[Jesus] sat down, called the twelve, and said to them, “Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all.” Then he took a little child and put it [in their midst]; and taking it in his arms, he said to them, “Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me.”

Mark 9:35-37 NRSV

Phil Day

children and families ministry specialist

Phil has over 40 years of experience in this area and is the author of midst.com.au.

This website offers excellent insights & help for parents & churches in their faith journeys with the children in their midst.

There is something for everyone!

If you are:

• a parent doing life and faith with children
• a church going really well and needing a review process to confirm that
• struggling to hold on to children during the transition stages
• wondering about ministry and mission principles
• looking for some parenting or small group ideas around the topic of the discipline of children

… then you will benefit from the kaleidoscope of principles and ideas here.

The name for this website is derived from a story about Jesus where Jesus too a child and placed that child in the middle of the gathering. A child in our midst is meant to make a difference to everything including the way we do life, explore faith and be followers of The Lord, Jesus Christ of Nazareth. If children are excluded or removed, intentionally or unintentionally, we are missing all the benefits that children bring to us.

Phil is a strong advocate for the children in our midst however much of the content found here can be read through the lens of your particular advocacy interest. Just re-read the last sentence: If [advocacy group] are excluded or removed, intentionally or unintentionally, we are missing all the benefits that [they] bring to us.

Be inclusive! Do the hard work! Enjoy the benefits!

Phil is available for presentations, support and encouragement (coffee & a chat), ideas, coaching, training or consultancies … working with you to transform your ministry … helping to get the direction right for you.

The following list of topics give an indication of the breadth of interest and focus of Phil’s ministry.

If you would like a further conversation about a consultation or some training in any of the following ministry areas, feel free to use the link to make contact.

5Keys

for ministry with children and families

Consider 5 of the keys for effective ministry with people of all ages and children specifically.

Toolkit

for growing great kids

Tools for helping parents, teachers and children’s workers in their vitally important roles.

Intergen-relational ministry and mission.

A play on the two words … ‘intergenerational’ … & … ‘relational’

Often the idea of intergenerational is to aspire to holding an event with as many generations in the same space as possible. But just because two or three generations turn up to your occasion, it doesn’t mean they relate well to one another or that there is any intention for generations to connect.
Intergen-relational means that the design of an intergenerational celebration encourages as many relationships between people of different ages and stages of faith and life experience as possible.

It’s messy, it’s complex … but it can be done simply given some vision, prayer, thought, and planning. Here’s how.

1st 20 Minutes

Are children engaged or just waiting to leave?

There is always more we can do to help children be more engaged in our celebrations of worship before they attend their own programs.

3friends

Join Arthur, Peta, and Chloe on their faith journey.

Discipling resources featuring Arthur Squiz, Peta Song, and Chloe Street. They can be found working together to explore what it means to be a follower of the Lord, Jesus Christ of Nazareth. As part of this, they engage the Bible in a style that uncovers it’s meaning for young people who are willing to say, “Yes!” to God in everyday ways.

Faith journeys

with children and their households

Exploring how faith grows is essential when it comes to growing faith in our children. Empowering parents and workers with ideas, resources and suggestions is a part of this.

The ethos of ministry & mission

Getting the ‘the vibe’ of your team just-right!

When ministries or missions fail it’s sometimes hard to work out why they failed; why they don’t achieve their goals; why they implode; why nothing was learnt from failure.

Here, you will:

• be affirmed in what your doing right; or
• find out why it’s a mess and how to improve things; or
• learn how to get it right next time.

WOW! Transitions & milestones!

Celebrating some of the important moments of life!

Transition & Milestones Ministry will help a faith community work together with parents and a child’s or young person’s wider family to celebrate the important events in a child’s or young person’s life. Discovering how these times can afford effective teaching moments is also an important part of this ministry as is providing resources to help parents nurture faith.

Storytelling … story listening

A great story told by an excellent storyteller … captivating!!!

No matter where you start on the storytelling spectrum … from simply reading a storybook out loud right through to being a storytelling, over-the-top clown, the hints and insights here will fire you up! Regardless of your preferred style of storytelling, the ingredients are the same. The work needed to understand and apply the craft of storytelling starts with growing the skills as a story listener. Building on this, the principles can be applied to any mode of storytelling. Ready to grow your craft in this area?

Clown ministry

Discover ‘clown within’ and express this in ministry!

Regardless of where you are in your journey of discovering ‘clown within’, there are some important principles to observe and practice along the way that will help share the Gospel. These basic pricinples are also helpful when it comes to drama, storytelling, and even in the way you engage the Bible story.

Puppetry

Welcome to the world of puppetry!

With a few basic principles to get you started, the journey onwards just gets better and better. This performing art is a winner with all ages of participants and audiences. Use this art to convey a message in simple and effective ways.

Help4you

Presentations, training & consultancies.

Working with you to help get the direction right for your context …

• ‘Presentations’ for a variety of contexts helps to not only communicate a message but to also demonstrate many of the principles of ministry with children and families.
• ‘Consultancy’ helps you to see if a review is needed. This will identify and affirm that which is effective and helpful as well as show up areas that need adjustment or change.
• ‘Training’ helps leadership, workers &/or parents to gain the fresh insights or motivation to implement more effective faith forming approaches.