Past my random and mostly irrelevant story. . . Because Children Matter (from the book) how we approach teaching and learning matters.
The authors begin this chapter: "The role of teaching in the church is crucial. If the stories and truths of redemption history are not taught, the church will die. Redemption history is the Story that must be at the center of all our teaching in the church." [CM p. 246] The folk of the New Testament called Jesus "Rabbi," "Teacher," and we are His body*.
In this chapter, the authors share some of their own stories. They talk about "Key Principles" of learning, "The Nature of Learning", "Insights About Learning", the uniqueness of the learner, "The Nature of Teaching", "Critical Strategies of Teaching", "Teaching the Very Young", models that exist in churches, "Effective Teaching - Whatever the Model." [CM p. 246-281]
Great stuff! The best? In this chapter they focus on how we teach and how children learn "The Story." We can learn about telling the Story from the stories the authors tell . :-) [CM p. 246-254]
*Is it God's intention for the Body of Christ to embody the names of God? Healer, Comforter, Shepherd, Lord, Father, Counselor, Provider....maybe not Lord and Father because we are His Bride...but I wonder...
Friday, January 11, 2008
Readjusting Learning Goals
Well, I took Nyah to Canine Good Citizenship class last night. Almost missed the first class last week because the lecture was at 7 instead of the usual 8 o'clock class time which I should know for all the times we've been down there. Only a master "space cadet" (if you recall the term from the '70's) can look at a registration confirmation paper for just that information almost every day for three weeks and not see given information even though that particular information takes up a third of the page, is highlighted in yellow AND it was probably in bold type, too.
Although there are ways she did great and ways we failed miserably, if she will listen to me and do loooooooong sit stays and down stays while we're waiting in a loooooooong line for our turn we will make significant progress. (ADD in dog and owner - possibly.) There's an incentive for a new pet therapy initiative and lots of people and their dogs are ready to go through the program and start work, they just need to have the CGC class to go on to the next level. That's why the class is so big.
Needless to say, we won't be moving on to the next level just yet. (I knew that!) If she can get through a whole class being nice to every dog she encounters and listen to me I will be in heaven! I hope the dogs in heaven are....
Never mind.
I don't think I'm lowering my expectations, just readjusting my goals. (There was something about that in a previous post.) It's making the most of an opportunity to work on listening and patience in a very stressful situation with mostly very well-behaved dogs. And they'll be throwing out tidbits about strategies for being more social. I'm mostly there for the tidbits - a scavenger by nature. Hah!
Maybe we'll pass someday but that isn't what matters to me. She and I need to relax! Stay tuned. we'll see what happens..
Although there are ways she did great and ways we failed miserably, if she will listen to me and do loooooooong sit stays and down stays while we're waiting in a loooooooong line for our turn we will make significant progress. (ADD in dog and owner - possibly.) There's an incentive for a new pet therapy initiative and lots of people and their dogs are ready to go through the program and start work, they just need to have the CGC class to go on to the next level. That's why the class is so big.
Needless to say, we won't be moving on to the next level just yet. (I knew that!) If she can get through a whole class being nice to every dog she encounters and listen to me I will be in heaven! I hope the dogs in heaven are....
Never mind.
I don't think I'm lowering my expectations, just readjusting my goals. (There was something about that in a previous post.) It's making the most of an opportunity to work on listening and patience in a very stressful situation with mostly very well-behaved dogs. And they'll be throwing out tidbits about strategies for being more social. I'm mostly there for the tidbits - a scavenger by nature. Hah!
Maybe we'll pass someday but that isn't what matters to me. She and I need to relax! Stay tuned. we'll see what happens..
Wednesday, January 09, 2008
Monday, January 07, 2008
CM: Part III Worship
I love worship! But when I use the word "worship" what that word means to you is more dependent on your experience with the word that on my understanding as the speaker unless I do something to change that.
For the authors of Children Matter "worship" is a verb. Ok. They also admit that sometimes it's a noun. They talk about both but they start with the premise that children can experience worship. Children are capable of worshiping God. They are capable of experiencing and interacting with God even before they can put it into words. [CM p215-216] Sounds simple and maybe you say, "of course!" But that simple idea is critical to the foundation for our thinking about children and worship. And when you think of all that "worship" means that understanding is profound.
It's profound that, as they say, the first mention of worship in scripture is in the story of Abraham's call to sacrifice his only son, God providing a substitute. Put yourself in Abraham's situation and think about worship in that context. [CM p. 216] Why? because worship is about sacrificing our children? Is it about God providing a substitute when He asks us to give Him our children? Does it have to do with Jesus or is there a whole lot more? I don't know. It's definately something to ponder with God.
The authors say, "Even though the Bible does not provide a concise definition, Scripture is full of examples of worship and the actions involved in it." [CM p. 217] They say that many of these are verbs (action words) that appear over and over in Psalms, examples in the tabernacle, in the temple, in Revelation.
The authors make the observation that even the youngest child can do many of the worship action words of scripture. Say that again. The authors make the observation that even the youngest child can do many of the worship action words of scripture. How wonderful is that! They share Biblical examples and present day examples. The questions they pose for us to ask about our corporate worship are wonderful!
They continue to look at how we do worship*: when children are present for the entire service, children present for part of the worship service, multi-cultural worship, a separate children's worship service, "intentionally Family-Oriented worship," intergenerational worship."And they include resources! They list "Essentials for Children at Worship" across the different approaches and finish with "strategies for implementing change"- a valuable tool for leaders.
I was very surprised to hear the authors say, "[m]any churches that keep children within the worship services are part of ... denominations in the liturgical tradition." [CM p 229] I guess I usually think of upbeat contemporary services as a more child-friendly place to keep children during worship so their comment is really interesting. They also mention that children often remain for the entire worship service in faith communities representing ethnic identities other than white American. [CM p. 230-31] I think that was mentioned in Children's Spirituality, too.
They mention Thomas Groome talking about the power of preaching that helps all generations discover their individual stories and the stories of their faith community within God's larger story as revealed in the scriptures past, present, and future . [CM p. 229] That kind of preaching is worth pondering.
They speak about "full silence" and "empty silence" saying, "In a full silence children are quiet because they have engaged or entered into a story with wonder; and empty silence is when children are told to be quiet or to stop talking." [CM p. 233] As a child, hah! even now my silence won't stay quiet for long. I will fill my head with other things and zone out of and into something else. And who will know?!
These are very random ideas that jumped out at me from a very rich discussion saying how we worship matters. Children matter. How we worship with them (or without them) matters.
Thank you Scottie, Beth, Catherine and Linda. Thank you for this book and for this chapter in particular. I could wait until I finish the book to say thanks but methinks thank yous are never really out of place.
Totally random aside: "how we do worship," "how do we worship." Do they mean the same thing? What is it that matters?
For the authors of Children Matter "worship" is a verb. Ok. They also admit that sometimes it's a noun. They talk about both but they start with the premise that children can experience worship. Children are capable of worshiping God. They are capable of experiencing and interacting with God even before they can put it into words. [CM p215-216] Sounds simple and maybe you say, "of course!" But that simple idea is critical to the foundation for our thinking about children and worship. And when you think of all that "worship" means that understanding is profound.
It's profound that, as they say, the first mention of worship in scripture is in the story of Abraham's call to sacrifice his only son, God providing a substitute. Put yourself in Abraham's situation and think about worship in that context. [CM p. 216] Why? because worship is about sacrificing our children? Is it about God providing a substitute when He asks us to give Him our children? Does it have to do with Jesus or is there a whole lot more? I don't know. It's definately something to ponder with God.
The authors say, "Even though the Bible does not provide a concise definition, Scripture is full of examples of worship and the actions involved in it." [CM p. 217] They say that many of these are verbs (action words) that appear over and over in Psalms, examples in the tabernacle, in the temple, in Revelation.
The authors make the observation that even the youngest child can do many of the worship action words of scripture. Say that again. The authors make the observation that even the youngest child can do many of the worship action words of scripture. How wonderful is that! They share Biblical examples and present day examples. The questions they pose for us to ask about our corporate worship are wonderful!
They continue to look at how we do worship*: when children are present for the entire service, children present for part of the worship service, multi-cultural worship, a separate children's worship service, "intentionally Family-Oriented worship," intergenerational worship."And they include resources! They list "Essentials for Children at Worship" across the different approaches and finish with "strategies for implementing change"- a valuable tool for leaders.
I was very surprised to hear the authors say, "[m]any churches that keep children within the worship services are part of ... denominations in the liturgical tradition." [CM p 229] I guess I usually think of upbeat contemporary services as a more child-friendly place to keep children during worship so their comment is really interesting. They also mention that children often remain for the entire worship service in faith communities representing ethnic identities other than white American. [CM p. 230-31] I think that was mentioned in Children's Spirituality, too.
They mention Thomas Groome talking about the power of preaching that helps all generations discover their individual stories and the stories of their faith community within God's larger story as revealed in the scriptures past, present, and future . [CM p. 229] That kind of preaching is worth pondering.
They speak about "full silence" and "empty silence" saying, "In a full silence children are quiet because they have engaged or entered into a story with wonder; and empty silence is when children are told to be quiet or to stop talking." [CM p. 233] As a child, hah! even now my silence won't stay quiet for long. I will fill my head with other things and zone out of and into something else. And who will know?!
These are very random ideas that jumped out at me from a very rich discussion saying how we worship matters. Children matter. How we worship with them (or without them) matters.
Thank you Scottie, Beth, Catherine and Linda. Thank you for this book and for this chapter in particular. I could wait until I finish the book to say thanks but methinks thank yous are never really out of place.
Totally random aside: "how we do worship," "how do we worship." Do they mean the same thing? What is it that matters?
Sunday, January 06, 2008
Emerging Parents Pondering CM
The folks at Emerging Parents are tackling the topic of Children's Ministry.
Food for thought: Kara asks, ". . . what is it that I want my children to learn? . . . I realized that my list basically consisted of all the things that I'm trying to learn for myself, i.e. wisdom, character, integrity, awareness, stewardship, etc."
"Then I asked, how can we best teach them these things? I was suddenly struck by the realization that my children already possess many of the characteristics that I am trying to re-install in myself: curiosity, wonder, awareness, enthusiasm, love of life, compassion, sensitivity, gentleness, creativity, generosity, imagination, etc. Certainly these things take time to mature, but the seeds are already there and growing. . ."
Imagine teaching and learning that encourages those qualities...all of those qualities.
Food for thought: Kara asks, ". . . what is it that I want my children to learn? . . . I realized that my list basically consisted of all the things that I'm trying to learn for myself, i.e. wisdom, character, integrity, awareness, stewardship, etc."
"Then I asked, how can we best teach them these things? I was suddenly struck by the realization that my children already possess many of the characteristics that I am trying to re-install in myself: curiosity, wonder, awareness, enthusiasm, love of life, compassion, sensitivity, gentleness, creativity, generosity, imagination, etc. Certainly these things take time to mature, but the seeds are already there and growing. . ."
Imagine teaching and learning that encourages those qualities...all of those qualities.
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