BRANSON – Teaching future generations and making disciples are important goals for all churches. A recent retreat for Children’s Ministers encouraged leaders to reach that goal.
The retreat, Nov. 3-6, held at Chateau on the Lake in Branson, brought together Children’s Ministers from all over Missouri.
“The retreat was a combination of learning and relaxing,” said Missouri Baptist Convention childhood ministry strategist Jamie Brown, who serves as kids minister at Ridgecrest Baptist Church, Springfield. “We invited Stephanie Chase, kids minister at Champion Forest Baptist Church in Houston, Texas, to be our speaker. She led five sessions to equip our children’s ministers to engage and equip their children’s workers in their home church.”
Elise Lavin, Harvest kids director in St. Louis, was a first-time participant at the retreat, and she agreed with Brown.
“Stephanie was fantastic,” Lavin said. “Her teaching style was engaging, and the training was so useful. I’ve already used tips and tools that she shared. I was able to apply the knowledge immediately.”
Brown reported that Chase trained according to the purpose of the retreat. “Stephanie is a prolific writer and speaker. She provided practical training on important subjects.”
The five sessions covered: 1) Dealing with stress in the ministry; 2) How to teach the Bible to Kids; 3) Leading a Child to Christ; 4) Leading a church ministry by caring for self and having a right relationship with the Lord; 5) Leading parents.
“We were also intentional about the relaxing part of the retreat,” Brown said. “We built in time on Friday for our participants to have some free time before we had the networking, round table time.”
The debriefing, networking time was a favorite with Lavin. “I loved the opportunity to get to know others with similar jobs and responsibilities in other churches around the state,” she said. “It gave us a time to share, celebrate and troubleshoot together.”