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This page has books that help leader's think about the purpose of children's ministry and how they can develop and improve their own ministry. This page aims to get leaders to think about the "bigger picture" of children's ministry, rather than the activities to use during children's ministry time. This page also has books on developing as a leader, leading others, team work and skills specific to children and families ministry. This is a must see section for anyone coordinating a children's ministy.
Here are the books reviewed on this page. Scroll down to find out more!
- 9 Ways to bring out the best of your child
- Alternative Worship
- Always in Rehearsal: The Practice of Worship and the Presence of Children
- Children's Ministry in the 21st Century
- Dancing with Words: Storytelling as Legacy, Culture and Faith
- Kids' Skills
- Let There Be Peace in the Classroom
- Postmodern Children's Ministry: Ministry to Children in the 21st Century
- Recruiting Volunteers
- Sprouts
- Worship for the Young in Years
- Everyday Object Lessons
 9 Ways to Bring Out the Best in You & Your Child
Author: Maggie Reigh (Trainer of parents, educators and facilitators for twenty years)
Publisher: by Wood Lake Books © 2004
ISBN: 1-896836-64-X paperback
Available from:
MediaCom
SA UCA Synod office (
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Unichurch Books (Melbourne): $25.95
Reviewed by Marnie Agnew, KUCA News Summer 2005/6 page 17
9 Ways to Bring Out the Best in You & Your Child is written for parents, but any teacher or worker with children could benefit hugely from reading it. This is a book that could revolutionise both the way we treat children in our homes and schools, and the way children accept and put into practice taking responsibility for their own actions. It's a book that makes me want to stand up and cheer on just about every page.
Maggie Reigh takes the view that parenting is not about controlling children and exercising power over them, but about empowering both parents and children. It is about turning power struggles into powerful relationships, about creating rather than reacting, by shifting our perceptions and asking and listening rather than judging and correcting.
The 9 chapters cover:
• mutual respect and 'cracking the old parenting mold'
• your vision for your family (your family's core values)
• mutual empowerment: build self-esteem, turning negative reactions into 'response-ability'
• dealing with feelings, because helping children to identify, name and effectively handle their emotions is crucial to their health and the health of your relationship with them
• developing meaningful communication, recognising and avoiding 'roadblocks' to communication, learning to identify whose problem it is anyway and focussing on problem solving rather than apportioning blame
• encouragement that builds resilient, self-motivated and responsible children rather than praise-dependent children, or setting children up for failure - the art of giving the gift of courage
• living together harmoniously, conflict resolution and kids, believe it or not, getting along peacefully with each other
• discipline in a loving, respectful context: punishment teaches children to avoid being punished ...'how to cover one's butt and not get caught'; discipline with integrity for both parents and children identifies the underlying causes of 'misbehaviour' and manages challenging behaviour through solution-focused discipline. This empowers both child and adult because it encourages assertive behaviour, healthy respect and observes everyone's boundaries.
• parenting with Spirit and embracing delight - a revolution from within.
Combining insight with practical ideas, anecdotes and humour with principles and techniques, Reigh shows how to add life and laughter to the family's everyday lives while raising children who are full of life and spirit, yet respectful, responsible and resilient, and caring human beings.
Parenting, she says, is a matter of the heart...
Caution: This book is not for control freaks who aren't prepared to let go; it is for those who want to be empowered rather than powerful! This book, along with Kid Skills by Ben Furman (available from St Luke's Innovative Resources, Bendigo) should be mandatory reading for every parent and teacher, in my opinion. Both books encourage us to look at children in positive ways, treating 'problems' as opportunities rather than difficulties.
Alternative Worship By Jonny Baker and Doug Gay with Jenny Brown
Published by SPCK (Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge) UK © 2003
ISBN: 0-281-05396-0
Available from Unichurch Books
Interactive CD-Rom included
This book provides alternative worship ideas, resources and rituals for Advent and Christmas, Lent, Easter and Pentecost which the authors have collected and experimented with over a period of ten years of ministry in the UK.
The need for 'alternative worship' grew out of a search for new ways of reaching young people alienated from 'mainstream' worship. Alternative worship searches for ways to link in more closely with society's current music and visual culture. However, it is not 'Youth' worship - it is for anyone looking for more culturally relevant ways of expressing worship.
Alternative worship uses imagination, the various senses, dance, visuals and electronic means of enhancing worship, as well as drawing heavily on Taizé and Iona resources and ideas, amongst others. A book to take and make of it what you will.
Always in Rehearsal: The Practice of Worship and the Presence of Children
By James H Ritchie
ISBN: 0-88177-427-8
Publisher: Discipleship Resources © 2005
Available from MediaCom and Unichurch Books
This is a theoretical book (ie. not a books of scripts or liturgies), but well worth the effort of reading. James Ritchie offers a theologically-grounded, liturgically thoughtful, practical guide for including children in worship. Says Ritchie, Children belong in congregational worship. Their absence renders worship sterile, stuffy and sedentary. Their presence gives it vitality, warmth and joy. 'Their voices need to be heard both in worship and in settings where worship is being discussed and planned.' (page143)
Ritchie believes that too often we look on worship as the performance, and Christian Education programs as the child's preparation or rehearsal for this performance. He advocates a 'paradigmatic shift' that sees worship as rehearsal, not performance, and uses worship 'as the primary arena for doing Christian education.' (pages 59-60)
The exclusion of children allows adults to turn worship into nothing more than a high-quality performance. From a child's perspective, on the other hand, 'the purpose of the church is to learn more about God, and whether it be worship or education, in their eyes it's all just church.' (page 52) Children learn best by doing, and what better setting to learn about God than in congregational worship?
Multiple Intelligences
A substantial amount of the book explores ways to accommodate multiple intelligences, or different ways of learning, in the way we 'do' worship. Ritchie offers many practical ideas, as well as essential background information on each of the intelligences.
Richie also strongly advocates working collaboratively with parents and families; providing worship education for children without engaging their parents and spilling over into family settings in the process is non-productive in the end.
Children's Ministry in the 21st Century - The Encyclopedia of Practical Ideas By Rick Chromey, Craig Jutila, Pat Verbal, Jim Widema
ISBN 978-0-7644-3389-4
Published by Group Publishing
Available from: MediaCom.
Product code GP389 $37.45
Why this resource matters Children's ministry workers who want to stay relevant need to stay informed-and here's the information today's children's ministry workers need most. Eight "hot topics" are covered by ministry experts...but information isn't all readers get. Readers also find a dozen practical activities that address each topic discussed. That means readers will not only feel (and be!) equipped to lead, but they'll have easy opportunities to move their ministries forward. Audience: Children's Pastors What this resource offers This book contains eight chapters, and address these hot topics...
New trends in children's ministry, How technology is rewiring kids' brains, Hottest educational trends, How to minister to different kinds of kids, Family ministry, Topics that impact ministry, The changing church, and Emerging trends.
Dancing with Words: Storytelling as Legacy, Culture and Faith
By Ray Buckley
Publisher: Discipleship Resources © 2003
ISBN: 0-88177-407-3
Available from MediaCom or order through Unichurch Books
Ray Buckley is a renowned Native American storyteller, and Director of the Native People's Communications Office for the United Methodist Church in America.
A book for serious storytellers, this little book canvases in depth:
• the importance of our own stories
• encouraging respect for others' stories
• stories which reveal history, culture and faith from indigenous peoples in many parts of the world
Buckley also looks at techniques for developing skills for excellence in storytelling;
• where stories come from
• how to create stories
• how to tell Bible stories
• adapting stories for a new audience
• dealing with stage fright and "butterflies"
• basics of breathing, projection, posture, facial expression, voice and more...
How to Cheat at Visual Aids! The Collection: Bible Illustrations for every Occasion
Text: Judith Merrell
Illustrations: Pauline Adams
Publisher: Scripture Union (USA) © 2000
ISBN: 1-85999-500-4 Spiral Bound
Available at Scripture Union and Unichurch Books
A combined issue of two resource books of the same title - old and new testaments. Divided into sections covering all the main characters, events and stories in the Bible. Nearly 1,000 photocopiable illustrations. This book could be used to add an additional element to story telling.
Kids' Skills
By Ben Furman
Publisher: St Luke's Innovative Resources © 2003, 2004
Translated into English and published in Australia in 2004
This is a fabulous book, enough to (almost!) make me wish I was still teaching in a classroom! I certainly wish it had been around both when I was teaching and when I was parenting small children. Kids' Skills is a method by which children can overcome difficulties - behavioural or psychological - by learning new skills.
It was originally developed in Finland with 4-7 year olds, but works equally well with older children and can even be adapted to teenagers and adults. It is based on the idea that "children do not have 'problems,' only skills that they have not yet learned." [Kids' Skills p4]
Kids' Skills requires a significant change in the way we think about children's 'problems':
• we need to mentally shift gears, from perceiving children's difficult, anti-social or aberrant behaviour as a 'problem' to a recognition that the child is lacking a particular skill required to behave differently.
• We also need to involve the children as active participants in their own problem-solving, not impose an adult solution on the child.
By converting problems into skills we turn a negative situation into a positive one, with benefits all round.
Kids' Skills ...
• helps people pull in the same direction - parents, teachers, peers, and the child
• directs both adults and other children to become more supportive of the child
• provides a positive framework for building self-esteem in the child
• builds positive relationships between child and parent, child and adult, child and other children
• provides motivation, success and life-skills in a fun way for the child.
The Kids' Skills method was developed to enable parents, teachers and child-carers in any situation to be able to use it, for many kinds of children's issues - ordinary everyday issues as well as more significant and serious needs or problems. There are 15 simple steps to follow to enable the child to identify the skill s/he needs to develop, and to follow through until the skill is mastered and the 'problem' disappears.
Kids' Skills is:
• straight-forward and easily understandable so that anyone caring for children can understand and use it
• a method that children like and enjoy, so they are more likely to cooperate
• appreciated by parents, not only because their child's behaviour improves but it also improves their relationship with their child, and their relationships with each other as they work together for the benefit of their child. It does so by taking the blame out of the situation, instead viewing everyone as a resource to help the child.
Kids' Skills has received wide acceptance in many countries, and is practised by medical and teaching professionals and by kids and parents in countries throughout Europe and Ireland, Iran, Bulgaria, Canada, Kurdistan, USA and Australia. Kids' Skills enables us to see that "the best keys to a solution may actually lie in our own hands." [Kids' Skills p9]
Let There Be Peace in the Classroom
By Jenni Douglas Duncan
Publisher: Discipleship Resources © 2002
ISBN: 0-88177-385-9 paperback
Available from MediaCom and Unichurch Books
Like 9 Ways..., Let There Be Peace in the Classroom is a must-read for school teachers, Sunday school teachers and Kids' Club leaders alike. Although it is written for the American Sunday School system where they spend a lot more time in 'class' with the children than we tend to in Australia, it is a very useful tool for any teacher or worker with groups of children.
It is much more than a book about what to do when a child is disruptive. It starts with the adult, and the need for adults to be able to bring peace into the classroom, model peaceable behaviour and teach children how to be a caring community.
In the succeeding chapters the author provides the underlying educational theory, a sound theological base and a host of practical tools with which to create a peaceful classroom and open up possibilities for peaceful interaction, conflict resolution, affirmation, communal decision-making, accepting responsibility, developing communication and listening skills, encouraging neighbourliness and helping children to develop self respect, resilience and peace within themselves. Helping children to understand and manage their emotions is crucial to teaching children how to be peace-makers and live peacefully together.
For those interested in the multiple intelligences there is a substantial section on the importance of understanding the many different ways children learn, with suggestions for planning worship and activities with these different ways of learning in mind.
The author also answers such questions as:
• What do I do if a child throws a tantrum?
• How do I deal with cliques?
• What do I do when children say they are bored?
• What if the children constantly interrupt, or make fun of one another?
And many other practical concerns.
Given the amount of violence in our world, and if we are to combat terrorism in any real way, it is imperative that we teach our children how to live in peace with one another, how to resolve conflict peacefully and respectfully, without resorting to violence, and that we ourselves model peace-making behaviour.
Postmodern Children's Ministry: Ministry to Children in the 21st Century
By Ivy Beckwith
ISBN: 0-310-25754-9
Published: Zondervan © 2004
Available from Koorong and order through Unichurch Books
If your eyes go blank and you search desperately for something intelligent to say whenever anyone mentions the term 'postmodern,' this is the book for you. And if you seriously want to address the challenges of 'doing' children's ministry in a postmodern world, this is also the book to read.
Put simply, those with a postmodern understanding of the world don't believe in the existence of absolute truth. Moderns think that science and logic can provide an answer to everything if we just look long and far enough. Moderns are individualistic as opposed to communal in their attitudes to responsibility, decision-making and well-being. Postmoderns live in a world where all the old certainties are dissolving, and reality and truth have become increasingly subjective, according to one's life experiences and perspective.
The implications of this kind of world view for the church are enormous, especially with regard to the way we relate to young people and families of children growing up with this world view. It's no good saying we don't agree with it. It's here and we have to deal with it.
Beckwith has many practical examples from her experience as a children's minister responsible for children's faith formation. She suggests the way forward lies in modelling for the coming generation what a good life looks like; helping them find ways to negotiate the uncertainties and find a relationship with God that meets their needs and makes sense in their world.
'If we are to minister to these children and their families, we have to understand their way of thinking and change our way of doing things' (p. 29)...
It's the path of embracing and understanding post-modern sensibilities, not fighting or denying them. It's the path of thinking creatively about bringing a discussion of faith and the Christian story to our children in both new and old ways. It's the path of rethinking how we help our kids experience the story... and how we find in the story new and delightful and unsettling ideas about God and God's relationship to creation and the future.' (p. 38)
Issues discussed include:
• What is post-modernism?
• Stages of intellectual development of children
• Stages of spiritual development in children
• The importance of community in children's faith formation
• The importance of family in children's faith formation
• The Bible is for children too - and the importance of 'story'
• Children in worship
o worship as the primary place for children's faith formation
o worship: slick entertainment, somewhere comfortable for the adults, or an experience of God and of our relationship with God?
• Christian education programs:
o Disneyesque entertainment, or taking responsibility for the soul-care of children?
I could quote paragraph after paragraph of this impressive book. Instead I just urge you to read it.
Recruiting Volunteers
By Dan Entwhistle
ISBN 978-0-687-46641-2
Published by Abingdon Press
Product code AB641 $13.45
The Abingdon-Church of the Resurrection Ministry Guides are the first choice for recruiting, motivating, and developing lay leadership for specialized ministries from A to Z-from adult ministries to ushering. Each inexpensive, 64-page Guide brings together Church of the Resurrection's can-do attitude with Abingdon Press's ministry of empowering church leaders. The result is a series that is user-friendly, encouraging, and most important, practical. The passion to help churches experience how many things they can do to encourage participation drives these Ministry Guides. Each Guide is concise, conversational, and current, full of ideas you'll be able to implement immediately, with little or no budget. Recognizing that volunteers are busy people who work hard, the Guides will be the first place to turn when you're new to a topic, to help you feel empowered, prepare quickly, and get up and running with confidence and creativity. You'll find eye-catching icons and features that help you move directly to practical, fun, and effective solutions.
Sprouts: Covenanting Disciples with Children  By Shirley L Ramsay, Eddie Genung Harris
ISBN 0-88177-389-1
Published by Discipleship Resources
Product code DR389 $20.45
Sprouts is a Covenant Discipleship ministry for children grades 3-6. Sprouts children meet weekly to support one another in their efforts to live as disciples of Jesus Christ. In Sprouts groups, children work together to do acts that show love for God and for neighbor. Through participation, children develop habits of discipleship that will sustain them in their spiritual formation and growth for the rest of their lives. In Sprouts you will find how to start a Sprouts group, plans for training leaders, helps for leading the weekly Sprouts meetings, and reproducible resources for publicizing your group and keeping parents, leaders, and children involved.
Worship for the Young in Years
By Dorothy McRae McMahon
Published by MediaCom Education Inc
ISBN: 0 949656 71 2
Available from MediaCom
The liturgies in this book are created for use with children in specific age groups from 5-18, alongside family services. Although they are written as full services for special child or youth events, ideas within them can be selected for use in broader services. The services are focused on lectionary readings and include the main prayers, ideas for the sermon and imaginative symbolic acts. They work well in either school or parish/church.
Everyday Object Lessons`
This book uses everyday objects to teach 36 lessons about faith, God, the Bible and life principals. These talks have been tried and tested. Every day object lessons is ideal for kid's clubs, children's church, camps holiday programs, girls and boys brigade and kids outreach programs.
This book is very affordable at $6 available from OAC.
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Children's Ministry 
