How Children's Ministry Can Disciple Children in Their Emotions

The children who enter the children’s ministry classroom each week do not leave their baggage at the door. They arrive with all the feels accumulated throughout the week. They carry with them worries, sorrows, and cares from life lived in a fallen world.

One child might be worried about a test at school the next day. Another might bear anger toward a sibling for breaking a beloved toy earlier that morning. Still another might feel the weight of failure over a lost soccer game the day before.

Such emotions often feel heavy for children. They are seldom equipped to know how to respond to hard emotions. After all, understanding and responding to one’s emotions is something we all must learn. As a result, their responses might seem excessive or out of place to the adults around them. The tears shed when a child makes a mistake in her drawing during class seems exaggerated as does the angry response when a child doesn’t get to sit in his favorite seat next to his best friend.

That’s why it is helpful for children’s ministry staff and volunteers to not only teach and disciple children in God’s word, but also to help children learn what God has to say to their emotions. Throughout Scripture there are opportunities to teach children that God cares about them and calls them to bring their emotions to him in prayer…

Read the rest of this piece at the children’s ministry site, Grow.

Join the Launch Team for God Hears Your Heart

The second book in my children’s book series is about to release and I need your help. I’d love for you to join the launch team for God Hears Your Heart!

God Hears Your Heart continues the story of brother and sister, Josh and Mia, whom we met in Tell God How You Feel. In this book, the siblings face hard emotions such as anger, guilt, failure, and disappointment and learn that God wants them to bring whatever emotions they are feeling to him and seek his help, comfort, and deliverance.

The book is intended to be used as a discipleship resource for parents to help their children learn to navigate difficult emotions of life. It is intended to help them learn to lament.

What do launch team members do?

• Read the book and share about it with their friends on social media

• Share images and other links related to the book on social media

• Leave a review of the book on Amazon, Goodreads, and other book sites

• Interact with the author and other team members on the launch team’s Facebook page

To learn more about the launch team and to sign up, click the button below:

I look forward to seeing you on the team!

Coming Soon: God Hears Your Heart

Last year, my first children’s book released, titled Tell God How You Feel. My intention for the book was that parents would use it as a discipleship resource in helping their children learn how to lament—how to bring their emotions to the Lord in prayer.

I’m excited to announce that a follow up to that book, God Hears Your Heart, will release on May 13. This book follows the same family from Tell God How You Feel. In this book, children will see how Josh and Mia learn how to talk to God about feelings such as: anger, disappointment, failure, and more. Discussion questions help parents talk about these emotions with their children.

Here’s what readers are saying about the book:

“If emotions are complex for adults (AKA, me!) to understand and respond to appropriately, how much more for children? This is why I’m so glad Christina has given us a helpful tool for guiding our kids through emotions like disappointment, anger, and failure. Best of all, she roots each lesson in biblical truth, particularly in the psalms which give voice to our hearts. I recommend this book to you!”

—Kristen Wetherell (Author of Humble Moms, Fight Your Fears, and co–author of Hope When It Hurts)

“… a wonderful resource for children. It accomplishes the difficulty task of turning children toward the Lord with their hard and unruly emotions without moralizing or excusing. Especially good on the disappointments every young human struggles to deal with and full of good advice and easy engagement for parents, this book is a must on every child’s bookshelf!”

— Alasdair Groves (Executive Director of CCEF)

God Hears Your Heart is available for pre-order now. Reserve your copy today!