Category: Leadership
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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.
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.
How to Make a Kidmin Mission and Vision Statement
Habakkuk 2:2 Then the LORD replied: “Write down the revelation and make it plain on tablets so that a herald may run with it.
If you haven’t made a vision or mission statement for your Kidmin, there’s no better time than now.
I’ll start with mine.
Revival Fire 4 Kids Mission Statement: Revival Fire 4 Kids equips children’s pastors and churches to lead children into revival and a radical relationship with Jesus Christ.
Revival Fire 4 Kids Vision Statement: Revival Fire 4 Kids seeks to minister to children, families, churches, and those who minister to children through consulting, teaching, holding children’s revivals, and providing resources. We do this in these four ways.
Revival Fire 4 Kids Children’s Ministry Consultant Services: We go to local churches for two weeks to mentor and coach them as they plan an effective ministry for children.
Children’s Ministry Workshops: We go to local churches and conferences to train children’s teachers and workers.
Fired Up Revivals and Kid’s Crusades: Fired Up Revivals and Kids Crusades are exciting, energetic Children’s Revivals to lead children into the presence of God where they will be fired up to be saved, sanctified, Spirit filled, and serving God.
Resources: Revival Fire 4 Kids seeks to provide resources and curriculum to help your ministry through our blog and our online store.
Definitions: Before you can make a vision statement and a mission statement, you need to understand what they are and how they are different.
Mission Statement: Purpose for existence. Why does your ministry exist? What are your core values? Vision statements may change, but a good mission statement shouldn’t.
Vision Statement: States what the ministry will be doing. How is the ministry going to carry out the mission in the future. This statement may change from time to time.
Practical Help: Books have been written to describe how to make mission and vision statements. I’m not going to go into all the information available out there, but if you need help with your vision and mission statements, here are some online resources:
50 Example of Church Mission Statements
30 Plus Examples of Church Vision Statements
How to Write a Church Mission, Vision, and Values Statement
Take Your Time: It may take you a while to come up with effective mission and vision statements. Once you’ve made your statements, it may take months of years before you’ve perfected them. You may want to do some reading about them before you complete your statement. Here are a few good books:
The Wilder Non-profit Field Guide to Writing Mission and Vision Statements
What Next: You could create the greatest mission and vision statements known to man, but if you don’t do anything with them, it’s a waste of time. Here’s the steps you should take after you have these statements.
Write them down on index cards. Then place them on your desk in a clearly visible area. That way, you’ll review the statements often.
Whenever you have an idea for your ministry, compare it with your mission statement. Does your idea reflect what your ministry exists for or is it just a good idea that won’t help your ministry fulfill its purpose.
Memorize your mission and vision statements. That shouldn’t be hard since you’re reviewing the index cards often.
Communicate your mission and vision with your ministry team. Mention it at the beginning of every meeting and correspondence. Encourage them to memorize it.
How to Start a Ministry Journal and Why You Should
Psalm 119:18 Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law.
2018 is upon us, and one of the greatest things you can do this year is to start a ministry journal. Ministry journals are different than personal journals. You can use them to record valuable information every time you minister. Whatever you want to remember, what you want to improve, how your students responded, etc., you will end up forgetting as soon as life takes over. With a ministry journal, you can look back and refresh those moments.
You can start a ministry journal online and use your phone or IPad immediately after service or you can carry a journal to church. Every time you minister, write in the journal within one hour of service. You don’t have to write a lot, but the information gleaned from these observations will become invaluable to you throughout the year.
Here are some ideas of things to write in your journal:
Successes: Write down any successes such as salvations, a record number of people, responses to the message, etc.
What Worked: If you used an object lesson or a song that really went over well, write it down along with why you think it worked.
Challenges: If anything went wrong or you saw something that needed improved, write it down.
Failures: If you believe you failed in some way, write it down. But don’t beat yourself up over it. Instead write down why it failed and go on.
General Impressions: Write down any general impressions you had about the service.
Review what you wrote later in the week. Don’t read your notes on Monday or you’ll become discouraged. But latter in the week, around Wednesday, read your notes about Sunday and see what you can glean from them.
Review your journal quarterly. Read about your successes and record salvations and testimonies to share with the church. Read the failures and challenges to see if you’ve made progress in those areas and what you need to do to improve.
New Years Resolutions for Children’s Pastors
Here are some New Years Resolutions for Children’s Pastors to consider making.
1 I will make my relationship with God a greater priority than the ministry God has given me. I do this knowing I can’t introduce children to God when I don’t spend any time with Him.
2 I will be filled with joy this year knowing that the Joy of the Lord is my strength.
3 I will ask God to help me love children who irritate me and cause behavior problem with the same love He has for them.
4 I will first ask for a revelation from God before I deliver any lesson or message to my students.
5 I will pray and seek God’s guidance in what direction to go in my ministry instead of just jumping on board the latest fad I learned at a conference. I will seek God for a word and make sure I focus on that word throughout the year.
6 I will review policies and procedures to make sure students in my ministry are in a safe environment.
7 I will disciple my workers and develop a children’s ministry team instead of being a Lone Ranger in ministry.
8 I will provide opportunities for children to experience God by giving them opportunities to minister, emphasizing worship and discipleship, and providing altar ministry at the end of every message.
9 I will not teach children to be good. I will teach them to know God. There’s a difference.
10 I will evaluate every area of my ministry to see if it follows the other nine resolutions. This may mean we play less games or get rid of snack time. It might mean replacing a teacher who “doesn’t get it.” I might need different curriculum. I might need to nix some “sacred cow” programs. Whatever I need to do, I will make the difficult choices.
Discipleship for 2018
Merry Christmas
I have promised all of you there will be changes taking place in Revival Fire for Kids in 2018. One of those changes is I want to go on a journey of discipleship with some of you. This discipleship will include a private FB group, email newsletters, and one-on-one mentoring. I warn you this won’t be for the faint of heart.
Part of this discipleship will be information I give in my children’s ministry consultations that will give you hands on help to evaluate and improve your children’s ministry.
One thing we will be involved in is a Bible study on the heart of revival. It will include stirring revival in our hearts as well as how to translate it into the hearts of our students.
I also will have some info about leadership and other great tips for children’s ministry as well as the first four lessons of my new curriculum coming soon for free.
You’ll be a part of a private FB group where we can all discuss our concerns in children’s ministry without anyone outside the group knowing about them. It will be a place to vent, to get feedback from other children’s pastors, and to share your concerns.
I also want to get to know all of your on a one-on-one basis. If you have a private concern or just want to share some good news, I’ll welcome you to Skype or FaceTime me or email me.
This year, I am offering this discipleship for free because I want the opportunity to share what I’ve learned in 30 years of children’s ministry. I’ll need to limit this to 20 people though. Hopefully you will be one of those people.
To sign up for this discipleship, fill out the form at this link.
Have a blessed New Year.
Blessings,
Pastor Tamera Kraft, Children’s Ministry Consultant & Revivalist
Revival Fire For Kids, Inc.
Email: RevivalFire4Kids@att.net
Website: http://revivalfire4kids.net
Blog: http://revivalfire4kids.com
Webstore: http://revival-fire-4-kids.mybigcommerce.com/
Like my Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/Revivalfire4kids
Follow Me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/tamerakraft
7 Questions to Ask to Know if Kidmin has become an Idol
Children’s leaders and pastors work long hours and devote much time to serving God in children’s ministry. Most children’s leaders motives are pure. They are doing what they do because God has called them to one of the most important ministries in the Kingdom of God. How then could children’s ministry become an idol?
Here are seven questions to ask yourself if you suspect Kidmin has become an idol in your life.
Do you only study the Bible to prepare a Children’s Sermon?
Is growth of your children’s ministry your measure in how much God loves or favors you?
Do you have downtime from children’s ministry?
Do you pray more or only when you have a children’s ministry event or service?
When you read “this one thing I do” in Scripture, do you immediately think of all you do for children’s ministry?
Do you have a vision or passion for children’s ministry that surpasses your passion for God?
Do you pray and fast to grow closer to God or to get God to grow the children’s ministry?