Bible memorized.
Scripture alive.
Character enacted.
Kingdom ethics embodied.
Spiritual disciplines engaged and practiced.
Discipline applied.
Can You Combine Formal and Informal?
It is on this informal level that real, long lasting life change is fostered, developed and matured. God has ordained the family to be the primary vehicle for the laboratory of faith development. It is regular, mundane, average life that incubates a robust spirituality. And the best context for that is a home.
Some are privileged with a home where a father and/or a mother lead their children in an intentional way. Most are not.
In the absence of this natural laboratory, the church seeks to compromise its formal environment to incorporate an informal one. This is a response to the obvious vacancy. The problem presents itself in regard to time constraints. The church tries to accomplish formal and informal teaching in one hour, one day a week. It takes over a year of these consistent environments to equal one week of influence in a home environment.
The response is often a noble one. Small groups are created to bridge the gap between formality and informality. These small groups seek to recreate a “formal” sort of informal environment. This might be a necessary corrective to over-formality (what church children’s ministry was like when I was a kid), however one cannot effectively combine a formal endeavor with one that is dependent on relational means.
Thus it’s important to not try to do all things in one context. It takes several contexts to accomplish a maturing disciple of Jesus Christ. Some we can construct ourselves, most we must merely place and submit ourselves to the work of of the Holy Spirit.
Maybe another solution is to deconstruct the whole thing, both formal and informal. Perhaps the church was never meant to teach formally, but rather be a collection of informal family environments. This is also a noble pursuit, but it misses those who are spiritual orphans.
Previous post: A Note about Principle and Topic Based Curriculum
Next post: What Should Elementary Students Learn on the Informal Level?
A Note about Principle and Topic Based Curriculum
I am not against principles or truths or topic based curriculum. However I do see inherent dangers in these types of approaches:
Bible stories are used improperly
I believe in the Bible.
I believe it is the Word of God.
It contains not only the truth of God, but a vast narrative about the world He created, the broken people who inhabit it, and God’s redemptive work in making all things new.
So there is truth. There are principles. Topics are addressed in Scripture.
However, the temptation is to start from principle-based or topic-centered standpoint and then go find a Bible story to support that principle or fit that topic. I believe this approach to be backwards.
What Do Elementary Children Need on the Formal Level?
I believe that elementary aged students should be taught Bible stories. I think they should be immersed in Bible stories. They should hear them, see them, act them out, engage with them, review them, memorize them, be able to retell them. For six whole grades (six years), a children’s ministry should, on the formal level, immerse children in the stories of the Bible.
Bible stories don’t have to be taught in a chronological order, although I recommend it. After all, you typically don’t start the Lord of the Rings Trilogy in the climax of the second book, then jump to the opening plot twist of the third book, all the while referencing the “Fellowship of the Ring” that is created in the first book. It make sense to start at the beginning of the story and work your way to the end.
Granted, if you think in terms of C.S. Lewis who fashioned his Chronicles of Naria series, not in chronological order, rather intentionally jumping forward and backward with literary precision. There could be an intentionally creative intent by which a wise Christian educator could craft such an interesting weave of jumping in and out of stories in Scripture in order to create a marvelous tapestry of Biblical wonderment (cool sentence, huh?!).
All to say, that in my opinion, I think that from Kindergarten through grade 5 (loosely on either end), children should be immersed in the stories of the Bible.
Previous post: Formal and Informal Teaching Environments
Next post: A Note about Principle and Topic Based Curriculum
Formal and Informal Teaching Environments
I’m thinking through curriculum evaluation and selection right now, particularly what kids on the formal level need to be taught (i.e. story, principles, topics, theology, themes, etc.).
At church, due to the very nature of the environment, I would call it formal. While a home environment is more informal. Church brings forth systems, programs, structures, lesson plans and organization, therefore formal. Home, on the other hand, is more relational, unplanned, unstructured, no lesson plans, therefore informal.
Sometimes I think we as children’s ministry educators, at the formal level, try to cram both of these “environments” together. And while the aim and intent isn’t bad, we will always fall short of the mark (in my opinion).
We need to recognize that the formal environment has its limits and we can’t do both really well in one hour on one day a week. Once we know our limitations I think it will free us as formal educators to do the formal environment much more successfully.
Next post: What Do Elementary Children Need on the Formal Level?
What Happens in the Woods is Always a Mystery!
It seems that what happens in the woods is often very mysterious!
Blessed Are Those Who Run in Circles…
Our pastoral staff went and checked out a couple of church buildings for sale in a nearby community. In a side office of one of the churches, this sign was hanging on the wall behind the door:
Jonah “In a Fish” Craft
How to Make “Jonah in a Fish” Craft:
- a balloon
- paper plate cut and colored as fins
- a teddy graham (prior to inflating the balloon)
- tape to secure the paper
- a sharpie to make the balloon fish come to life
The Need for Presence and Space for Faith to Grow in a Home
The church must assume the role as a training ground for parents to be the soul doctors for their children … in order to bring spiritual healing.
Parents must learn how to really be present with their children and to create space for contemplation and reflection in their homes.
Nurturing Children’s Spirituality, Holly Allen via Michelle Anthony, Dreaming of More for the Next Generation
The Family is the Best Context for a Holy Life Lived Out in Real Time
Every day, countless young people leave the church and, worse, abandon their faith for something “more” in North America. What has been our response? More programs? Better curriculum? Stricter accountability to godly behavior? I wanted to understand how we had been led to believe that faith is simply knowing the right information about Christ and acting with good behavior.
Perhaps no one would actually say that. Of course we would say that we wanted a faith that impacted all we did and said, faith that would last a lifetime.
But think about it: if faith is simply about good teaching and proper behavior, then the church is a sufficient place for children to learn that.
But if faith is that plus more–if it’s understanding how to live out what we believe in real time, by the power of God’s Spirit over a lifetime, then the family (with spiritually minded parents), would be the best place for that!
Dreaming of More for the Next Generation: Lifetime Faith Ignited by Family Ministry by Michelle Anthony via David C Cook 2012 quote located on page 16.
No doubt there is a moralist element in the kingdom of God. God does desire us to live out a model humanity for the world. We are His special people after all. However, right information and good behavior might win you the perfect attendance award, but it doesn’t reflect that you learned anything (save that at least you were present to be able to learn something).
If learning means application of the content taught and the stories conveyed, then moralism should be the byproduct of great faith (capture and lived out through a compelling story), not great faith the result of a good, well-behaved life.
Michelle Anthony’s argument here is that if church is merely the context to communicate moralistic values and good character development, then it is sufficient in its current ministry focus and application. However, Anthony’s point about the insufficiency of the church to demonstrate a life lived out according to a kingdom of God belief structure isn’t experienced in a church programmatic setting, rather it is exercised in the labratory of real life–the family.
Whether a family is spiritually minded or not, children and teens develop and live out the belief structures and practices that are modeled in the home. It’s what they see most often. It’s what they generally know. In fact, for most it’s all they know.
One cannot underestimate the extreme influence one’s family has on how they live out one’s life. That’s why church in and of itself is insufficient.
It seems, at least to this children’s pastor, that the church in a close, involved, and aligned partnership with parents could really help foster not only right information and good behavior, but a life lived out that displays a model humanity for the world.
A Week @ Kids Camp 2012
This week is Kids Camp 2012.
I’ll be blogging and sharing highlights from this impactful experience at:
wikidscamp.org
It’s Gonna Be Quiet Around Here for a Bit
I just want to let you know that it’s gonna be quiet around here for a while. Not because I have nothing to say or share. I just don’t have time to craft the posts and there are a number of that I’m currently focusing on that is taking my attention.
First is time with my family amidst all these projects, hence the pic above.
Kids Camp 2012 is about to start in just over a week. Right after that week is our annual Wisconsin District Conference and it’s being hosted at our church this year. Then Youth Camp kicks off the last week of June. As soon as that camp is over I attend a wedding, then head out for a week of vacation, then step right back in to our week of VBS 2012.
These 4 major activities are typical for my summer.
What’s really got my undivided attention…