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 |
Looking for something you didn't find here? Let us know!
‹ Back to ZonesLevel | Title | Topic | |
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Sharing the Gospel: Jesus and the Samaritan Woman
Use this large group/small group lesson to demonstrate the importance of sharing your faith. |
Evangelism, Salvation | |
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Shepherding Children Safely in the Church
This article aims to provide a conversation starter to motivate church leaders to look beyond the minimum requirements for child safety toward developing a fully orbed approach. It is not exhaustive, but it does touch on major important points commonly missed in local churches. |
Child Saftey, | |
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Should I Let My Teenager Date?
Friendship with others starts with understanding whose we are. |
Dating, Teens | |
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Should I Say In Jesus Name?
Why do we pray in Jesus' name? The Answer Guys are here to show us the importance of our heart's attitude in prayer! |
Puppet Skit | |
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Should Kids Ministry Take the Summer Off?
Here are a few reasons why we DON’T take a Summer Break for Kids Ministry. |
Summers | |
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Should My Preteen Have a Facebook Page?
Should you allow your preteen to have a Facebook page? Here are some things that you need to think about before making your decision. |
Social Media, Preteens | |
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Should We Teach Kids To Trust Their Conscience?
Every person, including children, has a conscience and knows right from wrong. |
Conscience; Trust in God | |
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Show Me Your Ways
Studying the wisdom of Moses and our relationship with God |
Encouragement, God, Relationship | |
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Show Me Your Work!
Learn to show your work, so you can become more effective at the important ministry that you do. |
Strategy, Review | |
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Simple Ways to Serve Your Local Community
Teach your kids how they can reach out to their community. |
Service, Community | |
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Simplicity: Fertile Soil for Trusting Relationships and Teachable Moments
An essay highlighting the value of simplicity and depth of relationship in producing teachable moments. |
Classroom Teaching | |
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Single Parents and Summer
How can churches help single parents during the summer? |
Single Parents, Summer | |
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Sisyphus, Eternity, and Anchoring Change
Make change in your ministry effectively and learn to help your volunteers get on board. |
Change | |
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Six Types of Lost Kids
Create more effective strategies for reaching the lost, by gaining an understanding of the types of lost kids. |
Lost, Evangelism, | |
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Sixteen Steps to the Next Level
Move your ministry to the next level with these 16 steps. |
Coaching, Leadership | |
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Small Group for Kids: Tips for Building Community
Learn how to help kids build relationships in small groups |
Small Groups, | |
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Soaring, Running, Walking
A Fun Scripture Activity For Sunday School |
Faithfull, Soaring, | |
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Social Distancing & The Church - WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?
How do I teach “Go To Church” when the church doors are closed? |
Being the Church | |
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Solutions for Small Churches
Are you a children's ministry leader at a small church? Here are some practical and creative ideas for your ministry! |
Small Church, Ideas, Creativity | |
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S-O-U-P-E-R Bowl Sunday
Need a puppet script for Superbowl Sunday? This script is designed to help children learn about S-O-U-P-E-R bowl Sunday, and how we can show love to retired ministers and missionaries on this day! |
S-O-U-P-E-R Bowl Sunday | |
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Spirituality of Children's Ministers
Spiritual vitality is important for every follower of Jesus Christ. But do we consistently live it out? Specifically, do those of us who lead children’s ministries live it out? |
Spirituality | |
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Splinter Child: A Moment With Noah
An account of how I learned to pastor a splinter child, someone with multiple special needs who has yet to be clearly diagnosed. |
Special Needs Children | |
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Squirrels in the Trees
Here are some interesting facts and a preschool game activity from Thailand! |
Preschool Game | |
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Starbucks for Preschoolers
Have you ever tried to witness at Starbucks? Here are some ways to minister to kids and their parents at your local Starbucks! |
Story Time, Outreach | |
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Stewards of the Story
How do we best preserve God's story through the generations? |
Stewardship, God's Story | |
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S-T-R-E-T-C-H Your Ministry Dollars
People all across America waited in long lines on Black Friday for good deals, then searched again on Cyber Monday. The bottom line here is that just like those shoppers, we are looking for great deals to stretch our dollars a little further. This is nothing new for those of us in Children’s Ministry. It really doesn’t matter how big or small our churches are; children’s ministry leaders want to get the most bang for our limited bucks. |
Ministry Budget | |
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Stuffed Turkey
A fun object lesson using "thankful" scriptures to stuff a turkey. |
A Thankful Turkey | |
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Sublist: Deep & Wide
Recruiting is difficult, but your ministry can begin to have a waiting list of volunteers if you make a Deep and Wide Sublist. |
Recruiting, Sublist | |
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Summer Camp Manual
This is an amazing planning manual compiled by CP Team member Scott Phillips to help those tasked with the job of planning a summer camp. |
Summer Camp Planning | |
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Summer Lovin: Recruiting Volunteers
Short on volunteers this summer? Here's what we did to recruit volunteers to step in and serve! |
Recruiting Summer Volunteers | |
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Super Bowl Bible Lesson: Which Team Are You?
Ready, Set, Hike! Wait, which team are you on? This Super Bowl-themed children's lesson helps teach kids the importance of being on God's team! |
Super Bowl Children's Lesson | |
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Talking Fish
Want to tell the story of Jesus feeding the 5,000 in an exciting new way? |
Creative Bible Stories | |
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Tanzania: Taste It!
Here is a sweet snack called mandazi that children in Tanzania like to eat for breakfast! |
Food from Tanzania | |
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Task Management: Obstacles & Solutions
Which of these obstacles are keeping you from managing your tasks well? The solutions are here! |
Task Management, Leadership | |
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Teach your children to S.L.A.N.T.
Want your kids to pay attention better in class? Teach them to S.L.A.N.T. |
Discipline, Listening | |
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Teaching a Negative Child
Teaching kids about the love of God is a privilege and a joy, but what happens when your group includes a negative child? |
Difficult Behavior | |
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Teaching Kids Doctrine
Doctrine can be taught to children! Here are eight basics that every Christian church can agree on and should teach to all of their members, beginning with the children. |
Doctrine, Teaching | |
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Teaching Kids To Be Confident In Their Faith
Kids must be taught their faith in order to gain confidence in it! |
Faith | |
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Teaching Kids to Pray
Teaching kids to talk to God and hear from him is one of the most transformative parts of the small group experience, so be intentional about making it a priority in your time together. |
Prayer | |
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Teaching Tip: Pray as you Prep!
How much of your lesson prep time is spent in prayer? |
Lesson Prep | |
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Teaching Tip: Using Perspective to Creatively Share Bible Stories for Kids
It's the same old BIble story, but it can also be a fresh one, when told through the eyes of someone new. |
Sunday School, Effective Teaching | |
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Teaching Your Children To Be Friends With God
An activity that helps kids become better friends with God |
Friendship | |
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Tebow's Childhood Faith Supports the 4/14 Window
Read Tim Tebow's story about his Childhood faith and learn about the 4/14 Window. |
Faith, 4/14 Window, Tebow | |
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Technology in Ministry, Do We Need It?
How important is technology to our ministries? How important should it be to the decisions we make? |
Technology in Ministry | |
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Ten Ways to Engage Parents in Children's Ministry
Some of the best advocates for our ministry are the parents who are directly impacted by the ministry. Parents have a natural desire to involve their children in a ministry that is first rate. Our goal should be to take their interest and turn it into involvement. Today I would like to share 10 of my favorite ways to engage parents in ministry. |
Parents, Children's Ministry | |
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Ten Ways to Mobilize Kids for Missions
More and more children’s ministry leaders and parents are interested in getting kids involved in service, outreach, and missions. But how can we get today’s kids on the move? Here are ten key ingredients for motivating kids to focus on the needs of others. |
Children's Ministry, Missions | |
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Thankful Hearts Lesson
Here is a fall-themed midweek outreach lesson plan that includes a 19-page Word doc with activities that can be used at any time during the year. |
Fall-Themed Outreach Lesson Plan | |
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Thankfulness No Matter What: A Bible Lesson about Jehoshaphat
Want to teach the children in your ministry about thankfulness? This lesson on Jehoshaphat from 2 Chronicles 20 will help them learn the importance of being thankful, no matter what! |
Thankfulness, Children's Ministry | |
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Thanksgiving Lesson for Children's Church
This Bible lesson from Psalm 100:4-5 about Thanksgiving was first used in our Sunday morning children’s church with Kindergarten – 6th grade students. It could also work as a Thanksgiving Sunday School lesson or any other children’s ministry teaching time. |
Thankfulness, Children's Ministry | |
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Thanksgiving Puppet Script
Check out this awesome Thanksgiving Puppet Script, which is designed to teach children a lesson on thankfulness! |
Thanksgiving |