RELEVANT CHILDREN'S MINISTRY

When missionaries go to reach people, they enter their world. They study the culture of the people they are trying to reach.  What they eat.  They learn the language of the people. They find out what traditions and legacies the people have. They do everything they can so they can connect with the people they are called to reach. 

We are missionaries to kids. if we are going to connect with them, then we need to learn about what they like. 

Nickelodeon's Kids' Choice Awards is a great way to find out what today's kids like.  A few weeks ago, the winners of the 2025 Kids' Choice Awards were announced.  Kids cast their votes and determine the winners, so it's a great way to look into the culture of today's kids. 

Want to start a conversation with a child?  Want to connect with today's kids? This list is a great way to do this. Check it out and use it to talk with kids about their culture.

p.s. This is not an endorsement of the people below but simply a way to connect with today's kids.

Favorite Kids' TV Show - The Thundermans Undercover 

It happened at around 11:15 am at CrossPointe Community Church in the city of Wayne. 

Brian Browning has been identified as the shooter.  He attended the church with his mother.  

Browning showed up wearing a tactical vest and carrying both an AR-15 style rifle and a handgun with over a dozen fully loaded magazines.  He didn't have any prior criminal history.

Church staff first noticed his behavior near the church's parking lot. He exited his vehicle armed and began shooting in the direction of the church, where children were performing on stage.  You can see this in a video that captured what happened inside the church. 

A church member attempted to stop the man by striking him with a vehicle. The suspect responded by shooting at the vehicle multiple times. As the confrontation escalated, two members of the church's staff returned fire and fatally shot the man.

The actions of the church staff prevented what could have been a much more deadly attack. They undoubtedly saved many lives and prevented a large-scale mass shooting.

This is a stark reminder of how important it is to have an armed security team at your church.  Safety must be a top priority. You never know what could happen and you must be prepared. 

Safety and security is a big deal to parents and rightly so.  Parents want to know that their children will be safe when they are in your children's ministry. 

What steps should you take to protect the kids and families in your ministry?

How can you ensure kids and parents will be safe when they are in your ministry?

I can help you with this.  I have an on demand video seminar that can help you keep your ministry prepared and safe.

Session 1 - Why Safety & Security Must Be a Top Priority in Your Church

You'll learn why it's so important not only for protecting children, but for reaching families and growing your church as well.

Session 2 - Predator Proofing Your Ministry

The enemy will try to send predators into your ministry. Discover the keys to keeping them out and keeping children safe.

Session 3 - Safeguarding & Securing Your Ministry

Be prepared for terrorism, active shooters, crisis, dealing with unstable people, taking care of medical issues and other situations.

Includes...

• Video recording of all sessions in both streaming and downloadable formats
• Audio recording of all sessions
• Handouts from all sessions
• You can show the training to as many people as you'd like at one low cost.  

You can get more information and watch the training at this link.   

Get the tools and insight you need to protect the kids and families in your ministry.   

Slime was first introduced as a toy by Mattel in 1976. It was a green, slimy goo that was packaged in a small plastic trash can.  

It was popularized by Nickelodeon in their TV show "You Can't Do That on Television" in 1979. 

This Nickelodeon show featured slime as a gag, notably in a skit where characters get "slimed."

The slime's popularity soared in the 1990s, especially with its prominent use in game shows like Double Dare and Figure It Out. 

The Kids' Choice Awards further cemented the slime's place in Nickelodeon culture, with the iconic sliming ceremonies. It also became a part of the Nickelodeon Studios experience, with a geyser that spewed the goo.  

p.s. My son, when he was 9 years old, got "slimed" at Universal Studios as part of their slime experience.  We still have the certificate they gave him. 

Fast Forward to today...2025 at the time of this writing. Slime is still very popular and relevant with kids. 

A clear example of this is the 2025 Kids' Choice Awards that will be on television in the next few months. Slime will be a big part of this award show that attracts kids and families.

Here are a few examples of how Nickelodeon is going all out to make slime a crucial part of their awards show this year. 

This year the Kids' Choice Award show will feature 5,000 gallons of the signature green goo. The primary feature of this year’s set will be a centralized pool, which is animated by bubbling fountains of slime.  Slime will be triggered from over 25 unique pieces around the room.

Slime will be referenced everywhere, and the goal is to transform the Barker Hanger into this fantasy, slime warehouse. There will be over 80 industrial slime storage containers. 

There will also be a huge inflatable chandelier, which will be used as a mega slimer.  They will be sliming the room, the stage and the kids.

All this says one thing...slime is still a relevant item in the world of kids. It's as popular as ever. 

If you need to amp up the relevance of your children's ministry, then it's time to amp up your use of slime.

There are still many ways that you can use slime in your children's ministry.  

Ohhhh...and it's not that hard to make.  Just google "slime recipes" and you'll see lots of easy options to make it. 

So, the obvious answer is yes.  Kids still love slime and you should bring it back to your children's ministry if you've stopped using it.

Slime can be used in a lesson.  Want to capture kids' attention in a large group lesson?  Use slime.  It can be used as an object lesson or illustration of a Biblical truth. 

Slime can be used as a craft.  Kids love to make their own slime.  Think about how you could tie this into your class time.  

Slime can be used for a take home activity.  You can send a slime recipe home with kids.  Have them make it with their parents and use it as a discussion starter about a Biblical topic or extension of the lesson.  Better yet, have them create a slime making video and post it on your children's ministry's YouTube channel.  They could then invite their unchurched friends to watch it and generate interest in your children's ministry.

Slime can be used for review games at church.  It might be the person who answers a question gets to be slimed.  It might be a kid who answers the question gets to slime a staff member or volunteer.  Just provide a way to protect the person's clothes such as a trash bag, rain coat or an extra change of clothes.

Slime can be used at a family event.  Kids and families love it!  It can bring a lot of energy and excitement in a large group setting.

Slime can be used as a reward for meeting a goal.  Want to see the kids reach an attendance goal?  Want to encourage them to bring their friends to church?  Want to see them reach a giving goal for missions?  Tell them they can slime you or another person if they hit their goal.

Yes, slime is still relevant with today's kids.  Keep making it slime time at church and you'll connect with them.  

I often think about this. 

"When you reach a child, you change a life.  When you reach a parent, you change an entire family." -Dale Hudson

We know stats show that when you reach a father and he starts attending church, the percentage of his kids going to church and following Jesus skyrockets. 

Parents have the most influence in the lives of their children.  This means a huge part of our strategy should be to reach and influence parents. 

Going into VBS this year, I set up a strategy that would help us connect with unchurched parents.  

Here are the steps we took. 

We thought about parents in our planning.   

How can we involve parents?

How can we share the Gospel with parents?

How can we get parents to buy in and be a part of their child's VBS experience?

We decided to host a family night on our final night of VBS.

It was a night for the entire family to participate in.  No drop offs. Parents must attend with their child.

Each night of VBS we promoted the upcoming family night.  (FYI - we do VBS in the evenings)

Each night we handed out a recap (paper copy) of what we had taught on that night. We included a promotion for family night on these recap papers. 

p.s. Don't hand the take home paper to the kids. They will lose it or you'll find it in the parking lot.  We personally handed these papers to the parents. 

Family night was Thursday night. 

We had regular VBS from Sunday to Wednesday and then Thursday night was family night.

Here was the flow of family night.

• Offering contest.  We had an offering contest each night of VBS to raise money for a local children's home.  

• Family game show.  We had some fun games families competed in to win a prize. These were stage games.  High energy. Fun. Loud.

• We shared the Gospel in a creative way.  

• We invited families to attend our Starting Point class with their child. Starting Point is a class where the Gospel is clearly shared with parents and their children.  Starting Point is available for you at this link.  If you read my recent article - "Why I Don't Lead Children in a Salvation Prayer at VBS" you'll understand why I take this approach.  

• After the Gospel presentation, the kids came up and sang some of their songs and quoted some verses they learned.  This was a key factor in getting unchurched parents to attend. Unchurched parents will come to see their children perform.   

• We then went out and had hot dogs, games, bounce houses, lemonade, and more. 

• I walked around during this time and talked with parents.  Especially with parents who were new that night.  

Our attendance tripled that night. We had lots of unchurched parents who attended and on the Sunday after, we had several families who came to church for the first time. 

We will continue to reach out to these families. 

VBS family night. It works. If you've never tried it, consider doing it. It has been proven to be effective.