I found this post over at TwentyTwoWords.com and thought I’d pass it along to everyone in the children’s ministry blogosphere:

Whenever someone disagrees with you or whenever you’ve offended someone, send them to this extraordinary interactive flowchart. It will solve all their problems, and you won’t have to deal with them anymore.

–Jeff

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No, it’s not goldfish crackers. It’s relationships.

There’s a phrase that’s recently been stuck in my head. It’s becoming a reminder to me of what children’s ministry is all about (or at least what it’s supposed to be all about).

As I’ve been trying to fanagle our budget, put together this year’s calendar, and get some headway on our building project (just to name a few things on my list of “to-dos” this week), I find myself thinking back to it. It helps me remember why I even got into children’s ministry in the first place. It’s got nothing to do with buildings or budgets or really cool object lessons, videos, games, or anything like that. Those things are all great and can really enhance what we’re doing but they’re not what a really great children’s ministry is all about.

Want to have a catalytic ministry to kids? Here’s how to do it every single time, whether you’re in California or Africa:

Children + Caring Adults + Christ = World Change

When you have children come to your campus and they can connect with an adult that loves God and loves them, Christ WILL show up and their world WILL be changed. Count on it.

Lots of things are different in children’s ministry since I started out as a volunteer 13 years ago. We’ve gone from overhead projectors to Power Point to Media Shout to who-knows-what ten years from now (holograms in hover cars maybe?), but there’s one thing I know that will never change:

Children + Caring Adults + Christ = World Change

And I’m truly grateful for that.

–Jeff

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As a kids’ pastor I am always on the look out for good children’s ministry resources. Recently I was given a copy of the Read and Share Bible to check out. After taking a good look at it I thought I’d jot down some of my thoughts to pass on to you.

What I liked:

I liked the topics that they covered. It’s got over 200 bite-sized stories from the Bible that cover the big milestones from creation to Paul and a short synopsis of Revelation. In the beginning of the book it has some great tips for parents on how to use this resource and gives some insight into the heart that went behind this project. Each story also has a short question at the end to help kids process the story and actually do something about it. It’s in full color, but also set at a reasonable price.

There’s also a curriculum that you can use in your church that is complementary to this Bible. I haven’t checked it out yet, but if it’s as good as the book then it would be something that you’ll want to check out for a midweek or VBS-type program.

What I didn’t like:

There wasn’t too much that I didn’t like about this book. It’s geared towards a kindergarten and younger audience, so I wouldn’t give it to a first-grader or older. If you know that going in and share it with your younger kids I think they’ll really like it.

Overall:

I thought it was pretty good. Each bite-sized story has a scripture reference in it so us adults can look it up in the Bible and read the full story in context. I think both boys and girls preschool – kindergarten will like it a lot. You can click on the links above to look at some sample stories and buy it, if you’re interested.

Here’s a short video clip that will tell you more about this cool resource (come back to the blog next Wednesday to win a free copy of the Read and Share Bible):

–Jeff

(Disclaimer – I was supplied a copy of the book for review purposes.)

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