At the beginning of May, I attended the Children, Youth, and a New Kind of Christianity conference in Washington, DC. It was overwhelming in so many ways. We were presented with so much information - more than forty presentations - that made my brain feel crammed to overflowing with all of it. But, everything was so full of meaning, hope, and purpose. So, I want to use this blog to give myself space to process all that I have learned and need to reflect on. I don't want anything that I experienced over those four days to fade into obscurity, so I want to be intentional about continuing to chew on it, wrestle with it, and implement what I can.
CYNKC also renewed my passion for formational practices. I want to empower families (especially my own) to practice faith with their children. I'm tired of participating in the notion that we send our children to church so that the ministers,teachers, and volunteers can dispense the religious knowledge, goods, and services that our kids need to grow up to be good Christians. Church is part of the formational process, but FAMILY is the real catalyst for children's faith development.
In addition to my reflections on children's ministry and formational practices, I plan to share with whoever will read my blog (I'm hoping a lot of the parents from my church will read!) specific practices that I think we can use in our homes to raise our children in faith. I plan to explore things like Godly Play, developing our Divine Imaginations, missions as a way of life, connecting children with worship, faith development for children with special needs, etc...
I hope that this will be a worthwhile practice for myself as I reflect on being a better faith-developing parent and children's minister and for others who are looking for ideas to keep their children engaged with God and their faith. The best part is that this blog is not just for sharing my own voice on the subject. I am sharing this blog with my wife, Susan, who is way better at being intentional and doing reflection than I am and she is more eloquent too! Here's hoping we keep each other and all of you motivated!
Just for housekeeping's sake, we are going to do this in a "He said..." or "She said..." format, so you know who's talking. Thanks!
I hope that this will be a worthwhile practice for myself as I reflect on being a better faith-developing parent and children's minister and for others who are looking for ideas to keep their children engaged with God and their faith. The best part is that this blog is not just for sharing my own voice on the subject. I am sharing this blog with my wife, Susan, who is way better at being intentional and doing reflection than I am and she is more eloquent too! Here's hoping we keep each other and all of you motivated!
Just for housekeeping's sake, we are going to do this in a "He said..." or "She said..." format, so you know who's talking. Thanks!
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