The General Board of Discipleship is our connection with the global United Methodist Church. This official agency of the church provides resources to connect and equip leaders to make disciples.
The children’s division has a large variety of resources that can be helpful to you and your ministry with children in your local congregation.
All of the resources mentioned below, unless otherwise indicated, can be found at:www.gbod.org/children
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“Justice, Justice Shall You Pursue:” Answering God’s Call to Protect Children
This is the theme of the 2011 National Observance of Children’s Sabbaths Weekend.
This year Children’s Sabbath will focus on the closing the achievement gap in education that currently has children in poverty and children of color falling further and further behind, and ensuring that education becomes the engine of equality, not inequality.
Level of educational achievement is the best predictor of future income; ensuring that every child gets a high quality education is the best poverty-prevention program we have.
Although Children’s Sabbath is held on the weekend of October 14-16, many United Methodist congregations will hold activities on the weekend of October 7-9.
Click here for more information.
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This is a guide for leaders and teachers of children in the area of faith formation.
This resource contains a comprehensive guide to scripture significant for children as they develop cognitively and theologically. It is meant to closely follow the three-year lectionary cycle.
It also contains a chart of what children need and understand developmentally around the beliefs and concepts of God, Worship, The Bible, Home and Family, Everyday Life, Community and Wesleyan Heritage.
Click here to download the pdf guide.
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Guidelines for Weekday Preschool Ministries in an United Methodist Church
John Wesley believed that “God begins his work in children.”
As a commitment to faithfully forming our children, a group of dedicated early childhood educators and ministers developed these guidelines to connect and support Early Childhood programs within the United Methodist Connection.
The guidelines are designed to maintain high educational and ethical standards that are consistent across United Methodist Weekday Preschool Ministry Programs.
As a denomination, we believe that “Churches should follow some process of self-study for their childcare programs on a regular basis.”It is the hope that these materials will equip you with what your community needs to meet and exceed standards of quality care of children.
Click here to download the guide.
This pdf contains additional information, as a supplement to the guide.
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Sunday School Comparison Chart
This list of Sunday school curriculum includes resources approved by the Curriculum Resources Committee of the United Methodist General Board of Discipleship for use in the Christian education ministry of the United Methodist Church, according to Paragraph 1122 in the Book of Discipline of the United Methodist Church.
Click here to download the chart.
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The Inclusive Church
This is a wonderful site that can help those of us in the church address the needs of all of those with special needs while being faithful to the traditions of the church. Our table is open… for ALL!!!
Click here to visit the site: http://theinclusivechurch.wordpress.com/