My Top Five Reasons for Being Someone Who Listens - #5 - So They Will Tell Us the Important Things

The other day when my grandsons were at my house they were watching a children's show and the topic of not being listened to came up (it was the "title" of the episode). I asked my oldest grandson if he felt like this sometimes and he said; "Yes. Well, except for you, grandma, because you always listen to us." 

As adults it is far too easy to be busy with the things we are doing or with our tech and just not listen to children. Children do tend to talk a lot and it is not always "earth-shattering" things they have to say; but when it comes to my grandsons, I feel like if it is important to them and they want to tell me, I want to hear it! I'm so glad Josiah has noticed this!

So, as I thought about this conversation, I thought it applied to Children's Ministry as well and came up with five reasons we need to be people who listen to children, families and volunteers and this week I'll share them with you - beginning today with #5 . . . 

Pass On Your Faith & Illustrate a Book Together!

One of the most important things we need to do as people serving in Children's Ministry is also one of the things we do the least of, far too often. What is this, you ask? Equipping the parents and grandparents so they are able to pass faith to their children /grandchildren. This truly is the most important thing we can do - parents and grandparents influence the children in our ministries far more than we do and will anything else we do matter if the children grow up and forget God? 

There are many ways we can do this, but today I'm going to share with you something I do with my grandsons - this is also something which would work well for the parents and grandparents in your ministry. When it comes to passing faith to my grandsons I tend to write resources I can use with them. One such resource I've written is a series of books about unknown Bible heroes which they work together to illustrate. I am in the process of publishing several of these, but the first one which is ready to go is about Jehoshaphat. 

Who was Jehoshaphat, you ask? He was the great, great, great grandson of King David - and since most people have not heard about him, he definitely qualifies as an "unknown Bible hero"!

My Top Five Ways to Show Love to the Children in Our Ministries - #1 Tell Them About Jesus!

For the past several days we have been thinking about ways to show God's love to the

children in our ministries . . . say it, give them your attention, greet with a smile and by knowing their names and giving hugs, pats on the back and high fives. All great ways to show love to children, but today I'm sharing with you my #1 way to do this . . .

My Top Five Ways to Show Love to the Children in Our Ministries - #2 Give Hugs, Pats on the Back and High-Fives!

As I've been saying when we think about Children's Ministry, it is a given we want to share God's love with the children - and one way we do this is by being sure we show love to them as well. Today I'm sharing my #2 way to do this . . . 

My Top Five Ways to Show Love to the Children in Our Ministries - #3 Greet with a Smile & Know Their Names!

When we think about Children's Ministry, it is a given we want to share God's love with the

children - and one way we do this is by being sure we show love to them as well. But, how do we do this? Over the past couple days I've been sharing with you my Top Five Ways to Show Love to the Children in Our Ministries . . . today I'm sharing #3 -

My Top Five Ways to Show Love to the Children in Our Ministries - #4 Give Them Your Attention

As we continue to think about showing love to the children in our ministries, I'm happy to share with you another of my Top Five Ways to do this . .  .

My Top Five Ways to Show Love to the Children in Our Ministries - #5 Say It!

Children's Ministries and "love" go hand-in-hand and showing this love to the children should be something which is obvious for all to see, but today I thought I'd start to share with you my Top Five Ways to Show Love to the Children in Our Ministries . . . my #5 way to do this is . . . 

Top Three Prayer Requests for the Children in Our ministries - #1 - Pray For God to Open Their Eyes

There is certainly no shortage of things for us to pray about and for when it comes to the children in our Children's Ministries, but I do believe - especially in the day in which we live - it is essential for us to pray for God to open the eyes of the children, so they are able to see the truth.

Top Three Prayer Requests for the Children in Our ministries - #2 - Pray They are Drawn to God

Yesterday I wrote about how we need to pray for the children in our ministries and shared one of my Top Three Prayer Requests for the Children in our Ministries. Today I'm sharing with you my second prayer request for the children in our ministries . . . 

Top Three Prayer Requests for the Children in our Ministries

We need to pray for the children in our ministries. When I look at this world around me and how God's Word is mocked and disregarded, I am concerned about what it will be like for them to grow up. I most sincerely want them to grow to be people who know, love and walk with Jesus, so I pray. I pray for them because while I am limited in what I can actually do, God is not. He is bigger than I think He is and He is able to do ever so much more than I can even begin to imagine!

So, what do I pray about? Certainly the list has a number of things on it and changes depending on the situations they are facing, but over the next few days I'll share my Top Three Prayer Requests for the Children in our Ministries; beginning with #3 . . . 

The Top Five "Do-Not's" for Children's Ministry . . . #1 - Do Not Forget to Point Children to Jesus!

For the past few days I've been talking about my Top Five Do-Not's when it comes to Children's Ministry - today I'm sharing with you my Top Do-Not . . . 

• Do not fail to point the children in your ministry to God . . . it is essential for them to know how very much God loves them - and they can love Him back!

This may seem like a "no-brainer", but if you are going to commit to be certain you are pointing children to Jesus, what can you do to be sure you are doing this? Consider the following ideas . . . 

The Top Five "Do-Not's" for Children's Ministry . . . #2 - Do Not Forget to Share the Joy!

In Children's Ministry there are many things we need to be sure we do, but there are also things which we need to be watching to see we "do not" do; today I'm sharing another of my Top Five Ministry Do Not's . . . 

• Do not forget to share with the children in your ministry your joy in knowing and walking with God! Tell them how God answers your prayers and be sure to pray with them about the things which matter to them.

So, if you are going to commit to remember to share with the children in your ministry the joy of knowing and walking with God, what can you do to be sure you are doing this? Consider the following ideas . . . 

The Top Five "Do-Not's" for Children's Ministry . . . #3 Do Not Forget God Created Children to Learn by Moving

For the past couple days I've been writing about my, "Top Five Do-Not's" when it comes to Children's Ministry . . . today I'm sharing my #3 Do Not . . . 

• Do not forget God created little children to wiggle, move and learn by doing these things. Do not require preschoolers in particular, but all children, to have to sit still and listen. Yes, they need to listen and not be a "distraction" to other children, but some of them may not be able to sit still. They may need to lay down or move between sitting and laying down. Be flexible. Allow children to sit - or lay - however they need to, as long as they listen and do not distract other children during the Bible Adventure.

So, if you are going to commit to remember God created little children to wiggle, move and learn by doing these things, what can you do to be sure you are able to balance allowing children to move with keeping all of the children focused on the Bible events? Consider the following ideas . . . 

Resource for Families - Science the Bible & Fun!

In this day and age it is especially important for grandparents (and parents) to be focused upon passing their faith to the children they love, but it can be a challenge to find resources to help them do this. Science the Bible & Fun was written for this reason and provides 52 weeks of lessons grandparents/parents will be able to use to engage their grandchildren/children in learning how to love, know and walk with God!

Each week there is a science activity which will engage children and connect them to the point of the Bible event. They will learn about Bible people and how to pray the Psalms back to God along with fun activities which are just for fun!

The Top Five "Do-Not's" for Children's Ministry . . . Do Not Communicate Children are Too Little to Understand God's Word

For the next few days I'm looking at my Top Five Do-Not's when it comes to Children's Ministry. Yesterday I talked about one important, Do-Not . . . Do Not bore children. Today I want to talk about another . . . 

• Do not communicate to children knowing and walking with Jesus is something for adults. When we "reduce" teaching children about Jesus to just telling them, "stories" and barely open our Bibles, we communicate to children the only thing they can understand or be interested in as a child is the "stories". However, the truth is children can learn to open and use their Bibles. They can learn to know and walk with Jesus as children. They can live god's Word in their everyday lives. Do not give them the impression those things are just for adults and "stories" - they have heard over and over - are for them.

So, if you are going to commit to not communicate to children knowing and walking with Jesus is for adults, what can you do to be sure you do engage them in God's Word and challenge them to live it in their lives now? Consider the following ideas . . . 

Resource for Grandparents & Parents In Your Church . . .

Over the past several years I have taken time to write about how Grandparenting Ministry strengthens Children's Ministry. When grandparents are focused upon passing their faith to their children's children, this benefits children, families and your ministry. So, it makes great sense for you to support and encourage grandparents. One way you can do this is to recommend resources for them to use to better understand how to pass their faith to their grandchildren and to use with their grandchildren. 

Today I'm very happy to recommend to you one such resource . . . Deeper In 4 Grandparents & Parent's, Too! Praying the Scriptures for the Children You Love - Psalms Edition. This book provides grandparents - and parents - with 52 weeks of prayers from Psalms which they will be able to pray for themselves and for the children they love. Each week provides a Scripture passage from the Book of Psalms, questions to help you think through what this passage is saying and then a personalized prayer for you to pray for your own walk with God and another for you to pray for your grandchildren. Then, the prayers are broken into seven portions - one for each day of the week. This helps you to pray focused on smaller portions so you are able to be very specific in your prayers throughout the week.

I'm putting a sample prayer here for you to see . . . and try. 

The Top Five "Do-Not's" for Children's Ministry . . . Do Not Bore Children

When it comes to Children's Ministry there are so many wonderful things we get to do; the most important of which include telling children about Jesus and helping them grow to know and walk with Him. But, there are also things we must be careful not to do, so today I'm sharing with you one of my Top Five "Do-Not's" for Children's Ministry.

Grateful or Greedy; Are We Grateful?

For the past couple days I've been asking if our ministries are grateful or greedy. Yesterday I looked at some signals we can watch for which might indicate our ministries are "greedy", so today I want to focus on how we can tell if our ministries are "grateful".

While I'm sure all of us want to at least think our ministry show we are "grateful", if we do not ask questions and keep our eyes open, we may indeed discover our ministries are not as "grateful" as we want them to be. So, what might we see if our Children's Ministry is "grateful"? Consider the following . . . 

Grateful or Greedy; Are We Greedy?

Yesterday I asked if our ministries are "grateful" or "greedy" and posted a link to an excellent article. While I'm sure none of us want to even think our ministry might show we are "greedy", if we do not ask the question and keep our eyes open, we may indeed discover our ministries are "greedy" and are not "grateful". So, what might we see if our Children's Ministry is "greedy"? Consider the following . . . 

Is Your Ministry Grateful or Greedy?

I had the wonderful opportunity to read an excellent article about parenting - you will find it at this link. Please read it and share it with every parent in your ministry. I love how it ends -

Illustrate My Own Unknown Bible Hero Books - I'm Giving One Jehoshaphat Edition Away!

I LOVE books for children! I really LOVE Bible adventure books which introduce children to people from the Bible; when those people are some of the "unknown" heroes . . . well, I especially LOVE those books! 

So, a few years ago I sat down and wrote several Unknown Bible Hero books, but since I'm not really an illustrator, I thought it would be fun to write the books so children could be their own illustrator and illustrate their own book!

Illustrate My Own books - is a new line of Bible adventure books for children and families to learn from while they create their own illustrations! As families work through each book they will be able to think about, remember and understand how God worked in the lives of real people and better understand how God wants to work in their own real lives, too!

I have twelve titles available in the Illustrate My Own - Unknown Bible Hero series and twelve titles available in the Illustrate My Own - Known Bible Hero series - watch over the coming weeks and months as new titles become available, but today I'm very happy to announce the release of Illustrate My Own Unknown Bible Hero - Jehoshaphat! 

Evaluate Your Ministry - It is Essential

I've been talking about keeping our focus so we do not cheapen our faith. Today I want to talk about how we can be sure we are doing this. 

Too often we are so busy with "ministry", we do not stop to evaluate where we have been, where we are and where we are heading. If we do not evaluate, we will not be able to really tell if we are being genuinely effective, or not.

We can not make changes we need to make if we do not know we need to make them; so regularly evaluating what we do is an essential part of our Children's Ministries. What should we evaluate? Consider the following . . . 

• We need to evaluate our curriculum on a regular basis.
• We need to evaluate our communication with volunteers and parents/grandparents on a regular basis.
• We need to evaluate the impact our ministry is having on children on a regular basis.

How do we do these things? Let's look at each are of evaluation . . . 

The Benefits of Being Focused!

I've been writing about losing focus in our Children's Ministries and asked if our focus on "fun" ends up "cheapening" our faith. Today I want to think about the benefits of being intentional about staying focused on what really matters in our Children's Ministries. Consider the following . . . 

Have We "Cheapened" Our Faith?

You likely noticed the news - bombings, refugees, election chaos and more. We remember reports such as when the 21 Egyptian Coptic Christians were beheaded by ISIS in Libya. My heart broke for their families and my prayers are still focused on other Christians in this area of the world where they face a very real danger. 

As I think about the news reports I think of believers in North Korea where they face imprisonment or death for their faith. I think of believers in Afghanistan, Algeria, Bhutan, Iran and more than 40 additional countries where it is illegal to become a Christian, to tell your children about Jesus, to own a Bible, to share your faith and if you do these things you can be put in prison, tortured or even killed for your faith.

And here in the USA where we have freedom to meet, to worship, to believe, to share our faith, to read our Bibles, I wonder; have we made our faith "fun", "easy" and "cheap"? Would the children in our ministries love their Bibles and more importantly, love Jesus enough to face imprisonment, torture or even death? Would we?

How Do We Stay Focused?

One of the many important things we need to do in Children's Ministry is to keep our focus on helping children know and walk with Jesus and not being distracted by anything else. How do we do this? Consider the following ideas for how we can keep our focus . . . 

Five Warning Signs We May Have Lost Focus in Children's Ministry

We all know in Children's Ministry it matters if we keep our focus. We do not want to lose our focus, but since it may be difficult to tell if we have, today I'm going to share a few "warning signs" for us to be watching for. If you see these "signs" in your ministry, you may have, "lost focus".

Free Family Parenting Resource . . . Freedom Parents!

Last year I asked the question on CM Connect, "What resources do you provide for parents and grandparents in your ministry?" and Ben Fowlkes replied with a link to an amazing resource, which I am very happy to share with you! Ben said, "We find resourcing parents is very important. Sometimes they have the desire to raise their children the right way, they just don't know where to start. So we came up with a resource website which has been very successful." He shared the link to freedom parents and I can not recommend it highly enough! 

Important Truths about Leading - Do What You Say You Will Do

When you are the leader of the Children's Ministry in your church; whether you are paid staff or a volunteer, people look to you, not only for leadership, but also for a number of other things. For the past few days we have looked at and thought about some of the ways a Children's Ministry leader leads . . . and the impact this has on the children, volunteers and families in your ministry.

Today, as I wrap this up, I want to look at one of the most important ways you lead . . . by doing what you say you will do.

Important Truths About Leading - Be Thankful & Show It!

When it comes to being a leader in Children's Ministry, there is certainly no shortage of important things for you to focus on, but one very important thing often gets overlooked - being thankful and showing it. We are often focused instead on all we, "need" . . . and in Children's Ministry there is no shortage of things we "need". We need volunteers, we need resources, we need volunteers, we need to focus on safety, we need volunteers, we need to think about the budget . . . did I mention we need volunteers???!!!

Well, yes, in Children's Ministry there are many things we need, but we absolutely must be sure we take time to be thankful and show it to God and to the volunteers we have! First of all, let's consider being thankful - and showing it - to God!

Important Truths About Leading - Pay Attention

You may wonder what I mean when I say, "pay attention" is an important truth about leading. It is because it is all too easy for leaders to become so focused on the things they are doing already, they may not notice important things they need to notice. If we are going to be leaders who lead well, we need to pay attention to the following people and things . . . 

Important Truths About Leading - It Is Not All About You

Yes, I agree there are many things to keep in mind when you are leading a Children's Ministry. I also agree there are many things you have to personally see to and do; however, when it comes to leading it is important to understand, it is not all about you. 

In far too many cases, those who lead end up on,"power trips" and become people who think everything is about them. This can damage your Children's Ministry and more importantly, it can - and likely will - damage people. Let's think about this for a minute . . . 

When you think it is all about you, you are likely to . . . 

Special Giveaway on May 2, 2016!

Tomorrow on grandma's cookie jar (my blog for grandparents/parents) I'm giving away one copy of Deeper In 4 Grandparents & Parents, Too! Praying the Scriptures for the Children You Love - Psalms Edition. You have time to enter the drawing - who knows??? Maybe you will win!

I think this is a book which will prove to be a very useful tool for grandparents and parents as they focus on praying for their grandchildren/children . . . but, then I did write it, so it is possible my opinion would tend towards the "biased" side!

So, today I thought it would be fun to share with you some of the opinions of people who read my book before it was released . . . 

Important Truths About Leading - Gossip is NEVER EVER Okay. Period.

Okay, I know I write about this from time to time, but I think it is something we need to be reminded of, often, because gossip is insidious. It is all too easy for a conversation to turn from being a good conversation to one where we are gossiping; and gossip is ALWAYS damaging. We MUST have an absolute zero tolerance for gossip whether we are listening to others gossip, or have a problem with gossip among our volunteers or worse, we indulge in this evil ourselves. 

Consider the following . . .