Joining Children on the Spiritual Journey , livre ebook

Baker Publishing Group - Catherine Stonehouse

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113 pages

English

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Understanding how a child's faith forms is crucial to knowing how adults can most significantly enhance the child's spiritual development. This book provides parents, teachers, and Christian education leaders with valuable insights into spiritual formation during childhood.With a biblical perspective as a starting point and a recognition of the crucial role of both the family and the faith community, Stonehouse reviews important contributions from noted child development experts Erik Erikson, Jean Piaget, Lawrence Kohlberg, and James Fowler. This overview gives insight into the processes of psychosocial, cognitive, and moral development in children and adolescents.Stonehouse concludes with solid guidelines for designing children's ministries. By carefully "setting the stage" through liturgy, sacred stories, and parables, Christian educators can help children meet with God. Quiet times of "godly play," carefully adapted to the age level of the child, enable adults to join with children on the journey toward deeper intimacy with God.

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Philosophie et théologie

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Publié par	Baker Publishing Group
Date de parution	01 mars 1998
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781585583119
Langue	English
Poids de l'ouvrage	1 Mo

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0691€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

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BridgePoint, an imprint of Baker Books,
is your connection
for the best in serious reading that integrates the passion of the heart with the scholarship of the mind.

© 1998 by Catherine Stonehouse
Published by Baker Academic a division of Baker Publishing Group P.O. Box 6287, Grand Rapids, MI 49516-6287 www.bakeracademic.com
Ebook edition created 2011
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means for example, electronic, photocopy, recording without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.
ISBN 978-1-5855-8311-9
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file at the Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
Scripture quotations are taken from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright © 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved..
To Tammy, Ted, Paul, and David, Christie, Julie, and Kara, my nieces and nephews who invited me into their childhood and created for me the pleasant memories of their becoming, which illustrate this book, and who continue to give me the treasured gift of their love.
CONTENTS Cover Title Page Copyright Page Dedication Acknowledgments 1 Preparing for the Journey 2 Children in the Bible 3 Foundations for Faith 4 Young Learners in Action 5 The Child’s View on Right and Wrong 6 Knowing God in Childhood 7 Growing in Faith 8 Setting the Stage for Knowing God 9 Pilgrims Together on the Journey Notes Index About the Author
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

y thanks to the many young friends who gave me permission to tell their stories in these pages.
Also, my appreciation to Ellen Dennison, the first “critical” and encouraging reader for each chapter, Dorothy Pohl, an excellent copy editor, and Melinda Van Engen and Lois Stück, skilled editors who helped me polish the manuscript. And thanks to Brenda Story for checking all those footnotes and to acquisitions editor Robert Hosack, who guided the whole project with vision. What a joy to work with each of them.
PREPARING FOR THE JOURNEY

arah’s parents and grandparents stood before the pastor, and the whole congregation stood behind them, pledging our support to this young family. The pastor held Sarah in his arms as he prayed, “May Sarah Jane become a woman of God.” My heart responded, “Yes, Lord.” Later I wondered how that would happen. How could we as members of Sarah’s church contribute to the answering of that prayer? What did Sarah need from us? What did her parents need? How could we know?
Most churches minister with children in some way. Too often, they simply perpetuate what they have done for many years without questioning whether or not those approaches are effective in forming the faith of children. Some children’s workers invest great energy in providing creative, interesting programs. But do they have a reason for the activities that goes beyond holding the children’s interest? Do they understand how a child’s faith forms and how adults on the spiritual journey with children can most significantly enhance the child’s spiritual development?
Spiritual formation during childhood is too important to simply perpetuate programs and hope for the best; it is too important to experiment with approaches without having a way to judge their effectiveness. Parents and those leading children’s ministries will be able to facilitate more effectively the spiritual growth of children in their care when they understand the process of spiritual formation.
Christian bookstores are full of books and curriculum resources for use with children. Shelves hold not one but several choices of materials for Sunday school, midweek clubs, vacation Bible school, children’s worship, and divorce recovery packaged between colorful covers or in activity boxes. What more does the parent or children’s ministry leader need, you may ask.
Let me answer with an illustration: On my desk sits a notebook computer with great potential. A few years ago this technological wonder was the major frustration in my life as I tried to learn a new program and make the computer perform at my command. Now I have mastered the methods for using it to write letters or books and to make transparencies, and most of the time it is no longer a frustration. But the other day a message appeared on the screen: “Major disc error.” I was helpless. You see, I know nothing about the inner workings of the computer and, as a result, have no idea how to go about solving major problems. My limited computer knowledge also means that I tap only a fraction of my computer’s potential.
Adults who care about children need to understand the inner workings of the developing child. If we do not understand those processes, we will not know when our methods are not contributing to spiritual growth. We will not be able to identify the missing pieces in the child’s experience or know how to compensate for the lack. When we understand the process, we will be aware of ways to release the faith community’s potential to foster the spiritual life of children. This book is written to lead us in an examination of the inner workings of development and spiritual formation during childhood.
M ETHODS FOR B UILDING U NDERSTANDING
Where can we turn for an understanding of how faith forms and what experiences children need on their spiritual journey? Where can we find guidelines for the development of ministries with children? People search for such direction in a variety of ways. Four approaches often used by Christian educators are the traditional, pragmatic, social-science, or biblical approach.
The Traditional Approach
Continuing to provide ministries that served well in the past is important in the traditional approach, and energy is invested in revitalizing existing programs. In the search for workable ideas, traditionalists may ask: What did I enjoy as a child? What did my children respond to best when they were in Sunday school or the midweek children’s club? Should we try those approaches again? Traditionalists may resist change because they fear losing the positive features of long-term programs. They value the tradition and faith that was handed down to them and may assume the means used in the past are essential for passing the faith on to the next generation.
The Pragmatic Approach
The driving question in the pragmatic approach is, what works? Pragmatists are always in search of what is working for others. When evaluating whether to pick up a new idea, several questions surface: Does the activity draw children in and hold their interest? Is the approach creative and fun? Could the people we have working with children in our church use the method, resource, or program? Pragmatists are aware that children’s lives are filled with stimulating media, and they seek Christian education methods that are equally stimulating.
The Social-Science Approach
Some religious educators [1] believe the social sciences provide the most accurate description of the educational process. Since religious instruction is education, they consult the insights of social science to inform their ministries with children. In this view, the Bible and theology are important, but they are seen as the content in religious instruction not the sources for understanding the process. Social-science advocates point out the dangers of an overspiritualized view of religious instruction, which expects God to act outside of natural processes and which leads teachers not to worry about their preparation or effectiveness, because they trust God to do the teaching and the life changing. [2] Some who value the social sciences fear that when Christians begin with a study of biblical perspectives on education, the serious examination of findings from the social sciences is short-circuited.
The Biblical Approach
Many Christian educators believe strongly in the importance of Scripture as a source of guidance for all of life, including religious instruction and spiritual formation. They turn to the Bible in their search for insights on effective ministry with children. Some who give ultimate authority to Scripture question using the findings of social science, since much of the research is done by persons who do not embrace the Christian faith as they understand it. Although the findings of science may be helpful for knowing how to teach mathematics, it is assumed that secular research has little contribution to make in the understanding of Christian education or spiritual formation. Those who distrust the social sciences may claim to depend for guidance on the Bible only, not realizing that what one sees in Scripture or chooses to focus on is influenced by the experiences that have formed the person. As a result, the biblical guidelines they identify may sound like the tenets of the education that they experienced.
An Integrated Approach
Might it be possible that tradition, human experience, social-science research, and Scripture all provide insights for understanding a child’s spiritual formation? Is there a way of bringing together the strengths of these approaches in an integrated search for truth and understanding? I believe there is.
Before discussing a method for an integrated approach, we need to examine the relationship between Scripture or theology and the social sciences an issue debated by Christian educators. Ted Ward, an insightful Christian educator, presents an understanding of truth that makes possible an integration of theology and science. Ward begins with God as the source of all truth, which is revealed through God’s actions as creator and author (see fig. 1). The universe is the result of God’s creative activity and Scripture came into being as the Spirit of God acted to inspire writers across the centuries. God created human beings with