Children’s ministry of any kind (large group/small group, kid’s church, Sunday School, kid’s choir, club programs) requires volunteers. The need for volunteers is constant and pressing in our field.  Last week I spent some time presenting a webinar sponsored by David C Cook’s Tru Curriculum with three creative geniuses: Matt Barnes from Rock Harbor Church, David Robles from The Rock Church, and James Pomeroy from Christ Community Church.  We spent an hour talking about how to add creativity to our ministry context and how to develop an amazing team of storytellers.

One of the fantastic ideas that emerged came from Matt Barnes.  Matt leads the storytelling team at Rock Harbor.  In addition to developing specific values for the storytellers, Matt empowered the group of volunteers to meet together regularly as a small group using the children’s ministry Bible story each week as the small group curriculum.  According to Matt, the group fostered community within the volunteer team, gave each team member an incredible opportunity to “live in” the text they would be teaching, and helped everyone with creative ideas for how to teach the Bible story.

Great idea! (Thanks Matt)

How are you fostering community within your volunteer teams?

We’re excited to provide a great resource to set you up with tremendous resources as you prepare for Easter.  We want kids to know Christ has chosen them to follow Him.   He made a way through His choice to give His life for us on the cross.

This lesson will provide media support, hands on experiences, and relation building opportunities for kids to choose Christ.  The format of this lesson makes it easy for large or small group settings.You may choose to utilize the lesson notes as a whole curriculum for Easter or take pieces of it and adjust it for your group’s size and length.

Easter Lesson

We all know that Valentines is a time to share love and kindness with others.  This year we thought we’d give you a quick Valentine sermon/lesson to help you plan your lessons for elementary kids.  Utilize it however you wish!

Saul Griffith posted an article on the Make blog entitled “A Curriculum of Toys: 18 core life skills that can be taught by toys”.  It is a unique look at how educators, parents [and kidmin] can use toys to teach.  The list can really be used as an idea primer as you work to prepare large group teaching.  Certain manipulatives lend themselves well to certain truths.  How often do we talk about transformation, peer pressure, or temptation in church?  Toys could help the teaching translate into a language kids can understand.

For instance, Griffith writes the following about “Shaping Things”:

Cutting, sawing, chiseling, whittling, sanding, grinding, drilling. Give kids real tools, not plastic versions, at any age. Woodworking and metalworking toys, most craft projects, origami, a penknife, scissors.

And “Forces”:

Gravity, levers (moments), projectile motion, friction, pulleys, mechanical advantage, gearing and gearboxes, torque. Mobiles, trebuchets, magnets, juggling, throwing and ball sports, board sports, sailing, seesaws, slides, Lego, and bicycles.

How could Griffith’s list be reimagined for children’s and family ministry?  What toys and tools can we use to teach children spiritual disciplines or Biblical truths?

One of the publications I subscribe to for the latest updates and reviews on apps for learning is Children’s Technology Review.  Recently Seth Hunter, a PhD student at MIT Media Lab, wrote an article in CTR that addressed the principles of designing games and apps that speak the language of digital learners.

A quick excerpt from A Real Virtual Playroom: Designing Media to Foster Creative Engagement:

Children are increasingly exposed to a diverse media ecology of devices in their play spaces. Recent studies by the Sesame Workshop indicate that the average child over 8 years of age spends more than 10 hours a day interacting with media devices like phones, televisions, video games, and computers. Being an active citizen in society increasingly requires being able to navigate and participate in the activities facilitated by these devices.

This is a fascinating area for designers to explore because increasingly portable devices are putting computers in our pockets and our children’s bedrooms. The dynamics between gaming and creative play, the digital and the physical, the fantastic and the real are converging. Children often fluidly transition between media devices and physical toys, imaginary play and real communication, inventing their own rules and playing games on personal devices.

Hunter presents six questions for educators to pose as they design digital learning experiences:

So, last week I wrote a post asking where we get our information when it comes to making ministry decisions.  My question was, in essence, do we bring in the Bible when we are brainstorming ministry ideas and decisions?  Or do we simply think of the latest KidMin or StuMin trend?

How do you make your ministry decisions?

Well, along the same line, when it comes to curriculum, scope & sequence, and programs; how do you make your decisions?  Take a quick gander at this brief list of the possible curriculum choices:

Hands-On Bible, FaithWeaver, Bible-in-Life, 2:52 Basics, FirstLook, Elevate, Elevate, Jr., Kidmo, Lil’ K, TruthQuest, Buzz, Living Inside Out, Grapple, Gospel Light, Kids Time, K.I.D.S Church, BIG, DiscipleLand, and on and on….

This doesn’t even include the dozens of options for Vacation Bible Schools, special events, kids camps, family ministry resources, etc.  You can see with all these options, something else must drive our decision making; something outside of what the latest trend or resource says we should use.  I believe that the Bible is just that resource.  It is the Revealed Word of God designs specifically for the believer and the Church to be used as a guide for decision making in our lives.

What drives your curriculum choices? Why do you use the ones that you do? Next week  we’ll dive into some possible Biblical texts and themes that will help us make these decisions.

If you’ve been around the KidMin or StuMin worlds for very long, you know there are thousands of resources out there to help us improve ministry to kids, youth, families and so on. In fact, at any given moment, there are likely discussions happening on the numerous online ministry communities asking about which resources you like the best.

How do you make your ministry decisions?

So, my question for you to consider is this: when was the last time you thought about, talked about,heard about, or read about those great resources – and someone responded with “The Bible”?  I am as much into reviewing the great resources out there as the next guy – and I’m all for a great education (especially from Bethel Seminary) – but shouldn’t the God’s Word be the FIRST place we head when planning, strategizing and setting goals?  Does the Bible even have anything to say on the issue of methodology of children’s or student ministry?

The Bible wasn’t just given to us so we can read it, apply it to our individual lives, maybe tell 1 or 2 persons a year about Jesus, and then live our life!  It is meant to get us to radically reorient our lives around the gospel. It calls us to give everything and – not just to DO ministry – but to BE the gospel in our families and communities.

The Bible does speak to methodology of the church and its various ministries, but are we even reading, listening and applying it? On that, I think we have fallen short…

As I’ve written before, Twitter is an amazing tool for ministry conversation.  In the past 24 hours, I witnessed and participated in an incredible and valuable conversation that took place on Twitter between two children’s ministry leaders that I respect and learn from: Stephen Posey and Ruben Meulenberg.

Stephen Posey is the Elementary Children’s Pastor at Church on the Move.  Stephen blogs from time to time at Seeds.  Stephen’s username on Twitter is stephenposey.

Ruben Meulenberg is a screenwriter and director who serves on the childrens’ staff at Saddleback Church. Ruben also is the co-founder of the largest how-to-make-videogames channel on Youtube.  Ruben’s username on Twitter is KidsWantAnswers.

The other contributors in this Twitter thread were Sam Luce (samluce) and myself (mattguevara).

Here’s how the conversation went:

	KidsWantAnswers I’ve served @ many #kidmins that were designed to make adults say “aaaw”, but it’s my calling to make kids say “aaawesome!”. Who’se with me? KidsWantAnswers If u use #kidmin object lessons w/ success, keep it. But I’m done with most of ‘m #ThingOfThePast
	stephenposey TOTally disagree! RT @KidsWantAnswers: If u use #kidmin object lessons w/ success, keep it. But I’m done with most all of ‘m #ThingOfThePast   mattguevara @stephenposey why do you disagree? With @kidswantanswers – give us a blog post   stephenposey @mattguevara love me some @KidsWantAnswers. I want to hear the full thought behind #ThingOfThePast
	KidsWantAnswers RT @stephenposey: @mattguevara love me some @KidsWantAnswers. I want to hear the full thought behind #ThingOfThePast idea //I’ll clarify…
	KidsWantAnswers I dont disagree with all object lessons. That’d be silly. Jesus uses ‘m. I do disagree with the style of most. #StyleIsMyJob
	KidsWantAnswers In order to innovate, I often temporarily dislike things that work well, forcing me to use new ways. The last 2 years, it’s object lessons.
	KidsWantAnswers By temporarily forbidding something that works, u force yourself to find even better ways.
	stephenposey Like this idea. RT @KidsWantAnswers: In order to innovate, I temporarily dislike things that work well, forcing me to use new ways.
	stephenposey Well clarified RT @KidsWantAnswers: Dont disagree w all object lessons. That’d be silly. Jesus uses ‘m. I do disagree w the style of most.
	stephenposey .@KidsWantAnswers @mattguevara Glad to hear the rest of the thought. What I disagreed with was the idea of banishing a ministry tool…
	stephenposey .@KidsWantAnswers @mattguevara Its like what happened with puppets (another tool) Somewhere some influential #kidmin decided to condemn them
	stephenposey .@KidsWantAnswers @mattguevara concomitantly a new gen of #kidmin leaders (in effort to be taken seriously) decided “puppets aren’t cool”
	stephenposey .@KidsWantAnswers @mattguevara My strong stance is not necessarily for the sake of those tools (object lessons, puppets, etc)…
	stephenposey .@KidsWantAnswers @mattguevara but for the sake of those #kidmins who listen to people in positions like ours…
	stephenposey .@KidsWantAnswers @mattguevara … who may be short circuiting themselves by the black listing of these kinds of tools.
	stephenposey .@KidsWantAnswers @mattguevara What I whole-heartedly agree with is change! “New” is a great catalyst for momentum!
	stephenposey @KidsWantAnswers well @mattguevara was right. Should have made this a blog post!
	KidsWantAnswers @stephenposey I fully agree. I think many said “puppets aren’t cool” because they weren’t used cool. Same with object lessons.
	KidsWantAnswers @stephenposey but I don’t believe smaller #kidmins took the “puppets aren’t cool” motto just from big #kidmins. They got cues from culture
	KidsWantAnswers @stephenposey since I grew up in a culture 30 years ahead in postmodernism, I can see trends here that happened in Europe decades ago.
	KidsWantAnswers @stephenposey these trends took Euro churches by surprise. My desire is to use my influence in USA to prepare USA for these cultureshifts.
	KidsWantAnswers @stephenposey not trying to say I’m ahead though. Just saying cultural shifts happened there, that are just starting here.   mattguevara @stephenposey @kidswantanswers love the way you put this – it’s an issue of careful & responsible leadership/influence mattguevara @stephenposey @kidswantanswers thank you both for engaging in a challenging & respectful convo on this #kidmin topic – I learn from you both   stephenposey @mattguevara @KidsWantAnswers spot on!
	samluce @stephenposey @kidswantanswers @mattguevara Object lessons & puppets are both effect how effective depends on knowing your teams strengths
	KidsWantAnswers @samluce @stephenposey @mattguevara I love how we can sharpen one another on twitter. We know each other’s hearts, allowing openness.

Theo

I recently reviewed a new children’s ministry curriculum that will soon become available for churches, homeschoolers, and back yard clubs.  Theo Presents is an animation series designed to guide “children and adults through a careful study of systematic theology.”  In the series, Theo – a kind of librarian meets theologian (thus the name “Theo”) – discusses various theological and doctrinal issues such as sin, God’s character, the Bible, salvation and godly living.  These topics are discussed with easy-to-understand illustrations and will hopefully make children want to learn more about the Christian faith.

The Good

• Nice Quality Videos – The voice over work is well done and the animation is top-notch!  Theo has the image of Focus on the Family’s popular series Adventures in Odyssey.  Likely because the found and creative director, Michael Joens, had previously worked for Focus.
• Each video is introduced with Theo – a grandpa-like theologian who lives in a country setting – singing various hymns of the faith.  A nice touch not seen in today’s media-enhanced curriculum.
• Luther & Belfry (pronounce Bell-free) are little mice who are essentially the object lesson within each video; in fact they are the the negative image of what the topic is.  So if the topic is on forgiveness, Luther & Belfry are struggling with how to forgive each other for something done.  They reminded me quite a bit of the characters in 101 Dalmatians: Horace and Jasper.
• Also, I like the initial topics being covered:  Loving Obedience (using Jonah), Saving Faith (using Abraham), Forgiveness (using the Parable of the Unforgiving Servant) and The Good News (Discussing sin and how we can access God).  While the stories are often common place within children’s curriculum, the creators seem to be taking a purposeful direction of teaching theology – something that is drastically needed with the area of Children’s Ministry.

But, for the ultimate test…how did my kids respond to video?  Well, it certainly kept the interest of my 5, 7, & 9 Year olds.  They laughed at Luther and Belfry while enjoying their antics, they enjoyed the music (of course we are a family of singers), and it allowed us to go into a brief discussion of faith of believing in God.  Well worth it!!!

So, here is a general outline of the video segments:

1. Intro with Luther & Belfry causing some mischief.
2. Theo coming in and introducing topic.  This is a neat part explaining the topic using modern day animation in a Sat. AM cartoon style.
3. Complete Bible story animation narrated by Theo.
4. Wrap-Up explanation by Theo including what our response should be.
5. Luther and Belfry come back to finalize object lesson – usually not quite getting it.
6. Then a final tag (likely with a curriculum component in between these two parts) with L & B humorously and finally understanding the lesson.

Theo’s Good News – Premiere Video! from LifeWay VBS on Vimeo.

I don’t know what the lesson plans will look like, but the resources available will include DVDs, curriculum, books and audio CDs.  Given the right setting and right technology, this curriculum could be very useful for church, families, etc.  The quality is great, the voice over work is well done, the animation is superb, and with the bent towards teaching theology / doctrine over simply ‘rules to live by,’ this curriculum gets a 4 out of 5 stars.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received one or more of the products or services mentioned above for free in the hope that I would mention it on my blog. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

I’ve been looking at research done by Harvard professors Erika Christakis and Nicholas Christakis on the difference between preschool play and skills-based curricula and the long-term impact on students of both methods.

How do these approaches differ in a children’s ministry environment?

I’ll use an example based on the Christakis research:

Preschoolers in ministry programs using either curricula might learn about the fourth day of creation.  In the skills-based program, the children would be asked to fill out a worksheet or recite/guess the correct day with what was created.  In play-based curriculum, the child might hear stories or read books about the sun, moon, and stars and build their own sky, retelling the story as they place the different pieces within a group.

What’s the difference?  The child doing the worksheet or focusing on answering the question correctly is honed in on a “one-dimensional task.”  The play-based program offers children the opportunity to interact with other kids and requires kids to communicate the story in their own words.  The research reveals that classes that adopt a play-based curriculum often learn more and develop greater emotional IQ, team building skills, and self-awareness than children in skills-based classrooms.  Do you think that would be true of your children’s ministry?  Think about it: which model do you follow more closely?

Here are some examples of play in children’s ministry programming:

• Team building exercises (check out our podcast on Team Building with Kids by Brodie Swanson)
• Activity stations with multiple players
• Drama centers in early childhood environments
• Reflective questions (instead of right or wrong questions) – Reflective questions are designed to help leaders guide students towards a deeper understanding of both the topic they are investigating and themselves. You can even train students to ask reflective questions.