Whenever we visited my wife’s parents, her mom always had food; usually chocolate chip cookies or something equally delicious. It was her way of welcoming us! I have to say it definitely made us feel welcomed. My children would start drooling as we drove up to Grandma’s house. Sometimes, you could smell them when the…
If you sit in church in the U.S., you will often hear, “Welcome to XYZ church. Turn to the person next to you and ‘welcome’ them.” In many cultures, welcoming someone means to invite them into your dwelling, offer them a meal and provide a place to stay. It is more than a simple greeting;…
I was a young Christian newly recruited into a children’s ministry internship at a local church when I was invited to a missionary prayer meeting. I did not know much about prayer and I knew even less about missions. At the end of the meeting, the missionary invited us to pray for people in India,…
Early in the biblical story of Genesis, we see external factors affecting the people of God. These factors created whole new twists and turns in God’s dealing with people. Turmoil specifically envelopes the family of Jacob, ending with the brothers selling Joseph off into Egypt. Shortly thereafter, drought and famine descend on the region. Joseph…
Through the month of January, EGM is sharing 31 ways to pray for children around the world. On day 15, we prayed that God provide wisdom, knowledge and understanding to children. Gladys Watts was my grandmother, and she had an enormous effect on my life. When I was a young boy, my grandmother told me…
The young 21-year-old was “helping” in the two-year-old’s children’s ministry class where he volunteered on Sundays. The Children’s Director knew that he was struggling to understand the gospel but still wanted to serve. He was a physics student desperate to grasp what it meant to “believe.” On a Sunday in December, the two-year-olds had a…
Being aware of sibling rivalry is a crucial element in relational children’s ministry and of course it is not something new. When I was a young children’s pastor, I met a couple with two children — a daughter and fun loving little boy. Their son reminded me of…me, when I was six. He was ornery;…
Children’s ministry work has some classic stories, none more famous than the teacher who began her Sunday School lesson asking the children to guess what she was describing: “This thing lives in trees (pause) and eats nuts (pause)…” No hands went up. “And it is gray (pause) and has a long bushy tail (pause)…” The children…
Did you ever notice that Jesus never asked for volunteers? Those who followed Him were people called to join Him in ministry. Volunteering is just agreeing to do something without getting paid for it. Ministry is a matter of hearing from the LORD about His concern and responding to His call to do something about…
What do a Polish Pastor, Coptic Monk and Ugandan Bishop all have in common? They are dynamic Christian leaders who have had an enormous effect on my life. God uses diverse people, in diverse contexts, to grow His Kingdom Zygmunt was a Baptist Pastor in Poland and one of the most gifted Bible expositors I…
