Several months ago I found out that one of my favorite children’s Bibles was being rereleased.  The Toddler’s Bible, written by V. Gilbert Beers, came out in 1992 to great acclaim.  The author, a ministry and publishing veteran, knew that in order to engage the 2-3 year old mind, heart, and eyes that he would have to “become a toddler.“  It worked.

Here are five things I love about this children’s Bible.

1. Brilliant artwork: When you glance at The Toddler’s Bible cover, you’ll immediately be struck by the vivid illustrations created by Claudine Gévry (click here to visit Claudine’s personal website).  These illustrations will quickly draw young readers into the story.

2. Interactive: When you read The Toddler’s Bible aloud, you’ll notice an ebb and flow of interactive language specifically and intentionally written for the 2-3 year old child:

Shhh. Do you see the baby?  This is baby Jesus.

Shhh. Do you see the animals?

Baby Jesus is sleeping in a manger.

- Excerpt from The Toddler’s Bible, Baby Jesus Story

3. Bible references: While each story is written in developmentally appropriate language, the Table of Contents includes the source Scripture passages.  I love it when children’s Bibles do not seek to replace Scripture, but point people to it.

4. Author introduction: I had the privilege of spending some time with the author, who lives about five minutes from my house.  Even though I have spent the better part of the last ten years ministering to kids and families, “Gil” took me to school on toddlers.  His introduction to The Toddler’s Bible is a helpful guide for parents and teachers.

5. Learnings: At the end of The Toddler’s Bible there is an outline of the attributes of God that children learn from immersing themselves in God’s Word.  I love this overt admission that the Bible reveals more than historical events, it tells us who God is.

One of the great thing about reading is that they will often benefit you were you are, not just where you want to go. One such book that recently helped me was Stretch, by Jim Wideman. Jim is a self-proclaimed “good ol’ country boy” but it is a title that he holds well and one of the nicest people you’ll ever meet in the Kidmin world.

Stretch opens with with the idea that there are two basic types a structure for your ministry: one that is prepared for growth or one that is prepared to maintain. I believe that we all want our ministries to grow in some fashion (numerically, spiritually, etc.) so I continued reading. If you want your ministry to stay the same – don’t read Stretch. In fact, you need not finish this blog post about the book.

After convincing you of the importance of structure, Jim then walks through some key areas to help you think about where your ministry is and where you are going. He doesn’t jump into getting a larger number of kids, which I think is a great selling point of this book. While we may want more kids in our ministry, he’s careful to show how we first need to prepare saying that perhaps God is saying, “What would you do with more kids if I sent them to you?”

Stretch is 10 simple chapters on preparing fro growth by enlarging the abilities of those you lead, structuring your organization, preparing and structuring volunteers, and taking a look at your facilities and your own leadership style. Jim then wraps up with how to communicate the your structure as well as some questions you need to ask yourself.

As I mentioned above, books can often hit you where you are and Structure did that for me on two points. First, I love teaching in my ministries but that can take me away from my calling which is to oversee the ministry. Jim points out that overseeing is something that we do not do well in children’s ministry and it inhibits our growth. If we’re doing all the work, how will we be able to continue if God expands our ministry? We need to have a system that not only takes care of the kids we have but is ready to take care of new ones. As a new friend of mine said, “I need to be working on my ministry more than I work in my ministry.”

The second big help the book gave was in some thinking that I’ve been doing on where and how our classes our structured. There wasn’t any specific helps on this in the book but it did lend clarity to that thought process.

Finally, as I make one last case for this book, let me share two quotes that, even if you don’t read Stretch, I hope will help you.

“My mama taught me a long time ago, ‘It is never as bad as you think it is. You are never as wonderful as you think you are. And when people tell you everybody is upset, count the everybodys.’”

“There are some things you do each week that others can do if you just give them a checklist.”

Do you have a kidmin book to share?

Have you ever been in a position that if you don’t change something you’re not going to make it? Or if you don’t take what you know you NEED to be doing seriously the consequences will pile on your mind faster than you can dig your way out?

Recently as I evaluated a weakness related to my ministry and realized it didn’t matter if I was good at it, or if I wanted to do what it took to make things work. I HAD to do what it took to see this through or my ministry efforts would die. I believe in finding people to be strong in my weakness, but this – I had to take care of myself. Meanwhile, the Lord was revealing areas I give attention that I need to let go. Interesting how God speaks in balanced terms even if I am not listening for it.

In your ministry or family what is it that you need to respond to before it consumes you? Have you taken a look at your time and made that “thing” the front of your attention?

I wanted to revisit my official reviews (here and here) of the book Think Orange in light of a recent conversation I had with a member of the Orange team.  This conversation was an important one for me because my primary understanding of Orange was shaped tangentially through blog posts and Twitter updates, not through actual current experience with the 252 Basics or First Look curricula or by attending the Orange Conference.  Orange represents a important model of family ministry that, as a member of the Cory Center team and a co-laborer in the field of children’s and family ministry, I could no longer be ignorant of.  Having taken the time to truly understand the curriculum and the heart behind the Orange philosophy, I realized that my previous reviews of the book Think Orange misrepresented the 252 Basics curriculum and required revision.

252 Basics is a curriculum created in a manner that plays into a church that is implementing the Orange strategy.  Part of the curriculum includes a resource called the “Family Experience”.  I’ve been exposed to the Family Experience through Dan Scott’s blog.  Often Dan shares artwork or videos he’s created for the Family Experiences at Ada Bible Church.  These experiences look amazing and they are designed to bring the family together for a shared worship experience with the idea that when the family leaves together, they have tools to continue the discussion in the home environment.

Now, previously I posted that 252 Basics was structured around teaching virtues.  This is incorrect. According to the Orange staff member I spoke with, the virtues of Christ are the organizational tool that help them structure Biblical content.  In other words, they care deeply about teaching Scripture and use a monthly virtue as the thread that runs through each Bible story chosen for the month.  So each week the “hub” of the lesson is the Bible Story and discipleship happens in small groups.

One of the things we say often in my ministry context is that the Bible tells us “who God is and what God has done.”  One of the phrases that I heard over and over again in my conversation was, “We study God’s Word to find out God’s character.”  That is right on the money, God’s Word reveals who God is and the entire premise of our faith tradition is that as we learn more of God’s Word, we change to become more and more like Jesus.

I was encouraged to find out that some exciting things are on the way from Orange in 2011:

• New curriculum components that will provide context for the actual Bible stories
• Increased emphasis on a foundational component of the curriculum: God’s Big Story
• Leader resources to make the Biblical connection between the story and God’s character

If you have any questions about Orange or the curriculum options they provide, click here.  The Orange staff is more than willing to answer questions or dialogue about their ministry resources. If you are a leader trying to implement the Orange philosophy, make sure to pick up a copy of the Orange Leaders Handbook, which will help you customize the principles from Think Orange for your ministry.

On a personal note, I wanted to apologize to the Cory Center readers for misrepresenting the Orange philosophy and the curriculum that goes alongside it in my two previous reviews of Think Orange. As a children’s pastor and father, I am deeply committed to seeing the church integrate into my family and vice-versa.  I am thankful for the program at Bethel Seminary in Children’s and Family Ministry that helped me understand and learn about the importance of family ministry and I support and champion ministries that help accomplish this work like Awana At Home, Visionary Family Ministries, Legacy Milestones, Faith at Home, Fathers52.com, and Orange. Thanks for reading.

Over the past several weeks I have been leading our community group through the Spiritual Parenting DVD curriculum.  Spiritual Parenting presents a unique approach to moms and dads embracing their Biblical role to champion the spiritual formation of their children.  The series is led by Dr. Michelle Anthony.  A former professor at Biola University and Talbot School of Theology, Dr. Anthony has written over a dozen resources for Christian Education and Family / Youth Ministries. She is also the Family Ministry Architect for David C. Cook after serving as Pastor of Family Ministries at ROCKHARBOR Church in Costa Mesa, California. Michelle and her husband, Michael, have two children and live in Orange County, California. With brilliance and inspiration, Dr. Anthony unpacks Spiritual Parenting in 6 jam-packed, two-hour lessons:

• Session 1: Awakening to Spiritual Parenting
• Session 2: Environments for Cultivating Faith and Storytelling
• Session 3: Identity and Faith Community
• Session 4: Service and Out of the Comfort Zone
• Session 5: Responsibility and Course Correction
• Session 6: Love and Respect, Knowing, and Modeling

Check out the trailer for the series

I love the theological underpinnings of this series.  In Spiritual Parenting, you’re not learning step-by-step instructions for how to make your child love God.  Instead, you are discovering the environments in Scripture that you can take advantage of to see your children grow in their relationship with Christ and take their place in the story He is telling.  Expect to open your Bibles and learn about the original meaning of words like “faith” and “disciple.”

Here’s some of the responses from my community group:

I want more!

This teaching resonates with what I know about God.

When Michelle presented the Big God Story, it made me want to read the entire Bible cover to cover for the first time.  I’ve never heard it that way before.

One vital note for children’s and family ministry leaders:

In Session 2, Michelle Anthony presents the entire story of Scripture from Genesis to Revelation in under 20 minutes.  If you’re in children’s ministry, capturing the “Big God Story” in this manner would be a powerful storytelling tool to have in your arsenal.  I plan on committing this to memory.  You’ll find the script Michelle uses in the book, Spiritual Parenting.

I definitely recommend investing in this series.  It will give the families in your ministry context a robust theological foundation to fulfill their God-given call to teach their children to walk in the way of Jesus.  Here’s where you can purchase the Spiritual Parenting DVD set:

• Amazon - http://amzn.to/spiritualparentingdvd
• Christianbook - http://bit.ly/ccdspiritualparentingdvd
• David C. Cook - http://bit.ly/dccspiritualparentingdvd

Also, David C. Cook will be giving away a free copy of the curriculum on their Facebook page on May 6. 
Make sure to follow David C. Cook (http://twitter.com/David_C_Cook) and Michelle Anthony (http://twitter.com/truinspiration) on Twitter.

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.”

Even though I’m a children’s pastor, I consider myself a Christian Educator.  As part of the teaching and learning process, my favorite group to teach tends to be early childhood (probably because my two daughters are 4 and 5).  Kids in this developmental stage are awed by stories, which is why the mechanism that delivers these stories (children’s story Bibles) are so important.

Thanks to Thomas Nelson, I had the opportunity to review their Read and Share Bible.  Let’s start with the good stuff:

Layout: The stories are all two pages long.  I like the shorter length because it makes for easy reading.  My kids really liked the artwork.

Bible Passages: The table of contents in the Read and Share Bible is ideal.  Each story is listed next to its parallel passage in Scripture.  In the actual story, the Bible passage is listed underneath each story title. Each story also includes a question at the end for parents to ask their kids!  Nicely done.

Accuracy/Theological Integrity: So often I notice that children’s story Bibles make theological mistakes.  My first port of call when testing this is looking at how the text treats Saul’s encounter on the Damascus Road.  Most children’s Bibles indicate that Saul changed his name to Paul as a result of this encounter, however that simply is not in Scripture.  Go ahead, check it out for yourself!  Saul’s name in the text switches to Paul subtly about two chapters after the Damascus Road event.  The Read and Share Bible tells the story beautifully: “Saul was also called Paul.”  This kind of attention to Biblical accuracy is important.

Now for the tough stuff:

Euphemisms: Throughout the Read and Share Bible I noticed that certain names of objects are omitted and called by a different name.  In the case of the Ark of the Covenant, the Read and Share Bible refers to it as “The Holy Box.”  Names are important!  Would we make up a kid-friendly name for Jesus and call him, “The Holy Child”?  The covenant is such an important theme in Scripture, I think it is a good thing to teach kids its real name.

The Rabbit: There is a rabbit that shows up in almost every story in the Read and Share Bible. I didn’t get it.

David Does Wrong: This is the only children’s story Bible that I know of that tells the story of David and Bathsheba.  My issue is not at all with telling this story.  The story is actually told quite gently as a picture of Biblical forgiveness.  However the picture in the story is really problematic for me.  Obviously for 3-5 year old kids, the pictures will speak much louder than the printed words.  In David Does Wrong, the picture has David kissing Bathsheba on the cheek with hearts surrounding the pair.  When I asked some kids to use some words to describe the picture, they said: love, wedding, marriage, engaged, I think they like each other, and in love.  So in this rare instance, the pictures definitely do not enhance the story – they actually reverse the story.

In the end, the Read and Share Bible is a full collection of Biblical stories with great artwork and helpful tools for parents.  Pick one up at your local Christian bookstore, Thomas Nelson’s website, or Amazon.

For the chance to win a copy of the Read and Share Bible, you can:

1) Copy and send this tweet:

@corycenter is giving away some free kidmin resources, check out http://corycenter.org right now!

2) Sign up for our e-newsletter (the form is right on this page!)

3) Comment below with your favorite Bible story

We’ll pick a winner on Friday, January 14th!

If you’re interested in learning more about the Read and Share Bible, visit TommyNelson.com, Facebook, Scribd, or YouTube.  A review copy of the Read and Share Bible was provided to me for review purposes by Thomas Nelson.

It does not seem that long ago, but in the fall of 2003 I began my journey in full-time children’s ministry in Madison, WI.  I had Biblical and theological foundations from my newly earned Pastoral Studies degree and loads of volunteer experience working with children.  However, lacking a great deal of maturity, I started ministry trying to be someone else.  I grew up in the mindset that children’s ministry was event-driven, using puppets, performance, juggling, clowning/miming, Scripture pictures, and gospel magic. Having no real training in those areas, I took lessons in magic and devoted a great deal of time to trying to become a children’s ministry performer.  I patterned my ministry after the models I grew up with and it did not take long before the thing that I so desired to become my entire life (a pastor) felt like it was going to kill me and my wife!  God taught me an important lesson: Ministry was not going to work unless I was going to be myself.  This was one of the toughest and longest lessons I learn as a young pastor.  I wish Larry Shallenberger’s book, Lead the Way God Made You, was around in 2003.

The central message of Shallenberger’s precise work is simply that God created you to lead in a specific way and that’s okay.  Shallenberger dispels the myth of the perfect leader at the outset of the book and introduces the dominant metaphor of the book, the theater.  It really is a perfect setup for the rest of the content because it touches on a theme that everyone feels and experiences.  The content is rich and it leads the reader through a process of self-discovery with the “Dramatic Leadership Assessment Test” and gives Scriptural foundations for each of the Assessments styles (Director, Stage Manager, Drama Coach, Theater Manager, Stagehand, and Production Assistant).  For me, the assessment confirmed my leadership style (Director) but gave me critical insights into the other styles.

I loved the tone of the book because the experience of reading felt like I was being mentored by an experienced leader.  Here’s some of the parts that resonated the most with me:

•    Quote, page 49: “A few years ago, a senor leader in the church pressured me to launch this program.  I politely told him that it sounded like a good idea first initiative for the new children’s pastor.” Gutsy

•    The “5 Star Training Planner” on page 122 and the Leadership Style Summaries (to share with your team) are some resources that are worth more than the price of the book.

Part of spiritual leadership is the hard work of self-reflection and self- discovery. Use Lead the Way God Made You to help you long the way.

Join the rest of the Lead the Way God Made You Blog Tour!

•    June 29^th – Barbara Graves, barbaragraves.net

•    June 30^th – Joe McGuinness, familygeneration.com

•    July 1^st – Todd McKeaver, toddmckeaver.com

•    July 2^nd – Henry Zonio, elementalcm.com

•    July 5^th – Kenny Conley, childrensministryonline.org

•    July 6^th – Greg Baird, kidmin360.com

•    July 7^th – Wayne Stocks, stocksohio.com

•    July 8^th – Jonathan Cliff, jonathancliff.com

•    July 9^th, Wendy Douglas

Legal Disclosure: Baker Publishing provided me with a free copy of Formational Children’s Ministry: Shaping Children Using Story, Ritual, and Relationship.

Weeks ago while scouring Amazon I came across Formational Children’s Ministry and was excited to read it.  Several years ago I had the privilege of being in a Bethel Seminary class where Ivy Beckwith guest lectured.  Dr. Beckwith walked through the primary themes in her book Postmodern Children’s Ministry and her words and work shaped my early understandings of children’s ministry.  I looked forward to hearing Ivy’s thoughts on children’s ministry.  With the help of some Diet Coke and the natural ambiance of Chipotle, I uncovered several themes in Formational Children’s Ministry:

Philosophy
Clearly the philosophy held about children and the way they are ministered to in the church context is vital.  Beckwith challenges the plug and play mentality held by many churches and perpetuated by major curriculum publishers in addition to challenging the concept of the Bible as a book of propositional truths (a concept that seems heavily influenced by N.T. Wright).  Dr. Beckwith presents an alternative organic view of exploring and experiencing the Bible.

Programming
How the ministry philosophy is put into play in the local church was another major theme of the book.  Ivy challenges the formal educational model used in most churches and the competitive nature of such programming.  In return the author presents ritual options and introduces the regular practice of spiritual disciplines into the programming discussion.

Characteristics of Learners
Dr. Beckwith is concerned with the way children learn and the generational characteristics they bring to the table that in contrast with the generations represented by those who teach the children. She challenges linear teaching (the classic Hook, Book, Look, Took) and presents a non-linear alternative (Prepare, Engage, Reflect).

Worship
Worship is a central theme to all of Ivy’s work.  She challenges the practice of kids worshipping apart from adults and presents new concepts of age-appropriate worship in balance with children participating in adult worship environments.

Family
Dr. Beckwith challenges the consumerist, competitive, busy a-typical American lifestyle and the age-specific ministries that cater to and even nurture such lifestyles.  In contrast the author presents a intergenerational community of faith where families are nurtured and revitalized.

This book evoked some strong personal reactions.  Dr. Beckwith presents a solid understanding of today’s non-linear learner.  This is a missing piece in children’s ministry and a flaw in our programming and I am a passionate evangelist for digital learning.  Children’s ministry leaders need more of this kind of teaching!

As Ivy discusses kids telling their own story, I was reminded of how our team is facing this issue as it relates to baptism.  When a child in our ministry desires to be baptized, they attend a baptism class.  One of the questions we ask in that class is: If a kid at your school came up to you today and asked you, “Hey I want to know how to become a Christian.” What would you tell them?  Most of our kids who affirm their readiness for baptism cannot answer this question OR the question of how they came to know Christ.  They are unable to tell the story!  Ouch.

As I read the presentation on incorporating ritual into the seasonal life of a children’s ministry, I was reminded of how formational the seasons of Lent and Advent have been for my own family.  My wife and I do not come from a mainline denominational background, but we saw how these two rituals impacted families in the first church we served as children’s pastors.  We became so passionate about Advent that we designed an Advent devotional for families that was incorporated into the life of our church and in the first year almost 200 families used this resource.  It was incredible.  If you want more ideas on ritual, check out Robert Webber’s book Ancient Future Time.

Now, the book also evoked some negative reactions.  I felt like the tone of book was overly negative and bullying.  It reminded me of the fictitious book, You Can’t Read (from the movie Smart People).  I almost felt like Ivy’s book could be subtitled, “You Can’t Teach.”  As I read about how children’s ministry is broken, volunteers are untrained and unprepared, and there is a general lack of respect for and care in handling God’s Word, I wanted to say, “Speak for yourself.”  In my ministry context we present God’s Word as faithfully as we can and stand back to see God work.  In fact, while I was reading and taking notes on the book I was stopped by a dad that I had never met.  Rich wanted to tell me that his four year-old son has been deeply impacted by our children’s ministry in the how he prays and worships God, his desire to pray for others, and what he has learned about the Bible.

Ivy makes several major assumptions of the church as well.  The biggest being that the church is responsible and is the cause for the lack of faith in kids and teens.  That assumption is as ridiculous as it is uniformed.  I posit that at best the relationship between children’s ministry and faith in teen years is correlational, not causational.  In my ministry context, we do not teach lessons.  We preach and participate in the prolegomena, the proclamation of the truth of who God is and what God has done.  We pastor and shepherd, which requires us to be directional in our leadership.  In other words, we must give direction on where to move.  This is how application to Biblical content is framed in our context.  Application points are not an inherently bad thing (as Beckwith suggests).  For children, they provide common language to understand God’s Word.  Coming to a single conclusion from reading a Bible story is not an inherently bad thing either.  I am perfectly fine with coming to a single conclusion after reading a Bible story, as long as that conclusion is a truth about God.

I came up with two questions for Ivy:

First, how does a children’s ministry leader arbitrate between rituals that work in one context but not in another?

Second, should every church aspire to write their own curriculum?  How do you respond to curricula such as Group’s Buzz that emphasizes ease of use and little preparation time as features?

Books are intended to make you think.  In fact, my senior pastor often tells our staff that if we read a book and do not learn anything or have any hard conversations then it was a waste of our time and resources.  Formational Children’s Ministry made me think through some important issues, shout “Amen,” and pace the room like a crazy person.  It is a book worth wrestling.

This review was originally posted on ElementalCm.

Review:
At this point in the book, Joiner has combined both influences (church and family) and given the Biblical background from Deuteronomy 6 and shared the biography of Moses.  Now it is time for the overall thrust of the book to be put into action.

Joiner defines the Orange Leader as “any leader who connects other leaders and parents in order to synchronize their efforts to build faith in the next generation” (79).  This synchronization requires leadership effort to eradicate obsolete thinking about family as sacred or building bigger and better churches.  The reality is that we should combine both influences to maximize their influence.

The caveat with this leadership effort, which Joiner addresses brilliantly, is that before leaders, families, and churches get into practicing what it means to “Think Orange,” they must first establish a common ground, or a shared pool of meaning before establishing programming.

Joiner offers several honed principles to form the common ground:
•    Nothing is more important than someone’s relationship with God.
•    No one has more potential to influence a children’s relationship with God than a parent.
•    No one has more potential to influence the parent than the church.
•    The church’s potential to influence a child dramatically increases when it partners with a parent.
•    The parent’s potential to influence a child dramatically increases when that parent partners with the church.

The other key component to establishing the common ground is actually defining what family ministry is.  Joiner writes, “Family ministry [is] an effort to synchronize church leaders and parents around a master plan to build faith and character in their sons and daughters” (83). In other words, family ministry = Orange leadership.  Clever.

The last half of the chapter provides support, both research and story-oriented, to Joiner’s common ground principles.  In summary:
1)    Kids need their parents to get involved in their spiritual formation.
2)    Most parents are not even talking to their kids about spiritual issues.
3)    Most churches are not helping parents fulfill their role.
When we start working together, change will happen.  Kids will get the feedback they need to grow in Christ.  Parents will have a specific plan to put into immediate action.  Churches will reorganize resources and time to partner with families.

Let me break my response down into four short pieces:
1) Have the Conversation: If the only thing this book accomplishes is encouraging and moving hundreds of churches to start having conversations about working together with families, it will be one of the most influential books this decade.  I was reminded acutely of the need to have these types of conversations and think about establishing common ground before implementing a new program.  The churches in my ministry context are engaging in this process right now and it is incredibly exciting.

2) Know that conversation’s length may last several months: Joiner presents a compelling argument for having the conversation about going Orange, but the book provides very little support or information on the realities those conversations open leaders up to.  If I were in my first few years of ministry and I read this book, I would leave with the impression that going Orange could happen tomorrow.  Moving organizations of any size into new paradigms takes time, leadership, and effort.  In the case of our ministry, it has taken several months.  Rob Reinow of Wheaton Bible Church and Visionary Parenting often talks about how his church spent years honing the theology behind their family ministry before they implemented a single program.  Think Orange is not Think Fast.

3) I’m on the bus, show me where I am supposed to go:  One of the issues I have with the book in general is that it spends so much time emphasizing the importance of the partnership between church and family without really saying what is supposed to happen next.  If you want a roadmap to having the conversations necessary to achieve a family ministry shift, you will not find it in this book.  You will find out a lot about what happens if you combine influences, but now how to do that.  I have found a lot of practical help to engage in this kind of conversation through the book, Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes are High

4) Character:  I am absolutely convinced that the partnership between family and church is critical.  I am devoted to helping kids meet Jesus and become more like Him.  Here is where I hit a snag when I read Think Orange.  While Scripture is clearly valued throughout the Orange philosophy, it’s primary application is to build character in the lives of kids.  Building character is featured in Chapter 4 and seen throughout the entire book.  It is also clear in the way 252 Basics is organized.  This presents a problem because I do not think the Word of God was delivered to make people more virtuous.  There’s more to it than that.  And I have a hard time orienting ministry in such a way as to teach kids that the primary purpose of the Bible is to make them more responsible or friendly.

Questions:
•    For those who have already made the shift and started/implemented the process of partnering with parents – What did you do to make those conversations successful?  What mistakes have you made?  What would you do differently?
•    For those who are just getting started – What resources would you find helpful to start the process?  How long do you think it will take?