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Kid Min

RCA children's ministry resources

The Vision of Kid Min

The Kid Min team believes in all generations faithfully loving and serving God together. Kid Min provides relationships and resources to equip volunteers, leaders, parents, and faith communities to help even the youngest believers discover how to live out their faith in an ever changing context.

Get Involved

Through our network of leaders, we gather together to provide support, exchange ideas, and help problem solve specific barriers related to our context.

Join a call

Join our monthly Kid Min Equip calls (all leaders welcome). We meet the fourth Thursday of every month at 11:00 am EST. Our focus is to discuss current needs of those who serve in kidmin and encourage and resource one another.

To join email kidmin@rca.org.

Subscribe to the Next Generation Engagement newsletter

To learn more about who we are or gain insight into what your next steps might be, email us at kidmin@rca.org

Foundations of Child Discipleship

A 2022 study from the Barna Group confirms that one of the most important ministries in the church, if not the most important, is child discipleship.

The significance and importance of child discipleship puts incredible responsibility on the shoulders of children’s ministry leaders. Many are plagued with fears that leave them feeling unequipped, overwhelmed, and at severe risk for burnout.

  • 37 percent of children’s ministry leaders are afraid that they are getting child discipleship wrong.
  • 88 percent of children’s ministry leaders are concerned that children will leave their Christian faith when they become adults.

In this context, it’s more important than ever that leaders in children’s ministry understand what child discipleship is. So, what is it really, and what is not? And how can leaders be equipped to confidently lead a ministry to children that forms robust, lifelong faith?

You are invited to discover the answers to those questions in Foundations of Child Discipleship. This course draws on Scripture, history, and psychology in order to understand children’s spirituality. It will equip leaders with knowledge and understanding of child discipleship, allowing them to discover how to best embrace the youngest disciples as a vital part of the church today.

Course overview

Over two months, ministry leaders in a small group cohort will access digital content through Thinkific, an online platform. Foundations of Child Discipleship contains eight weekly sessions. Through the course, leaders will:

  • Develop intentional language in the faith formation of children.
  • Be introduced to the processes of children’s formation from Scripture.
  • Reflect on the influence of history and societies on how the church views children.
  • Study biblical foundations and see God’s heart for children to be treasured, welcomed, instructed, and seen as models of faith in the home and the church.
  • Gain an understanding of theological foundations of children’s ministry.
  • Study insights from research in the human sciences to help understand God’s design at work within children.
  • Examine theological traditions, their perspectives on children, and how those perspectives influence the spiritual care of children.
  • Examine “curriculum”—what it is and its role in making faith content accessible to children through adult shepherds and teachers.
  • Understand how to plan and evaluate the church’s curriculum for children.
  • Understand and evaluate the variety of models for doing ministry with children in worship.
  • Examine the teaching and learning styles, models, and how they are carried out.

Each session has a corresponding reading in the study text Children Matter by Scottie May, Beth Posterski, Catherine Stonehouse, and Linda Cannell. A participant guide is provided for each session, with prompts and questions to help individuals process the topic. Discussion board questions and assignments help participants process their learning and apply it to their ministry context.

Course participants will meet once every week for one hour via Zoom to discuss the current session’s content. This will also be a time and space to learn from each other and ask questions.

At the end of the course, each participant will have developed a personal philosophy of ministry to children. This will be encapsulated in a final course paper (approx. 1500 words) that includes key points, core values, and the Frankena ministry model studied in the course.

Cost: $35.00

 What’s included

  • Eight online learning sessions
  • Weekly cohort meetings with the RCA’s Facilitator of KidMin via Zoom
  • A hard copy of the study text, Children Matter
  • Access to the Thinkific online learning platform and discussion board

Foundations of Child Discipleship begins on Monday, January 23, 2023.

Register here by December 31, 2022, to secure your place and get your materials in time.