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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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Family Traditions
Family Traditions— Yikes! It’s that busy, busy time of year—parties, play practices, Christmas concerts, cookie baking, shopping, wrapping, decorating—whew! You may find yourself wondering, “How on earth can I do it all, make the holidays meaningful, and still survive?” Well, dear parent, let’s start off with taking a deep breath. Recognize that we all tend to feel this pressure. We want those things that “help to make the season bright.” As you make decisions about what you will do for this Christmas (and other holidays), I’d like to help you think through the purpose of traditions. We read in [...]
Illustrating Hymns for Young Hearts
Illustrating Hymns for Young Hearts— My love of hymns began at a very young age. Both my parents have a great love for hymns and had a large impact on my desire for singing songs of praise that are packed with deep biblical truths. Growing up, I also had the opportunity to attend a classical Christian school for a number of years. As part of our education, we had a chapel service every Friday during which we had one hymn that we sang each week for a month. One year we had several guest speakers teach us about various hymn [...]
Christmas! A Wonderful Way to Connect with Parents
Christmas! A Wonderful Way to Connect with Parents— I’m one of those people who loves Christmas. The lights, music, decorating, special foods and family traditions are a welcome part of the season for me. As a young mom with young children, I looked for ways to make Christmas into a joyous celebration of our Savior’s birth. In my search I found a book edited by R.C. Sproul called, Christ in Christmas: A Family Advent Celebration. As I read, I learned the meanings behind the Advent celebration and the Advent wreath. It was filled with scripture readings, Christmas hymns, and activities [...]
Little Hearts Prepare Him Room with Holly Mackle
Little Hearts Prepare Him Room with Holly Mackle— In the midst of the hurry and scurry of the Advent season, how do you best prepare your heart to meet Christ? Join Holly Mackle and Karen Hodge as they discuss both theologically rich and tremendously fun ways to celebrate Advent with your family. The Little Hearts Prepare Him Room podcast was originally posted on December 1st, 2020 Visit the CDM Women's Ministry Encourage Site to listen to this podcast, as well as other podcasts. Holly Mackle is the curator of the mom humor collaboration Same Here, Sisterfriend, [...]
The Long View of Discipleship
The Long View of Discipleship— The annual Leadership Training Retreat has easily become one of the things I most look forward to each year. Three days spent in the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains, delicious food shared with new and old friends, worshipping with other believers, and learning alongside others in similar roles who are also ministering to children make LTR special to me. LTR is a unique conference geared for those who are in leadership positions in the church and specifically in children's ministry. Time together is rich and sweet. I've attended this retreat the last six years, and [...]
Engaging Pastoral Leadership in Child Protection
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
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 [...]
Discipline Policy
Discipline Policy All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. 2Timothy 3:16 No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it. Hebrews 12:11 As teachers, we must be PROACTIVE. We must set a tone, an atmosphere that helps each child to enjoy and benefit from our lessons and activities. We want to maintain a reasonably orderly environment and yet not be [...]
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