The Effective Ministry Podcast

Tim is joined by Meaghan Gates, Children’s Minister at St. Michael’s Cathedral, Wollongong . Meaghan shares her Flourishing Disciples Framework with six categories of age-appropriate features that may be evident in children who are disciples of Jesus. Meaghan has developed this framework in order to help ministry leaders and parents notice and nurture faith in young children. It has also provided...

Adam Jolliffe (Children's Ministry Advisor, Youthworks) joins Tim Beilharz to explore the "Three C's" of Children's and Youth Ministry Leadership: Care, Communication, and Coaching. Adam shares about his own ministry experience and how these three priorities will help leadership teams of any size do effective ministry. Click on through⁠  to discover more from ⁠the Youthworks Ministry Support Team⁠...

Bec Baines ( Accessibility Advisor, Youthworks ) and Luke Graham ( Kids and Youth Minister, St Paul's Canterbury ) join Tim Beilharz to talk about neurodiversity in our children's and youth ministry. Neurodiversity is increasingly becoming a topic that affects our young people and that churches are wanting to engage with well. From big emotions, social anxiety, and spiritually formative spaces, Be...

House Conference 2023 is upon us. In celebration we are going back in time and listening in on Rev. Dr. Tim Escott and his 2022 House Conference Paper on the book of Proverbs. The Path to Wisdom: Searching and Finding Order in Proverbs 2 explores how the wisdom literature can help us disciple young people in a world with so many competing voices on what constitutes the good life. ⁠Click on through...

House Conference 2023 is almost upon us. In celebration we are going back in time and listening in on Rev. Dr. Andrew Spalding and his 2022 House Conference Paper on the book of Ecclesiastes. Nothing New Under the Sun: Ecclesiastes as a Critique of the Postmodern Quest explores the meaning of the book of Ecclesiastes as false wisdom and how understanding this book can help us disciple our young pe...

In this pre-House Conference warm up episode, Tim Beilharz and Al James ( Youthworks ) are joined by Naomi de Vries ( Bridge Church ) to discuss the two academic papers being presented at House Conference 2023. Rev Dr Keith Condie has written about the importance of Christians expressing emotions, but rightly ordering them and directing them towards love of God and love of others. Dr Kamina Wüst h...

Many churches will include children in the main service for a least some, if not all, of the time together. But children move, call out, make noise, and act like... well, children. This week Tim answers a question from a keen but distracted adult, "How would you encourage people to persevere and love having kids in the main meeting?" To be part of a future mailbag episode, send questions to ⁠effec...

Isaac Shumack ( Youth Minister, Toongabbie Anglican Church ) has made the move to intentionally partner more with parents in his Youth Ministry. He joins Tim Beilharz to discuss the why, the how, and what has been the fruit of intentionally doing Youth Ministry with the family in mind. Tim also chats to Al James about the benefits of the children's and youth ministry coaching offered by Youthworks...

Tim Beilharz sends through the third batch of "Postcards from Nashville," a collection of short conversations with pastors, researchers and authors who presented at  Intergenerate Conference 2023  at Lipscomb University in Nashville, Tennessee. In this episode we hear from: Stacey Davis ( Dallas Theological Seminary ) - Ancient Israelite intergenerational faith practices Amy Yu ( Scarborough Chine...

Al James chats with Tim Beilharz about Al’s recent article on discipling youth through identity struggles, the concept of “identity moratorium”, and how churches can provide a space where teens can doubt, struggle, and question the things that are most important to them. We'd love to hear from you. Send your thoughts, comments, suggestions, and critiques to effectiveministrypodcast@youthworks.net...

Tim Beilharz sends through the second batch of "Postcards from Nashville," a collection of short conversations with pastors, researchers and authors who presented at  Intergenerate Conference 2023  at Lipscomb University in Nashville, Tennessee. In this episode we hear from: Christina Embree ( ReFocus Ministry ) - Bridges and Barriers to intergenerational ministry Tony Souder ( Pray For Me Campaig...

Ed Drew is the Ministry Director of Faith in Kids , a UK ministry whose heart is to see confident parents and thriving churches working together to raise children who trust in Jesus eternally. Ed was recently out in Sydney and spent time with Youthworks running and Children's Ministry Masterclass and Think Tank event. This week's episode is some of the audio from Ed's Think Tank which looked at th...

Tim Beilharz sends through the first few "Postcards from Nashville," a collection of short conversations with pastors, researchers and authors who presented at Intergenerate Conference 2023 at Lipscomb University in Nashville, Tennessee. In this episode we hear from: Mimi Larson (Trinity Evangelical Divinity School) - Children as full participants in the worshipping community Jason Brian Santos (C...

Dr. Ruth Powell, director of the National Church Life Survey (NCLS) joins Tim Beilharz to discuss the NCLS's Child Survey which hears from 8 to 14 year olds in the churches. Ruth shares data from the 2021-2022 Child Survey which answers such questions as: What do children think about church and about the Christian faith? Who do children look to as positive role models in their family and in the ch...

Following on from last episode, Dr. Sarah Holmes takes some Q&A about her research on the post-Covid church in the UK. What was the difference between spiritual health in the home vs. in church programs? How competent did parents feel about discipling their children? What does relational discipleship--over and above church programs--actually look like? How should the pandemic reshape our visio...

Dr. Sarah Holmes joins the Youthworks Team to discuss her research on the post-Covid church in the UK. Sarah discusses what happened to children's ministry in the UK and the impact that had on child faith formation. However, it’s not all bad news! Sarah encourages us to look for the gifts that come from the pandemic and the ability to reimagine, recreate and rebuild a ministry that is more effecti...

Rev. Suz Gorham (NSW Police Chaplin) and Josie Seto (Assistant Youth Minister, MBM Rooty Hill) are back with Al James to discuss the mental health of young people in our post-Covid world. Originally recorded after the first major lockdown in Sydney in 2020, this "lost episode" from the  Under the Crown  podcast series still has key insights into understanding the mental state of the young people i...

Rev. Suz Gorham (NSW Police Chaplin) and Josie Seto (Assistant Youth Minister, MBM Rooty Hill) join Al James to discuss the mental health of young people in our post-Covid world. Originally recorded after the first major lockdown in Sydney in 2020, this "lost episode" from the Under the Crown podcast series still has key insights into understanding the mental state of the young people in our churc...

Bonus Episode with more from Trinette Stanley, Family & Life Skills Educator (Mental Health) at ⁠Anglicare⁠ . Tim and Trinette chat about some theological considerations when it comes to mental ill-health and how the gospel is uniquely equipped to speak into the lives of those who are in the midst of experiencing psychological distress. We'd love to hear from you. Send your thoughts, comments,...

Trinette Stanley, Family & Life Skills Educator (Mental Health) at Anglicare , joins us to discuss mental health in children and teenagers and how children and youth ministry leaders can best support young people and their families. You can reach out to Trinette by email and find out more about the work of Anglicare . Read ⁠⁠'Tell Me More' by Al James⁠   ⁠at Youthworks.net. We'd love to hear f...

Alice Warren joins the podcast to talk about her new book A Godparent’s Handbook: Nurturing your godchild’s Faith for Life. Alice talks about the theology of baptism and the role of godparents in the Anglican Tradition and gives some helpful suggestions for how godparents can engage in the faith development of their godchildren through infancy, childhood and through adolescent years. A Godparent’s...

Newly appointed Accessibility Ministry Advisor, Bec Baines, joins Tim Beilharz to discuss her new role. Bec is passionate about the inclusion of all children and youth in churches and in ministries, espeically those with additional physical and intellectual needs. Bec shares stories of where accessibility has worked well, blind spots that we may have in making inclusive and welcoming spaces, and w...

Recent developments in the field of neuroscience and neuropsychology have given us a depth of understanding of children’s attention spans, focus levels, the interaction of emotions and learning, and the need for a warm environment. Annemarie Rivers joins Tim Beilharz to have a conversation about these topics and the implications for children’s ministry. How do these insights help us plan teaching...

Youthworks vision is to see effective youth and children's ministry in every church. In this first episode of 2023, Tim Beilharz sits down with Youthworks CEO Rev'd Craig Roberts to discuss his leadership of the organisation. The discussion includes, Craig's growing understanding of Youthworks: from the "junk room of the Diocese" to a "diverse portfolio of complementary ministries," How to manage...

In this last episode of Season 1, we wrap up our mini-series on Church History by chatting to two practitioners in Children's and Youth Ministry. Tim Beilharz sits down with Children's Minister Kaitlyn Dixon and Youth Minister James Ulrich to hear why they think church history is important to teach young people and how they have done it in their ministry at St Mark's Anglican Church, West Wollongo...