Youth & Children’s Ministry

Youth & Children’s Ministry equips churches, parents, and ministry leaders to disciple the next generation with biblical clarity and lasting care. Explore practical resources on teaching Scripture to kids and students, creating safe and welcoming environments, partnering with families, developing volunteers, and building ministries that form lifelong faith. You’ll find guidance for age-appropriate curriculum, small groups, outreach, worship, and mentoring—along with wisdom for navigating cultural pressures and supporting students through formative seasons. Whether you lead a children’s program, youth group, or family ministry, these articles help you serve young people in Jesus’ name.

August 10, 2018

Christian Standard

The Changing Face of Youth Ministry

4 key transitions over the last 40 years . . . and what the future holds   By Nick Tomeo In 1975, a month after graduating with a bachelor’s degree in ministry, my wife and I filled our Chevy Nova and a U-Haul truck (driven by my brother-in-law) and drove through the mountains of West Virginia to begin our first full-time youth ministry at the First Christian Church of Covington, Virginia. I was armed with a new Bible college degree, two “Ideas” books from Youth Specialties, experience working for Christ in Youth, a background of serving on outreach teams for

August 3, 2018

Christian Standard

7 Tried-and-True Strategies That Made Our Youth Ministry (and Students) Flourish

By Matt Cameron In the summer and fall of 2006 our church lost all three of our full-time youth staff members within six months. The ministry was suffering, and we couldn’t find the right person for the job. I was on staff as preaching associate. That October one of my good friends from high school with whom I grew up in church passed away, and I began to reevaluate my own life and ministry. For months during these tough times, the thought kept coming back to me: Is God prompting me to step back into youth ministry? And not just

July 27, 2018

Jerry Harris

Youth Ministry 180

By Jerry Harris I remember the way youth ministry used to be. (Yes, I’m one of those guys.) It was a time when adults wanted to create a space for young people so they wouldn’t be bored in the adult service. Back then, church services didn’t connect to students. The deacons, wearing suits and ties, marched in and sat in the front row while the preacher took his place behind the pulpit. The organ would drone an instrumental call to worship until the song leader instructed the congregation to stand, then he would beat out 3/4 or 4/4 time with

July 19, 2018

Christian Standard

How Orange Is Changing the Face of Children’s Ministry and Curriculum

By Amy Fenton When you work for a company whose name is a color, you get questions (and occasionally weird looks). Sometimes people think I work for the fitness place with a similar name . . . nope. Sometimes people think my boss, Reggie Joiner, likes that color. He does like it, but that is not why we are called Orange. For us, Orange is the company name because it reflects our strategy. We recently celebrated our 11th year of the Orange Conference, and as I stood in the back of the room on our last day, I thought about

July 12, 2018

Michael C. Mack

A Continuing Commitment to Discipling Our Children

By Michael C. Mack The Standard Publishing Company that I worked for many years ago had an obvious commitment to children’s and youth ministry. We produced top-selling VBS materials, children’s and youth Sunday school curriculum, take-home papers for middle and high school students, and more. We trained teachers and leaders in our Teacher-Leader Conferences (known as TLCs) across the country. Today, Christian Standard Media has that same DNA, that same commitment to and passion for children and youth, though it may not seem so obvious at first glance. The Lookout and Christian Standard work in tandem to play a vital

June 27, 2018

Christian Standard

Church Hosts 18 Different Camps for Kids (plus News Briefs)

By Chris Moon Summer has been a little more fun this year in Independence, KY. Nicholson Christian Church is hosting 18 different children’s camps throughout the summer for kids in the community. The camps are dedicated to such things as volleyball, engineering, woodworking, scrapbooking, basic first aid, tae kwon do, “Whodunnit,” food decorating, basketball, archery, Legos, dance, music, and soccer. The church is also hosting a weeklong theater camp for kids of all ages that will culminate in a production of the Broadway musical Mary Poppins at 7 p.m. this Friday. ________ NEWS BRIEFS Cincinnati Christian University hosted a celebration

May 30, 2018

Christian Standard

New ‘Hunger Games’ VBS Theme Fails Miserably

By Caleb Kaltenbach ASHLAND, MN—Back in January, the family ministry team of First Christian Church gathered to discuss possible VBS themes before finally settling on The Hunger Games. “It seemed like a good idea,” said student pastor Francis Jenson. “I like the Hunger Games  movies, and kids play a significant role in the films. It seemed perfect.” That first night, parents dropped off their kids in the church’s sanctuary. Many parents left immediately, but some paused as the lights dimmed and a sense of foreboding took over.  “They had fake trees all over the room,” reported Andrea Lansberry, mother of

June 1, 2017

Michael C. Mack

7 Summertime Youth Ministry Ideas

By Michael C. Mack Schedules open up for many teens over the summer months, so take advantage of that by spending unstructured time together. These times of hanging out together, even some one-on-one opportunities, can open doors to deeper spiritual conversations. Jonathan McKee, president of The Source for Youth Ministry (www.thesource4ym.com), gives four simple but effective ideas: 1. Beach Day. Take a group or just a few teens to the beach””whatever a “beach” looks like in your locale””and enjoy the time together. 2. Hike or Bike. Get away from TVs and social media and enjoy a day in God”s creation.

May 17, 2017

Christian Standard

The Best Youth Ministers

By Les Christie A youth-ministry expert tells why and how the church must partner with parents to bring their kids to spiritual maturity. Fifty years ago youth leaders in churches were still largely volunteers, many of them parents of teenagers. When I was in high school and attending Cardiff Avenue Christian Church in West Los Angeles, I remember Mrs. Curry (who turns 100 this year and still drives a car””yikes!) was a parent volunteer in the youth department. Jim Irby was our part-time youth minister. Both strongly influenced my early years, and I still stay in touch with them. Churches

January 11, 2016

Christian Standard

What Does God Say About Children?

By Teresa D. Welch It is no longer necessary to convince churches of the importance of children. Children”s ministries are front and center. Ministry resources are abundant. Attractive kids” spaces are the norm. Church ministry staff now includes a children”s minister (or more than one).  Convincing people of the importance of children”s ministry is not an issue; rather the issue is whether or not our ministry to children is focused on what should be central. Before a children”s ministry switches curricular materials again, changes programs due to demographics, or hires a consultant to create an attractive environment, first consider what God says about childhood and

January 5, 2016

Mark A. Taylor

A Welcome””and More

By Mark A. Taylor It”s tough to be a child in America these days, especially if you”re one of the children described by statistics like these: “¢ One in 45 children in America experience homelessness each year, a total of 1.6 million children.1 “¢ More than five children die every day as a result of child abuse, and about 80 percent of these are under the age of 4. A report of child abuse is made every 10 seconds.2 “¢ One-third of American children””a total of 15 millions””are being raised without a father. Nearly 5 million more live without a

December 14, 2015

Christian Standard

For the Girls

By Jennifer Johnson Our church recently spent a Sunday afternoon distributing fliers to thousands of homes in our area, inviting community members to a cookout, and announcing the launch of our second worship service. I was pleased to see half a dozen teen girls from our youth group show up to join the teams tromping through the suburbs of Levittown. I was less pleased when, just an hour into the experience, several of them wilted onto the curb of the neighborhood with complaints about tiredness and “oh my gosh it”s so hot” and “I have a blister” and “when are

December 14, 2015

Christian Standard

A Place for Teenage Girls to Grow Together with God

By Jennifer Johnson Melanie Moore grew up loving her summertime weeks at Woodland Lakes Christian Camp (Amelia, OH), and today she loves raising her four girls. “But I see what their friends struggle with””cutting, eating disorders, and so much more,” she says. “It breaks my heart. So I thought, what if we started a girls-only week at camp?” Woodland Lakes already offered a week of wilderness camp for boys, and in 2013 agreed to work with Melanie, a member at Ross Christian Church (Hamilton, OH), to create a week for middle school girls. “The first year we had 35 girls

August 20, 2015

Christian Standard

Thanks, Dan

By Jennifer Johnson Thanks, Dan. It”s been 20 years since high school, and I am still so indebted to my youth minister. I was in high school more years ago than I care to remember, so long before anything Internet that information about our fall retreats, ski trips, CIY conferences, service projects, church camp, parties, and mission trips was communicated via photocopied handouts. Dan Giese arrived at our church early in my middle school career and stayed until long after my high school graduation, so he was the only youth minister my friends and I knew. And he was the

April 27, 2015

Christian Standard

Bringing a Missions Mentality to Student Ministry

By Mike Andrews In his book Hurt, Chap Clark describes how today”s teen culture has been largely disconnected from adult society. In fact, teens have become so disconnected, they”ve largely developed a culture foreign to most American adults. Left to blindly lead each other, youth culture tribes have often fallen into patterns of living and thinking that tell them they don”t matter. I spent a recent evening at a community prayer vigil after a series of accidental deaths of far too many of our next generation. Many of these young people died from actions taken under this prevailing philosophy: I”m

February 27, 2015

Christian Standard

Venturing into the Unknown

By Jennifer Johnson It”s common to hear of youth groups participating in short-term mission trips, both here in the United States and around the world. Usually these trips are meticulously planned with detailed itineraries, long packing lists, and organized daily activities. Calvary Christian Church in Bellevue, NE, does things a little differently. For more than a decade, teens from Calvary have participated in “Destination Unknown,” five-day trips that begin with a surprise. “The morning we”re scheduled to leave, we meet in the church parking lot and draw a distance and a direction (north, south, etc.) from a hat,” says Scott

December 1, 2014

Michael C. Mack

Five Ways for Youth to Serve This Christmas Season

By Michael C. Mack Remind your youth that Jesus came into the world to serve (Mark 10:45). Here are five ideas you can use to serve others together: 1. Give the Gift of Cookies. Youth expert Bill Nance (billnance.org) shares this idea: Set aside three hours one evening. Tell all your teens to bring in some homemade Christmas cookies. Sort them into plastic bags and label each one with something like, “Merry Christmas from the First Christian Church youth!” Divide up a nearby neighborhood (or apartment complex or nursing home, for instance) and have the students go two-by-two to the

April 4, 2014

Christian Standard

Strengthening the Foundation of Faith

By Jennifer Johnson Tired of seeing teenagers head off to college and never return to church? Bob Hall has created a Sunday school class for 12th-graders. “There just seemed to be a weak foundation for their faith,” he says. As a nuclear engineer, he could answer many of the students” questions about science, and together they dug into the Bible. He taught the class for seven years. Now, at Velocity Christian Church (Glen Allen, VA), Hall has a bigger vision for a broader age group. “I read science articles and I read the comments,” he says. “We live in a

March 2, 2014

Christian Standard

Still Shaping Young Hearts in a Digital Age

“Continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus” (2 Timothy 3:14, 15, English Standard Version).   By Diane Stortz   Like many grandparents, I pray frequently for my three young grandchildren. I pray for protection, good health, and good relationships. I pray for them to know and choose to follow Jesus at an early age, and to be faithful. To that end, I pray for them

February 28, 2014

Christian Standard

Making the Most of Opportunities

By Teresa Welch   Educators call them teachable moments. They can happen more frequently than you might imagine. And they give us the greatest chance to help children see and remember Bible truths. A group of 40 elementary children had just settled into chairs when Nathan raised his hand. I should have known by the twinkle in his eye that Nathan was up to something, but I called on him anyway. “Miss Teresa,” he began, “if Adam and Eve were naked in the Garden of Eden and Heaven is supposed to be like the Garden of Eden” (you can see

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