Perspectives on Children's Spiritual Formation

Michael Anthony, Michael Anthony

• Editore: B&H Academic
• Anno: 2007
• ISBN:
  9781433669101
• Argomento: Theology & Religion
• Categoria: Religion

Perspectives on Children's Spiritual Formation presents in counterpoint form four views of children's spiritual formation and four related methods of Christian Education. Each chapter is written by a prominent person(s) representing his or her view. Contributors also respond to the other viewpoints. Views include the contemplative-reflective model (cultivating a quiet, worshipful spirit), instructional-analytic model (involving child evangelism and Bible memorization), pragmatic participatory model (focusing on high-energy activities, often seen in mega-churches), and the media-driven active-engagement model (using a video-based curriculum with limited teacher training).

CHAPTER 1

The Contemplative-Reflective Model

SCOTTIE MAY

To watch a group of children gathered in hushed reverence because they sense the presence of the holy is an experience not soon forgotten. In a contemplative environment the careful observer is able to watch the children transition from ordinary time and space to a special time and space that reveals deep contentedness on their faces and in their posture. This transition does not happen quickly but rather subtly. It seems as if the spirit of the child is communing with the Spirit of God. The Contemplative-Reflective Model of children’s ministry seeks to facilitate experiences such as these.

The aim of the Contemplative-Reflective Model of children’s ministry is this: to help children encounter God in ways that result in a sense of awe and wonder, to help them consider things of God with continued attention. The model seeks to assist them in finding the quiet place within themselves—a place that all children have—where they can sense the presence of God and hear his voice.¹

What is a Contemplative-Reflective Model? What would it look like? Is it possible for children to contemplate, or is it even desirable? A helpful starting place for exploring these questions is to define the word contemplation. According to Oxford English Dictionary, to contemplate means “to give long and attentive consideration, especially of spiritual matters.” In a similar vein, to meditate means “to focus one’s thoughts or to ponder, to engage in contemplation.” As the dictionary defines these words, in ordinary usage, the two words are essentially interchangeable.

Scripture does not directly contain the word contemplate but makes references through equivalent words.² Meditate and meditation are used numerous times.³ Genesis 24:63 states that Isaac went into the field at night to meditate, but it does not describe the process he undertook. The book of Psalms contains more than 75 percent of the “meditate” references in the Bible. It is obvious that meditation was a significant part of David’s spiritual life. Psalm 119 is especially rich in those references. Yet none of the references involves children.

Therefore, one might conclude that the words children and contemplation do not belong in the same sentence. The past experiences of many may deem a Contemplative-Reflective Model as incongruous with each other because children are assumed to have short attention spans, to be unable to reflect, and to be uninterested in spiritual matters. But perhaps those people have acted on assumptions based on what children say they want rather than carefully observing what the children actually long for—yearnings for which most children do not have words. In fact, children indeed are spiritual beings and are able to engage in deep reflection even as young as preschool age.

Why should awe and wonder, as was mentioned earlier, be goals for children in our ministries? North American children frequently use the word awesome to describe the newest ride at a theme park or the latest electronic game. But when awe and wonder are found in Scripture, they almost always refer to God’s laws, his actions, or his character.⁴ Advocates of the Contemplative-Reflective Model desire this type of response from children because these advocates have experienced what God is like; they have seen the wonder of his great love (Ps. 17:7).

Additionally, Adrian Van Kaam, in his two-volume work Formative Spirituality, states that “awe has a primordial place in the hierarchy of dispositions of the heart."⁵ Awe, he states, is transcendent to sensory perception and has mystery formation as its object. “The disposition of awe may give rise to an experience so profound, fascinating, and overwhelming that it seems to inundate our full field of consciousness."⁶ The reader may be asking how Van Kaam’s views relate to children’s ministry. Hopefully, the relevance will soon become evident.

This chapter introduces and examines a model that is unfamiliar to many. The contemplative approach intentionally creates an environment that enables children to move at a slow pace, in relative quiet, so that they can reflect on a story from Scripture that helps them know who God is. The acceptance and application of the model may be affected by factors such as the tradition of the church, the value a congregation gives to contemplation or meditation, the views of the place of children, and the willingness of church leaders to examine the theological and philosophical foundations of the model.

We begin by considering children’s spirituality and some of the references to children in the Bible. We will then review the history of the development of the model, the foundational framework and its unique character; present the implications and outcomes of the model; and describe ways the model has been implemented.

Children and Spirituality

The spiritual nature of the child is one of the prime considerations of this model. Spirituality is complex and multifaceted.⁷ In some traditions the concept of the age of accountability lends itself to the erroneous idea that children, before they reach a certain age (an age which differs widely between groups that hold this view), are not spiritual in the sense that they do not have a relationship with God. But spirituality also connotes a broader meaning, in a sense, a universal spirituality, though not all spirituality is Christian. This model validates that all children are spiritual and have the potential for Christian spirituality as do all people.

The word spirituality is hard to grasp with a simple definition since contemporary society uses and misuses it in various ways. Spirituality is described by some as awareness beyond the self, personal or impersonal, and may be named God, a power, or a presence.⁸ The spiritual is the nonphysical aspect of self, yet it is related to self in that we are physical beings.⁹

Rebecca Nye, a British researcher of children’s spirituality, uses the phrase “relational consciousness” to describe this quality in children. This consciousness possesses an existential awareness, a sensing of mystery, as well as aspects of the value of the meaning of life.¹⁰

“’Spiritual’ is not just something we ought to be. It is something we are and cannot escape, regardless of how we may think or feel about it. It is our nature and our destiny."¹¹ It is part of our human nature because we are all created by God in his image. The spiritual life may be described as the “sum total of responses which one makes to what is perceived as the inner call of God."¹² Whether Christian or not, “the individual is increasingly aware of a spiritual craving within. He or she is drawn by one of the aspects of being … which leads to a profound personal conviction that one possesses a spark of the Divine."¹³

In the New Testament the most common Greek word for spiritual is pneumatikos, meaning “noncarnal or nonphysical,” although the context may lead the reader to deduce accurately that the meaning may indicate godliness, Christlikeness, or the influence of the Holy Spirit. According to Benedict Groeschel, the Franciscan director of an office of Christian Development located in New York, “The center of Christian spirituality is the Incarnate Word of God” in the person of Jesus Christ.¹⁴

Catherine Stonehouse supports the work of other Christian scholars who regard children as spiritual beings. She writes: “With ease [children] grasp the reality of the transcendent and are even more open to God than many adults… . Children are born with the potential for spiritual experience, and God is the one who stimulates the activation of that potential."¹⁵

The landmark research of Robert Coles on the spiritual life of children involved intensive interviews of many children spanning several years. He writes the following about the subjects of his study:

To be sure, we talked with a lot of children whose specific religious customs and beliefs came under discussion; but we also talked with children whose interest in God, in the supernatural, in the ultimate meaning of life, in the sacred side of things, was not by any means mediated by visits to churches, mosques, or synagogues. Some were the sons and daughters of professed agnostics or atheists; others belonged to “religious” families but asked spiritual questions that were not at all in keeping with the tenets of their religion. Such children … have expressed visionary thoughts, thoughts sharply critical of organized religion.¹⁶

Many of these children summarized the effect of their perception of spirituality this way: “It’s up to God, not us.”

The Christian spirituality of children is nurtured through openness to the Holy Spirit as mediated by life within the faith community. It is strengthened by corporate uses of Scripture, forms of prayer, hymns, ritual and sacraments, retreats, and the cycles of the liturgical year, which include feasts and celebrations. This nurture cannot happen in isolation.¹⁷

If the context for the child is not Christian, the child still has the quality of spirituality with accompanying questions about life, self, and meaning. The environment then strongly influences the direction that spirituality takes—whether a child finds her or his life in Jesus Christ or not.

Spirituality is an aspect of all children in that they consider and ponder aspects of themselves that are less physical—nonphysical concepts that are “other” than themselves. Therefore, a Contemplative-Reflective Model enables the spiritual aspects of the child to be nurtured. When the adults caring for the children are Christian and actively involved in the spiritual life of their community of faith, the children more readily realize the power and vitality of the spiritual. The child is then freer to receive the work of the Holy Spirit.

Children in Scripture: “Jesus put a child among them”

People often assume that the Bible is a book for adults about adults. This is true, but there are also many references to children in both Old and New Testaments. In fact, Scripture has a surprising number of things to say about children once the reader begins to look for them.¹⁸

The attitudes of the Lord Jesus toward children are especially significant for this discussion. What he taught the disciples regarding children is relevant to ministry today.¹⁹ All three Synoptic Gospels relate a familiar incident involving a child. As the story begins, the disciples are bickering among themselves about status (Matt. 18:1-6).

At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” He called a little child and had him stand among them. And he said: “I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoever welcomes a little child like this in my name welcomes me. But if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a large millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.”

This scene is also described in Mark 9:33-37 and Luke 9:46-48. Jesus put a child among them. Some translations say he put the child “in the midst of them.” His action was a direct response to their initial question. When the disciples asked, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom?” Jesus immediately gave them a visible illustration by placing a child among them. Clearly he recognized the issue couched in their initial question: their power plays appear to have come from selfishness and pride. Ironically, Jesus uses a child to reveal their spiritual immaturity.

Through his actions and words, Jesus reveals the value he holds for the child as a significant part of the faith community. So precious to God is the child that he uses this little one to teach the disciples by simply placing this child before them. Jesus elevates the lowly status of a child in the culture of his day, and he reveals the value he places on humility over status. Jesus’ actions must have stunned the disciples. He has the audacity to tell the disciples to change and become like little children or they would never enter the kingdom of heaven. Not only will they not be the greatest; they will not even be part of the kingdom. Christ explicitly states that whoever humbles himself like that child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

Jesus continues: “Whoever welcomes a little child … in my name, welcomes me.” In so doing, he reveals his heart toward these little ones. It is as if he is saying that the disciples should treat children as they would treat him. How one treats the weakest, most impressionable part of society matters to Jesus. Also, in contrast, if someone neglects or harms one of the children, there will be a just, serious punishment. At another time, while he was praying, Jesus declared praise to his Father because he had hidden certain things from the wise yet revealed them to little children (Matt. 11:25; Luke 10:21).²⁰ Their attitude was that of childlike trust, enabling him to reveal himself to them easily.

Given Jesus’ words and actions, how should we respond to children? We are to include and embrace them just as he did. We are to avoid anything that might cause one of them to sin. We are to welcome children in such a way that they are able to sense the presence of God.

A contemplative approach to ministry with children will facilitate that process, helping to keep the child from a spirituality based solely on “self and parental images,” leading them to a spiritual life “derived from an actual encounter with the living God."²¹ Since to contemplate means “to look with continued attention and to observe thoughtfully,” the environment for this model enables that to happen because the focus is on God himself, often initially through the parable of the good shepherd. The model intentionally guides the child to linger in the story, to gaze upon the good shepherd, to wonder about him.

After beginning with a look at an incident involving Jesus and a child, further insights about children and their spirituality can be gained from other passages of Scripture...