Just a little something this week. It’s based on a quote I read while I was doing some reading for the course I’m studying for. I was reading ‘Children’s Spirituality: Christian Perspectives, Research and Applications’ and in the chapter by Dana Hood she talks a little about how we asses faith in children and raises an interesting point.
She says that rather than trying to measure a child’s understanding of God we should try and explore their experience God. She says that this is because God is not supposed to be understood but encountered.
There’s lots we could say about this and I’m aware that it isn’t a statement without its flaws but it got me thinking about how whether children in our churches are encountering a living God or being taught about Him. It is ok to have teaching as part of your sessions; I’m not saying we should abandon everything we do and replace it with us all sitting in a circle ‘encountering God’. You can try it with the children in your group if you want and good luck with that!
But here are a few ideas you can use that will create space for spiritual encounter in your group.
Ritual
Children benefit from rituals that help them to find a mood or sense of stillness.
It’s easy to think children can’t do this because they are generally so active but good use of ritual can help them focus on worship. It doesn’t have to be elaborate and ornate it really just means doing the same thing each time you pray together so that the children associate those actions with prayer.
This may mean stuff like giving each child a ‘holding cross’ and lighting a candle, moving to a specific place in the room that contains a spiritual focal point of a candle and a cross or it could mean laying down and listening to a specific piece of quieter music.
Alternative Prayer
I couldn’t think of a better word for this but I hope you know what I mean! It’s that type of prayer that you do where you go and do little activity stations that help to focus your prayers. This multi-sensory approach is excellent for children and will help them to engage with God.
Wondering
Children often encounter God as they think deeply about things so play to this by following up Bible stories with open ended questions that draw children into the mystery of the Bible rather than checking they’ve remembered it properly.