Many of us today went to church; many of us, whether we paid attention or not, passed by children’s ministry in our churches. Many of these ministries are called Sunday School. There was a day when SS class was about going to church, sitting at a table with other little kids, getting a sheet of paper, coloring and writing and listening, hearing a lesson and going home. No one would dispute that such an approach to children’s ministry accomplished good things. But with all the developments in:
Educational theory and
Spiritual formation
Is there any book that guides us into new ideas in children’s ministry? I have one to recommend to you: Ivy Beckwith’s Formational Children’s Ministry: Shaping Children Using Story, Ritual, and Relationship (emersion: Emergent Village resources for communities of faith)
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What are the most influential elements of your local church’s and family’s spiritual formation program for children?
There’s much to talk about in this book — that she focuses on some very solid ideas for us today: story, ritual and relationships.
She has a good grip on educational theory and the important distinction between formal and information education; she wants us to incorporate the Bible’s story, the Church’s story, and our local community/church’s story. What I liked most is that she encourages teachers to slow down enough to let children — in their formative educational experiences — to “do” and to “pray” and to “experience” instead of just hearing about and being informed about such things.
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