We’ve been running the children’s ministry blog for over a year now, and we’ve had a lot of great posts from a whole host of different thinkers and practitioners.
But you might be new to the blog, so we thought we’d point you to some of the articles that we’ve featured over the past few months.
Now, this is not to say that these articles are better than the others (they’re all top things to think about and do – and I’m not just saying that), but these give a good introduction to different areas of children’s work.
First of all, you. What is your role as a children’s worker? It’s not something we get the chance to think about in the midst of all the challenges, joys, problems and excitement of our day-to-day business. In this post, Jonathan Brooks, explores a Bible passage which helped him focus on the core of his calling.
What about telling Bible stories? Is it just that? How can we help children think about the issues, interpret the Bible and hear God for themselves? In her article from August 2014, Anna Giles relates her exploration of the story of Samson with her group of 6- to 9-year-olds.
Thinking about children asking questions, we have all been in sessions where children have asked what seem to us the most off-the-wall questions. However, these questions might not be as strange as they first seem. Tim Broadbent wrote an article helping us see what might be behind these queries.
If you’re looking to go deeper in discipleship with children, you might want to consider setting up something like mentoring. This ongoing input and support from an adult (not a parent) can be instrumental in a children’s spiritual and emotional development. Jessica McLeod shares her thoughts about how she’s been involved in mentoring.
Of course, the children in our groups are part of the wider church family. So what difference does that make? How can we help children feel part of that community and help the rest of the family welcome children? My blog from April reflects on this question.
And thinking about being all generations together, Sam Donoghue’s post, ‘All together now’, helps us to think through how we can go about all-age/family/intergenerational worship and be truly inclusive. It’s a tricky thing to do, but not impossible, and can result in great steps forward for a church.
And finally, after a service comes… the coffee! It may not seem that significant a time, but Margaret Pritchard Houston explores how valuable it is for children and adults, as they explore being community together. Her article from July explains more.
These are just a few of the great posts we have had on the children’s ministry blog over the past 18 months and more. There are so many more, so why don’t you visit the blog page and see what you can find?!