resources for effective children's ministry

RESOURCE REVIEW

Why Nobody Learns Much of Anything at Church: & How to Fix it! Authors - Thom & Joani Schultz Publisher - Group Publishing Price - $19.99 - hardcover;  $12.99 - softcover;  $5.99 - paperback;  $10.99 - Spanish

    For 27 years I have taught in Children's Ministries across the country and while there have certainly been programs and ministries that have been successful, there has always been a sense that we were not truly helping our kids to "learn to Live", but were instead helping our kids "learn for facts".  Sure, they could tell us who Noah, Joseph, Joshua, Jesus and Paul were, but to tell how Scripture applied to their day-in-day-out living and then to actually live that way . . . well, it wasn't always clear that we were being all that successful at seeing lives genuinely changed.

    I read this book and am totally convinced Thom and Joani have "hit the nail on the head".  They have not only accurately identified the problems we all see in our struggle to develop genuinely effective ministry in our churches, but have gone on to provide real answers which if you will put into practice will totally revolutionize your ministry!

    Favorite Features

• effectively identifies and explains the problems in our churches
• after each chapter activities are provided to help apply the lesson and/or teach your own teachers with provided teacher training
• information on how to communicate your goal to your church
• training to help you develop your ministry goals
• interview questions to help you determine if genuine learning is taking place in your church
• training to help your teachers learn how Jesus taught and how they can teach the same way
• training on how to pinpoint the essentials of your church
• raining on how to make scripture stick
• training ideas for active and interactive learning
• curriculum evaluation form
• ideas to develop "memory maker" sermons

    There truly is a resounding need for a complete re-tooling of the way we look at Christian Ed in our churches.  Traditional methods and curriculum are not working - they just have not had the long-lasting and real results we want in our ministries.  I encourage everyone to read this book and prayerfully think through what and how your church teaches.  Then get some group Hand's-On Bible Learning Curriculum samples - available for free by calling 1-800-447-1070 and asking for the sample lessons.  If this curriculum is utilized the way it is intended to be used you will find it to be the most effective resources you have ever utilized!  Now I know there are those who say Group Curriculum does not use the Bible enough, but this is not the case as you will see from the free samples.  This is a sound and effective curriculum with significant differences from traditional resources - they teach for facts, Group teaches for living . . . I believe if you are living the Scriptures, you have also learned the facts!

I highly and strongly recommend this book as a must-read resource for every church.  Extremely well done Thom, Joani and Group!

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