The Child in God's Church - The Book

In January 2025, Youthworks Media published my first book, The Child In God’s Church: Faith-formative Relationships That Grow Disciples Who Know, Love and Obey King Jesus.

After 25 years of children’s ministry practice, including 12 years as a Children’s Ministry advisor, consultant and lecturer for Youthworks in Sydney, I felt we were missing an extended explanation of why we do children’s ministry, particularly from an Australian and Evangelical perspective. I wrote this book as one contribution towards a cohesive, biblically grounded philosophy of Children’s Ministry.

The premise of the book is simple. If we have a robust theological understanding of ‘the child’ and of ‘God’s church’, then we are well placed to answer the question, ‘what ought to be happening when this child enters this church. My answer is that there are three interconnected and necessarily dependent “spheres of discipleship” that ought to occur.

1. Children’s Ministry: age-specialist ministry that caters for the realities of child development.

2. Family Ministry: the church’s intentional engagement into and equipping of the child’s household.

3. Intergenerational Ministry: the child’s full integration into the all-age, all-stage body of Christ in their local gathering of God’s people.

Here’s how I diagram the relationship between all three*. Each arrow represents the theological necessity of intentional engagement between the church (because of who and what it is), children (because of who and whose they are), and the relational connections that can be fostered by the church.

These three spheres of discipleship are interdependent, each forming the faith of the child in complementary ways. I hope that by grasping the theological and strategic foundations of Children’s Ministry, (1) local church ministers and leaders, (2) parents and households, and (3) other adults invested in seeing children come to Christ and continue in him will be inspired in their respective roles in fostering faith in these little ones and share the joy of children knowing, loving, and obeying King Jesus.

*I am deeply thankful to Isabelle Redmond for illustrating all the diagrams in the book including the cover image.

Buy The Book

Here are a few of the places you can find The Child In God’s Church.

• Youthworks Media (AU) or (UK)

• Koorong

• The Wandering Bookseller

• Amazon Kindle (AU) or (USA)

• Apple Books

Here’s some of the lovely things that others have said about The Child in God’s Church.

A must-read for youth and children’s ministers. The book offers a richly biblical and practical approach to forming the faith of the next generation.
Timothy Paul Jones, Ph.D. - Professor of apologetics and family ministry, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Louisville, Kentucky, USA

Each chapter is theologically rich, robust, and nuanced, accessible to pastors and parents, children’s ministry leaders and spiritual grandparents.
Ed Springer - Senior Minister, Orange Evangelical Church, Aus

Instead of simply offering ‘how to’s’ and then tagging on a Bible verse to justify his recommendations, Tim’s book offers a biblically rich and pastorally wise framework.
Mike McGarry - Founder and Director of Youth Pastor Theologian

With a pastor’s heart and a scholar’s mind, Tim carefully draws together the threads of church, family and segmented ministries into a well-balanced and complete picture.
Dr. Robin Barfield - Lecturer in Practical Theology, Oak Hill College, UK

Tim has done the hard work for us - taking us on a journey through the historical factors that have shaped how we think about kids ministry today.
Sandy Galea - Founder & Director of Kidswise

The Child in God’s Church is a masterful blend of theological depth, scriptural fidelity, and practical wisdom.
Michael Handler - Chief Innovation Officer, Awana

Tim’s patented framework for interweaving children’s, family, and intergenerational ministry makes this book a unique contribution to the field of faith formation.
David M. Csinos - Associate Professor of Practical Theology at Atlantic School of Theology and founder of Faith Forward

The Child in God’s Church is worthy of reading for theologians and practitioners wanting to grow lifelong disciples of Jesus.
Daron Pratt, Children’s Pastor & Director of Intergenerate Australia

The Child in God’s Church is a must read for every minister, whether they work directly with children or not.
Naomi de Vries - Assistant Pastor, Children and Families, The Bridge Church

This book is for the whole church - ministry leaders, parents and caregivers, all the people of God - and it will inform and enable the whole people of God to faithfully include, nurture and disciple the children in our midst.
Dr. Valerie M. Grissom - Author of All Ages Becoming: Intergenerational Practice in the Formation of God’s People

Tim provides a theologically rich exploration of children’s ministry, emphasizing the importance of understanding the “why” behind our practices.
Matt Markins - President and CEO, Awana

This book also speaks to anyone with a heart for seeing children and families flourishing together in faith, making ti a valuable resource for those ministering to people of any age.
Chris Barnett - Intergenerational Ministry Consultant

You have in your hands a rare thing in children’s ministry, in fact, it’s unique. We needed this book.
Gareth Crispin - Lecturer in Practical Theology, Cliff College, UK