Cara Railey
Springfield, MO
Cara Railey has served in education and local church ministry in a variety of capacities. Cara graduated from Evangel University in 2000 with a BS in Elementary Education and in 2003 with a Masters of Education in Reading. She has taught in the elementary classroom and was a Reading Specialist for Springfield Public Schools. Cara was an instructor at Southwestern Assemblies of God University from 2007–2010 and served as the Oaks School of Leadership Student Development Director during the same time. In 2010, Cara and her husband Chris started New Community Church in Mesquite, Texas and in 2012 she assumed the role of Executive Pastor. In 2014, Chris and Cara transitioned to the National Leadership and Resource Center where Chris serves as the Senior Director of Leadership and Church Development and Cara serves as a Gender Ministries Strategist. As Gender Ministries Strategist, Cara provides guidance to the unique ministry needs of both boys and girls. Chris and Cara have been married fifteen years and have three boys.
Care-taking isn’t the hard part of parenting; discipling is. I felt I was wasting the time I have with my kids on the little things and not focusing on what really matters. I decided I needed to get control of what I can control and structure our mornings so there was less stress and frenzy. So drive times to school became a perfect time for God moments.
If we want to create an environment where each boy and girl in our ministry has the best opportunity to grow as a Spirit-filled disciple, we must value gender-specific mentoring and discipleship. Over the course of the week, we’ve been discussing the various reasons gender-specific discipleship is an important aspect of kids’ ministry.
Gender-specific mentoring can be a critical component in any healthy discipling relationship. While I wholeheartedly believe we can be discipled by the opposite gender, I also believe that if you’re a man, it’s important to learn from other men (and vice-versa). The importance of gender-specific ministry is greatest in the area of children’s ministry.
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