Love First: A Children's Ministry for the Whole Church

by Colette Potts, Amy Cook (Foreword)

Struggling to offer a children’s program that resonates with young families? Finding it difficult to recruit teachers and volunteers for your children’s program? Want a children’s ministry that is grounded in Christ’s foundational teachings and relevant to the experiences of children today? This must-have guide to rethinking your children’s ministry is informed and intelligent, with the lighthearted humor so helpful to working with children. Through storytelling, testimonials, and research-based creativity, you’ll be inspired and energized to use your church’s gifts, your children’s interests, and your families’ needs to develop a children’s ministry that fits your church and the people in it. An appendix includes sample lesson plans, suggested Bible stories and book, and sermons. Colette Potts offers a successful model for a congregation to turn around their children’s ministry program to engage the whole congregation in worship, learning, and service while partnering with parents for bridging the formation gap between Sunday morning at church and the rest of the week at home and beyond.

160 pages, Paperback

Published August 17, 2018

Reviews

[Shannon Rains · Rating 4 out of 5]

There may be other books to read if you are looking for a well-researched discussion of children’s ministry. Or, for those that want a “how-to” from large church successful programs, you will need to get that elsewhere.

This book, though, will be helpful to anyone that wants a solid example of what it means to work out a philosophy of children’s ministry within their local context. Potts clearly stepped into Children’s ministry role with a well-thought out concept what discipline children means: it means belonging to a church body, it means being fully welcomed and present in the community of faith, and it means being shaped by the love of Christ.

She then walks the reader through every decision that her church had to make to center their children’s ministry in Love. So, for church leaders looking for a blueprint, this is not it. But, if you area church leader needing an example of how to create a philosophy of ministry that is uniquely your own, this book is extremely helpful. I teach children’s ministry undergraduate and graduate courses and this book will soon be included in my syllabi.