Many children’s ministries are a flurry of activity, run by dedicated volunteers and staff who put in long hours and work hard for the good of the children and parents they serve. Yet despite good intentions, many children’s ministries today are not effective. They lack purpose and intentionality. A twenty-five year veteran of children’s ministry in the local church, pastor Steve Adams has ministered to families in multiple churches, from tiny church plants to his present position at Saddleback Church. In this book, Steve applies the revolutionary insights of the Purpose Driven Church to children’s ministry and leads readers on a journey of discovery, showing them how to develop an intentional ministry process that moves children toward spiritual health while building a healthy ministry environment for those who work with kids. You will learn how to ask and answer five simple but powerful questions: Why are we on this journey? Where are you and where are you going? Who are we trying to reach? How will we move our children towards spiritual health? What are the essential elements necessary for the journey? There is no single key to a successful children’s ministry, nor is there only one way that works for everyone. But there is a proven process you can follow and Steve shows how children’s ministries all over the world are reaching their God-given potential by discovering their biblical purpose, avoiding the traps of frustration and burnout.

A step-by-step guide to building a strong children's ministry that is a vital part of the church. People know they are called to children's ministry when they get goose bumps and butterflies from something a kid says or an idea that they know will communicate the gospel to children. Building Children's Ministry provides the practical information to transform those feelings and that calling into a successful children's ministry that is integrated into the life of the congregation. The book is divided into topical chapters, including: Getting the support of the pastor and the congregation Statements of purpose Budgets and fundraising Recruiting and keeping volunteers Safety and security Discipline and appropriate policies Choosing and evaluating curriculum Publicity Building Children's Ministry is a practical guide through the challenging (but exciting) steps between recognizing the need for children's ministry and creating a program that ministers to children and their families.

Children’s ministry has the power to change the lives of kids and families. Unfortunately, it’s not always clear that the work a person does with kids is really making a lasting difference. Ask children’s ministry leaders and kid-influencers if they are making the impact on children’s lives as they had hoped and most likely the responses will be mixed. And for good reason. Research over the past decade has revealed an alarming lack of long-term growth in the faith community as children progress through student ministries into adulthood. Clearly, something needs to change. Relational Children’s Ministry seeks to reverse this trend by equipping children’s ministry leaders with practical tools to disrupt the status quo approach to discipleship with children and realign their ministries for greater long-term impact. Ministry leaders will: Learn how to relate intentionally to kids and families by putting five discipleship invitations modeled by Jesus into practice Explore practical approaches to realign their children’s ministry for a new trajectory by hitting three “reset buttons” to ensure long-term discipleship is embedded Encounter examples of disruptive disciple-makers in action and learn key principles that can be translated into their own ministry context Children’s ministry leaders will receive practical training to refocus their children’s ministry along with time-tested tools to personally recommit to lifelong discipleship. Kid-influencers can become a disciple-making community that redirects the current trajectory for this and future generations.

Wouldn't it be great if you could sit down with a room full of seasoned kids ministry leaders with nothing but time and a list of questions to ask? Now, with What about Kids Ministry?, you can do just that! Never are people more impressionable, more passionate, or more eager to learn than in their childhood years. For this reason, those who parent and minister to children have incredibly consequential jobs! But they often lack the answers and solutions to some of their most important questions. In What About Kids Ministry?, kids ministry expert Bill Emeott has curated a series of questions and answers from some of the most authoritative voices in kids ministry today. In doing so, he has created the go-to resource for every kids and family minister or parent seeking practical answers to their questions about how to minister to children.

Building upon the groundbreaking insights of "Children’s Ministry in Crisis," this companion Workbook is your essential guide to personal growth and leadership development in children's ministry. Authored by esteemed children's ministry leader Esther Moreno, this Workbook empowers you to delve deeper into your unique ministry context, assess your strengths and weaknesses, and chart a course for transformative leadership.

Written by Vernie Schorr and revised by Wes Haystead, this practical book for children's ministry leaders tells you how to accomplish your staffing goals without losing your focus on children. Topics include o The value of children o Programming to meet needs o Recruiting workers o Training volunteers before assigning a task o Providing in-service training o Evaluating, encouraging, and supporting your volunteer staff This updated version includes critical issues that children's ministry leaders must not ignore: screening volunteers, preventing child abuse and maintaining a secure environment for the children. Includes Reproducible Teacher training Sessions

Often, a disconnect exists between the way pastors, children’s ministry volunteers, and churches describe the health and impact of children’s ministry volunteers (and the overall functioning of an ongoing children’s ministry). The volunteer dysfunction that is evident in many churches goes beyond the building scenario or the current strategy that leadership is pursuing. If one asks the pastor of just about any local church how the children’s ministry is going, most pastors will respond positively. However, if speaking with a children’s ministry volunteer, one is likely to hear, “I am burned out, but I feel obligated to serve here because we have such a shortage of volunteers and I do love these kids.” Too often, there is no program in place to monitor the health of the ministry. Official training is lacking, church vision is blurred, and many children’s ministry volunteers feel like they are nothing more than large-group, unpaid babysitters. This book analyzes these problems and provides pragmatic, systematic steps to a healthier, more robust children’s ministry.

Energizing Chilren's Ministry in the Smaller Church helps you with your smaller church chilren's ministry make a huge and mega impaact. Part of the ESCN product line.

Like an imperceptible virus, children’s ministries across the nation have been infected with a crisis of leadership. While on the surface they can sustain the status quo, their true potential and effectiveness is being invisibly undermined by shortcomings in leadership, vision, training, wellness, and spiritual maturity. Complicated by burnout, waning volunteer commitment, and troubling cultural shifts, the task before these leaders has never been more perilous. Yet despite these mounting challenges, the war for the hearts and minds of the next generation demands that we level up in our leadership. Inspired by her unwavering commitment to excellence in children’s ministry, Esther Moreno invites leaders to soberly assess the impact their leadership has on the health and vitality of their own ministry spaces. Leveraging her own 20+ year journey in children’s ministry, Esther goes beyond the superficial symptoms to offer root cause remedies for the common leadership deficits preventing children's ministry leaders from becoming everything God has called them to be.

An instructional manual for anyone who is in children's ministry or who works with a children's choir.