Ah!

Brilliant.

More new praise and worship music for kiddly winks.

I REALLY like the Kids on the Move team (I even bolded the REALLY if you noticed). The Senior pastor of Church on the Move Willie George practically invented children’s ministry (not even joking) and Jim Wideman it’s co-creator took it to new heights as the kids pastor for many years!

SIDE NOTE: I have had the privilege to spend some time with Jim Wideman and here’s pretty much how conversations go with him:

Me: ”So we did this <insert kind of cool thing> with our kids last year, but we couldn’t seem to <insert issue>”

Jim: (clears throat) “Yeah, tried somethin’ like that back in 1984 and found that you need to <insert solution> and God will bless it, dadgummit!”

Me: ”Oh… yeah… wow…”

(Problem solved).

And… back to topic: In the last little while the seeds blog has come online and been a HUGE blessing to me as I have watched kids services and events all filmed beautifully and lots or input from their myriad of awesome people like Adam Bush and Gabe George etc.

Check out their CM category on the blog.

So enter their album Greater is He!

Tracks include:

Jesus, What a Friend
I Love My Bible
Jesus Is Alive Right Now
Greater Is He
Supernatural
You Are My Rescue
I Obey Right Away
Jesus, I Love You
By Faith
Jesus Is the Way
Jesus on My Journey
Jesus, What a Friend (Remix)

My favourite? Jesus on My Journey.

I really like the title track Greater Is He with an awesome kids choir rocking in the background as well! But don’t take my word for it check out the iTunes link and sample some of these tunes!

Awesome job KOTM team, I’m sure that Hillsong Kids will be worshipping to some of these soon… which leads to a question… backing tracks and website with lyrics?

In much the same way as ten years ago I wouldn’t consider a kids program complete without a puppet show, today I would never consider running a service without some sort of creative video media.

What would you never consider going without?

I wonder what it will be in ten years?

CAN IT TEXT? BLOG? SCROLL? WI-FI? TWEET? No. . . It’s a book.

Love this forthcoming children’s book called… It’s a Book.

Check out the trailer:

No matter how many electronic devices are available these days, you can’t deny the simple appeal of a good book. Monkey is reading a book, but his friend wants to know what the book can do. Does it have a mouse like his computer? Can you make the characters fight? And does it make loud noises? No, it’s a book. Monkey’s friend discovers that a good book doesn’t need fancy electronic accessories.

Who would have thought this book would have been even an idea a few short years ago!

The times they are a-changin’

A great conversation that I promised to get back to last year was the original Story = Danger? post.

Basic premise: Are our kids developmentally ready for the violent narratives found all through the old testament?

So it gathered a lot of comments and lead to a post called Sanitising the Bible for Children? from an English Bishop.

And here now is part the second, in which I put forth a solid hypothesis founded on much introspection, prayer and solid Biblical analysis… and keep it below a few hundred words. After all this is a blog not a thesis.

I think we are quite naive about the developmental stages of humans.

Doesn’t the death of someone close to us give us a greater sense of the fleeting nature of life and a greater empathy/understanding for others going through this. I would dare to say that a child who has experienced tragedy is far more ‘developed’ in certain areas of understanding than myself. The most traumatic experience was the suicide of a friend while he was in Bible College.

Contrast this to the orphans and children affected by the conflict in Uganda. Child soliders that I witnessed at our Church a few weeks ago present their story of unimaginable horror at the hands of the LRA.

I am not even suggesting that children are more ‘advanced’, I am suggesting that you are probably not as far along the ‘development’ curve as you think.

Before you can be old and wise, you must first be young and stupid – Anon

The wiser you get (age never guarantees wisdom), the more you realise how little you knew as young person. Surely this is as true in your spiritual life.

Have you ever taken parenting advice from a teenager who hasn’t even finished negotiating puberty?

So, unfortunately I did what I usually do when I don’t have a solid answer… create more questions in your mind, dear reader. My hope is that I simply made you a little less sure of what you thought you knew.

He who knows others is learned; he who knows himself is wise – Lao-Tzu

This post has nothing to do with monkeys and wedding dresses.

But what if it was!

I know one thing, when you search “monkeys and wedding dresses” on google later this week, this post will definitely appear in the top results!

But that’s because there is not much competition for the search phrase. In fact I may be one of the first people to search for it this year (so we’re only five days in, there are a lot of weird searches happening right now let’s be honest).

There is more competition in the phrase “children’s ministry blog” but I manage to squeak into 5th place in Google. But still, not many people in the world are searching for that term. So what if I am number one in the term “david wakerley”, no one is searching for that.

Interestingly I get a lot of traffic at Christmas time for the term “whoville names“. It seems a post I wrote in 2007 still appears at the top of Google.

Anyway.

As I start 2011 I want to make sure that I am scratching where people are itching. Where is the need? Being a computing expert specialising in Windows 3.1 is an exercise in futility. It’s irrelevant.

Being an expert in what everybody needs right now is helpful, but still not the goal. We need to be ready to help where people don’t realise they need help yet.

• Where is the family going to hurt in the future?
• What is the child going to go through soon?
• How will our culture affect people?

God bless the scratch.

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The latest edition of Children’s Ministry Magazine, as part of their 20th celebration features an article called 20 to Watch.

I haven’t got the print version yet (it’s a long boat to Australia), but just checked out the article online.

They wrote a particulary great sentence that sums up a big part of my passion about kids!

David wants the church to lead the way in innovative educational models for children. He has “a real hope for a revolution in the homes of our families” so there’s “a radical Christian counter-culture, not just a Christian subculture.”

Nice!

I don’t think I could have said it better myself. We have an opportunity in this generation to revolutionise learning and engage our kids better than any other institution on earth!

It is really an honour to be a part of this amazing list. I moved to Australia with my wife Beci to attend Bible College and then go back to New Zealand, what God had planned is far above anything I could hope for or imagine. Two boys, a bunch of albums, curriculum, thousands of kids impacted over the years and to be part of this incredible Church called Hillsong.

So thanks to Christine and her team!

It’s time.

Time for something serious.

I don’t do too many posts like this, but I hope this opens up some serious discussion in the comments, because controversy is what gets lots of comments in the blog world and I am unlikely to write something truly controversial like… suggesting that we produce a VBS based on the twilight series of books.

So we are in the middle of creating our next children’s ministry curriculum – Hillsong Kids Big: Supernatural. I have been writing scripts like a madman and one of the weeks includes the story of Jericho. I send the scripts off for a little theology inspection (as usual) to one of our lecturers in our Bible College, Duncan Corby… it comes back pretty good, a few tweaks here and there, but I haven’t yet become a heretic. Yay.

But we start a discussion about something I hadn’t really expected, here is the question:

Should we be teaching/telling our kids the ultra-violent exelon prescription assistance stories found in the Old Testament?

When you get to the end of Joshua’s army walking around Jericho, the walls have fallen, they then proceed to kill every single man, woman and child in the city and burn it to the ground. This is all apparently sanctioned and encouraged by God (rinse and repeat for many other OT stories).

Now he was really thinking out loud and not endorsing the idea, but I need to (even if for my own sake) investigate this idea.

Let me present two perspectives as precisely as I can, because I don’t want this to be an essay.

YES: We should be teaching the whole counsel of God, and we can teach these stories in an age appropriate way. As children grow in understanding they can then begin to explore these issues further. We have to present the Bible as a narrative, the story of God dealing with his people over thousands of years so that our children grasp the big picture of faith. After all the New Testament is the Old Testament revealed.

NO: Exposing our kids to these stories has aided in creating our violent culture. Where Christians quite happily support capital punishment and can justify war in a heart beat. In much the same way that it is said that Jewish young men would not be allowed to read the Song of Songs until they were 30 years old our kids should focus on the life of Jesus, who was non-violent figure, until they are able to reconcile a jealous God in their hearts and minds.

I would love for you to post a pro/con thought in the comments, keep it short, focused and don’t try to present dozens of ideas in one go. Especially if you can point me in the direction of some resources/books that cover this thought.

Almost a month ago I began an epic quest – to write a complete A-Z of Children’s Ministry.

I started at A (funny that) for Adults and finished with Z for Zeta. Along the way I hope that I was able to surprise you and make you think about the world of ministry to children.

If you have enjoyed it or found it insightful or even remotely helpful then please push the retweet button on the side of this post, or the facebook ‘like’ button at the bottom. Feel free to blog about it, tell your neighbours and your enemies, which of course you don’t, for you love all humanity and would want them to read this blog.

Here is the complete list with links:

• A is for Adults
• B is for Bible
• C is for Culture
• D is for Delegate
• E is for Encouragement
• F is for Fun
• G is for Growth
• H is for House
• I is for Inclusive
• J is for Journey
• K is for Kidology
• L is for Longevity
• M is for Mystery
• N is for New
• O is for Obedience
• P is for Paradigm
• Q is for Question
• R is for Respect
• S is for Sabbath
• T is for Teaching
• U is for Unexpected
• V is for Visual
• W is for Welcome
• X is for Xenogague
• Y is for Yahweh
• Z is for Zeta

Now this was the most epic mission I have attempted on this blog since starting in 2004, so in order to make me think it was worth it, please write your adoring comments below. Even if you post a simple, “Dave you’re the greatest” I won’t mind.

But feel free to write a long discorse on just how much this blog series has impacted your life and caused your Church to double in size because of all the kids in your children’s ministry.

But really, I hope it has been helpful to you, I know that I have learnt a lot putting these ideas to paper (digital paper).

I have given myself a challenge for the next 26 days – post the complete A-Z of Ministry to Children. (I almost pulled this off! Just missed yesterday through being a ‘little’ tired after Kidshaper Conference).

Z… zebra, zoology, zenith…

Z is for Zeta – A small room or closet in a church.

This might be a little heavy to finish this list on, but the final word for the A-Z of Ministry to Children is about safety and protection. The most pressing need of your Church is to safeguard your children!

The bottom line at Hillsong Church for our leaders is simply this: ‘never be alone with a child.’

Our toileting procedures is always in pairs (or groups), we don’t change nappies (diapers) and our new leader process is pretty blunt – you need to ask the hard questions up front.

There should be no Zeta’s in your church. No secret places, and no secretive volunteers (or pastors).

Our culture and society has seen enough abuse of children (rightly so). So your job is to avoid even the appearance of evil. Be diligent, be militant and proactive about the safety and care of your kids!

The next post will be a recap of this series. If you have enjoyed it or found it insightful or even remotely helpful then please push the retweet button on the side of the next post, or the facebook ‘like’ button at the bottom. Feel free to blog about it, tell your neighbours and your enemies, which of course you don’t, for you love all humanity and would want them to read this blog.

I have given myself a challenge for the next 26 days – post the complete A-Z of Ministry to Children.

Y… young, yearn, yesterday…

Y is for Yahweh - So there it is. I didn’t choose J for Jesus, but put Y for Yahweh. The bottom line is that God came into His creation to reveal His plan to humanity and you and I and the children we lead all have a place in the grand story.

Jesus told His disciples “Let the little children come to me”. You and I are called to do just that.

Amen.

*Hey, I am at Kidshaper conference this week. Welcome any new readers, make sure you suscribe in the top right.