Articles
Looking for inspiration and equipping just for you, ministry leader? Check out our library of discipleship and leadership articles to give you room to breathe and room to grow in ministry. From reflections to advice you can trust, this collection is here to encourage you as you serve the kids and families you love.
Leading Up: Too Bashful, Too Bold
Effectively communicating ministry needs without overselling or underselling the need.
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The "Real" Sin of Halloween
What would it look like if we taught our kids that when Jesus told us to love our neighbors he meant to actually love our neighbors? What if we modelled loving our neighbors – our actual, physical, right-next-door neighbors – to our kids on a 365-day basis? How would our kids’ world change? How would our neighbors’ world change?
10 Fall Fest Games
Fall season is here, which means Fall Fest season is here too. Here are 10 Fall Fest games/activities kids love! Happy Fall, Y’all!
When Things Go Toxic
Dear Children’s Ministry Leader, we know some of you are not thriving. We know you are struggling in your role or your confidence. You have questions about what God is up to and how to avoid burnout. We are listening and we want you to know we love you and we are with you.
The Future of the Church: It Matters
Where will the future leadership of the Church come from? At what point do we develop leaders? We know that you see the future of the Church differently than those who serve adults. So how do you point to the future with one hand and raise your other in praise as you lead little ones to follow Jesus?
Mission and Values
What does it mean for an organization, a church, a brand to live into its mission and values? Why do we think it matters that you know who we are, where we say we are going, and what matters to us?
Time To Update
The digital world is here to stay; it's the world that today's parents have grown up in. This excerpt from Brittany Nelson's book, Time to Update: 7 Areas to Integrate Digital Discipleship Into Your Children's Ministry, explains the concept of 'digital discipleship' - what it is, why it is important, and how we can be intentional about it.
Key Practices for Strengthening Your Relationship with The Bible
What role does The Bible play in your life? Is it where you want it to be? What are some hindrances or myths we may be believing that prevent us from having the relationship with Scripture that we want to? What are some practical steps we can take to strengthen our relationship with Scripture?
From Fine to Fun: Rediscovering the Joy of Childhood
As we disciple children in the way of Jesus, how can we curiously invite joy into the mix?
For the Love of Our Kids
Hey Children’s Ministry Leader! Here's an article to share with the parents and caregivers of the kids you get to love and serve. You are welcome to share it through your channels to encourage and support your families!
We Can Be Heroes (of Faith)
What might happen if, when teaching our kids about Bible heroes, we talked first about their faith? What difference could it make to our kids' own faith journeys?
Cultivating Biblical Imagination in Kids
Wonder invites questions. Wonder stirs curiosity. When we invite that sense of wonder into our teaching, we harness a powerful learning tool that fuels creativity and innovation.
The Story of Quilts, Quilting Bees, and The Hive
What happens when two quilting bees learn that their quilts share a pattern or a theme or a color scheme? Do they begin to stitch them together for a single purpose? This is the story of how RaiseUpFaith and CTA are partnering to create The Children's Ministry Hive.
New Feature - Team Builder
Team Builder has arrived! Find out here how this fab new feature works for you and your team, and leaves you time for a chair spin!
Reimagining How We Teach (About Women In) The Bible
By teaching 'stories of women in the Bible', do we risk putting these stories into a separate category marked 'special interest'? Perhaps there's another way - one that involves us reimagining how we teach the Bible altogether.
Equipping Parents To Lead Their Kids Spiritually
Whose job is it to lead kids spiritually? How can the church do so if the kids aren’t there? And how can the parents be expected to lead their kids spiritually if they themselves are struggling to walk as disciples?
Leading Up: Ability and Likability
Competence gets you in the room, character keeps you in the room.
20 Bible Verses to Grow Kids' Faith
Here at RaiseUpFaith we believe that pointing kids to Jesus, and God’s great big story, will help them navigate through life. We believe the promises of Scripture are really powerful, and helping kids learn key Bible verses can help ground them in different seasons of life. And God’s promises are not only for them, but also for their family, their church, their community, and the wider world. Sometimes I wonder if we focus on scripture memorization over scripture internalization, though. I think what we really want is for kids to understand who God says He is, and who God says we are, as His children. The scriptural foundations of our faith, and our knowledge of these truths, are the scaffolding of relationship with Jesus, and discipleship with each other.
Working Towards Inclusion in Kids' Ministry
What does inclusion look like in kids' ministry? How can we love everyone well? What practical steps can we take?
5 Reasons to NOT Run VBS (Holiday Club) at Your Church This Summer
So. Easter has been celebrated. And it’s a long way ‘til Christmas. It’s time for churches everywhere to put their feet up and enjoy a few months of relative quiet. Unless, of course, you look at the calendar and note the great expanse known as the summer break looming. If you do, you might just find yourself asking a big question: Do I run a VBS this year?
Balance - Finding and Maintaining It
There is something about ministry that can leave us feeling like there are fewer hours from one week to the next: events, midweeks, meetings, discipleship, programs, curriculum, and Sundays... And just when you think you’ve got a rhythm figured out, you find your week upended and wonder how you’re chasing the clock again.
Practically Preschool
When you hear the word “preschoolers,” what immediately comes to mind? Do you feel passion or panic?
Creating Space for Children to Listen
In Experiencing God by Henry Blackaby he teaches that “God is always at work around you”. As Christ followers we can be assured of God’s presence. He is at work, and he is present. In John 5:17 Jesus says, “my Father is always working, and so am I”. He is at work around us regardless of our age. Our job is to be on the lookout for his work and to be listening for him. As we are discipling world changers it’s important for us to keep that truth at the forefront of our minds.
Theological Guideposts for Biblical Literacy: Boundaries, Borders, and Bears (Oh My!)
I was recently on a very long walk with my daughter. Not two-blocks-with-the-dog-instead-of-one long; rather, it was 25 kms each day, for 5 days. When they aren’t sure which way to go, remind them what the way markers look like so that they may find their way back to Jesus.
Statement of Faith
Our delight is to equip you with what you need, and free you up to lavish God’s love on the community you serve.
The Presence of Peace
The season of Advent lays out for us four postures to consider in the waiting. So while we wait, what do we tell kids about peace? What do we say to each other, let alone to kids, in a world that is riddled with injustice, oppression, inequity, war, hatred, division, about peace?
Joy to the World
Every church has a nativity on the front lawn; inside, children’s ministry leaders—you—are working like elves to bring the story of Jesus to life. You have had countless hours of meetings, planning, and preparing for the advent of our Saviour, Jesus. You can’t imagine a better time to kneel next to a child and whisper, 'He came for you,' and so you seize every weekend, every Sunday, every moment to do so.
What is Love?
Love builds character. In fact, love only builds. Whether in the throes of the lows or stormy seas, loving well and being loved through it builds strength and resilience. It builds faith and hope, and feeds joy. Love matters because presence matters. And in all the spaces in between, love leads and carries and holds your hand. Because Love has come. And it is for you.
Hope Has a Name
Hope has a name, and as followers of Jesus, we know it to be His. But in a recent deep dive into the book of Hebrews, I found that Hope is not only rightly named, it is so clearly defined that to miss it would be, well, hopeless.
Wells, Fences and The Jesus Water
If you’re involved in kids ministry, I hope that the main reason you got involved is because, at some point in your life, you were shown the Jesus well. You tasted it for yourself, and you saw that it was good. Do we trust our young people to recognise the well? Do we trust Jesus to be life-giving enough?
Defining Identity
To dive deeper into this conversation, and unpack some of the tough questions with Christie, we invite you to watch her recent interview with Keith Ferrin, story teller, author, and speaker, and friend of the KidMin community.
Where Sunday School Failed Me
God wants us to be good little girls and boys. That’s what I thought. And though it might have been there in the subtext, what wasn’t actually said was: “because Jesus…” Jesus loves us so incredibly deeply, he wants us to follow him and his way, and he wants the very best for us. That’s what’ll make it good.
Leading Up: Come with Solutions, Not Problems
Overwhelm with excellence by approaching your leaders with proposals, not with problems.
A Walk to Remember
Friend, we know you well enough to let you know that the seeds you are scattering are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, faithfulness, imagination, unity, grace... Come on a walk with me along Scottish Borders as we consider what it means to pay attention to the ground beneath our feet as we till the soil.
We Rode an Elephant
When we swim in the waters of children's ministry for long enough, it can seem like we need to get bigger and better with every season. More glitz, more glam. But at the end of the day, children will want to be in our ministries for two large reasons: our willingness to be present with them and our willingness to show them Jesus.
Generosity and Gratitude
Hey Leader! We see you!! We see you getting ready on Sundays and every day in between. We see the planning and preparation that goes into Christmas that likely started weeks ago. We see you loving those kids, embracing their grownups, and walking with families, as family.
Centering like Jesus
Children centered on Jesus when He showed up because He centered on them. When we center on others and draw them into His light, they will center on Him. And when we center on children, we look like Jesus.
Knowing who I am because of who He is
The gift within God’s plan to redeem His kids back to Himself, the Church–the body of Christ–is that we get glimpses of what God is like by showing up for each other, looking like Jesus. Through Jesus, God’s own image knit into us is put on full display for the world to know Him.
Defining Jesus-Centered
As the team at RaiseUpFaith prepares to attend MegaCon, a Kids Ministry conference in Nashville this October, we are focusing on their theme, Jesus Period. Not Jesus and, or Jesus but; Jesus period. This idea has a way of refining how we think about what we do, and centering us on our why: Jesus. Jesus is our what, our why, our who, and He knows our how and our when.
How a Simple Search Will Help You Find Time
This article follows the journey we have been on together, leading up to fall, to get back into healthy rhythms. From Sabbath to seasonal planning, this practical piece will help you fill your toolbox on RaiseUpFaith while building time back into your week!
New Rhythms, Healthy Margins and Pie
For so many of us, new rhythms begin in the fall. It is an opportunity to make some decisions about what gets added to the calendar, and maybe also what doesn’t. As our lives fill up with the possibility of events, midweek programs, and the many activities our personal lives include, it can be difficult to discern how to make it all fit (and if it all should).
The Rhythms of Sabbath
There are so many demands pulling at our days as we head back to school, back into schedules (and managing schedules for our kids), back into the rhythms of routine. And there is only one habit that can bring order to my chaos in the changing winds of a season without exception: observing Sabbath.
Meet the Newest Team Members
RaiseUpFaith has crossed the pond, and is ecstatic to introduce its newest team members! With the addition of the full OneStory curriculum to the platform, we are also adding to the family to serve the RaiseUpFaith community better. Please help us welcome Christie, Natalie, and Christine!
Take A Tour
To help you get the most out of RaiseUpFaith we've put together this handy 'How to use RaiseUP lesson'.
The Future of Church? It’s Peachy!
It is no secret that the number of children and young people attending church is declining rapidly. How can we effectively grow our children’s and youth work? Let's find out!
Teaching Children to Pray
This article suggests ways we can all journey towards a vibrant prayer life that combines talking and listening to Almighty God.
9 Tips For Building Children's Ministry Volunteer Teams
There is one universal issue that all churches face: How do we find, grow and cultivate a team of volunteers who can lead effective Children’s Ministry?
Junk Media & Your Kids Digital Diet
It is not just the food our kids eat that effects their health; it is also the content they consume. As parents and kids’ workers, knowing your cyber super-foods from your streaming string cheese is key to effectively communicating the gospel in the digital age.
How to: Encourage discussion with Young People
Three top tools for encouraging discussion and engagement with young people
Encouraging Encounter with God Through Children’s Ministry
Ever heard an adult say to a child, 'You’re too young to really follow Jesus – wait till you’re older'? Or perhaps you heard something similar growing up? NEWSFLASH: Children CAN encounter God! We wholeheartedly believe this.
Communicating with God's littlest children: Sharing God's big story with our churches children's groups
Sharing a message can be a bit nerve-racking at the best of times. But sharing it to a roomful of four-year-olds? That’s in a whole other league!