Inevitable Contradictions

We were out of town this weekend - yet another story. I want to go back to address a comment, but let's finish this chapter.

I'm going to divide this post up again.

"...in practices with children, inconsistency appears to be the norm for congregational life. The three congregations studied have pockets of amazing vitality and strength in one area of their practices with children, only to totally miss other seemingly obvious opportunitiese for vital ministry with children elsewhere in congregational life. " They go on to say that some of this may be because of "the difficulty congregations and their leeaders have in being intentional about keeping chilren in the foreground. In the absence of a consistent vision held by the entire congregation that prioritizes and advocates for children in all aspects of the congregation's life and ministry, practices in one area of ministry may be haphazard or not be linked to practices in other areas. " (p. 263)


"...[O]ne can not claim that just because a congregation 'intends' the inclusion of children in worship with its practices of children's sermons and activity books, children necessarily are more included than a congregation that does these things haphazardly."(p. 252)

In one case a church has a wonderfully effective Godly Play program into which the church pours large amounts of financial and people resources. The children are engaging their spiritual imaginations, learning about worship as a place to ponder the text and other things that the church values but the children are not visible. They are segregated from the rest of the congregation during worship. They are protected but isolated. "The congregation has little knowledge of what the children are doing and therefore little interest in receiving back from them what they have learned." (p.255)


"...each congregational context shapes and reshapes particular practices in relation to its own identity and culture, such that the same practice may look different and mean something quite different in two congregations." In one congregation an activity sheet may be busy work to keep kids quiet. In another an activity sheet may attempt to engage a child in meaningful thought as a way to process the text and engage their "spiritual imaginations" (p. 263) .

Pick one practice in your church that you see as particularly child-friendly or rethink a negative comment that someone made. Try to be objective and ask yourself, is this practice sending any message to a child (or the congregation) that might be undermining or contradicting the message that we think we're sending? If so, is there a simple way to tweek it and remedy the situation?