Articles Zone

Practical and insightful articles about Children's Ministry.

Looking for some expert advice? This Zone is a treasury of Children's Ministry expertise from the Kidologist and other veterans in children's ministry.

Some of the most popular articles are:

Getting into the Home | Mailbox Ministry | Discipline that Disciples | Entering the World of Kids | First Steps for a New Children's Pastor | The Great KID Mission |

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Free Mother's Day Service in Children's Ministry

It’s time to talk about Mother’s Day! Make moms feel special by incorporating these ideas into your ministry time.

Ideas for Mother's Day
All Access Mother's Day Skit

A skit about the best gift you can give Mom for Mother's Day!

Mother's Day, Puppet Skit, Skit
All Access My Buddy Noah

Realizing the importance of patience when serving kids who struggle with profound difficulties.

Special Needs, Patience
Free My Favorite Productivity Tools

Read these short reviews on some newer apps that can help you take control of your life.

Simplifying with Apps
All Access My Heavenly Da Da

How do you address God the Father?

Relationship with God
All Access My Ministry Is Bigger Than Yours

The longer I am a children’s pastor, the more I realize that we won’t impact a generation by pointing to our size.

Leadership
Free My Top Five Parenting Failures

Every parent makes mistakes. Every parent feels like a failure at times. Here are some helpful tips to improve the way you communicate with and raise your kids. 

Parenting, Relationships
Starter Navigating the Pandemic with Your Kids

Honestly and openly help kids deal with the fallout of the pandemic we face. 

Dealing with Change and Fear
All Access New Life for Dying Programs

When the time comes for a program to end, you should end it. However, there may be a program that is faltering that still has life in it and could still be effective for the kingdom. Here are some things that can be done to breath new life into a program that might be struggling.

Church Programs
All Access Next Generation Partnership

See this vast study of church partnership with missions organizations and get practical ideas that you can apply in your ministry.

Missions
All Access No Budget? No Problem!

In these challenging economic times, children’s ministry budgets often get cut, sometimes eliminated. I read often online about ideas for fund raising and saving money. I’d like to take a different approach on this topic – while I AM sympathetic to leaders facing budget cuts and the challenges of ministering with less money, I’d like to pose a sincere question you are welcome to answer in the comments below -  my question is simply, “What do you need money FOR?”

Ministry Budget
Free No More Making Time for Family

Why I will NEVER make time for my family ever again!

Family
All Access No More Manic Mondays!

Whether you love Mondays or dread them, here are ways to make the first workday of the week work for you. 

Organization, Monday Manic
All Access No R.E.S.P.E.C.T. for anyone or anything. What do you do?

Should you expect respect from all kids? What about kids who have been through trauma? 

Respect, Divorce Care
All Access Noah's Ark Walk

A nighttime ark walk that will have kids glowing with excitement.

How Big Was Noah's Ark
Free Nothing Else Like This

It is not about what we do for God but about what God has done for us through Jesus.

Nothing Like Jesus
All Access Numbers on the Dice

This object lesson uses dice to demonstrate how we need Jesus in order to get to heaven!

Object Lesson, Heaven
All Access Nurturing the Childish Out of Leadership

When you look at a strong-willed child, do you ever think, "That's great leadership potential! All you have to do is nurture it!"

Leadership, Parenting, Strong-willed Child
All Access Object Lessons and Props Are Biblical

Don't let your props take the place of your message.

Props in Ministry
All Access Object Lessons Can Make an Impact!

What is an object lesson? Here are several basic instructions that you need to know for giving one!

Object Lesson Instructions
All Access On Halloween

You may be offended by this, but every Halloween, the same silly thing happens. This is the only night of the entire year when most of your neighbors and mine are going to come knocking on our doors. The only night.

Halloween Outreach
All Access One Bird Alone is Like a Single Parent Alone

Is your church caring for the single parents in your community?

Single Parenting
All Access One Way Sunday School Teachers Can Encourage Active Participation in Class

Keep your class actively participating with these simple tips. 

Participation
All Access Out of Bounds - No Boundary Between "Church Work" and Home?

Without clear boundaries, a pastor and their family suffer “boundary ambiguity” and become completely enmeshed in their parishioner’s lives and problems.

Boundaries
All Access Pajamarama: Mother-Daughter Event Idea

Here's a great idea for a mother-daughter event that you can host at your church. 

Mother's Day, Mother-Daughter Event
All Access Paper Gospel Illusion for Easter

This is a great Gospel Illusion and Object Lesson for Easter to show how Jesus was killed and rose three days later! It uses a paper and pen to visually demonstrate this important truth.

Easter Object Lesson
All Access Parent Meetings + Talking about Technology

In this episode, Sean Sweet talks about 2 different things that can give anxiety when it comes to preteen ministry. First he talks about how to have percent meetings, and then he talks about Technology and how we can help parents understand what their kids are dealing with.

Partnering Parents
All Access Parents, What Message are You Preaching to Your Kids?

Do your kids understand the relentlessness of God?

God's Relentlessness
All Access Pastor Appreciation Project

What are YOU doing to celebrate your pastor this October?

Pastor Appreciation
Free Pastor as Leader

 Pastor, Your Leadership Matters More Than You Think.

Pastoral Leadership
All Access Pastors and the Power Problem

To avoid falling victim to the dark sides, each pastor must have the emotional maturity to recognize and confront their dark side.

Abuse of Power
All Access Performance Skills 101

There is one specific skill that is absolutely essential for every speaker to learn and to master in order for them to elevate their speaking to a whole new level. That skill is: Truth by Vibration!

Speaking, Performance Skills
All Access Pizza, Pornography and Meeting New People: A Look Inside Our Kids Digital World

Our kids live in a digital age. To say that times have changed since we were kids is a gross understatement. But how are we doing at keeping up with those changes? How can we stay ahead of the digital curve and keep our kids safe?

Online Safety
All Access Plastic Army Men - Memorial Day Lesson

Remember all the men and women who have served our nation, some who even died serving the cause of freedom.

Teaching via Memorial Day
All Access Plate-Spinning Management

A fun spin on management techniques with simple suggestions that can help your children's ministry take a big step forward.

Management, Volunteers
All Access Play The Ball Where The Monkey Drops It

Some things are beyond our control. You have to start with what you have. You never get to start with what you wish you had.

Ministry Upsets
All Access Pop 10

A Super Bible School Activity for Learning the 10 Commandments

10 Commandments
All Access Praxis of Nurture in Small Churches

Glen Woods is well known as thoughtful practitioner of children's ministry. Here he offers his doctoral dissertation on family ministry especially as it relates to small church ministry. For those willing to dive into the topic seriously, they will find this engaging, challenging and thought provoking.  

Partnering with Parents
All Access PreachersNSneakers Should Concern You

Ask yourself: is there anything I am doing that is a hindrance to the gospel of Christ?

Public Image
All Access Preparing for Special Needs Kids

Are you prepared for special needs kids in your ministry? Here are 10 tips to help you!

Special Needs
Free Preparing Your Ministry for Growth

Once your ministry is discipling mature believers who are evangelizing others, you then need to prepare your ministry for growth. Are you ready for growth?

Growing Your Children's Ministry
All Access Prepping Your Team for Success

What are you doing to help your team succeed? Leader, your role is to equip and prepare people to serve the work of the ministry.

Equipping Leaders
All Access Pressing In

Stop trying to do life without Jesus. 

Jesus is all we need
Free Pretzel Object Lessons

Still a powerful teaching tool today, pretzels are the perfect object lesson/treat to share with your class that will teach them about prayer.  

Prayer
All Access Principles for Managing Difficult Behavior

Here are some key principles for managing difficult behaviors.

Discipline
All Access Priority #1- Communication with Parents

One thing that we cannot do is over-communicate! Here are some useful steps to use in your ministry to immediately improve in the area of communication.

Communication with Parents
All Access Program Rehab: One by One

Close the backdoor on your ministry and begin having people stick around in your church.

Church Health, Leadership
Free Protecting Girls in a #MeToo World

How do we protect our girls in a sex-saturated culture?

Parenting, Relationships
All Access Proverbs Bible Lesson: God Gives Us Everything

The following lesson is taken from a Proverbs series.  The children discover that we can have an attitude of generous giving when we remember that God has given us everything.

Generous Giving
All Access Psalm 63 Lesson: God Fills Me Up

This Bible lesson plan on Psalm 63 is designed for a group of children of various ages. It would work well in children’s church or a multi-age Sunday School class. It deals with our spiritual thirst for God and will help children realize their need for a relationship with Him.

Bible Lesson on Psalm 63
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