I have served in some form of ministry to children or youth for most of the last 39 years! I have taught Sunday School, led Children’s Church, served as a Youth Leader, Kid’s Choir Director, Youth Choir Director, Missionettes Leader, Mpact Girls Clubs Director, VBS Director etc. You get the picture, my passion is introducing kids to their creator, God, teaching them why they need a Savior, Jesus, and how to connect to their ever-present helper, The Holy Spirit. In 2020 we call this KidMin or Kid’s Ministries for birth-elementary school and Youth or Student Ministries for Middle and High School kids.
At my church I currently serve as Wednesday night clubs director overseeing Mpact Girls Clubs and Royal Rangers (birth-5th grade), where I also teach the Stars class (3rd-5th grade girls). I am the VBS director, the KidMin Curriculum Specialist and the KidMin Administrative Assistant. I tell you all this so that you know I live KidMin. When I was asked to review RESILIENT, a new book about the future of KidMin, I jumped at the chance.
About Resilient Child Discipleship and the Fearless Future of the Church
People are saying the future of the church looks bleak. Voices are crying out that the church is dying. Every week church buildings shut their doors for the last time. It leads to the question, “How can we impact the future of the church?”
Thankfully, in the midst of all the talk, there’s a new conversation that’s emerging. Here it is: Child discipleship works!
The most powerful way to shape the future of the church is to effectively disciple kids who will thrive in a culture that aggressively runs counter to their faith in Christ. But in this season, we must ask new questions. As the world around us is rapidly changing, are the methodologies and assumptions from past decades still working? Is today’s KidMin built to produce disciples who will lead the church with courage and compassion in a culture that is becoming increasingly hostile to the gospel? In order to thrive in this unknown future, our kids will need to be Resilient!
What is Resilient?
RESILIENT is an honest calling to ask robust questions about the future, it is a timely conversation in the midst of changing cultural landscapes, and it’s a love letter to the church to walk this road of child discipleship together.
Something special begins to happen when KidMin leaders and disciple-makers look beyond the tactics of everyday ministry and begin to focus their energy on the few, key factors that truly contribute to effective, long-term discipleship impact. Resilient child discipleship focuses on three key areas, essential for shaping long-term faith:
- Belonging: Highly relational ministry led by a loving and caring adult
- Deeply Scriptural ministry rooted in the truth of God’s Word and the power of the gospel
- Experiential ministry, designed to move kids from simulation to real-world application of faith-based living
RESILIENT equips you with an innovative, biblical and proven child discipleship philosophy to build your home and/or ministry around.
Mom Maven’s Thoughts
As KidMin leaders we know we are not a child’s number one source of spiritual leadership-that comes from the parents who spend much more time with their children than we do. We KidMin leaders get to spend and average of 2 hours a month with the kids we minister to. I hate to think about the kids who have no positive spiritual leadership in their homes. Our time with the kids who come to our churches is so limited we need to make sure that we are using our time wisely. RESILIENT helps us focus on what’s most important.
I feel at our church we are pretty much already aligned with the Belong-Believe-Become philosophy of RESILIENT with our Reach-Learn-Connect philosophy. Different words meaning about the same things. Kids need to know they are loved and cared for by adults at church. They need to learn the Word of God and know that it is inerrant. Lastly they need to out their faith into action by living a God-honoring life.
If you are a parent or a KidMin or Student Ministries leader, I highly recommend you read RESILIENT. It will help you make sure your ministry priorities are in order so that you can reach your kids for Christ.
You know my reviews are always honest and there is one negative to this book. There are some glaring grammatical and punctuation errors that were not caught during the editing process. There were a few times I wanted to put the book down and give up on it. I know we all make mistakes, I’ve made my share on this blog. I just feel a real book, which you assume would be professionally edited before going to print, should not have multiple errors.
You can read more about the book here. You can order it from Amazon here. You can also enter to win a copy here.
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