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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All Access Ten Persuasive Arguments for Stealing Candy Bars

10 persuasive arguments for photocopying copyrighted books, songs, and sheet music, and copying tapes

Leadership
All Access The Top 10 Children's Bibles

Counting down the Top 10 children's Bibles on the basis of theme, quality of features and how quickly the Bible grabbed the author's interest

Bible Reviews
All Access The Tyranny of the Telephone - Confessions of a telephone-hating preacher's kid

I don't know what you do to tame the telephone, but I hope you do something. Especially if you have kids.

Telephone
All Access Thoughts on dealing with our critics

It is a lot easier to criticize than to be criticized. Most of us think it is bad for people under us to criticize, but we think the people over us deserve a bit of it.

Leadership
All Access Why do Daddy's Die?

The following poem depicts the thoughts a child went through after the loss of a parent. It expresses feelings of pain, confusions and frustration with God, but comes to a beautiful conclusion of courage and gratitude. The poem may be used to bring comfort to families who have gone through similar pain and loss.

Death
All Access Brownies

An article used to talk to kids about compromise and sin and how 'just a little' can still be very bad.

Sin, Compromise
Free Connecting with Kids

If we're really going to make a lasting impact on children, we need to do more than just program for them. We need to make a connection with them that transcends the things that we teach them.

Forming relationships with kids
Free Courageous Leaders - Part 2

Some more thoughts on being a courageous leader that I have been tossing around lately...

Leadership/Vision
Free Grow Through Vision

We all seem to want to grow our churches, ministries, businesses and the such but more often than not we don't see that growth. Everything rises and falls on leadership.

Leadership/Vision
All Access Losing Your Marbles Is Good for You

The older I get, the more I enjoy Saturday mornings. Perhaps it’s the quiet solitude that comes with being the first to rise or maybe it’s the unbounded joy of not having to be at work. Either way, the first few hours of a Saturday morning are most enjoyable..... (prepare your heart for a powerful lesson)  

Time Management
All Access The $14 Billion Land Grab for Kids

Defining the marketplace of games, comics, and mass media... and how to respond to interested kids.

Card games, comics, and media
Free Around the World in 80 Days Movie Review

Overall, a fun film to watch. Packed with fanciful inventions, multiple cultures, and traditional good guys and bad guys. If you are seeking a modern update on the Jules Verne book, you'll be disappointed. This isn't a "don't see" film, however I'd hesitate to recommend it to families in my church.

Movie Review
Free Bionicle: Mask of Light Movie Review

This is a movie review about a recently released video by Legos based on their very popular Bionicle toys.

Movie Review
Free Catch That Kid Movie Review

Fun, Light-Hearted, Entertaining Movie with Questionable Antics...

Movie Review
Free Cody Banks 2: Destination London Movie Review

Cody Banks 2 proves to be a fun movie that improves on its predecessor.

Movie Review
Free Finding Nemo Movie Review

Finding Nemo features several points of application that make for great discussion in your children’s ministry. Take advantage of this film to teach important lessons your kids will never forget. Here are a few I left the movie tonight thinking about:

Movie Review
Free Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban Movie Review

The much-anticipated movie adaptation of the thrid volume of the Harry Potter series has hit theaters. Prisoner of Azkaban is definitely darker than its predecessors and it strays from the kind of adherence to the book that we have come to expect from the Harry Potter movies. It was still enjoyable and leaves you hoping for better when the next Harry Potter movie comes around.

Movie Review
Free Home on the Range Movie Review

Home on the Range, though entertaining, lacks the quality that is expected from Disney. Nonetheless, children who do see it will enjoy it, and there is enough humor injected into it to catch the attention of attending adults.

Movie Review
All Access Hot Spots -- Anatomy of a Technical Difficulty

Troubleshooting Technology
Free OrangeWatch 2008

An archive of the OrangeWatch beta, which featured a live feed of Kidology member-participating blogs and Twitter updates from the Orange Conference in Atlanta, GA (April 28-30, 2008).

Conferences
Free Shark Tale Movie Review

Oscar has aspirations of living big and his schemes usually fall short. However, since claiming to be a "Shark Slayer," Oscar has been living it up! But it's only a matter of time before this scheme comes crashing down!

Movie Review
Free Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow Movie Review

The adventures of mercenary hero Sky Captain and on-again-off-again girlfriend/reporter Polly as they attempt to discover the person behind mysterious robot attacks.

Movie Review
Free The Incredibles Movie Review

Dodger Flebert and Alfie Kloeper discuss the latest Pixar film, The Incredibles... hear them for yourself!

Movie Review
Free The Passion of the Christ Movie Review

Pastor Karl was privileged to get to see a pre-release screening of Mel Gibson's new movie The Passion of the Christ on Jan. 20th, and responds here to its impact on him, and answers questions about it's appropriateness for children.

Movie Review
Free The Polar Express Movie Review

The Polar Express promises to be a true family movie and a Christmastime classic.

Movie Review
Free The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie Review

This much-anticipated movie starring the world's most favorite yellow sponge was a great disappointment to this SpongeBob fan and proves inappropriate for younger viewers.

Movie Review
Free The Three Musketeers Movie Review

Mickey, Donald, and Goofy star in an animated version of The Three Musketeers. Not a cartoon masterpiece, but a film that possesses good teaching points about teamwork and the body of Christ.

Movie Review
All Access 10 Common Mistakes That Stifle Children's Pastors

Ten things to avoid in your children's ministry.

Key Concepts for Ministry
Free 10 Mom Trivia Questions from the Bible

Here is a trivia game for your children's ministry on Mother's Day!

Mother's Day, Trivia
All Access 10 Reasons I Believe The Bible Is True

This article is designed to answer a common question among kids - How do we know the Bible is True?

Reasons to believe the Bible is the Word of God
Free 4 Tips for Turning Supervised Playtime into Ministry

Used in moderation, supervised play time is a beneficial tool to help pastor children and their families. It provides a safe environment for their needs to surface.

Supervised Play
Starter 4 Ways Your Nursery Can Reshape Your Entire Church

How far up on the priority list is your church nursery/preschool? Use it to reshape your entire church!  

Preschool, Nursery
Free 7 Greatest Questions Facing KidMin

Roger Fields outlines what, in his opinion, are the seven biggest question facing KidMin, and those who are called to this ministry.

KidMin, Trends
All Access A Family of ZAP Religion

We live in a "ZAP" society where everything we want can happen "now". Building a relationship with God does not work this way. As families, we need to work together to instill in our children, by example, the importance of family time with God.

Time for God
All Access A Fresh Look at Your Ministry

View your ministry with a fresh perspective!

Vision - Evaluation
All Access A Golden Opportunity and an Open Letter to Philip Pullman

Commentary on how Christians should approach Philip Pullman's The Golden Compass.

Thoughts on The Golden Compass
All Access A Matter of Life and Death

Children’s ministry is more than presenting values that cut between right and wrong. It is about offering, explaining, and illustrating the life that comes from faith in what Jesus did for them through the cross and resurrection.  

Key Concepts for Ministry
All Access A Quick Webkinz Evaluation

So what is the deal with these "Webkinz"? We've got an evaluation from one of our own Children's Pastors here on Kidology.org.

Review
All Access A Safe Place

An article that uses a personal experience to look at the necessity for both spiritual and physical safety in ministry.

Safety
All Access A String Around My Finger

Let us never forget that David danced for the Lord! That he danced with all his might! Let us never forget that we have been called to minister to the children of the Lord.

Your calling
All Access A Theology for Using Gospel Magic

Is there a Biblical basis for using magic tricks in evangelism? Yes! If we understand that magic tricks are a kind of visual aid. More conventional visual aids in evangelism tends to include story telling, drama, pictures and objects. Alongside these latter visual aids I would include magic tricks as being a legitimate means of illustration.

Magic
All Access Aiming for Impact: Preschoolers and The Gospel

Are prescool children receptive to the Gospel or is it reserved for elementary aged children, teens and adults? Their hearts are open, but they need us to help them make the connection between the gospel and their lives.

Preschoolers/Gospel
All Access All I Ever Needed to Know About Internet Safety I Learned in Kindergarten

Common sense approach to Internet safety in the home.

Internet Safety/Parenting
Starter An Open Letter to Discouraged Children's Workers

A gentle letter intended to encourage weary children's workers who wonder if what they are doing is making a difference.

Encouragement
All Access Are the Children in Your Ministry Worshippers?

While each of us is uniquely gifted and “wired”, we were all created to worship. God made each and every child in your ministry to worship Him.

Worship
All Access Around the Table

Family time spent together is important to build trust, confidence, language skills, support, and whatever you can do to help each other grow spiritually.

Family Time
All Access Becoming An Excellent Children's Ministry Teacher - Part 1: Be Prayerful

How do we find time to pray in the midst of conflicting pressures of time and responsibility which crowd our lives? This article suggest briefly some ways in which we can look at Jesus' prayer life with a view toward applying the resulting principles to our own.

Becoming An Excellent Children's Ministry Teacher
All Access Becoming an Excellent Children's Ministry Teacher - Part 10: Be Faithful

Teaching children is a labor of love. This is especially true when the teacher has a long-term weekly responsibility throughout the year to prepare lessons and then lead children through the learning process. This labor of love goes beyond merely communicating lesson content, although that is a primary component. It isn’t simply a matter of being creative either, although creativity is always a necessary characteristic. Children’s ministry teachers who excel in their roles do so because of a combination of the factors detailed in the previous installments of this series on “Becoming an Excellent Children‘s Ministry Teacher,“ all of which are under girded by an ethic of faithfulness.

Becoming an Excellent Children's Ministry Teacher
All Access Becoming An Excellent Children's Ministry Teacher - Part 2: Be Accountable

Accountability in life and ministry, especially ministry to children, is a very real concern in today’s culture. We recognize our need for mutual spiritual encouragement from other believers. Left to our own devices, we tend to struggle. Spiritually. Morally. Relationally. We need each other. We need accountability.

Becoming An Excellent Children's Ministry Teacher
All Access Becoming An Excellent Children's Ministry Teacher - Part 3: Be Prepared

Preparation is one of the biggest challenges for many children's ministry teachers. I know it is for me. If you find yourself strained for time, wondering how to fit life into the mere 24/7 you are allotted each week, especially with the commitment to teach the little ones entrusted to your care, then take a moment to read and reflect on this brief article. Do so prayerfully, asking God how you might implement at least one point in your teaching ministry this week.

Becoming An Excellent Children's Ministry Teacher
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