Tag Archives: Children’s Ministry

Interview With Tanya Campen, Author of HOLY WORK WITH CHILDREN… Plus a Book Giveaway!

When I first noticed a new title pop up on my radar called Holy Work with Children, I was immediately drawn to it. And once I saw the cover, I knew I had to read it. I was NOT disappointed.

Ever since being introduced to Godly Play, a Montessori-based curriculum method of exploring the mystery of God’s presence in our lives, the whole topic of children’s spirituality is one that I have fallen in love with. It is such a delight, then, to welcome the author of Holy Work with Children, Rev Dr Tanya Marie Eustace Campen to my blog today.

Read on to hear her thoughtful answers to my questions and be sure to enter a giveaway of Holy Work with Children, generously sponsored by Wipf and Stock Publishers.  Continue reading

Breakfast With Jesus, by Vanessa Myers: Book Review and Giveaway

As a Christian author, I reluctantly have to admit that I sometimes break the 10th commandment, which is… thou shalt not covet.

But how can I not think, as I pick up  Vanessa Myer’s new book… I wish I’d written this?

This lovely new family devotional is based on the simple premise that just as Jesus shared breakfast with his disciples, he also wants to share breakfast with you!  Continue reading

Twas the Evening of Christmas Resource & Activity Pack

SQUEAL! I apologize, but that’s kind of my favorite word lately, and it’s what I tend to do when I open up my email to see the WONDERFUL brand-new, FREE downloadable Activity and Resource Pack to accompany ‘Twas the Evening of Christmas, just newly updated to include all the details you’ll need for using this book to offer a Christmas Storywalk in your community.

I mean…look at it!! Wouldn’t you squeal too?

Here’s a peek at what this wonderful pack contains… Continue reading

Meet Vanessa Myers, Author of Rise Up: Choosing Faith over Fear in Christian Ministry. (And a Giveaway!)

Seventeen years ago Children’s Ministry Director Vanessa Myers sat in her yearly review at church. All eyes were on her. And all she wanted to do was quit. In Vanessa’s words:

 I listened, helplessly, as my peers and employers critiqued the job I was doing.

You’re good at this, but you need to work on this.

Don’t do that again.

We don’t like it when you do this. Can you do more of this instead?

The list of comments grew and grew. I know there had to be some positive ones but the negatives echoed in my head.

What I was really hearing was: You’re not good enough. We don’t like you. You stink.

These are the first words you’ll read when you open up the pages of  Rise Up: Choosing Faith over Fear in Christian Ministry

Do you want to know what happened? Vanessa didn’t quit. She rose up; chose faith over fear; and then seventeen years later, wrote a book about her experience. Meet Vanessa Myers, as I interview her about her journey as a Children’s Minister and her hopes in writing the book.

If you serve in ministry, or you know someone who does, you’ll also want to enter the giveaway of this wonderful new release.  Continue reading

Where’s Your Two-Year Old on Sunday Mornings?

So I’m perched on the front pew at Lake Harbor United Methodist Church in Muskegon.

I’d already known it was going to be a wonderful morning… what could be better than:

  1. Being together with my ‘tribe’.
  2. Walking into the sanctuary under a huge sign that read ‘WELCOMING ALL’ (and in the United Methodist Church, that really does mean welcoming all NO MATTER WHAT.)
  3. Being able to read my new books to lots of wonderful children there.
  4. Witnessing the consecration of their brand new Grace Space (a welcoming area set aside in the sanctuary where young children can play.)
  5. Listening to the witness of four-year old Lillian, as she loudly tells the congregation that her least favorite part of Sunday school is when she has to leave.

But the best part was yet to come…

It’s time for communion. As I perch on that front pew, I see a family come forward, not to receive communion, but to offer it. It’s a whole family… of five. There’s Mom and Dad, and three little (and I mean little ones.)

So, naturally, I grab my phone. I have to take pictures of this… it’s a new thing for me (and I don’t know it at the time, but it’s a new thing for them too.)

And as the people come forward… some in wheelchairs, some slowly pushing walkers, some skipping, some running, to receive their bread and wine, I’m watching this family… Continue reading

Your First Peek Inside Easter Love Letters from God

As an author, there’s nothing quite like the thrill of opening your new book for the very first time, reading the words you wrote and taking in every minute detail of the illustrations, drawn so beautifully by the brilliant Sophie Allsopp.

Easter Love Letters from God, the fifth book in the series, will be in bookstores in less than two weeks but if, like me, you just can’t wait to open it, here’s your sneak peek inside its pages, with some of my favorite extracts and pictures…. Continue reading

The Boy in The White Hat: Where is He Now?

A few weeks ago, we celebrated my grandson turning four years old. It was the first time the four cousins had been together. This picture captures their joy, and perhaps you can imagine mine…

I love the way they are holding hands. I love their hats!

These are the children in my world: these are the ones I can influence for good; these are the ones I can be a good example to; these are the ones I can teach to love and respect all human beings so that they can do their part to bring love and light into this world of ours.

Then there’s this: Continue reading

Possibly the Two Greatest Things That Children Could Ever Learn… Taking Place in a United Methodist Church

It was early on Tuesday morning when my phone beeped with an unexpected blessing. It was a little message from a children’s ministry colleague in Ohio. Kathy and I have never actually met.

‘Hi Glenys’, the message read, ‘our congregation hosts a summer literacy program in July called Camp Read-A-Lot. Each week we give books to the children to take home and keep for their own, mostly donated gently used books. This year we received a donation in memory of a local high school librarian to purchase a special book for each child. I was so excited to be able to purchase Love Letters from God from Church Source and a price that enabled us to purchase 170 copies! … I’m writing to you as I am wondering if you would be willing to share a few words of encouragement with our Camp Read-A-Lot kids…’

Wow!  Would I be willing to share a few words of encouragement with the Camp Read-A-Lot kids? You bet! These children, gathered together in a United Methodist church in Ohio, are learning two of the most wonderful things in life: how to read, and how to know Jesus.

So I grabbed my phone, texted my bestie, and two hours later, we were sitting by a little lake in the sunshine, making this video… Continue reading

How One Girls’ Group is Using Love Letters from God: Bible Stories for a Girl’s Heart, Plus a Giveaway…

Meet The Sweet Sisters Discipleship group…

Although only four are pictured here, this group is made up of eight girls, aged between 8 and 10 years old. Recently, their mentor, Kristi, the fourth participator in my blog tour, introduced them to Love Letters from God: Bible Stories for a Girl’s Heartand then wrote about their experience with it… Continue reading

Open Hearts, Open Minds, Open Doors. And the Children…

It’s the first time there’s been no room for me to sit on the steps with the children as they gather to hear me read.

I look around, at all those little ones peering up at me, and somehow, it feels totally appropriate to kneel, in front of them, under the cross and flame. You’d think, with all those children, I’d be in a huge United Methodist church, perhaps in the big city of Grand Rapids. But I’m not… Continue reading