About Kidology

Our Mission
Our mission is to equip and encourage those who minister to children. We do this 24/7 via this website, and through providing practical training, creative teaching resources, and personal consultation.

The Need
According to Barna Research the probability of accepting Christ is much greater among children, than by teens and adults. In children between the ages of 5 and 13 the probability of accepting Christ is 32%. It drops to 4% for those between the ages of 14 and 18, and picks up to only 6% for the rest of life. The ripest field is children!

It is commonly accepted that 75-85% of Christians today made their commitment to faith before the age of 15. Children's Ministry leaders and volunteers are harvesting the ripest spiritual field - children!

George Barna notes that "the greatest evangelistic window currently available is among young children." One of the shifts in ministry he suggests is "investing greater resources for children's ministries [and] establishing closer partnerships between churches and para-church ministries geared to child evangelism." Children need to be reached!

By far the majority of children's ministry volunteers are untrained parents and adults who are struggling to serve effectively. Most did not consider ministry to children until they became parents and wanted to be involved with their kids. They are desperate for help! Churches that are creatively reaching children from within the context of contemporary culture are growing. More and more church attendance is determined by the children's interests and preferences. Volunteers need help in attracting and keeping kids in church!

Our country is currently experiencing a revolution in children's ministries. Just a few decades ago there was virtually no church with a "Children's Pastor" on staff. Now it is the highest demanded position. There is a shortage of young people pursuing this new ministry. The Children's Pastor's Conference, in 1983 attracted under 100 people from across the country. Currently they gather over thousands at multiple events. This reflects a growing desire and need for help from America's volunteers!

What Does Kidology Do?

• Provides tools and resources for reaching and teaching children with the Gospel.
• Partners with other ministries in their efforts to evangelize children.
• Provides training and resources to worthy but struggling ministries that are committed to the evangelism of children both domestically and on the foreign mission field.
• Provides support, grants, and internships to young people who demonstrate a heart for the evangelism of children and potential in career ministries to reaching and teaching children.

What Makes Kidology Unique?

Kidology, in its simplest form, means "the study of kids." In a broader sense it is a call to children's ministers to approach ministry to children from within the context of the culture of children. As a missionary first learns the culture of the lost he hopes to reach the lost, the "Kidologist," or student of "kidology," seeks to first understand today's kid and culture before attempting to reach them, so that they can be reached creatively and effectively. Just as the Apostle Paul became "all things to all men, so that by all possible means I might save some," (I Cor. 9:22b) the student of kidology seeks to customize his or her message so that children will be drawn to it, understand it, and accept it. There is a great need to equip volunteers to do this.

Why Do We Charge for Acceess to Kidology.org?

We are often asked why we charge for full access to this website when so much of the Internet is "free." The reality is that if what is free on the Internet was sufficient, we wouldn't be able to charge a fee. While you can find many helpful free sites, you will often find them to be outdated, poor in quality, and severely lacking in any support or responsiveness to your personal needs. Other high quality free sites are underwritten by a parent company and therefore, while helpful to a point, are limited in scope and tend to be focused on selling the resources of the parent company. This isn't all bad - Kidology links to many of these sites, but Kidology.org is unique. Kidology.org is an online community that is free from the restraints and restrictions of a parent company or advertisers. No other website offers all that Kidology.org offers in content and features, and our hefty investment in technology is why. If we posted how much has been invested in developing this commercial quality state-of-the-art website, you might just fall out of your chair. Because our traffic is in the thousands daily, from all over the world, the daily costs of hosting and maintaining a site of this calibur would probably stun those who think that this website should be free. In addition to many volunteers who help with this ministry, we have several employees ranging from full to part time who provide not only personal attention to our customers, but keep the site growing and developing so that we can continue to offer new and exciting developments to equip and encourage you in your ministry. Our membership fee is extremely low for the size and quality of this website, and yet we still are dependant on donations to survive financially. However, having said all that, Kidology Inc. is a non-profit organization and our membership fee is intended to help support the site, not keep out anyone who needs it and genuinely can't afford it. The volunteer membership fee has remained is $18. This is about the cost of going out for fast food once - and it covers the entire year and most of the content on the site. If you need the full access to the site, and genuinely can not afford the higher fee, please join at the volunteer level, and then simply write to support and ask for a free upgrade to the professional level, and we would be pleased to upgrade you for the remainder of your membership. We will do this every year, as long as your need remains. We trust that you truly can not afford the professional level fee and are not taking advantage of our desire to help small ministries have full access to the site. Thank you for honoring our trust. We hope the site is a blessing to you and your ministry.

Kidology is much more than a website.

While this website is our primary and largest ministry - our mission is not web-related. It is ministry related. In other words, we are not about the website, the website is about what we are about, and that is equipping and encouraging those who minister to children. The more you get to know Kidology the more you will see how God is using this ministry to impact the world for children. We are glad you found the site, and we hope it will be a huge tool for you. But we are more excited about what you are doing in and through the lives of children every week. Keep up the great work!

Because Jesus Loves Children,

Karl D. Bastian
The Kidologist