CDM Accepting Applicants for 2021 Children’s Ministries Certification
By Zoe S. Erler
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“I always felt like I was floundering a bit in the first few years of our church plant, going Sunday to Sunday, trying to get our nursery filled with warm bodies,” says Krysta Orona, the families ministry director at Mosaic Church in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Intuitively, she knew, “There needs to be more than this.”

In 2019, after searching online for resources, Orona joined 32 non-ordained children’s ministry staff and volunteers from PCA churches across the country. Together, they composed the first class of PCA Discipleship Ministries’ (CDM) Children’s Ministries Certification program. The certification is a 12-month course that combines digital instruction, an online community, and special projects.

A newcomer to Presbyterianism, Orona was surprised by the heavy emphasis on Reformed theology, and not just the nuts and bolts of creating a children’s ministry. The theological framework gave her a bigger vision, she says.

“My biblical view of the ministry completely changed,” Orona explains. “Seeing this ministry as not just babysitting for an hour, but, really … discipling the next generation. We need to invest our time, energy, money, and prayer into this — into these kids and into the volunteers.”

She picked up a lot of practical tips from the course instructors and other participants, she says. Things such as how to develop a child-protection policy that fits the church culture, how to handle conflict, and how to cultivate volunteers.

Vivian Tapia, Orona’s mentor throughout the course, says that Orona now walks into a room differently.

“She has more confidence,” Tapia says, “a more commanding presence. Just watching her interact with the volunteers — how she talks with them, how she walks through the church, the way she keeps an eye on everything — she looks different.”

Orona says that seeing children come to Jesus is the reason this course matters so much. “When they realize how much Jesus loves them, and how much His sacrifice means for us … man! There is nothing better in the world than that.”

CDM is accepting applications until Oct. 1 for the class of 2021. The certification is open to anyone who’s had at least six months experience in children’s ministry, and the cost is $1,550. Visit https://certification.pcacdm.org to learn more.

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