I’m in the midst of serving as a pastoral intern at my church and one of the things that my pastor and I are doing together is book studies. The first title we picked out was The Red Book: The Life Blood of Children’s Ministry.

I was as curious as some of you out there… what’s with the title The Red Book? The author, Mark Harper, explained that the colour (red) represents the blood of Christ.

The blood of Jesus Christ is just as important a message today as it was yesterday. The Red Book is not just about everything you can do in children’s ministry to make it exciting and fun… it’s about the things that really matter. Why do we do what we do? Because what matters most is eternity, and eternity is the Life Blood of Children’s Ministry.

I am grateful to have read this book first, amongst the list of others which my pastor suggested. It is relatively easy to read and one can start with any chapters of the book which interests you first. Here’s an example of some chapters.

This means one can spend as little as 5 – 10 minutes reading and digesting one chapter at a time. Makes lot of sense for busy people who volunteers in the #kidmin (short for children’s ministry).

The Red Book is such a great resource that really breaks down important information into bit-size pieces that is relevant to an area of your ministry at the current moment. And it makes you think on how to apply the concepts discussed in those chapter(s).

But wait… what if you’ve been in the ministry for some time already? It doesn’t matter actually. You can read it whether you’re starting out in ministry or you are a veteran. Remember, the ministry is a marathon. So keep running the good race.

The Red Book is an excellent go-to material, especially for those who take the children’s ministry seriously. We may have moved into an era where leaders depend a lot on social media to reach out to the young ones and times are always changing, but the things that are always and most important are eternal – like God, and how important salvation is. Some things just don’t change. And those issues are what you get challenged to think about as one reads along.

The Red Book is a must-read for anyone who ministers to children and families in the church. Jesus has commanded us to preach the deep things of the Word to the kids in our class. Regardless of your denomination or church size, this book will provide a strong foundation that you can build your kid’s ministry upon.

 

Happy reading!