Theology of Children

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Comment by Geoff Felton on 28 June 2008 at 11:30pm

"It seems to me that children are born with a God consciousness that is suppressed by contact with the adult world."

I agree this seems to be the case from what I have seen with children that I work with.
On thursday night I was reacquainted with the Engels Scale, do you know it? Basically it's a scale from 1 to 10 where 1 is a complete non believer and 10 is a Christian, the numbers in between are the stages of faith development. It got me thinking this scale takes no account of childhood faith because the underlying assumption of the scale appears to be linear development of faith rather than an underlying inherent awareness of God which is what children appear to have very early on.
What do people think?

Comment by Don Ratcliff on 24 June 2008 at 7:21am

Just a note here to let you know of a web page on child theology--www.childtheology.net .

Also, you may want to look at a conference to be held in June, 2008--see www.childspirituality.org

All the best,
Don Ratcliff

Comment by Dave and Sheri Gidney on 23 June 2008 at 10:33am

reply to Catherine ...
Thanks for the comment you posted 24th May
Interesting ... probably worth starting a discussion on

"It seems to me that children are born with a God consciousness that is suppressed by contact with the adult world."

What do folk think?
How does this square with the doctrine of original sin ?
What if the parents are not modelling faith properly ?
Does this highlight parenting issues ?

Comment by Catherine Montgomery on 24 May 2008 at 9:48am

Children's faith development is something that I think the church has underestimated. As you say, Anne, it is growth as in the relationship with parents. It seems to me that children are born with a God consciousness that is supressed by contact with the adult world. (This would concur with Hay and Nye) Our job as children's workers is to help them to know and then understand the God of whom they are aware. It will probably be a gradual process and at some point there may be a 'conversion experience'. However, the end result is that they know Jesus as Lord of their lives. simply grows.

Comment by Dave and Sheri Gidney on 26 April 2008 at 8:55pm

OK ... here goes ... quick Bible verse ... what does this mean ?
Psalm 127:5 Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them. They will not be put to shame when they contend with their enemies in the gate.

Harry Sprange and I have had a chat about this ... what do others think?

Comment by rajapaulgajendran on 9 April 2008 at 9:00pm

Hello,
Greetings. I am interesting to join in our group of Theology of Children. God Bless it.
Thanks
raja

Comment by Harry Bryans on 25 March 2008 at 3:14pm

There is still so much to be discovered and shared about what the Bible says about children. God delights in using children throughout scripture, church history and today's church to challenge, minister to, bless the world and keep us humble! Our historical vision has to be readjusted to have a more faithful reading and balanced understanding of the Bible's teaching about children. I'm here to learn more.