Invitation to Educational Ministry

Foundations of Transformative Christian Education

George Hillman, Sue Edwards

• Publisher: Kregel Publications
• Year: 2018
• Print ISBN: 9780825444449
• eBook ISBN: 9780825477782
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Religion

Because teaching is at the heart of Christian ministry, the editors of Invitation to Educational Ministry have assembled a team of seasoned experts to present a comprehensive plan of Christian education. This volume will help church staff, parachurch leaders, and small-group teachers become more effective, influential, and creative.After laying a biblical and practical foundation for Christian education, the contributors provide specific guidance on teaching a variety of individuals and groups, including children, adults, singles, seniors, and non-Christians.The final section shares valuable insights on leading small groups, teaching innovatively, and overseeing a healthy educational ministry, among other topics. Each chapter is designed to equip educators with the most relevant information, and includes many useful features:
• Real-life case studies
• Scriptural support
• Explanations of key terms and concepts
• Practical suggestions
• Resources for additional study
• Sidebars illustrating best principles and practices

WHO:
THE PEOPLE

Chapter 5

FORMATIVE: PRESCHOOL AND CHILDREN

Jerry Lawrence

…until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ.

—Ephesians 4:13–15

IT HAD BEEN A long, dry spell without any extended one-on-one conversation time with children. Okay, maybe it had only been about a month or two. But when you are a children’s person and you thrive on talking and interacting with children, that’s an eternity. Being with children gives me joy.

So, when Claire and Joe Joe, children of dear friends, were on campus, we struck up a great conversation. We went to lunch together—my two new short friends, their parents, and grandparents. Part of the fun of our lunchtime was the french-fry game with the objective to guess how many french fries each player was holding in their hand. Playing along and making crazy guesses was just as much fun for me as it was for them. I enjoyed getting to know these two great kids as well as catching up with my good friends.

The next day, Joe Joe and Claire came to my office for an extended visit. They were so excited to come see where a seminary “teacher” worked and were surprised and overjoyed to find toys in my office. Claire immediately remarked that when she grew up, she wanted to have an office just like mine, complete with toys. Of course, I call them “educational tools” because I believe all children learn through play. In contrast to the typical seminary professor’s office lined with scholarly books, I have pop-up books and Bible storybooks. My scholarly books are at home. I purposefully designed my office to be kid-friendly. As a result, when any child comes through the door, all items are fair game for them to look at, touch, read, and play with.

So we pulled out the modelers clay and got down to business. They decided we should each make a Bible story and try to guess each other’s stories. And because I believe in learning through guided conversations, as we were rolling out dough and making our stories, we talked and got to know each other better. I asked them all sorts of questions about their lives, their favorite colors, etc. We laughed and pondered life together and then we guessed which Bible stories were depicted by our modelers clay creations. And we talked a little bit about the truths of those Bible stories and why they chose them. It was a wonderful afternoon. At the end of our time together, I was blessed by Joe Joe’s declaration that I was not like most adults because I still had “most of the kid left in me.” Smile.

Maturity in Christ—Our Goal

Maturity in Christ—that is what we desire for all of the children in our children’s ministries. It’s a formidable task. These first twelve years comprise the most drastic developmental changes they will experience throughout their lifetime. Our goal is to take newborn babies, completely dependent and unable to speak or reason and partner with their parents to shape them into walking, talking disciples of Christ (hopefully) by the time they graduate into our student ministries. And, while we do not expect complete maturity by the time they leave us, the nursery, preschool, and elementary years are formative. They are meant to lay a solid spiritual foundation on which to build for the rest of their lives.

Ephesians 4:14 describes what we want for children as they grow in maturity, that they would “no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching.” The grounding we give them in God’s Word will provide the stable footing they need to address the challenges they face now and in the future. As they grow in their knowledge of Scripture, we desire that our teaching does not just give them head knowledge, but it moves that knowledge from their heads to their hearts. As the Holy Spirit speaks to the heart of each child, life transformation is possible.

“By age 9, most children have their spiritual moorings in place… . Your spiritual condition by the age of 13 is a strong predictor of your spiritual profile as an adult.”¹

—George Barna

In the next few pages, we will look at the characteristics and learning needs of our children, the challenges to learning they face, and how to reach our learners. But I would be remiss not to mention the foundation from which I base my philosophy for ministering to children. As Scripture clearly states in Deuteronomy 6:4–9, parents bear the primary responsibility for the spiritual growth and development of their children. Parents are first to know and love God themselves (vv. 4–6) and then they are to teach his commands to their children during the daily rhythms of life (vv. 7–9). Yes, the time we spend at church teaching children is important. No doubt. But it cannot compare to the day-to-day, hour-by-hour, and minute-by-minute learning opportunities that happen as part of everyday life.

Our families need to know and believe how valuable and important they are to the process of passing down their faith to the next generation. We are privileged to walk beside parents and their children in this learning and maturing process. I view this as a vital partnership, with us both having different roles and responsibilities, but with the overarching goal of helping the children God has entrusted to us come to know the Lord as Savior and grow in that relationship. The church’s role can be seen as a more formal one, where teaching takes place in an organized setting with scripted stories and planned activities. In the home, the teaching is much less formal and more spontaneous. Working in partnership, what is taught on Sunday morning can be reinforced during the week through intentional interactions and teachable moments. As we both do our parts, we help our children to mature in Christ.

The Learning Needs of Our Children

In order to understand the learning needs of our children, we must become students of the different stages of development. Physical, mental, social, emotional, and spiritual development stages are all intertwined. In the church or parachurch setting, we are wise not only to understand spiritual development but also to understand its interplay with other areas of development. Countless books have been written regarding the developmental theories of Jean Piaget (mental or cognitive), Erik Erikson (social-emotional), and James Fowler (spiritual).² We benefit from their research and theories when we identify how these stages work together to form the children who appear in our classrooms. By understanding what children are generally like at each age level, we can best determine how to help them learn. A more detailed list of characteristics and needs is included at the end of the chapter, but for now let’s look at a few examples for each age group.

“Parents are the key faith developers for their children—they can have either a positive or a negative impact on their kids’ faith growth. But either way, they’ll have the biggest impact. You can have strong faith-shaping programs for kids at church, but if you’re not partnering with homes, you risk producing kids who have weak faith.”³

—Ben Freudenburg and Rick Lawrence

Infants and Toddlers (Infants: 0–18 months; Toddlers: 19 months–2 years old)

Even before birth, parents experience the miracle of development that takes place in the mother’s womb. The heart starts to beat at twenty-one days, toes form at ten weeks, and all organs are developed by thirty-eight weeks, with lungs that continue to mature until birth. Once they are born, their development continues and is no less amazing.

Physically

Infants grow rapidly and move through the milestones of turning over, sitting up, and crawling. Toddlers can best be described as “wheels in motion.” They begin to perfect the art of “toddling” and then move on to walking. All of these activities take up a lot of space, which is why your nursery needs to occupy the larger rooms in your children’s area. To determine how much square footage for each room, use the following chart as a general rule.⁴

Table 5.1 Floor Space Per Person⁵

Age	Square Feet per Child
Birth–5 years	30–35 sq. ft.
1st–3rd grade	25–30 sq. ft.
4th–6th grade	20–25 sq. ft.

Mentally

As children learn to speak, their vocabulary is still quite limited, so we need to talk on their level. Their attention span is very short. For children in nursery and preschool, my general rule is one minute for every year. So, a two-year-old has about a two-minute attention span. This means you will need to introduce your main point of the lesson at the very beginning before you lose their attention. It also helps to provide a variety of activities—songs, hand motions, etc.—that relate to your Bible story. Toddlers learn best through their five senses, so help them feel, see, and taste the story. They also have very limited ideas of time and space. Instead of saying “Jesus lived two thousand years ago” you might say, “Jesus lived a long, long, long time ago.” As they grow older you can fill in the specific details.

Socially

After birth, infants spend most of their time with their parents and perhaps a few caretakers. It is important to establish a sense of trust in the first year of a child’s life. Whenever they cry, their needs are met and so it is natural that they are self-centered. But as they grow, they become more aware of others and increase in friendliness. This is our opportunity to encourage sharing and provide more group activities during our class time.

Emotionally

Babies and toddlers have strong emotions and may be insecure in their feelings. Because they have no sense of time, they don’t know that when their parents drop them off they will be back before long. They need reassurance that mom or dad will be coming back soon. The security of a schedule and a variety of activities that occupy their time helps them not to focus on their fear of abandonment.

Spiritually

The first eighteen months of life are crucial to a child’s healthy development. As identified in Eric Erikson’s stage of Trust vs. Mistrust, children are learning whether they can trust the adults in their life.⁶ If a child lives in an environment where she is nurtured and cared for, she begins to ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• Contributors
• Foreword
• Introductions
• What: The Foundation
• Who: The People
• How: The Process