Blog - Grow Youth & Kids Ministry Curriculum
An Annual Strategy for Your Youth Ministry Events

An Annual Strategy for Your Youth Ministry Events

Events are a pretty big deal for most youth ministries. They’re a way to have fun, connect with students and their families, get new people in the door, and create some excitement. Events matter, but we’ve got to keep things in perspective. That’s why we’re fans of...

Teaching

13 Ways to Teach Teenagers More Effectively

13 Ways to Teach Teenagers More Effectively

If you've spent any time in youth ministry, you've probably asked yourself this question—Are they learning anything? It's a question that drives youth pastors everywhere to adjust and refine their programs. It's pretty easy to tell when teenagers are having fun. We...

13 Ways to Teach Kids More Effectively

13 Ways to Teach Kids More Effectively

If you've spent any time in children's ministry, you've probably asked yourself this question — Are they learning anything? It's a question that drives kids pastors everywhere to keep adjusting and refining their programs. It's pretty easy to tell when kids are having...

Copyright and Fair Use for Churches

Copyright and Fair Use for Churches

Let's say you've got a video you want to show during your teaching time. How do you go about doing it? If you didn't know, there are many rules and laws around what's legal and not concerning playing music, videos, and other media in your church environment. And if...

Volunteers

4 Tips for Leading Kids in Small Groups

4 Tips for Leading Kids in Small Groups

The first time you're in charge of a small group of kids, you might feel pretty intimidated. It's a big responsibility, and there's so much to remember—names, talking points, and rules to your icebreaker. Beyond that, there's the stuff you can't always prepare for,...

4 Tips for Leading Teenagers in Small Groups

4 Tips for Leading Teenagers in Small Groups

The first time you're in charge of a small group of teenagers, you might feel pretty intimidated. It's a big responsibility, and there's so much to remember—names, talking points, and rules for your icebreaker. Beyond that, there's the stuff you can't always prepare...

How to Recruit, Train & Retain Volunteers

How to Recruit, Train & Retain Volunteers

Have you ever struggled to find volunteers for your ministry? Without volunteers, there's so much our ministries wouldn't be able to do well, like... Games. Small groups. Building relationships. Setting up and tearing down (over and over and over again). This could be...

Discipleship

4 Fresh New Kids’ Discipleship Activities from Grow Kids Volume 7

4 Fresh New Kids’ Discipleship Activities from Grow Kids Volume 7

When it comes to helping kids grow in their faith, we believe there are four spiritual habits to target. These habits are the decisions, behaviors, and rhythms that help us grow spiritually over time. If you're like most people, when you hear "spiritual habit" you...

Leadership

Responding to Teenagers in Crisis

Responding to Teenagers in Crisis

If we asked you to share your favorite memories from ministry, it might take you a minute. Ministry is full of things to remember, from the funny, random things teenagers can say to the life-changing decisions they make for Jesus. You'll have dozens of favorite...

Responding to Kids in Crisis

Responding to Kids in Crisis

If we asked you to share your favorite memories from ministry, it might take you a minute. Ministry is full of things to remember, from the funny stories kids share to the life-changing decisions they make for Jesus. You'll have dozens of favorite moments throughout...

6 Things To Do When Your Youth Ministry Attendance Declines

6 Things To Do When Your Youth Ministry Attendance Declines

Okay, youth pastors. Picture this. It’s 15 minutes before your weekly program begins, and you’ve got everything planned. Your message is going to be awesome. You’ve got your best worship playlist cued up. You just stocked up on a fresh batch of Doritos. Plus, you’re...

How to Do an Annual Planning Meeting for Your Youth Ministry

How to Do an Annual Planning Meeting for Your Youth Ministry

In youth ministry, we all know what it’s like to leave our planning to the last possible second. Maybe you started planning that big event of yours a few weeks too late and now you’re scrambling to get it all done. Or maybe you’re halfway through the school year when...

Families

4 Things to Include in Your Ministry’s Parent Handbook

4 Things to Include in Your Ministry’s Parent Handbook

Imagine this ... A new family comes to your ministry. They're full of questions about how you teach and disciple students, what your program looks like, and the ways they can expect you to communicate with them. Congratulations! You have a family that's curious and...

An Annual Strategy for Family Ministry from Grow Students Curriculum

An Annual Strategy for Family Ministry from Grow Students Curriculum

When it comes to parents, let’s be honest — we could all do a better job of engaging them, caring for them, and including them in our ministries. For some of us, sometimes even just acknowledging their existence would be a good step forward. As youth pastors, family...

Events

A Complete Planning Timeline for Any Ministry Event!

A Complete Planning Timeline for Any Ministry Event!

We all know a well-organized event can be a huge win for any ministry! And as a kids or youth pastor, you've got a lot of events to plan, right? Like ... Family fun nights! All-nighters! Fundraisers! Trunk-or-treat weekends! Game nights! And so much more! But let's...

How to Plan a Children’s Ministry Event from Start to Finish

How to Plan a Children’s Ministry Event from Start to Finish

Planning events can be overwhelming — especially when you already do so much to keep your children's ministry running! But whether you've planned hundreds of events, or this is your very first one, this how-to guide is designed to help your next event go a lot more...

How to Plan a Youth Ministry Event from Start to Finish

How to Plan a Youth Ministry Event from Start to Finish

Planning events can be overwhelming — especially when you already do so much to keep your ministry running! But whether you've planned hundreds of events, or this is your very first one, we want to help your next event go a lot more smoothly. We'll give you some...

Environments

4 Game Structures Used in Kids Ministry

4 Game Structures Used in Kids Ministry

If you've spent any amount of time in kids ministry, you've probably played a few incredible games. Games are a central part of kids ministry. They give us a chance to make new connections with kids and help them relate to their peers. Games are more than just a way...

4 Game Structures Used in Youth Ministry

4 Game Structures Used in Youth Ministry

If you've spent any amount of time in youth ministry, you've probably played a few incredible games. Games are a central part of youth ministry. They give us a chance to make new connections with teenagers and help them relate to their peers. Games are more than just...

6 Ways to Make Kids Ministry Games More Fun

6 Ways to Make Kids Ministry Games More Fun

One of our favorite ways to describe kids ministry is fun. We love having fun. We love fun activities, fun teaching, and fun people. No matter how old you are, we all gravitate toward fun. Fun isn't only helpful for making friends and new memories, but fun can also...

Popular Posts

An Annual Strategy for Family Ministry from Grow Students Curriculum

An Annual Strategy for Family Ministry from Grow Students Curriculum

When it comes to parents, let’s be honest — we could all do a better job of engaging them, caring for them, and including them in our ministries. For some of us, sometimes even just acknowledging their existence would be a good step forward. As youth pastors, family ministry is a really important part of our jobs! That’s because every teenager belongs to a family and is being parented by at least one adult (who may or may not be their biological parent). Engaging and supporting parents is...

5 Things to Include in Your Ministry’s Volunteer Handbook

5 Things to Include in Your Ministry’s Volunteer Handbook

Imagine this ... You've got a brand new volunteer ready to step into your ministry. Congratulations! All the time you've spent networking and connecting with people has paid off. But now what? What do you tell them? Where do you start training them? What's the most important piece of information you could give them to successfully integrate into your ministry? Sometimes, we make it harder than necessary to get our volunteers up and running. That's one of the reasons why it's so important to...

A Complete Planning Timeline for Any Ministry Event!

A Complete Planning Timeline for Any Ministry Event!

We all know a well-organized event can be a huge win for any ministry! And as a kids or youth pastor, you've got a lot of events to plan, right? Like ... Family fun nights! All-nighters! Fundraisers! Trunk-or-treat weekends! Game nights! And so much more! But let's face it — planning an event is usually the least fun part of an event. From the schedule, to decorations, to volunteer recruitment, to renting special equipment, to promoting your event, there's so much to do! So, where do you...

Elevate Church Events: 5 Fun Outdoor Games for Children’s Ministry

Elevate Church Events: 5 Fun Outdoor Games for Children’s Ministry

If you're like most children's ministry leaders, you're always looking for new ways to keep your kids entertained. That's a pretty important part of your role. Not only are you responsible for helping kids grow their relationship with Jesus, but you have to do it in a way that helps them connect to God and the other kids around them. That's a lot to balance, but you're not alone! All around the world, pastors and ministry leaders like you are sharing a similar burden. You're looking for ways...

How to Plan a Children’s Ministry Event from Start to Finish

How to Plan a Children’s Ministry Event from Start to Finish

Planning events can be overwhelming — especially when you already do so much to keep your children's ministry running! But whether you've planned hundreds of events, or this is your very first one, this how-to guide is designed to help your next event go a lot more smoothly. We'll give you some step-by-step guidance through these four important phases of event-planning: THE IDEA THE LOGISTICS THE BIG DAY THE NEXT DAY We may not be able to do all your event planning for you, but this resource...

How to Plan a Youth Ministry Event from Start to Finish

How to Plan a Youth Ministry Event from Start to Finish

Planning events can be overwhelming — especially when you already do so much to keep your ministry running! But whether you've planned hundreds of events, or this is your very first one, we want to help your next event go a lot more smoothly. We'll give you some step-by-step guidance through these four important phases of event planning: THE IDEA THE LOGISTICS THE BIG DAY THE NEXT DAY We may not be able to do all your event planning for you, but this resource will hopefully give you a nice...