This is the fourth in a four-part series on making churches family friendly. Through our research and experience with churches and families, we have discovered faithful parents and caregivers want to engage children in the faith but often do…
Families do not need another church program
This is the third in a series on making churches family-friendly. Through our research and experience with churches and families, we have come to learn families are exhausted and overscheduled. Church has become another obligation, even for the most…
Creating welcoming church spaces for families
This is the second in a series on making churches family friendly. Through our research and experience with churches and families, we have come to learn how busy families are. When families attend church, they make an intentional choice…
Suggestions for family friendly worship
Through Empowering Families for Spiritual Formation research and experience with churches and families, we have come to learn worship is an integral piece of engaging faithful families and encouraging spiritual formation. However, we also have learned churches can grow in…
How to talk to your children about hard things in difficult times
As I drove my children to school the day after the election, my middle school daughter began to ask questions. Days, weeks and months leading up to the election, there were questions from both of my daughters. They could see…
Why I want to run from children’s ministry but am still called to serve
I taught my first children’s Sunday school class at the age of 16. I was responsible for teaching all children under the age of 12 for the summer. I was given no curriculum or direction. However, I felt called to…
Why do we pre-slice the bread?
As a child I remember my mother, an elder in our Presbyterian church, preparing Communion. I remember going with her to buy bread a few days before so it would not be too soft to cut in little squares and…
Why children are behaving differently at church after the pandemic
It is now June 2024, and we are four years away from the beginning of the COVID-19 experience in the United States. But the ripple effects of the pandemic are still being felt in church children’s ministries. As an educator…
A eulogy for vacation Bible school
Vacation Bible school, known as VBS by many, has been a staple in the life of American churches for decades. From its beginnings in the late 1800s, the focus has been a ministry to children. VBS has been a source…
Passport Camps: Cultivating an atmosphere of call
Recently I attended the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship General Assembly in Atlanta. It was the first assembly I’ve attended in years. There were a lot of things to celebrate, but something I noticed may have gone unnoticed by most. My doctoral…
Three simple ideas for extending children’s ministry at church
It’s Sunday morning, after the morning worship service. Parents trickle to the nursery to pick up their children. Parents begin to talk and fellowship as children run in circles and tug on legs and shirts to leave. It’s Wednesday night….
Dear churches who invite women to preach
Because of the Southern hospitality indoctrinated in me, I begin by saying, “Thank you.” Thank you for inviting women to preach. Women preaching has been oppressed, overlooked and ignored. So, thank you for thinking of me, affirming my call and making…