Ten Great Children’s Ministry Resources From the CRC

Looking for children’s ministry resources created specifically for CRC churches? Faith Formation Ministries and Faith Alive offer a growing collection of practical resources for children’s ministry leaders and volunteers, pastors, and parents.

1. Children’s Ministry Catalyzer. Faith Formation Ministries is excited to introduce Mimi Larson, the CRC’s new children’s ministry catalyzer. Meet Mimi in this short video, and email her at [email protected] to talk about your children’s ministry challenges, big or small. Consultations with Mimi are free for CRC churches.
2. The Children’s Ministry Toolkit. New from Faith Formation Ministries, this online resource collection includes hundreds of ideas for building a strong, vibrant children’s ministry in your CRC church. Need tips for choosing curriculum, finding and keeping volunteers, connecting with families? It’s all in the toolkit—and it’s all free!
3. The Spiritual Characteristics of Children and Teens. This helpful brochure explores how children and teens of different ages experience God and grow in faith. It’s great for youth workers, pastors, teachers, and parents. Download the brochure for free, or purchase printed copies for a small fee at FaithAliveResources.org.
4. Children and Communion. While each child’s developmental path is unique, there are common patterns in how children’s understanding of the Lord’s Supper typically unfolds. This two-page resource summarizes those patterns from preschool through the teenage years. Download it for free, or purchase printed copies at FaithAliveResources.org.
5. A Ten-Question Tool for Choosing a Children’s Ministry Curriculum. This two-page free resource poses ten important questions to help you evaluate the children’s ministry curriculum you have or one you’re considering using. 
6. Ten Ways to Engage Kids in Worship. Pass these ten tips on to the families in your congregation by giving them a copy of this helpful resource. Download it for free, or purchase printed copies at FaithAliveResources.org.
7. Dwell Curriculum (Faith Alive). Churches regularly tell us that Dwell is the best children’s ministry curriculum they’ve ever used. Dwell, for kids in preschool through grade 8, is intentionally crafted as an ongoing journey in God’s Word. Dwell helps kids “live into” and “live out of” God’s salvation story. Download free samples here, or talk with Children’s Ministry Catalyzer Mimi Larson about how Dwell can support your children’s ministry.
8. Dwelling: Helping Kids Find a Place in God’s Story by Jessie Schut (Faith Alive). Dwelling is filled with hundreds of tips for encouraging kids to live into God’s big story and discover their place in it. Hearts and Minds Bookstore says, “This book just cries out to be bought in bulk and shared with everybody and anybody who works with children at your church. This is CE 101, with oodles of touching chapters covering nearly everything anyone would need to know to be a better church school educator.”
9. God’s Big Story Cards (Faith Alive). These cards make family devotions fun! Start by reading the day's story in the Bible, then roll the color-coded die to choose one of six ways to explore the story together. The 165 God's Big Story cards include all the stories that are shared in the Imagine, Wonder, and Marvel levels of DWELL, but can definitely be used by families whose churches use other curricula.
10. God Loves Me storybooks by Patricia L. Nederveld (Faith Alive). Revised in 2015, these storybooks provide families and churches with a wonderful way to nurture faith while establishing devotional habits of Bible reading and prayer. Each book includes a Bible story in simple language that young children can understand, a prayer, and suggestions for learning-through-play activities.