Children's Ministry For Tomorrow

[Robert Hubbard]

For the past couple of months I've been thinking about what effective children's ministry will look like in the future and even if our ministry is as effective as it could be now. I'll say now that I have yet to come to any firm conclusions on either question. I would like to share some thoughts that I've had so far and hopefully together we can prepare for the future.
For a recent essay I wrote I read two books which argued that the church had moved away from it's roots, not in the past few years, but in the first century. They both argued that early church abandoned it's Jewish roots soon after the death of the apostles and adopted a Greek worldview. This effectively meant that the church split the physicalness of everyday life from the spiritual realm. This has translated into the common thought of having your ‘church life’ separate from your ‘everyday life’ and that you can only do certain ‘spiritual activities’ to connect with God.
I don’t want to argue fully this whole area, mostly because I’ve not done enough reading and reflecting to say definitely which way I would go. Though I think hearing some other thoughts on this would be good because of its possible impact on the thinking in this blog.
Say for a moment though that we assume this is true, that we do have a more Greek outlook when we shouldn’t. What impact does that have on our ministry?
I think one of the biggest impacts is the ‘programme and event’ centred ministry. We ask children to come to events, clubs, etc… but often don’t connect outside of these. Even during these events we sometimes ask children to do ‘special’ activities in order to connect with God. We don’t often connect with them in the ordinariness of their lives and show them how God is there as well. So how could we return to a community style model where we look for God at home, school, play and other things we do? Wouldn’t adopting a model like this be helpful in engaging with the whole family and not isolating the children?
I’ll stop for now because I think blog’s should be short thoughts not a book. But what do you think? Do you think I’m completely wrong? Are you already doing something like this now, if so do tell.

[Ruth Thomas]

On the historical question, surely the book of Acts records the early stages of the church moving away from its Jewish roots -- eg the church council recorded in Acts 15, where it was agreed that Christian men don't have to be circumcised. If we're not all going to "play at being first century semites", as I read somewhere recently, then the church has to adapt to the prevailing culture to some extent, and in the first century around the Mediterranean that meant Greek culture. I wouldn't agree that this was all bad -- the Greeks had some important insights to offer the rest of the world.

The Jewish worldview, where children were nurtured within a faith community that was essentially the same as the wider community, was fine for a country where practically all inhabitants believed the same thing. But it didn't work in Corinth or Rome, where the early Christian community had to learn to live as a small minority surrounded by a wide variety of other beliefs in an antagonistic culture. For similar reasons, it's not going to work straightforwardly in the UK today. If we are to reach out to children currently beyond the church, we have to reckon with the fact that their world isn't the same as the world of the church. Building bridges between the two isn't easy but I know a lot of people who are trying! Schools work has to be at least part of the answer, but I'm sure there are other approaches too...

[Dave Roberts]

I think the point about the Greek worldview is well made by Rob. As Ruth notes the church would often adapt to aspects of local culture and would specifically refer to its thought forms - Colossians is full of references to mystery religion. I think this is different to what Rob is saying. I imagine he would affirm the idea of speaking to cultural need but holding fast to a Hebrew view of life - not a hebrew view of ritual The greek worldview takes you to a different gospel, a 'this world is not my home' view of creation and an emphasis on interior faith.

This is a debate worth having

[Robert Hubbard]

You've summed me up well Dave. I kinda purposefully left myself vague to initiate discussion. I don't want to bring back rituals such as circumcision, ritual cleansing, etc... The use of the 'interior faith' phrase is good. I do believe we should stay culturally relevant it's when the culture shapes or defines that faith.
I think that modern evangelicals can sometimes be an example of how this has happened recently. Some evangelicals have adopted a 'modern' way of defining their faith such as objective viewpoint, rational structured arguments, empirical research methods, etc... This was necessary to speak relevantly to a culture that was wrapped up in this worldview but for some people it's come to define their faith now. They have to some degree removed emotion from their faith. I know I'm speaking in generalisations but there is some truth in them even if we don't want to admit it.
That's what I'm thinking of when I talk about an interior faith that's separate from our everyday lives. The train of thought that says God can only be found in the Word and we can only communicate through prayer. But can God be found at work, play, home? When I go bike riding on a sunny day and feel engrossed by God and His creation as I coast down a country lane am I actually feeling God's presence or is it in my head?
I think we need to discuss this because I think we are at least sometimes subversively teaching children that an interior faith is the only type. All the writing on Postmodernism says people are looking for personal meaning in a community context that speaks to their whole lives.

[Ruth Thomas]

I'll leave aside the question of whether the Hebrew view of life is or should be particularly privileged in Christian thought (which could take rather a lot of time)... Yes, certainly God can be found in all aspects of our lives. The Catholic church has for a long time had a model of children's ministry that sees the family, church and school (all assumed to be Catholic) as partners in nurturing a child in the faith. If all three elements work well, this should help the child to grow up seeing all aspects of their life as important to God, all the places where they spend their time as places where they can learn about God and draw close to him. The role of parents is respected, parents are supported but not replaced by professionals at church and school, and the child becomes part of a supportive church community -- at least that's the theory.

However it's a model that works only for children who are essentially within the church. If we are to reach any of those who live in non-Christian families, don't go to church and are at non-church schools, we need a different way of working and it's inevitable it won't be so community-based since the child's community isn't a Christian one. Hence the "programme and event" mentality, as these can be ways of both reaching into the child's community and inviting them into the church community. At the "Done and Dusted" conference last week, Mark Griffiths was talking about how effective church-based children's outreach projects can be backed up by links both into the wider church and into the children's homes and schools via regular visits. I wouldn't advocate abandoning the programmes and events -- they are essential bridges and starting points -- but I would suggest that the links to home and school, and the provision of ways for children to become part of the church community, are at least as important as the big "do" on a Friday night.

[Janet Evans]

Hey Rob, I think you're on to a gd thought pattern here, 'Cos church is family - or should be! Some of the most 'important' youth times we've had have actually been 'whole church' activities - something as simple as a church picnic, when the men (5+!) go off to play football and the women sit or walk and chat! We all have an inner need to belong - church kids need to know they belong and non-church kids can find somethng amazing when their life meets those who walk with God (this is my experience as a 13 yr old non church kid). The importance of church family cannot be overestimated - kids will remember what we were like long after they've forgotten what we've said - even the way football was played!

[Robert Hubbard]

I personally wouldn't want to abandon doing events either. I really enjoy doing large events where I can go 'over the top' with decoration and props. What I do wonder though is how integral community is to the Christian faith. The obvious answer is very and you see that in the NT. But what about in attracting others to faith?

I don’t mean community in the traditional sense, i.e. place or street that we all live in together, but the way it’s defined now more by the places your active at, hobbies, sports, school and so on. Can our work with children be part of, influence and in some way define these communities?

I think it can. I do schools work and I love it. On Thurs afternoon I go into an infant school and just help. I’m just being part of their community. It’s incredibly hard though for me to find lay people who are willing to do the same, they just don’t see it as important. Some people in ministry would tell me that I’m wasting my time as well because I’m not teaching the Bible from the front of the class.

Maybe we need to reassess what it means to be a Christian community. Traditionally it’s the people that gather at the church for meetings and once they leave the community is dispersed until they gather again. The age old debate of being in the world but not of it in some respects.

[Dave Roberts]

Luke 10 is vital here. The eating part of the sequence. Also Jesus social interaction with Zacheuss - the acceptance was instrumental in the repentence. if we only raid peoples social spaces if we can justify it by witnessing or preaching criteria then we are denying the reality of the unconditional love we champion.

[Janet Evans]

Sad we have to justify what we do, isn't it! My fave bit of the Jesus film is when Jesus goes in to a party and the shocked disciples stay outside! If love is the motivating force, who cares? We have got into a terrible thing of 8 hours meaningful activity per day and if we're really righteous, an evening or two aswell! I had a meal out with an alcoholic friend recently - the more she drank the louder she got, the more she swore and the worse the words became - the thought that kept me happily there was that Jesus would have done been there rather than housegroup! If Robert goes in to school and loves and prays for the kids, well, that's exciting, who knows what fruit may grow! Keep at it, don't let other people's negative views stop you!

[Ruth Thomas]

I see what you mean Janet about it being sad that we have to justify what we do. But for a lot of people who do such things as schools ministry, someone is paying them -- typically lots of people are donating to a charity that pays them -- and that means that we have to be accountable to those people as well as to God. As a minimum we have a responsibility to tell them honestly what we're doing with the time that their money is buying, and explain why we see it as something God wants to be done!

(BTW, great that you were able to spend time with your alcoholic friend recently -- I'm sure you're right that Jesus would have wanted to join you at that meal.)

[Gareth Owen]

I think that over time we have introduced this sacred/seclar split where somewhere along the way we decided that some things are holy and some things aren't. I think God is trying to show us at the moment that he cares about our whole lives and exsistence, he cares as much about what we do ate work, as what we do in the church, as what we do at home, as what we do when we are out in the community, as much as what we do when we are in are cell/home groups. God wants to be involved in all aspects of our lives. We can be very bad at modelling this to children as when we finish our Sunday service we often give the impression that there's our God bit done we'll now move on and do something that's about family when actually a) I think that God wants church to be our family and b)God is as interested in being part of the rest of the day as he was that we were at church.