On one level I was glad to hear that the leaders of the groups were taking their own faith seriously; we should do. What we do with children is far too important to treat glibly and not ensure we are prepared both practically or spiritually. However, it also made me wonder why worshipping with the children wasn’t enough to nurture the faith of the adults.
Children’s ministry isn’t supposed to be something we do to children but something we do with and among them; it should be two-way. We should learn from them just as they learn from us. Remember, Jesus was pretty clear about who should be taking the lead in terms of entering the kingdom of God. If we worship and pray with the children in our groups then our expectation should be that we would all encounter God together, not that we will help the children encounter God before we have a more ‘grown up’ God experience elsewhere.
Have this in mind when you read Keith White’s article ‘Through their eyes’. It is the story of how his whole Christian life has been formed and developed by his ministry with children, starting with seeing the depth of their spirituality and moving on to how his whole method of working theologically has children at its core.
The Bible is full of stories of children who changed the course of Israel’s history when the adults missed the point. Lynn Alexander reminds us in 'Spirit-led children’s ministry' that children are not part of a holding operation until they are more fully part of God’s Kingdom when they get older; the gifts of the Holy Spirit are for them just as much as the fruit.
Let me leave you with a challenge: think about that annoying child, the one who can’t sit still in the quiet bits but who point blank refuses to join in with the active bits. If they came up to you on Sunday and said, ‘I think God said something to me, and I think it’s for you’ - how would you react? Would you listen and weigh it as you should, or would you be all too ready to dismiss it because of where it came from?
