"Let the Children Come . . ."

* * *
Berryman talks about Jesus blessing the children- saying that blessing them enables them to bless in return. He says that those of similar standing can bless one another but "the powerful...have difficulty blessing, because their power always implies control." (Jerome W. Berryman* "Children and Mature Spirituality."Children's Spirituality. Cascade Books, Eugene OR: 2004, p. 37 ) That's alot to think about.

* * *

"Usually church development does not take children into consideration unless it is to use them to draw in their parents or to be politically correct. Children are assumed not to be able to make any kind of contribution on their own except perhaps, in a deferred way as 'the church of the future.' . . . If the goal of church development is to provide a way to help people enter the domain of God, then children are at the very center of what it takes for the church's mission to be accomplished. Building a child-like church, however, sounds weak and powerless, but that is just the point." (Berryman p. 38)

Profound!

*Jerome Berryman is the Executive Director of the Center for the Theology of Childhood. He has also written Godly Play & Teaching Godly Play.