Jesus Honoured in Local Paper

Think Jesus had nothing to do with inner cities?  Think again.  Bible Story Offers Hope for the Present is an article that appeared in our local paper this week, reflecting Jesus' solidarity with those of us in the inner city.  (note: this article is written in Winnipeg, where the core area is referred to as the "North End")

 

One King

One King spoken word Good Friday message

[youtube_sc url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xo6nurQmWqk" title="Good%20Friday%20spoken%20word"]

I was stopped twice again today, by people asking for spare change.  A commonplace occurrence, except our winters are so cold that it doesn't happen much over the 6 coldest months of the year, so these were the first two people to approach me since last fall.

Giving to beggars is a contentious issue, one everyone has an opinion on and one Christians in particular have a bit of a bone to chew.  It's possibly the number one question I get asked, as an urban minister.  (I usually refer them to some other expert.  The kids I work with aren't usually the ones on the streets begging, so my "expertise" is the same as theirs: trying to live a Christ-like life in today's world.)

I've changed my mind dozens of times on this issue, and likely will change it again, but in this 2-part blog series I will take a look at where I've landed on this issue.  In Part One, I will discuss 3 convictions I have developed regarding responding to requests for handouts, and in Part Two (coming next Monday), I will feature 3 ways to be wise with giving away handouts.

1) It's better to give than to make excuses so the guilt goes away.

There are times that I can say "no" to someone and don't think about it again.  I will make the assumption that those times are based on honest resources: be they time, money or what's at hand, and not based on selfishness or the sake of convenience.  These times I can look the person in the eye, and talk to them as a friend while still saying no.  This is just fine.

There are other times when I can't quite make eye contact, and something nags at my conscience, and the change in my purse feels like it's burning a hole in me.  I say no and walk away and spend the rest of the day justifying it to myself.  These times, I'm learning, are times when I have ignored the voice of the Holy Spirit for the sake of my own agenda and it's NEVER worth it.

2. My responsibility to God has to do with me, not them.

One top reason not to give is because the money will often go to support habits I don't approve of, namely buying cigarettes, alcohol or drugs.  I have no desire to support the drug industry, so I don't give.

I have felt convicted that I have been using this as an excuse to be stingy, not as an opportunity for generosity.  As an opportunity for generosity, I could take that person out for lunch instead, or wait with them and buy their fare on the bus.  See, I am responsible to God for my actions, not anybody else's.  When judgement day comes, I will stand before God and have to answer to why I did or did not give money when I had it and someone else didn't.  I will not have to answer to why the money I gave away was wasted.

So, by all means, give something other than cash.  But please don't stop helping the poor for this reason alone.

3. I would rather be known for foolish generousity than for selfish stinginess.

If I am going to err, I have decided I'd rather err on the side of generosity than on the side of holding too tightly to my resources.  This being said, I still often say "no" to people asking for handouts, and I have a pretty firm grasp on what I can afford to give away thoughtlessly (ie handouts) versus what I can afford to give away intentionally (where charitable tax receipts and the like come in.)  I believe I need to be giving to both, but the vast majority of my giving will be to organizations who are doing a good job in helping people in rough situations rather than giving directly to these people.  Still, there's something to be said about human touch, looking someone in the eye, and giving a little bit in the meantime.  I will make mistakes, probably every single time.  But at the end of the day, I want to be known as the idiot who gave too much away rather than the miser who never gave anything.

 

 

 

7 Quick & Easy Easter Crafts for Kids

Another craft round-up is at hand: here's 7 craft ideas for this Easter that have (mostly) stuff you might already have on hand and will take minutes to set up... perfect for the drop-in!



1.  Finger Puppets

Pipe cleaners, pompoms, google eyes and glue... need I say more?



2.  Paper Plate Lamb

Again, super simple, but with a "Lamb of God" theme, you could go somewhere with this.  Also turns out very cute!  (Sorry, boys - Easter begs "cutesy" crafts!  Wait for my Good Friday craft round-up coming next week for a few more less-girly options!)



3. Toilet paper tube lamb

The only problem is how to find 50 toilet paper tubes in 7 days... !!



4. Fingerprint carrot cards

This one does take a specialty item: an orange ink pad.  So if you've got time to swing by Michael's, it still makes for a cheap & easy craft.  And if you can get the washable ink, it won't even be too messy!  Plus, every kid likes getting his fingers messy!



5.  Handprint Easter Lillies

I remember making these as a kid!  Simply trace your hand on white paper, tape it to a chenille stem (aka pipe cleaner) and tie with a ribbon.  These folks added an extra yellow centre to their lilly which, I admit, makes it look prettier, but depending on the age and attention span of the kids, I might not bother.



6. Paper Bag Easter Baskets

Time to use up those extra foam stickies and pompoms?  Every craft room collects them, and this simple paper-bag-and-glue craft nets a pretty nice basket at the end of the day.  Nothing fancy, but I can see this being a lot of fun!



7. Textured Easter Eggs

These are cute, colorful and mostly involve glue... it might just be me, but I'm seeing cardboard, icing and fruitloops doing the same thing as an edible craft!  Yummm....

 

 

5 Ways to tell the Easter story... creatively!

One fellow minister put it this way: "it's easy to teach kids about the true meaning of Christmas, so why is Easter so much more difficult?"  I hadn't thought of it that way before, but she was right!  Dozens of ideas to teach Jesus' birth were already popping into my head, but Easter...?  I was drawing a blank!

So I rounded up some of the "best of" ideas on the 'net that I thought would work for the various ages of kids I work with in the inner city!  Some of these are written by stay-at-home moms and would need to be adapted for a school-age, daily/weekly program, but still have some merit to them!

1. Resurrection Garden

While this mom, from www.impressyourkids.com, made a garden (in a bowl) on Good Friday to watch slowly die, I can see it working just as well to make a garden together one evening (if you're a daily program, perfect, if not, just space this out over 3 weeks), see it dead the next time you're together, and have it come back to life later.  Not ideal for big groups, but an excellent visual as you tell the story!

2.  Resurrection Cookies

Apparently this is an old idea, but it's new to me, and I love it!  The cookies do need to bake overnight, so either make a batch beforehand for immediate gratification, or if you have a daily program, they can wait one day!  I love how every ingredient is necessary for the cookies, and every ingredient tells part of the Easter story.  Vickilynn from Real Food Living gives a complete recipe with Biblical references and devotional points for each step of the baking process.

3.  Resurrection Eggs

Melissa, from Fill My Cup, has taken this classic Easter-telling-story aid and given us an affordable DIY version ($4 to make your own set, she says).  The idea is to put a symbol representing each part of the Biblical story into a numbered set of a dozen plastic eggs.  Hide the eggs around your space and have a traditional Easter egg hunt.  Once all the eggs are found, have children open the eggs in the right order to pull out a symbol of the Easter story, read a slip of paper from inside the egg and tell the Easter story through the eggs.

4.  Passion Tree

Ann Voskamp, author of Trail to the Tree, offers this free tutorial, devotional and printable classic art decorations to make your own `passion tree.` If you`re unfamiliar with the concept, it`s dead branches placed in a vase, decorated with symbols of Christ`s passion (an idea similar to a Christmas tree - you may have seen the more commercialized Easter egg trees for sale at Walmart!)  This devotional is quite liturgical, so may be suited for older groups, but a simpler way of a passion tree is still to place dead branches in a vase - symbolizing Christ`s death - and decorate with eggs - symbolizing new life - to tell the Easter story.  Andrea of Babe of My Heart and Kaylin of A Mustard Seed Journey have also teamed up to provide instructions on making a "lent tree" and more kid-friendly printable ornaments.

5. Scavenger Hunt

Thriving Family, a Focus on the Family publication, has a week of activities for families and children.  Many are very family-specific, but I liked this one: "Send your children on an Easter scavenger hunt. Instruct them to find items that symbolize different parts of the Easter story. Examples: A rock (the tomb), two sticks (the Cross), something black (sin), something red (blood), something white (a clean heart), something green (growing in Christ). Older children can go on a digital scavenger hunt, taking photographs of items that remind them of Easter."

More ideas?  Leave a comment!

5 Free Online Tools for Prayer

If you're like me, finding time and inspiration to pray isn't always the first thing I go to.  Having these online tools has helped me prioritize prayer and gives me some direction as I pray.  Hopefully you can find some inspiration here, too!

1. Online devotions and guided journalling prayers.  Examen.me is an online prayer journalling site with daily readings you can choose from the Old Testament, New Testament, Psalms or Gospels.  They also provide journalling space for a centering prayer as well as an examen prayer.  Create a free user account to start.   www.examen.me

2. Spoken mp3 guided prayer for your mobile device.  Pray as you go gives a 10 minute Scripture reading and guided prayer to download to your mp3 player/smartphone to pray on your commute.  Part of the Jesuit Media Initiative, expect some classic liturgy, monks chanting and lovely UK accents.  www.pray-as-you-go.org

3. Online meditation and scripture for prayer.  Once again, the Irish Jesuits promote prayer through The Sacred Space.  Available in every language possible (well, not quite), this site leads you at a meditative pace right from your computer screen through Scriptures and thoughts to meditate on.  www.sacredspace.ie

4. Online prayer requests and tools.  Prayer Central gathers prayer requests from missions and world hotspots and invites the online community to pray together for these big requests.  Also provides tools, tips and devotions for prayer.   www.prayercentral.net

5.  Put out by Australia's Uniting Church (a union of Methodist, Presbyterian & Fellowship Churches for us North Americans), this site is an inviting place to "pray, reflect and meditate."  http://prayer.sa.uca.org.au/

6. When you have a bit more time, this website is worth a pass through.  An online prayer labyrinth, it has "stops" along the labyrinth to pause and reflect on our journey and relationships with the world around us, ourselves, and our Lord.  It takes a bit of time to go through, but is well worth it.  www.labyrinth.org.uk/

5 ways to mobilize prayer for your ministry

Prayer is one of the most powerful tools in our arsenal for combatting the hopelessness, despair, rage, disempowerment and other forces that affect our kids in the inner cities.  Mobilizing that prayer takes some effort.  Here are a few ways to be purposeful about prayer:

 

1. Make it a personal priority - When you are serious about prayer, it will come first in your life.  While I admire and respect people who can spend hours in prayer, this doesn't have to be your immediate aim.  Instead, decide to spend the first part of each workday in prayer, whether 3 or 20 minutes, just make it the first thing.  I heard a story about International Justice Ministries, where in the office, the first half hour of every day was dictated as quiet time in the office: no phone calls, no talking, no emails - just be still.  What an inspiration!  (Now, I don't know if this is true or not, but I like the concept anyway!)  Even if your workplace isn't as conducive, arriving to work early, or taking time before you leave can make a huge difference.
   


2. Enable volunteers - People are often willing to pray, but don't know how.  Sending out regular prayer requests (no matter how general) empowers people to know how to pray for your ministry.  Alternatively, pair up youth with prayer partners who will commit to pray specifically for one individual every week.  This can be done confidentially or with the full knowledge of both individuals.  You can download a basic printable prayer partner form here.


3. Use ownership and accountability.  Our inner city church recently mobilized 1000 people to commit to praying for 3600 houses in our neighbourhood for 366 days.  Now, we've had calls to prayer before, and a sub-ministry who goes around weekly to knock on doors & pray... all half-dozen of them... So why was this different?  It was specific, it involves ownership (I have 3 addresses to pray for, and I'm the only one praying for those 3), it involves a signed commitment and we will be asked about how we're doing throughout the year.  Check out their call to action here.  While this kind of goal or response might not be what you are intending, the principles still apply: taking ownership and doing some follow-up can go a long way.


4. Be specific.  Asking people "to pray" is too vague.  Asking them to "pray for finances" is good.  Asking people to "pray that we will receive $2,698 by May 1st to cover our expenses for the spring trip" is better.  The more specific you can afford to be, the better off you are.


5. Be respectful.  Of course, all this is moot if you are alienating the people you are called to love.  If being specific, giving names or even details about circumstances will undermine someone's dignity or cause confidentiality issues, those are times to pray privately.  If the need for prayer is great, ask permission, change names (always a good idea for children under 18 anyway) or give only enough information to respect privacy.  If it works in your ministry, have children give their own prayer requests to pass on to prayer partners.  Download a "pray for me" card here.

However you choose to mobilize prayer, know that God loves to answer prayer and his power flows through the prayers of his people.  When we can mobilize his people to pray, we will see God work in tremendous ways!

Friends and Food

One of my favourite events in our inner city calendar is a bi-weekly potluck.  To be honest, I don't make it nearly every time, but I often leave feeling encouraged, supported and in community with like-minded people living in the inner city.

There are many forms of potlucks, as outreaches, as invitations for neighbours, as church functions.  This specific one is to encourage and strengthen believers who choose to live or work in our inner city neighbourhood.  Some are full-time missionaries.  Some are stay-at-home moms, some are unemployed or underemployed - some by choice, some not.  Some have decent careers outside the community, but choose to live here anyway.  We are a varied group, with really only two things in common: our love of Christ and our love of Winnipeg's inner city.

We each bring something to share to eat - well, that's the intent.  If you forget, or don't have anything, feel free to come anywway.  Moms like me tend to bring huge crockpots of some staple food, and this last potluck, only a few loaves of bread made it to supplement that one dish, but that's okay.  We eat what there is and don't worry about it if we're not stuffed at the end - we're here for fellowship more than food, anyway.

One of the hardest things about relocating to the inner city is the feelings of loneliness, of losing your peer group (and sometimes, your church or family as well) and the feelings of insecurity and isolation that accompany it.  Our little potlucks are so... unremarkable... yet they battle those emotions with the strength of a giant.  Praise the Lord for working in little ways!

Craft links, ideas and printable

Working with children, whether suburban, urban or rural, one thing remains the same: they love to be active, and they love a good craft!

Urban children's ministries may have a more limited budget, possibly lower literacy levels and likely less resources, but a good, affordable craft can still be a big hit!

Since we're doing crafts all the time anyway, we thought we'd save you some time and post some of the craft links we've found and used, post any printables we've generated for you to share and keep the ideas flowing!  Join us on crafty Fridays for craft roundups, free printables and great ideas to keep the creativity going.

Prayer Journal Printable Craft

Here's a great printablePrayer Journal pages perfect to use as part of 10:10 Kid's Teach Me To Pray curriculum, or as a journal to use during a camp or mission trip.

1. Download & Print the booklet.  Page 1 may be printed on cardstock if so desired.  Print multiple, double-sided page 3's for a larger booklet.


2. Fold in half & Staple on the spine


3. Colour & decorate the front cover, so each child's journal is personalized and unique.


4. Use the first page to pray together, so children get the hang of how to use a prayer journal.

 

Games & Activity Links, Printables and Plans

While we've found very little overlap in the games that work with urban ministries, we've surfed the web often enough that we thought it was worth passing on some ideas to you.

What we look for:

• optional games that can be played in a drop-in setting, while other kids are busy doing something else (scavenger hunts work particularly well at this)


• games that illustrate a Biblical lesson or truth: if we can teach something actively, it seems to stick (and be much less painless of a teaching time) than if we stand in front and talk


• games that need little to no equipment


• games that need little to no prep


• games that can be played in a gym, parking lot or multi-use area (so, no grassy fields, backyards or playgrounds)

Of course, there's always some that don't fit into neat categories, and rarely games that fit into all categories, but those are the genres we've found useful in our inner city ministry, so we'll keep passing on what we find and what has worked for us.  Since this is a less defined aspect of our ministry, games and activities may not make as regular an appearance as, say, crafts, but we aim to have a few new links every other week at least!

Free Lord's Prayer Bookmark Printable

This week is a FREE printable bookmark for kids to colour.  (To turn it into a craft, after coloring, laminate with contact paper, punch a hole in the top and tie a ribbon through.  Add a few beads for a beautiful beaded b0okmark!)

Lord's prayer bookmark

A great addition to 10:10 Kids Bible Lesson series Teach Me To Pray.

We get it.

I live in the inner city.  I'm raising my family in a place where my kids encounter prostitutes, drug dealers, guns and gangs.  I have days when I'm scared, but after 10 years of involvement in our community, I see the beauty as much as the pain.  I could never have come this far, or lasted this long, alone.  With this blog I want to be a part of the community that holds each other up.  I want to say: I get it.

While I love suburban, 2.4-child (and a dog) families with both parents, Biblically-literate and highly motivated kids... that's not where I minister.  I'm used to re-writing curriculum because, "children obey your parents" isn't as black-and-white as the lesson makes it sound - and adding an "except when what they tell you to do is illegal" just doesn't have the best ring to it.  I'm used to printing off animal colouring sheets because I just can't handle another week of white-kid-only printables.  I look at a craft ideas and think "what kind of budget can afford that?"  I find games where it's okay if only a third of the kids play it because I have bigger battles to fight than mandatory participation in a game.

So, I get it.  And I'm dedicating Mondays on this blog as the day that we stand shoulder-to-shoulder and encourage, equip and empathize with each other as we look at issues unique to urban ministry.

Inner City Financial Institution Opens!

We just recieved great news for our inner city neighbourhood - for the first time in about 2 decades, a legitimate financial institution is opening!  For those of you unfamiliar with how (and why) this is such great news, Assiniboine Credit Union put out this very well done video for their members on the reality of inner city living along with how and why they chose to take the financial risk of an inner city branch.  Thanks, Assiniboine Credit Union!

[youtube_sc url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x8FIqgS47zk&feature=related" title="Assiniboine%20Credit%20Union%20in%20Winnipeg%27s%20North%20End"]

 

Free Prayer Crafts for Kids

 

 

Here are some  ideas for cheap & easy crafts to make with kids on the topic of prayer:

1. Praying Monkey

2. Jelly Bean Prayer Jars (includes free printable cards)

3. Prayer Buckets

4. Prayer Rocks (has some neat ideas for how to use these to remind kids to pray)

5. Prayer Garden (this one takes a bit more work, but with beautiful results).

6. Prayer Journal (instructions are minimal, but you get the idea!)

These crafts work great with 10:10 Kids! Teach Me To Pray 4-week Bible lesson plans.

 

We've moved!

Urban KidMin has merged with 10:10 Kids to bring you a more rounded resource centre for those involved in urban children's ministry.  Check us out at

www.1010kids.com

Poverty of Power

A friend, just returning from an overseas mission trip, sadly informed me she wouldn't be volunteering at our centre with inner city children anymore.  She had been a passionate and committed volunteer for a few years, so I followed up with her to make sure she was doing okay.

She explained to me, "I've seen poverty, and these kids aren't poor.  I can't find it in my heart to be compassionate towards these kids who have so many resources but don't do anything about it now that I've been to a place where people are doing so much more with nothing.  These [North American] kids aren't starving; I can't find it in my heart to bleed so they are fed.  These [North American] kids aren't in danger of death; I can't find it in my heart anymore to fear for them.  These [North American] kids have it great - they just don't know it."

Part of me totally understood: we're out there sweating to raise money to serve nutritious meals for our inner city kids, and while they wait in line to come in, they send a friend to the corner store to buy chocolate bars at inflated prices.  Why can't they use that money to feed themselves?  They have homes to live in, often with large-screen TVs, cable and computers.  Why can't they use that money to pay their utility bills?  There are grants and scholarships and government money being sent their way - free health care, free education, free everything - why am I working so hard for these ungrateful people who seem to just like living in poverty?

CCDA (Christian Community Development Association - if you haven't heard of them GET YOURSELF TO THEIR CONFERENCE.  It was the best thing I ever did - seriously!) ran a workshop at one of their conferences that made all the difference to me, on the different kinds of poverty.

Situational poverty, they explained, was what happens when a person, family, or nation, finds themselves without resources for a season (or generation).  The Great Depression would fit into this.  My family would fit into this: we lived in a trailer court growing up and were the recipients of Christmas Cheer Board and other charities.  Most people think of poverty in these terms.  The bad news: you're poor.  The good news: you have everything you need to get yourself out of this.  It is a temporary situation.  You are resourceful and you will find a way. Everyone knows someone who was poor and got themselves out of that situation.  This may make us disparage inner city families that I work with.  "I never had those resources," we say, "And I pulled myself up by my own bootstraps."

The second kind of poverty, generational poverty, is a different matter entirely.  In fact, it has very little to do with finances at all.  Generational poverty is a kind of poverty that has affected a family or people group so long that it has become a mindset and a lifestyle more than a situation.  For families affected by generational poverty, they could win the lottery and still be poor.  Here are some of the symptoms of generational poverty:

1. An inability to picture themselves any other way.  When my family was poor, we'd always talk as if we weren't.  We'd talk about buying a house even though we couldn't pay the rent on our trailer.  As kids, we were encouraged to dream about our futures.  Those affected by generational poverty do not think like this.  One of the saddest things for me was when I asked my class of 5-7 year olds what they wanted to be when they grew up.  In the suburbs, I would have gotten outrageous answers like "An astronaught, a rockstar, a ballerina or a fireman."  In the inner city, I got blank stares.  They had no idea what I was asking.  Nobody in their families "became" anything.  I asked the ten year old class the same question, and after an awkward pause, they started joking lewdly: "a hooker," "a john," "a drug dealer," "dead."  They laughed uproarously, and my heart broke.  If they were looking at their own family trees, that's probably the closest to a "career" they knew.

2. A crisis-based lifestyle.  Families living with generational poverty are used to living from crisis-to-crisis.  Sometimes this is unavoidable: the water was shut off, please help, we have a crisis.  Crisis is dealt with and now my daughter is sick, we need medicine.  Crisis averted and on and on and on.  Because of a lack of savings, lack of resources and lack of power to change, it`s all they can do to live from one crisis to the next.  However, even when circumstances change for the better, the crises don't abate.  Living for so long with the inability to plan ahead has robbed these people of the ability to live differently, even when they have resources to do so.

3. A sense of powerlessness.  A family affected by situational poverty: refugees, hard economic times, etc, feel like they can do something to change their future.  A family affected by generational poverty feel like no matter what they do nothing will change.

4  The cycle of poverty.  When you have been affected by poverty, but are not in the cycle of poverty, a way out seems clear.  When you, your family, your friends and your neighbourhood are all stuck in a cycle, the cycle perpetuates itself and in order to break free, you may need to break all ties.  I know many youth who have done well for themselves and are working hard in a reasonable job.  Yet they never seem to get anywhere as their resources are constantly pillaged by needy friends and family.  In order for their hard work to pay off, they would need to literally harden their hearts and close the door on their families and friends, and be willing not only to walk away from it all, but also be labelled and possibly targeted because of this.  It's a risk I'm not sure I would take.

All this to say that while my friend had a point, she was missing the picture.  I don't serve this community because I think they'd all starve if I wasn't here.  I don't minister with these children because I think death is imminent.  I serve here because they need to know a better way, and I am convinced Jesus showed us a better way.  I am here because Jesus called.  So, I told her, if Jesus has called you elsewhere, bless you and may you be used mightily in his kingdom.  But if you are just tired and disillusioned, let's talk.

We talked.  We cried.  She still moved on from our ministry, but with open eyes and a clear heart.  She can bleed for the children of Africa now without despising the poor here, and that is a beautiful thing.

Urban Children's Ministry Top Ten

You know you're in urban kidmin when...

• a banana is a bigger treat than a chocolate bar


• you've had to deal with a four year old's excessive swearing habit


• you've seen eight year olds beat up someone twice their size


• shoplifting is a real issue... for your kindergarten class


• you've had to deal with a suicide - for an 11 year old


• the ten year olds have more sexual experience than you did before you were married


• you have social services on speed dial


• the cops know the birthdate of the kids in your ministry, because the day they turn 13 they're picking them up to go to juvie.


• you're used to seeing kids as young as 3 fend for themselves at eleven pm on the inner city streets.


• you've stopped asking "Who's this kids parents, anyway?"


• the parents of the kids you minister to are still in high school themselves

I think one reason why this is such a quiet topic is that it breaks your heart when you see seventeen year olds at this stage... many of us just can't stomach it at an age that is supposed to still be "innocent."

Yet the joys of urban ministry can outrank any of it!  While teens have already hardened their hearts, these kids are still (for the most part) at an emulating stage: they're not doing these things because they decided to, they're doing it because that's what they see!  So when we can emulate a different way of living - it's often incredibly effective.  They're harder than I (hopefully) will ever be in my adult years, but they're still little kids.  They still chase bubbles.  They still love to run through sprinklers.  They still will watch puppet shows with some kind of awe.  Their joys in life are piggy-back rides and jumping rope.  Their eyes can light up when they see you - and they don't feel the need to hide it!  They ask the questions on their mind (with no censorship) and tell you what they think (also with no censorship).  They still risk to love.

 

And one hug, one kid pointing at me at the corner store, saying "Mom, that's the lady from the church!," one hand tucked into yours, one "aha" moment during Bible story time... those are the moments when you know God is smiling!

A Breath of Fresh Air

I love this resource so much I want to blog about it once a month!  Fuller Youth Institute put out a series called "Sabbath Rest in a 24/7 World" that lets urban ministers stop and take a breath.  It has prayers, links to online resources, thoughts, articles, photos and exercises that us "normal" people can do - while riding a city bus, while sitting at your computer, while alone or with a group.  Well done, Fuller, and on behalf of all of us who need a "sabbath rest" but don't get the opportunity for a real retreat, this is perfect!  Thank you!

Losing a generation

[youtube_sc url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vtj_R0Chyc8" title="4%2F14%20Window" border="1" color="white" autohide="1"]

Today, 1/3 of the world's population is under 15.

Only about 17% of the world's population are practicing Christians.

Are we losing this generation?

About 23% of church's population are children.  An estimated 3% of the church's budget is designated for children, overseas and at home.

80% of all those who come to Christ do so before their 18th birthday.

Are we losing this generation?

 

This video is a call to action to dramatically shift our church's focus to reaching kids for Christ.  For those of us in children's ministry, it is an empowering and inspiring video, well worth the 6 minutes it takes to watch it.

Urban KidMin merges with 10:10 Kids!

Welcome to our new site!  Urban KidMin, a blog directed at equipping urban kids ministers, and 10:10 Kids, a curriculum dedicated to bringing quality Bible lesson plans at affordable prices that work in the inner city, have joined forces to better equip urban childrens ministries.

We hope to continue to provide you with current and timely tips, strategies and encouragement for those who minister to urban children through our blog, while providing affordable and inner-city-friendly Bible lessons at rock-bottom pricing in our shop (with, of course, some freebies thrown in!)

We hope you'll like what you see!