Build relationships. Your relationship with the children and youth is very important, more important than any planned activity. Children and youth learn best when they are with adults who genuinely like them. They are observing and learning from you—even if it doesn’t always seem like it! They are affected by

Welcome to the Fall 2023 quarter of Shine: Living in God’s Light! The theme for the quarter is “Becoming a People of God.” We begin with stories from Genesis, focusing on the family of Abraham and Sarah. This family has many challenges, as all families do! They struggled to get along and love

“Why is the Bible so violent?” My son asked me this many years ago, after reading The Brick Bible: A New Spin on the Old Testament, which tells Bible stories in comic book form with LEGO® figures as the characters. My kids spent long hours every day playing with LEGO®

Kids are streaming into the faith formation wing, laughing and talking. In an ideal world, each child will make friends, pray, explore a Bible story, sing songs, have some fun, and go home with things to think about. However, there are too many stories of children who are harmed or

As the Kids Ministry Director for a church with a high percentage of children, I love to create spaces for kids to explore their faith and connect with God in a variety of ways. From the conceptual to the practical, here are some of my favorite ideas for setting up

It’s almost time for the fall quarter of Shine to begin! Here are 5 tips for starting well: Dive In Take a deep dive into the curriculum materials! Familiarize yourself with the products in the teaching kit. Even if you won’t be teaching every week, review the Bible outline on