AUDIO
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Archbishop Peter Jensen's Christmas Message 2011 on the centrality of Jesus to human history
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There were 4 brothers and sisters in my family and one TV (that ages me doesn’t it!). The TV rules were strict:
a. One hour only of television a week and then Saturday morning cartoons.
b. The one hour had to be agreed on by all of us and watched at the same time.
The negotiations were brutal but short lived – after all there wasn’t really that much choice.
Skip forward a generation and now there is so much more choice. ABC3 provides all day programming for Aussie kids. Nirvana’s lyrics “Here we are now, entertain us” are now not just for teens. It's starting to smell like toddler spirit.
Am I sounding harsh? The reality is I am constantly amazed at the quality of children’s entertainment in Australia. It is thoughtful, creative and often highly educational. However it raises a question for me. How should our children’s ministries stand out from this? I fear that what appears as quality children’s ministry is sometimes actually a form of infotainment. Yes it’s based on the Bible, yes its teaching, yes its creative and engaging, but there is something missing. And I think the something missing is pretty crucial - Growing Disciples.
Are we really engaging with kids in ways which gives them space and time to work out how to be a disciple? Are we too busy getting through the program to let kids explore the Bible for themselves and ask their questions? Have we actually asked what it means to be a disciple when you are 8, 10 or 3? Are we demeaning kids by not respecting that they can be reflective, thoughtful and contribute to their own growing faith?
Infotainment is impressive, often neat and tidy and very rarely offensive but ultimately counter productive. Give me children’s ministry that is messy, deep and real. That gives me hope for strong courageous disciples in a digital tv age.
you said: something different happens when we help them discover the answers themselves in their way.
I was wondering if you could give some examples to help me understand what you are saying here? How is this different to a child responding to the sharing of Bible truths taught in engaging ways?
Thanks Di
Children will often respond to Bible truths shared in engaging ways. However I often observe the 'Jesus, God the Bible' phenomenon. When we ask questions kids are so keen to give us the right answer they forget to engage with the Bible and go for the obvious. They are hounds at working out what we want them to say. An eg of trying to avoid this is to have a discussion around a text where kids are aloud to 'think out loud' what it might mean. There will be wrong answers, wrong directions and this needs gentle and clear guidance. However my experience of this is to see children take bible truths to heart and apply them to their lives in ways an adult would not think of. Make sense?
I agree (if I'm understanding you correctly) that it is important to help children not to become little parrots but rather to understand the implications of what they learn.
Thanks
Di
I am saying that but that's not all I'm saying. I want to challenge us to think what ground our Childrens ministry is founded on. Are they grounded in a theology of church or good educational principles. We need the educational principles but they will faulter if our foundation is not a theology of church.
In what way do you see the theology of church foundational to teaching children?
I would have thought that the theology of revelation would be the foundation theology for teaching children. I would encourage a critique of educational principles to be used, and then would be very happy to use those principles which served the purpose of teaching children God’s word.
cheers Di