The Practice of Children’s Ministry: Developing a Cohesive Vision of Practice with Church Leaders

Author

Shannon Clarkson RainsFollow

Date of Award

5-2019

Document Type

Thesis

Primary Advisor

Dr. Carson E. Reed

Secondary Advisor

Dr. Melinda Thompson

Committee Reader

Dr. Kelli Bryant Gibson

Abstract

The purpose of this project was to create a congregational workshop for church leaders that leads to the development of a cohesive vision for the practice of children’s ministry. In order to do this, I began by presenting the evolution of children’s ministry in the Churches of Christ along with the current tensions that exist between ministers and church leadership created by a lack of cohesive vision for the practice of children’s ministry. This foundational understanding of the origins of this tension supports my discussion of a vision for children’s ministry that includes attention to the spiritual formation of children—an often misunderstood element. Next, I examine how discipleship informs the practice of children’s ministry and then utilize that information to create a workshop curriculum that seeks to facilitate church leadership’s capacity to cast a cohesive vision for the practice of children’s ministry within congregations. It is important to note that this development was informed by a curriculum process team made up of fellow colleagues serving in children’s ministry and invested in kingdom work. The findings and results of this process were compiled through data collected from field notes on four separate sessions, evaluations completed by the curriculum process team, and reflections by the independent expert. While a significant amount of progress was made toward creating an intentional opportunity for church leadership to work together to formulate the vision of the congregation’s children’s ministry, this project additionally helped to identify opportunities for future research and development in this area.

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Recommended Citation

Clarkson Rains, Shannon, "The Practice of Children’s Ministry: Developing a Cohesive Vision of Practice with Church Leaders" (2019). Doctor of Ministry Theses and Dissertations. 35.
https://digitalcommons.acu.edu/dmin_theses/35