Children’s sixth sense
New approaches promise to deepen children’s faith and broaden congregational mission.
by Candace C. Hill
At Westminster Woods Camp and Conference Center in Occidental, California, counselors engage children’s every sense—and their imaginations.
Shy and quiet, Vanessa often kept to herself. And for some congregations, that shyness might have meant seeing yet another child slowly drift away from the church—but not Vanessa’s congregation. They were determined to help Vanessa find her ministry.
After hearing the news of the earthquake that killed more than 230,000 people in Haiti, Vanessa was moved. She wondered what she could do to help. So she researched the needs, established a goal, and made a plan. She then asked adults in her congregation how she could involve her faith community.
No one discouraged Vanessa. No one told her that she didn’t fully understand the situation. No one took over the project and gave her a subservient role. The congregation listened, asked questions, helped her when needed, and supported her efforts as they would any adult with authority. Vanessa’s goals were met. They raised enough funds to build a home and provide school fees and uniforms for 10 children.
Vanessa’s congregation is one of many that are beginning to shift how they understand children’s ministry. Vanessa’s congregation did ministry with her, not to or for her. They didn’t talk down to her, and they didn’t stick her in front of a congregation for a children’s sermon to be entertainment. As a result, she learned what it means to belong, to use her gifts in Christlike service, and to believe that she can make a difference in the world through her faith and community.
A new way to understand children
Children enter the world with the same basic needs as other human beings—the need for love, respect, safety, food, shelter, opportunities, and education. They also arrive with their own agency: identifiable gifts that strengthen over time, reasoning abilities that improve with age, decision-making skills to be nurtured, and an innate capacity for experiencing life as spiritual beings.
Brain research over the last decade has radically changed how we understand children and their development. Theorists, who once thought of young children as having short attention spans, now believe that children naturally multitask. A child, who darts from one thing to the next as if not paying attention, is busily storing information and exercising his or her mind, absorbing information like a sponge.
Children, we are also learning, need to use their senses, all of them. They experience their world through seeing, hearing, tasting, smelling, and touching. Some developmental specialists ascribe a sixth sense to children, an extreme awareness of the world around them. This sixth sense, the ability to find wonder and meaning in the smallest detail, is often classified as a spiritual sense. Some people believe the spiritual nature of children is elevated because they are fresh from the creator God.
Congregations that want to build on this new understanding of children will
• help adults meet the basic human needs of children in their lives
• recognize children’s agency—what they bring to the table;
• explore and engage children’s gifts and sense of call;
• allow children to practice faith as full participants, not future members;
• model Christlike relationships and behaviors with children;
• invest in opportunities for children to practice compassionate, prophetic discipleship; and
• equip parents and adult caregivers to model spiritual formation at home.
If children are present in the sanctuary to sing occasionally but are rarely seen greeting people when they arrive, reading Scripture in worship, or participating in a mission or service project, parents may want to find another church to nurture their children.
Although faith communities with separate programming and space for children may seem attractive, remember the adage “Out of sight, out of mind.” When children are excluded from full participation, adults may find it difficult to accept the leadership of children, and children may have difficulty embracing a faith community with people who are essentially strangers.
Candace C. Hill is the coordinator of educational ministries for Congregational Ministries Publishing.
Eleven steps for creating or revitalizing ministry with children
1. Nurture the spiritual journeys of expectant, adoptive, and foster parents before and after children arrive.
2. Be as attentive to spaces where children spend their time as you are to the sanctuary. Consider issues of accessibility, cleanliness, art and decor, and safety.
3. Adopt or strengthen child-protection policies with clear guidelines for all youth and adults who work with children.
4. Encourage adults and children to get to know each other by name and learn one unique thing about the other person.
5. Celebrate children’s milestones as an act of worship (birth, baptism, entering school, Bible presentations, commissioning, graduations).
6. Identify ministry roles for children (greeters, junior ushers, Scripture readers, banner carriers, acolytes, offering attendants, Communion cup collectors, pencil sharpeners).
7. Encourage adults to apprentice children when they do the ministry of the church (visiting the elderly, preparing Communion trays, delivering meals, groundskeeping, sending cards, creating care packages).
8. Build relationships across generations by inviting children to participate in spiritual practices with adults (as prayer partners or in conversation groups).
9. Allow children to take the lead with child-centered stewardship education by researching needs, selecting giving options, creating publicity, and planning and collecting pledges of time, talent, and money.
10. Offer children feedback that will help them identify their God-given gifts and recognize God’s call and claim on their life.
11. Engage children in mission, such as collecting food for food pantries, packing disaster cleanup kits, or compiling toiletry kits for homeless shelters.
Get Help
• Contact—Candace Hill, coordinator of educational ministries, at candace.hill@pcusa.org or 800-728-7228 x5166
• Curriculum—Find biblically based Presbyterian and Reformed curricula for children, including the new Growing in Grace & Gratitude: pcusa.org/curriculum
• Resources—for links to relevant websites as well as information about choosing educational resources and developing lifelong learning goals: pcusa.org/education
• Discipleship—Help children develop their gifts of service and generosity through the Compassion, Peace, and Justice mission area: pcusa.org/cpj
• Training—Equip parents and adults to nurture children of all developmental abilities through PC(USA)-sponsored Opening Doors to Discipleship: odtd.net
• Blogs—Explore thoughts on child development and children’s ministries from a variety of online sources, including seminary professors and pastor parents:
• faithformationlearningexchange.net
• worshipingwithchildren.blogspot.com
Take Action
Support children in your faith community and around the world through One Great Hour of Sharing (which provides food to the hungry and relief to those affected by disasters) and the Pentecost Offering (which serves at-risk children): specialofferings.pcusa.org
Join in the Presbyterian World Mission initiatives to provide quality education for 1 million children by 2020 and to end violence against women and children: pcusa.org/call-mission
