactly…

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No More Sinner’s Prayer in Kidmin?

Something makes me very sad. It is this new “trend” for children’s ministry workers and pastors in churches to not invite children to pray to receive Jesus as their Savior. I hear all kinds of reasons: they’re too young; they don’t know what they are doing; we are giving them a false sense of spiritual security; they were manipulated; they end up re-doing it later anyway; there is no sinner’s prayer anywhere in the Bible; and the most passionate objections are to asking children to invite Jesus into their heart. In truth, I agree with many of the concerns raised by those who no longer invite kids to pray to receive Christ. It gets awkward because to defend leading kids to Jesus does not equal disagreeing with those valid concerns. But I fear at times we are throwing the baby out with the bath water. When it comes to “inviting Jesus into our heart,” the Bible talks about the heart over 600 times. Romans 10:10 is one of the verses that forms the basis for both the expression of inviting Jesus into the heart, and for a sinner’s prayer, “For it is with your heart that you believe and are…

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