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Engaging Pastoral Leadership in Child Protection— Sadly, I have seen it happen far too many times. The children’s ministry director attends a conference, signs up for a seminar on child protection, brings home some good resources, and starts to write child protection documents. They invest a lot of time in making church a safe place for children and the adults who work with them. But they can never get church leadership’s support for the effort. They don’t feel the leaders will back them if they need to enforce the policies and procedures. We know most pastors and leaders want [...]

Reflecting on Summer Ministry— The transition time between the summer season and an academic season of ministry is often an overlooked opportunity. Sustaining summer ministry requires a good amount of effort, as does being ready for the fresh new season of ministry that comes with the beginning of the school year. These seasons seem to mesh up together with very little time for evaluation (but hopefully a little vacation/reprieve in there somewhere). As the rhythms in your ministry to children are getting under way, I encourage you to set aside a little bit of time to evaluate the fruitfulness [...]

Teaching Children to Bring their Cares to God— The children who enter the children’s ministry classroom each week do not leave their baggage at the door. They arrive with all the feels accumulated throughout the week. They carry with them worries, sorrows, and cares from life lived in a fallen world. One child might be worried about a test at school the next day. Another might bear anger toward a sibling for breaking a beloved toy earlier that morning. Still another might feel the weight of failure over a lost soccer game the day before. Such emotions often feel [...]

There is Still Time to Plan for Summer— Are you in the middle of planning your summer for children's ministry? Are you still thinking through a VBS option for the summer? CDM offers a curriculum that provides in-depth Bible lessons, emphasizes Scripture memory, is Gospel centered and is FUN for children and adults alike. If you are not familiar with Reachout Adventures, take a look at the benefits of Space Probe. Although the Space Probe curriculum is intended for a week-long Vacation Bible School, there are various ways you can adapt this curriculum to fit your church!  Check out [...]

Planning for Vacation Bible School Yes, you read that right—VBS planning! After years of running VBS, I have learned that setting aside a day for prayer and planning goes a long way toward a successful VBS. Over the years I have directed Vacation Bible Schools of all sizes, from 40 kids all the way up to 800, and the need for prayer is critical during the entire process. Pray for God to lead you to the right people to recruit into the main positions: Bible teachers Prayer leader Music leaders Drama leader Craft director Snack leader Recreation leader Nursery [...]