Created to Worship: Children

I was inspired early on in ministry by a book I read called Inside Out.  It was written by a Youth Leader who worked primarily with teens. In it the author talked about earning the right to dialogue with teens about the things that mattered most to them in that moment. He suggested creating a prayer journal in which leaders could respond with words of encouragement and scripture to the written prayers. I thought it to be an excellent idea. I could readily see an adaptation that would make it relevant for children too. I simply added a box at the top of the page in which children could draw or scribble a word picture to help them express their prayers.  The journal was easy enough to create and it didn't cost a lot of money. Little did I know what a harvest this little document would produce. Our children were dealing with  more than could be imagined. The proof was in the drawings and the descriptions. Only in a few journals were children praying about someth...

Back in the day when Easter rolled around on the calendar my sisters and I found ourselves shopping for Easter dresses, patent leather shoes, gloves and those lace top socks we would wear on Easter Sunday morning. It was exciting times. I remember too the chatter in the kitchen mingled with the rattling of pots and pans as we helped Momma prepare the Easter Sunday meal for our family and friends. Sunday was coming and everything had to be ready! The next morning we would wake up very early and make our way to Sunrise Service. We would try to sit still and listen to the sermon without falling asleep in hopes we would get a nap before dinner.  Our day was not complete until we had the after dinner gathering and we children were called upon to share with everyone either what we learned in Sunday School, recite again the speeches we memorized and yes, to even sing one of the old familiar hymns "He Arose", "The Old Rugged Cross", or "Were You There?". Ov...

Deuteronomy 6 is the go to scripture when it comes to understanding God's plan for spiritual formation and growth in children. This passage of scripture clearly delegates the primary task to parents. After all, children spend more time with their family on a daily basis than they do with us on Sunday mornings,Wednesday nights or other designated times. Home is where life really happens. According to Barna Research Group (Ventura California) nine out of ten parents accept this responsibility for their child's spiritual growth but struggle with effectiveness. They went on to report that few parents admitted they don't spend any time during the typical week interacting with their child on spiritual matters. Research suggests that it's not so much that parents are unwilling to provide more substantive training to their children as they are ill-equipped to do the work and have no accountability standards. What a window of opportunity!  Consider the many creative way...