Welcome to Grow
CDM’s mission is to strengthen the Church through connections. Through articles, podcasts, and resources we want to help connect you with people and tools that will help you in ministry.
Ministry to children can often feel lonely, but we hope this site will be a place that will encourage you and equip you for a lifetime of investing in the next generation. You are part of God’s covenant community and your investment in the little ones really does matter to God.
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GROW Virtual Conference – August 19-20, 2022
Theme: The Good Shepherd
Gather a group of teachers and volunteers at your church to participate in a
Livestream and recorded weekend of training.
Ages and Stages: How To Teach Children Well
Ages and Stages: How to Teach Children Well— If you have been around children at all, it does not take long to see how much they change and develop even from week-to-week. In the nursery we see them go from only laying on their back to crawling in what seems like the blink of an eye. In preschool we see them go [...]
Thank You God for Autism
Thank You God for Autism— The police came again. My husband got to share with them about our son, John, who lives with autism, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and Tourette syndrome. John loves to walk and pace on our neighborhood street these days. This past week I came out into our front yard to search for our John and found my 6-foot son walking down our [...]
Fear Not Parenting—Fear Not Disability
Fear Not Parenting: Fear Not Disability— I can still remember the question the nurse asked my wife and me in the hospital room not long after our son was born: “Are you familiar with Trisomy 21?” We were not familiar with this term until she explained it was the more technical term for Down Syndrome. This was the first time we heard [...]
Fear Not Technology
Fear Not Technology— You may have already seen the videos of young people walking down the sidewalk, riding the train, eating at restaurants, or even driving a car with the Apple Vision Pro® plastered across their faces. These images are concerning and scary. This new technology is an amazing tool for connecting the user to the world online but blinds them to [...]
Fear Not Parenting in the Present Age
Fear Not Parenting in the Present Age— In our house, the evening routine includes watching the local news before we turn in. I’m often ready to shut off the TV long before the half-hour newscast is over, as coverage of national and world circumstances gets harder and harder to watch, especially when sleep is the next thing on the schedule. War, famine, [...]
Fear Not Parenting—Encouraging Parents to Parent without Fear
Fear Not Parenting: Encouraging Parents to Parent without Fear— I just heard about another school shooting. My neighbor told me her daughter brought home a pornographic book from the school library. A friend had to pull her child out of school because he was bullied so badly. Those great little fruit pouches might have dangerous levels of lead. Transgenderism is a fad [...]
God Never Stops Hugging You
God Never Stops Hugging You - Once a month during the school year we have a program called “First Wednesday.” On the (you guessed it!) first Wednesday of the month, we switch up our midweek Bible study and do a topical study with three different age groups. Staff members come and teach while we “beef” things up with games, music, and a [...]
Modeling Worship to Families
Modeling Worship to Families - Our actions and words matter as leaders in the church. This is especially true in the pew. Know it or not, we are being watched by the children of our congregation as an example of how to worship. This being the case, a question I often wrestle with is this: How do we model worship to children [...]
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