Spiritual Formation in Children

Conspire Blogger:
Henry Zonio

http://www.elementalcm.com

 

The spiritual formation of children was the topic for the second general session at Conspire. When it comes to spiritual formation, many of us in children's ministry feel ill equipped to discuss it. Some of us may have begun this children's ministry thing on accident. Some of us may have some Bible school training. Few of us have any schooling that qualifies us to talk about spiritual formation.

 

For this session, Amy Dolan facilitated a panel discussion with some big hitters in the field of spiritual formation: Drs. Ivy Beckwith and Donald Ratcliff. Ivy Beckwith is a member of the Emergent Coordinating team and the Board of Directors of Mars Hill Graduate School in
Bothell, Washington.  She is the author of Quick Relief for Children's Ministry Leaders (Group) and Postmodern Children's Ministry (YS/Emergent).
More can be found out about Dr. Beckwith at http://SoulShepherds.com.

 

Don Ratcliff is a Christian Education professor at Wheaton College in the area of Christian formation and ministry as well as a leading researcher in the field of children's spirituality. His research can be found at http://childfaith.net.

Amy began by asking the panel how they would define "spiritual formation of children." Dr. Ratcliff answered by simply saying that spiritual formation of children is encouraging them to be Christ like. He also reminded us all that it is God's job to do the transforming; we can participate in the facilitation of that transformation, but it is ultimately God's job. Dr. Beckwith chimed in by saying that spiritual formation of children is "helping the child to love God and live in the way of Jesus."

 

Amy then asked the panel how we can gauge when spiritual formation is happening in the lives of children. Both Drs. Beckwith and Ratcliff agreed that there is not easy way to measure spiritual formation. They stated that life change is the only real way to see the results of spiritual formation. Dr. Ratcliff concluded by saying, "It [spiritual formation] is not a test. It's a testimony."

 

The panel then went on to discuss the positive and negative influences that the church and home have on spiritual formation. Drs. Beckwith and Ratcliff emphasized the importance of the church and home to realize that children can have a spiritual life. Many times adults tend to downplay what children share as their spiritual experiences when we need to be encouraging them in their efforts at connecting with God.

 

Another issue that was addressed was the need to be aware of the "hidden curriculum" that we teach children. We need to pay attention to what we say to children, what our songs teach children, and how we present what it means to have a relationship with God. We need to see our lessons from the perspective of a child and be sure to have "child-sized" lessons.

 

The panel discussion concluded with a discussion on the role of family in spiritual formation of children. Dr. Ratcliff affirmed that parents are the greatest spiritual influence on children. He encouraged those in children's ministry to come alongside parents and encourage and resource parents to pass on faith to their children. He also reminded those of us in children's ministry to have grace with parents as they try to be that faith model to their children.

 

Dr. Beckwith concluded the discussion with a caution to not hold onto models of children's ministry but to look at our individual communities and churches and take a look at the definitions of spiritual formation we each have. She then encouraged us to take those definitions and use them to guide our ethos of spiritual formation in children.

As you reflect on what was shared by Drs. Beckwith and Ratcliff here are some questions we'd like you to consider and interact with:

• How would you define spiritual formation in children in light of what Drs. Beckwith and Ratcliff said? Do you agree with their definitions?
• Are you doing anything to measure spiritual formation in children at your church? If so, what does it look like? If not, how would you take what you heard from the panel and use it to come up with a way to measure spiritual formation?
• What is the "hidden curriculum" you are teaching? Is there anything you are teaching inadvertently that may be a negative influence on your children's spiritual formation? What can you do to be more aware of your "hidden curriculum?"
• What do you do with the statement that it is God's job to do spiritual formation? What does that mean? How does change your perspective at what you do as a children's minister?
• I look forward to interacting with you on this session. I encourage you to leave a comment, especially if you've never done something like that before on a blog! 

 

Comments

[Abbie]

I'm sorry to say, but I also share Susan T experiences.I wised that this session would have worked out, but it was a big disappointment instead.
Hope the next one, if I will attend, will be better.

[Don Ratcliff]

I'm sorry to hear the session was such a disappointment to some of you. There were some other questions that might have been of interest, but time ran out on us. Perhaps the couch was too comfortable!

If anyone is interested in reading about the ten "rats" in the church, and some practical suggestions for church ministry (especially those related to helping parents), you might want to check my web site:
www.childfaith.net

God bless you all!

Don Ratcliff

[Ellen Whittington]

Have to agree with Susan in that it came across as staid and lacking energy. I've been in ministry for 30+ years and have never been a believer of the strictly oral presentation...EVER!

Great information overall in a weakly wrapped package.

I was very disappointed with the confirmation class story Dr. Ivy Beckwith related - if the best thing about that class (that day?)was she got them to set the chairs out, therefore they were engaged and contributed...wow!...what does that say about the confirmation program and/or the teachers? OUCH!

I teach confirmation as a minister in a Lutheran setting and half the time we're not even in chairs or the classroom if I can help it. If you look at what Group Publishing has been doing a great job of doing, you would be making it R.E.A.L.! Relational, Experiential, Applicable and Learner Based...doing this uses almost all five of our senses...hits at least 2-3 ways of which we learn during the entire time you and your class are together and invites you to be creative with yourself and the class to make learning something you want again and again. No, I don't work for Group but I do like tooting the horn for something that works!

[Suzy Q]

This session was unbelievably bad. It felt old-school. . .especially in comparison to the previous session in looking at just how much children have changed with media influence. After Phil, we needed a "How do today's children's ministries need to address this media crisis?!" That pressing question never got answered.

[Henry Zonio]

Susan,

I can understand the disappointment. I'd like to know, though, what did you learn, if anything from the session? Was there anything that stood out? What did you take away apart from your disappointment? Even with the scripting, there was a lot there, especially from Drs. Beckwith and Ratcliff that I know I resonated with and caused me to think about what I am doing in my CM when it comes to thinking through child spiritual development.

[Susan T.]

This session was regretfully a great disappointment for our team. When it was done we just sat in our seats in wonder. Amy asked the same questions again and again and repeated to much, not allowing the speakers to share. It was to stiff and scripted - our team breathed a sigh of relief when it was all done.