Posts Tagged ‘YouthMIn’
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How Do You Help the Single Dads in Your Church?
When many people think “single parent” they automatically think of the single mom. While single moms do make up the majority of single parents, single dad households are on the rise. According to research published in 2013 and released by the Pew Research Social & Demographic Trends in the article “The Rise of Single Fathers” minor children living in a home headed by Read more…
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10 ways to pray for the child of divorce and their families
It is important to pray for the child of divorce. Children’s ministers can be a major player in a child’s life by being an intercessory prayer partner. Many times, though, we don’t know how or what to pray for when interceding for the child of divorce. Here are ten ways to pray for children in your ministry whose parents are divorcing: Pray for Read more…
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Why 35% of the children in your community aren’t connected with your ministry—and how you can reach them in 2018
Think of them as you would an “unreached people group”—except they live right in your own community, not in some faraway country. Today, according to the Annie E. Casey Kids Count Data Center, 35% of all children live in single-parent homes. Many of them are not involved in church and don’t know Jesus. Bottom line: their parents often don’t feel welcome in church Read more…
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10 things you must know when ministering to the child of divorce
One must be aware of many things when ministering to children in divorced homes. However, ten important things are a must. Here are what I have found to be the ten most important items to know. Children need: Caring adults who understand that children from single-parent homes may constantly fear for their safety Adults who will not leave the children at the foot Read more…
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ATT: Children’s and family ministers– stop ministering! Seriously.
My daughter on duty in Afghanistan. Right about now I figure most of you are pretty stressed. From fall festivals through Christmas celebrations life can get pretty hectic for those in church ministries. You have the heart to minister. All year long the Lord has given you opportunities to further His kingdom through ministries to children and families. Now it is time Read more…
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Are children of divorce resilient?
Back in the seventies when the divorce rate skyrocketed everyone was saying, “Children are resilient.” Many parents banked on their kids being resilient. Now all these years later we are finding that many of those so-called “resilient kids” were not so resilient after all. Many of the kids of divorce from that era are now adults and they are struggling in their Read more…
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Keeping siblings of divorce together at church events. Part 2
In part 1 of “Keeping siblings together at church events” we talked about how attached children of divorce get to their siblings when traveling between homes. In this post we learn that many times when a child experiences the divorce of their parents, it affects their schoolwork. It is not unusual for a child to lose an entire school year due to the Read more…
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Helpful tip #3 for starting the school year: The importance of schedules.
All children need schedules and familiar routines but children of divorce especially need someone to advocate the importance of schedules and routines for them. Some children of divorce have several different schedules to follow. Imagine trying to remember what schedule you have to follow and thinking, “Am I at dad’s or mom’s?” Or “Do we take a shower before bed or when Read more…
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How to help the child of divorce who has been gone all summer
Summer is almost over in many places. You probably have a lot of kids getting excited about the new school year. You are going to see kids wearing some of their new clothes to church. You might see some of them experimenting with a new backpack or notebook. You’ll hear talk of who gets what teacher and how excited they are or Read more…
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“We don’t have any kids in our church from divorced families. Why would we need DivorceCare for Kids?”
You might be surprised to find children of divorce in your church. It might mean one has to look differently for children of divorce and in places you might not have considered. For example, ever thought about children in two-parent families being from a divorce? If you have any blended or step family situations then more than likely you have children of Read more…
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How many churches have been equipped with the DC4K, (DivorceCare for Kids) materials?
My first answer to the question above is not nearly enough! DC4K was released twelve years ago and to date a little 3,700 churches have been equipped with the DC4K materials. That is almost one church a day that has been equipped with a DC4K kit. Many churches will run several 13-week sessions in a year. We know thousands of children are having Read more…
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Got missing kids this summer? How to stay in touch with them and the single parent
Many children’s ministers and church volunteers will notice there are some children that seem to drop out over the summer months. Perhaps these are children who miss periodically but this summer you haven’t seen them for four or five weeks. These might very well be the children of divorce. Many divorced parents take advantage of summer months to have their children come Read more…
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10 Tips for Vacation Planning for Children of Divorce
Our guest blogger today is Dr. Linda Mintle. Linda is also one of the experts on our DivorceCare series. The tips Linda shares are great tips for children’s ministers to pass forward to the single parents. Thank you Linda for sharing with us today. 10 Tips for Vacation Planning for Children of Divorce By Dr. Linda Mintle Summer and holidays can be a Read more…
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Why do some single parents seem to be frazzled?
Ever wonder why that kid who only comes every other week has a parent that never seems to know what is going on? They appear frazzled all the time. It is because there is just too much happening in his or her personal life. They are frazzled single parents. Single parents are strong people. They have to be in order to survive. However, Read more…
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The choices you make today affects a child tomorrow: Ministering to the child of divorce
The choices you make today in ministering to children of divorce can affect them for the rest of their lives. If the child of divorce finds….. Attention from church leaders, it might very well prevent that teen girl from getting pregnant. Value at church, it might prevent that teen boy from committing suicide. Someone who cares for them at church, it might prevent Read more…
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Dreams – the staple of childhood
Dreams are made to be chased relentlessly (Philip Gillespie) You may remember being a child and being outside running through the tall grass or climbing a tree and your mind being filled with all kinds of ideas and dreams. Think about the feeling of freedom your dreams brought to you. I remember just sitting on the porch of our old farmhouse. I would Read more…
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What adult children of divorce want church leaders to know
After interviewing adult children of divorce I’ve learned they really want support and understanding in their church today. Even though many may have dropped out of church as a child, they know they want a relationship with Christ. Many of them want to serve in the church or in the least attend on a regular basis. Here are just a few of the Read more…
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How to help children of divorce with confused, divided and split loyalties
Children of divorce have to do a lot of adjusting. And they have to continue to adjust as they continue to grow. As new people enter into their parent’s lives, children adjust. As people leave their lives they adjust. They learn to make do and accommodate the adults in their lives. We said it before on this blog but I think it needs Read more…
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Question of the week: What did you learn at CPC last week that was encouraging?
CPC is one of the premier children’s pastor’s conferences. It is hosted on the East Coast and also on the West Coast. Last week I was in Ontario, California for the West Coast conference. Even though I presented a workshop and did some coaching sessions I still learned a lot. The main thing that caught my attention: most children’s pastors still don’t focus Read more…
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Question of the week: Know why I’m excited to be presenting at CPC this week?
CPC is the Children’s Pastor’s Conference. This week the conference is in Orlando at the Disney Conference Center. Now you might think that being at Disney in the warm sunny climate would be excitement enough but that is nothing compared to joy of being with children’s pastors for four days. Children’s pastors are the most fun people on the planet. One never knows Read more…
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Five Things Every Dad Should Know
Today’s post by is by guest blogger Jim Daly of Focus on the Family. Thank you Jim for contributing to our Kids & Divorce blog. This article was originally posted on the Daly Focus blog at, www.community.focusonthefamily.com Copyright © 2013, Focus on the Family. Used by permission. When I was an eight-year-old boy, I looked to Hank, the father figure in my life, for Read more…
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Hey! There’s Paul!
Today’s post comes from guest writer, Linda Alderfer. Linda is the DC4K Director and Senior Consultant. Following is a story that comes from her own experience of running a DivorceCare for Kids group at her church. During an evening neighborhood walk, we passed the house of one of our DC4K students. It’s been a turbulent year for this 6 year old. Dad Read more…