I read a recent tweet from another children’s minister professional who said he finds himself planning activities for 5th-6th graders that were once planned for high school students. I teach early childhood students ages 3-5 and they are doing activities and learning assignments that used to be accomplished in K-1st grades.

It is amazing how much children are growing older and how young they are in their thinking processes and at what ages they are when they reach certain lifestyle milestones. This is true for their physical attributes as well, causing young children (especially girls) to mature faster and experience adult physical conditions and characteristics.

Here is a recent article explaining how children are younger and younger when they begin to reach their puberty years. Researchers have linked many reasons to these younger years but here is the most recent reason:

“The biggest culprit seems to be the super-sized American diet. The rate of obesity in children ages 2 to 11 has nearly tripled over the last few decades. Fat cells produce estrogen, as well as the hormone leptin, which can stimulate the release of the hormones that trigger puberty. Girls who are overweight also produce excess insulin (a hormone that helps the body use starches and sugars from food for energy), which can stimulate the ovaries and adrenal glands to release more sex hormones. A 2003 study found that nearly 60 percent of girls with precocious puberty were overweight.”

Click here for the full article.

Facts like this greatly change the children’s ministry thinking. Not only must we change our ideas and thoughts on activities for early childhood and elementary students, we must change how we think about fun activities and summer camps. Elementary students must almost be thought of as youth when it comes to camps, etc.

It is amazing how much teachers can learn from their students when they listen more. Teachers often talk too much and think they have to be talking to be teaching. Teachers are intense learners. They can learn from their students and more learning will take place if teachers listen more to their students. Both parties involved in the learning process will learn more if they listen to each other more and talk less.

Read this post on teachers talking less and listening more.

I have read many posts and comments recently regarding success in ministry. Many of these posts were determining their success in ministry by numbers. The idea that success must be about numbers is disturbing to me. We must determine the definition of success in ministry. Success is not about numbers. A ministry can have 2 people or it can have 2,000 people. It can have $20 or it can have $200,000. Ministries can be successful by many means, not only by numbers.

Check out this e-book on redefining success in ministry: Reframing Success: Missional Metrics for Missional Ministry. The book only costs $1.25 — go ahead and order the 40-page book. It is worth your time.

Get the e-book link here.

Here is an interesting article comparing Moses to Superman. What a great way to connect the Bible hero to a modern-day hero. This would make an interesting connection in a children’s small group study. Click here for the article.

Click on this link for a short clip of the Holy Rewired teaching session. To learn more about how to live holy and wholly and allow Jesus to live through you and in you, click here for the book.

Transitions can be difficult for young children. They get used to one class, and then as they grow older, it is time for them to move on to another class or group. Those transition times can be stressful and emotional on young lives.

This book will help give young children an idea of what to expect in children’s worship.

This book teaches about the importance of tithing and daily devotion times. It will help parents remember to set aside special at-home Bible teaching times to reinforce children’s worship lessons.

It’s here! The proof is here! Savannah Goes to Children’s Worship is here and is projected to be available for sale by the end of the week — just in time for many preschool transition promotion times as children get ready to go back to school and move up to the next group at church.

Here is a link to the illustrator on the Noah and the flood children’s book project we are working on. Click here.

I found the following article on one of my favorite blogs by Maryellen Weimer. Click here for the article.

A good teacher wants to be a good teacher—“Teaching has to be its own reward.” (p. 809) Reward and recognition are fine, but they cannot provide the motivation necessary to achieve teaching excellence. The diligence necessary requires hard work—just as much work as research and clinical practice.

The focus of instruction should always be on student learning, not faculty teaching—Markert believes that faculty often get stuck on what they think students should know. They must go beyond that to ascertain what students need to know.

When instruction is focused on the accumulation of factual knowledge, learning is quickly extinguished …, but when teaching aims at a higher level of cognition, what is learned is organized and remembered in useful ways—“Learning is seen not as the storage of information but as the continuous process of filtering new knowledge through structures we have developed from prior learning and experience.” (p. 809)

Good teachers do not talk as much as their less effective colleagues do—Good teachers talk less because their students are talking more. Their students ask questions, have cases to solve, discuss in small group, and solicit the views of fellow learners. Additionally, both students and teachers are silent now and then as they pause to ponder and think.

Good teachers are always thinking about ways to improve what and how students learn—Good teachers are always working on questions like: “How can I give students more control over their learning?” “How can I encourage collaboration among students?” “How can I provide timely and effective feedback?” “How can I accommodate learners at various levels of sophistication?” (p. 809-810)

Good teachers create an atmosphere where students are motivated by the intrinsic rather than the extrinsic—“Students are motivated for intrinsic reasons when (1) the course of instruction is well planned, transparent, and fair, (2) the relationship between learning and real life is clear, and (3) they see that their teachers care about their disciplines and their students.” (p. 810)

Reference: Markert, Ronald J. (August 2001). What makes a good teacher? Lessons from teaching medical students.Academic Medicine, 76 (8), 809-810.

Here is the recent Think Tank question:

How would you survive in ministry if you served in a shrinking church? What specific encouragements would you offer to someone in that situation?

Here is my response:

This is a very interesting question and one that hits close to home for me and the church in which I am currently involved.

Let’s start from the beginning: the call to ministry, specifically children’s ministry. I know I am called to minister to children and their families. There are many ways in which to fulfill that role. I can minister to children by teaching classes at church, leading in children’s worship, helping parents in their role as Christian educators to their own children. It doesn’t matter whether I have a group of 100 children or a group of 4 children. It is my responsibility to answer the call to children’s ministry and help parents lead their children to follow Christ.

If the church is decreasing in size, we must look at the reasons for that decrease. Are people “church-hopping” and going to other churches in the area because of the programs offered? Are they moving out of the area or out of state? Are they dropping out of church all together?

If people are attending other churches in the area because of the programs or classes offered, we must evaluate our classes and determine if we are providing for the needs of people in attendance.

There isn’t a lot we can do about people moving out of state. This is a transient generation and culture in which people move frequently because of work and family situations. We can, however, provide them with the basics to continue the ministry in their new locations. We must teach them how to share and minister to others and to carry on the ministry of the Kingdom.

If people are dropping out of church completely, we must determine why they are no longer attending. We must build a relationship with them and share one-on-one with them to encourage their attendance and personal growth. Maybe they prefer and even need a small group for their own personal growth.

To financially survive as a minister in a shrinking church, we must define ministry. Do we have to be on a church staff to be a minister? Absolutely not! We can be a minister in the “regular” working world and perhaps work in a field involving children and families. During the workweek, I teach early childhood students and have been able to non-verbally share Jesus in a corporate learning center with families I know do not attend church on the weekend. Once I build a relationship with the families in my class and receive their trust, I can share more verbally and they begin to open up to me.

As encouragement to someone involved in ministry in a shrinking church, we must first determine what is shrinking and what is important in the mission and Kingdom. What is the definition of success? Is it numbers in attendance? Is it money?

We must stay true to our calling. We can make a difference whether it is to one person or to 100 people.

Click here to read responses from other children’s minister professionals.

God told Noah to build a boat. Why? It hadn’t rained for quite awhile. How was Noah supposed to know how to build a boat? God told him. He gave him specific directions on how He wanted him to build a boat to save him and his family and the animals from the high flood waters He was going to send on the earth.

This story is coming soon in an illustrated children’s book. Check out the following illustration of boat-building instructions:

story from the book of Genesis, words by Brenna Phillips, illustrations by Kristie Chamlee