Teacher Tip #2 "Always Use Scripture"

Always use Scripture when you are teaching.  If we are not feeding them the Word, we are feeding them our own beliefs and opinions.  When we teach Scripture it gives authority to what we are preaching.  Also, include a Bible among the objects you use for every lesson.  When you share a Scripture with your audience, reading it straight out of the Holy Book gives it a lot of weight and visual authority.  It subconsciously confirms that you’re not making this stuff up.  Don’t just teach; teach the Word of God!

Love Your Enemies Video

A great and funny discussion about loving your enemies... 

Worth noting, they make REFERENCE to Harry Potter, that's not to say they ENDORSE Harry Potter.

Only 144

www.only144.com
This site lists a single massive sale of a ton of resources at up to 90% off.  They put together a package or collection for a specific genre of ministry and sell this box of resources and stuff worth upwards of $1,500 for less than a hundred bucks.

Their distinctive is that they only run the sale for 144 hours.  If you don't buy in that time... it's gone.  But they get great and current Children's Ministry stuff all the time.  Keep checking in, they'll probably have something you can use.

Fantastic Children's Ministry Podcast

This is one of, if not the best, Children's Ministry Podcast on the web.  It features Dick Gruber and Jason Rhode, two of the most experienced, educated, and respected individuals in Children's Ministry today.

A must-listen for anyone ministering to Kids, and it's free in any format you need.

The Primary Influence

Reggie Joiner of the reThink Group has determined that the average child will spend 40 hours a year in church ministry and an average of 3,000 hours influenced by their parents.

Two simple questions:
1. Who's responsibility is it to disciple a child into a follower of Christ?
2. How can you enable the success of this discipleship?

Cannonball Baptism

Kids don't get any ideas.......

12 characteristics of a successful children's pastor

From Children’s Pastor Philip Hahn

1) Prayer, prayer, and prayer.  Your success is always directly proportional to your prayer life.

2) Getting connected with other children’s pastors, other children’s workers are usually the best answers your questions and give you the best ideas.  We’re in it together, you’re not alone.

3) Your relationship with your senior pastor. Support him and get him to support you.  (Or to put it another way)  Loyalty to the senior pastor and his direction.

4) Keeping current with the methods and illustrations that are relevant to the culture under your ministry.

5) Love and appreciate your volunteers as often as you can, verbally, tangibly, publicly, privately, sincerely.

6) Stay creative.  Change something, do something different or new every year.

7) Involve kids in leadership and hands on ministry.  In 4 to 6 years they become your volunteers and teachers, you not only invest in their future, but yours as well.


8) Train kids to read their Bible and pray every day.  You only have an hour or two of their week.  Let them feed themselves the Word.  (Or to put it another way) Don't just give them a fish, teach them how to fish.

9) Don’t have song time in any service.  Have worship time.  Don’t focus too much on the guitars, actions, or contests.  Make it about connecting with God.

10) Evaluate the effectiveness of all your ministries frequently.  Change or restructure sick programs, pump massive creativity into dying programs, and bury dead programs.

11) Delegate.  Don’t do it all, it’s your job to train the saints for the works of the ministry (Eph 4:12).  If you leave, the ministries should be able to survive without you.

12) Equip and involve parents. Kids average 40 hours a year that you influence their lives.  Kids average 30,000 hours per year influenced by their parents.  Support the primary discipler in their lives.

Teacher Tip #1 "Single Point"

Always state the day’s single point sometime during every teaching.  It forces every teaching to be an extension of a single message.  This repetition further solidifies the idea in the kids’ memories.  Including it in every lesson also gives them better understanding of the point as they hear it clearly from several different directions.  It also forces every teacher to relate their lesson to a single unified theme.  Without the single point, we are merely relating a number of segmented lessons and hoping the kids get where we’re coming from.  Children's classes & services differ from the adult service in that the sermon/teaching is not brought by a single person, but by many.  That is why we need the unity of that single point to help us all preach this single truth that we want the kids to bring home.

What Does the Children's Pastor Do?

There are many opinions to what a Children's Pastor actually does.  I made this to illustrate the differences.