My 10 Life Resolutions

Resolution #1: I resolve to obey God without delay and without consideration for the consequences or lack of resources.

Resolution #2: I resolve to be a student of God’s Word and as I read it to apply it to my life. I will be a doer of the Word and not a hearer only.

Resolution #3: Because I want to spend time regularly with God and develop an intimacy with Him, I will continually be in prayer even when I don’t “feel” like praying.

Resolution #4: I resolve to be a worshipper because God alone is worth of my worship.

Resolution #5: I will not compromise my faith to become more acceptable to the culture. This would include salvation is only through the blood of Jesus Christ, that there is only one road to Heaven, and that what God calls sin is sin.

Resolution #6: I resolve to constantly learn and read.

Resolution #7: I resolve strive to forgive anyone who I become offended with and to resolve any matter where people are offended by me as far as it is up to me.

Resolution #8: I resolve that when I am stressed by everyday life, to be in joy and peace through Jesus Christ.

Resolution #9: I resolve to be expectant and ready for the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ at any moment and to live my life that way.

Resolution #10: I resolve to repent as soon as I realize I have failed with one of these resolutions and to return to fellowship with Christ.

My Letter to the Church

I took a Bible class a while ago where I was assigned to write an Epistle to the Church. An Epistle is a letter from an Apostle. I felt so strongly about what I wrote that I wanted to share it. It truly is from my heart and I believe from the heart of God.

My Epistle to the Church

by Tamera Kraft

Dear brothers and sister in Christ. I, Tamera Kraft, apostle to children, greet you as a servant of God called to a ministry that is at the very heart of God – children.

Throughout Scripture, God speaks about the importance of ministry to children. Jesus even rebuked His disciples when they tried to keep children away from Him. In His admonition to Peter, He instructed Peter to feed His sheep twice, but He before He mentioned the sheep, Jesus commanded Peter to feed His lambs, to minister to His children.

One reason children are so important to the heart of God is because they represent the way we should come to God, with humility and dependence. Children depend on adults for everything. Without adults to provide them with care and resources, they could not survive. They bring this same dependence into their relationship with God.

Children are the largest harvest field in the Kingdom of God. According to Brother Barna, 85% of all people who have accepted Christ as their Savior have surrendered their lives to Christ between the ages of four and fourteen. The 15% of the Christian population that has come to know Christ is the exception to the rule and should be considered miracles by the grace of God. Yet many churches put most of their evangelistic efforts and resources into reaching that 15% and ignore the children. This ought not to be. If God has ordained that most people who come to Him are children, we should be reaching out to lost children before we consider evangelizing adults. A whole generation of young adults is lost because, as children, the church didn’t make it a priority to reach them.

This can’t be done through games, fun Bible stories, and crafts alone, nor is teaching children how to be good enough. Children need to be taught that they have sinned and are separated from God forever. They need to be taught that God loves them and wants to restore that relationship. That’s why Jesus died on the cross for them. They need to repent of their sins, receive Jesus as their Savior, and surrender their lives to Him. Being good isn’t enough.

Once we understand the importance of children in the Kingdom of God, we must make special efforts to effectively minister to them. Our best leaders, facilities, resources, and curriculum should be dedicated to ministry to children. Parents play the largest role in discipling their own children, and the church should equip and encourage them to do that. But just as family is not the only resource to minister to adults, there should be church programs to minister to children as well.

Children need to learn the Gospel and be discipled in a way that reaches them at their age level. This doesn’t mean the Gospel should be watered down for children. Children can learn the great truths of the Bible if they are taught those truths in ways they can understand. Just as Jesus rode on a colt into Jerusalem, children can have the full weightiness and glory of God resting on them as children. This means children can be saved. They can be baptized and partake of communion. They can be filled in the Holy Spirit, and they can be full members of the community of God ministering and being ministered to. Children are not the church of tomorrow. They are the church of today. If they are discipled correctly, they will become the leaders of the church tomorrow.

One trend I’ve noticed in the church today is separating children from the community of believers. This should not be. Children need to know they are a part of the church. In the Bible, children were included in prayer meetings, fasts, and times of consecration and celebration. We need to do the same. During the Feast of Tabernacles, all of Israel would come before the Lord to hear the reading of the Law so that the children would hear it and learn to fear the Lord. In Paul’s letters to the Ephesians, he gave instructions directly to the children to obey their parents. He considered them a part of the church that he was writing to.

One of the main reasons, children are not ever included in the main service is for convenience sake. Parents don’t want to deal with disruptions their children might cause, and pastors and church members don’t want children “ruining” the service with too much noise. But children are a part of the church, and they need to be taught how to behave in the main service. How will they know what is expected or participate in the body if they are never discipled in that area?

Another reason children need to be in the main service occasionally is because they are to be examples of worship. When the Pharisees rebuked Jesus for allowing children to praise Him in the temple, Jesus quoted Isaiah saying, “From the lips of infants and children, God has ordained praise.” The word “ordain” here means to lead or begin. How can children do this if they never worship with adults? Also children need to learn how to worship by watching the example of adults in worship. Children learn what they see adults doing.

Children who don’t feel like a part of the church community because they have never been included in the body will leave church when they’re older. Imagine the culture shock of a child who has been in church all of his life but has never been in the main service. He has played games every Sunday, sang active songs, and had every message or Bible story illustrated with a skit, object lesson, or interactive device. Suddenly the child turns ten or twelve, or in some cases eighteen years old. He has graduated to big church. The music is strange. There are no games, skits, or illustrations, only some guy preaching that he’s never met. He doesn’t know any of the people. And there’s no candy. He has never become a part of the body.

Finally, let me encourage you to lead children into the presence of God through example, teaching, and experience. Children who experience a genuine salvation and revival in their hearts at a young age are transformed by being discipled in the Word of God and should become an active part of the body of Christ. These are the ones who will go on to do great things for God throughout their lives.

Amen.

*Feel free to share this post on your blogs and social media, but please give me credit by pasting the following at the end of your posts.

Used by permission of Tamera Kraft, Revival Fire for Kids. Reprint from http://revivalfire4kids.com

Merry Christmas

Last Minute Tips for Your Kidmin Christmas Program

For most of you, the children’s Christmas program is one of the biggest events on your children’s ministry calendar. Hopefully you’re on schedule and things are going according to the plans you made during the summer. Here’s some last-minute tips to help it run smoothly.

Write out the words to the songs for the children. If your church has a monitor or video that can be seen from the stage, have your media director place the words to the songs on power point. That way, if the children forget the words, they can read them on the screen. If you don’t have power point, ask someone to write the words on poster boards and sit on the front row holding them during the program.

Teach children what to do when the program ends. Many times children’s pastors work hard with the children to have a great program only to have the children ruin it because they don’t know how to end it. Let the children know what they’re expected to do at the end of the program. Should they file off the stage or should they sit quietly while the pastor talks? Rehearse this with them so they’re ready.

Keep children occupied. Have activities ready for the children to do while they’re waiting for the program to start or if you are working with small groups of children during rehearsal. This will keep the children from getting out of control when they have nothing to do.

Check costumes to make sure there are no last-minute surprises. If your students are coming up with their own costumes, make sure you give approval in time for them to change something if they need to.

Make sure the sound technician is available for final rehearsals. Many great children’s programs are ruined because the sound technician wasn’t there at the rehearsals to know the cues. Provide him with a copy of the program, and ask if there’s anything else he needs.

Invite people. Ask each student in the play to provide a list of at least five friends or relatives with addresses or emails so you can invite them to the program. Don’t leave the invites up to the children and parents. Send the letter out on church stationary. Don’t forget to mention the name of the child who provided their information.

Take breaks during long rehearsals. Children will focus better if they have time to get their energy out.

Plan for unexpected surprises. Have a plan for if a child with a main part gets sick and can’t be in the program.

Remind the students often why they’re doing this. It’s not about them being cute and showing off to their parents. They are involved in ministry. Have them pray for God to move and people to give their lives to Christ during the program.

I pray God uses your children’s ministry program for His glory this year.

Kidmin Christmas Carols

Christmas caroling is a lost art in this world where everyone is so busy getting the latest gift. That’s too bad because Christmas caroling is a way to share God’s love with a dark world. It works even better when we go Christmas caroling to people who feel forgotten at Christmas.

Here’s some ideas on where you can take the children in your church caroling.

Neighborhood around the church: Let the church’s neighbors see you’re a part of their neighborhood and that you have a thriving children’s ministry.

Nursing Homes: Share the love of God by taking the children to a nursing home to sing for the patients. Check with the nursing home for their Covid regulations.

Children’s Hospital: Christmas is a sad time for children stuck in the hospital. Cheer them up with some caroling.

The Mall: Put Christ back in the Holiday season by having children sing songs about the birth of Christ. They could even act out the nativity scene.

Shut Ins: Most churches have seniors who can’t get out of their houses because of health problems. Compile a list and take your students to their houses for a little visit and some carols.

Any of these places would be a great way for children to minister by sharing God’s love. Don’t forget to plan some hot chocolate and Christmas cookies for after the caroling is over.

Kidmin Christmas Cards

A great idea to help children focus on other people at Christmas is to have them make their own Christmas cards. Here’s some ideas of who they could send them to.

Missionaries: Missionaries have a hard time at Christmas. They’re away from their families, many times in places that don’t celebrate Christmas.

Shut Ins and Nursing Home Residents: Some of our senior members feel alone at Christmas especially if they have no family nearby.

Widows and Widowers: Those who have lost their spouses have a hard time during the holidays.

Parents: Parents are usually the ones who give to their children at Christmas. Sometimes it helps to give a little something back.

Pastor: Pastors love to be appreciated too. Getting Christmas Cards from all the children would make their day.

Jack-O-Lantern Object Lesson

Jesus and the Jack-O-Lanterns

This object lesson is perfect to use at Halloween. Something that people use as decoration will remind children how Jesus saves them from their sin.

Needed: 2 jack-o-lanterns. One should have a frown carved, and should be warped and ugly. It shouldn’t be cleaned out completely and shouldn’t have a light in it. If you can, leave it to rot for a few days. The more disgusting it is, the better. The second jack-o-lantern should be clean, with a smile on its face and a candle in it.

Everywhere you go at this time of the year, you see jack-o-lanterns. Did you know jack-o-lanterns can remind you of how Jesus saved you. Before Jesus came into your heart, you were like this jack-o-lantern. Show first jack-o-lantern. You were full of sin and dirty inside. You had no light inside you, and you were very unhappy. But Jesus came into your heart and cleaned all the sin inside. Show the second jack-o-lantern. He gave you peace and put a smile on your face. He even shines His light through you. So everywhere you go this Halloween, when you see a jack-o-lantern, let it remind you of what Jesus did when He saved you.

Is Your Children’s Ministry Teaching Universalism

Universalism is one of the greatest threats to Christianity in our time. Universalism believes almost everyone is going to Heaven. Hell either only exists for really bad people like Hitler, or it doesn’t exist at all.

The Bible clearly teaches Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, and no-one goes to the Father except through Him. Universalism declares the Bible is inspired by God but not God-breathed. They believe parts like like loving your neighbor, but those parts about Hell and immorality they consider old concepts that are to be dismissed.

God does love mankind. That’s why He died on the cross for our sins. But He is a holy and just God who can’t allow sin. That’s why Jesus died for our sin. Most children’s pastors don’t believe universalism, but they have allowed some of it to creep into their ministries.

Here are some of the ways to know if universalism has crept into your children’s ministry and your church.

Doctrine is not taught. Children grow up not knowing doctrinal truths or why they believe what they believe. We teach cool lesson and play fun games instead of teaching what the Bible says. They are taught they should love God and others, but without doctrinal truths to build their faith on, they will be swayed by any lie. It’s not that we can’t ever have fun games or teach the Bible in cool ways, but we need to teach doctrine.

Children are taught to be good. There’s nothing wrong with teaching children our values, but if we teach them the goal is to be good or good enough, we’re teaching them another way of salvation other than through Jesus Christ. We’re teaching them we can be good enough on our own. If we introduce them to Christ, He will convict and convince them when it comes to morality.

Children aren’t taught to memorize Scripture. Remember in the past, during Sunday School, where we would get prizes for memorizing Scripture. Teachers drilled the Word of God into the hearts of children so they would know the truth when a lie was presented. When we don’t expect children to read of memorize Bible verses, they won’t know the truth. It isn’t unreasonable to expect them to learn Scripture when teachers expect hours of homework every night.

Being successful in the world has become more important than following after God. When we keep children home from church to do their homework or to play a sport, aren’t we doing that? The church community used to be important to Christians. It was what the early church was built upon. Now we teach children church isn’t that important. If church isn’t important, children will come to believe God isn’t important.

Evangelism isn’t stressed. The martyrs of the early church died to share the Gospel of Christ. It is sometimes said the church was built on the blood of the saints. Many churches never mention the martyrs, even the ones in the Bible. They encourage children not to talk about Christianity, or they teach that we all worship the same God. We don’t.

Children aren’t included in prayer and worship. It used to be children were included when a church had a prayer meeting or a worship night. They were taught how to pray and expected to pray, and they were expected to worship during worship times. Now, they never have the opportunity in church to pray for anyone, and if they ever are in the main service, they sit or play during worship time instead of being encouraged to participate.

These are some of the ways children’s ministries and the church have failed children. Is it any wonder they fall away when they’re older. They never knew the real Christ to begin with. I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Get Ready for 2021

Almost every year, God gives me a word for the year. This year my word is Get Ready. This can mean a lot of things to different people, and I pray God shows you what it means for you. What I do know is God is about to do something unusual and different, and we need to be ready for whatever He decides to do.

Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 1 Peter 1:13 NKJV

Get Ready in the Scripture normally refers to the Second Coming of the Lord. We always need to be ready for Christ’s return, but there are other reasons to get ready. We have gone through a year of shaking. Many of us were unable to advance the Kingdom like we had hoped. Instead, we had to hold on for dear life and hope the shaking wouldn’t last much longer. Guess what? The year is now 2021, and the shaking is still going on. It’s time to get ready.

To do that, we need a revelation of Jesus Christ that is so real that our hope is fully in Him. We need to gird up our loins and prepare to advance the Kingdom of God no matter what is shaken around us. Children need to hear the Gospel. They need to know they can hold onto God’s grace and put their hope in Him even when things around them are falling apart.

As children’s ministers, it is our calling to advance the Kingdom to them. To do that, we need to Get Ready to do whatever the Spirit leads us to do in whatever situation or shaking that comes along.

We survived 2020, but get ready. We are about to take 2021 for the Kingdom of God.

We’re Moving

Revival Fire for Kids has been located in Akron, Ohio since the beginning, but in May, we are moving to Cleveland, Tennessee. We will still go anywhere in the country, but this move will benefit many because we will be centrally located in the Eastern US. That means for most of you we can come to your church with less money for travel expense.

Revival Fire for Kids is experiencing children’s revivals everywhere we go. God is moving in supernatural ways. We would love to have a revival at your church. We are currently booking for this summer and fall. For more information, you can click the tab on this site or email me at revivalfire4kids [at] att [dot] net.

Here’s what my pastor in Ohio said after we did a revival at his church:

The Krafts and their ministry Revival Fire for Kids has significantly impacted the lives of our children, our families, and our children’s ministry team. The Krafts are friends and co-laborers in our church, and have ministered to our children as children evangelists and within our children’s ministry leadership team. I have watched their ministry internally, and as they have ministered at other churches. I have watched their ministry in our community through outreaches and street ministry to children. Their integrity and reputation precedes them; their honor for godly authority guides them, and their anointed and impactful ministry is changing the lives of children and children’s ministry leadership. Their emphasis on the foundational, life-changing Bible doctrines through creative and relevant presentations, capture children’s hearts and minds while depositing the Word of God. Pastor Zach Prosser, Celebration Church