Abstract
"Amen, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will not enter the
kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the
kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 18:3-4) Children have the remarkable ability to see
Christ’s light. They freely tell you when they talk to God. They accept the gifts of the
spirit and live grace filled lives. They question so that they can strengthen their faith, not
doubt it. We as adults need to learn from them. We need to learn from their innocence
and grow from the challenging questions they have about faith.
Teaching vacation bible school one summer a young girl asked me how she would know
when the Holy Spirit was talking to her. I was excited by the question and wanted to
continue, but it wasn’t in the curriculum. Our job was to teach for 15 minutes and get
~ ready for the next group. The words we were teaching were, “believe in God.” Of course we taught this concept through story telling, elaborate costumes, and games that had a
connection in some way and by showing a video. It was trite, and the kids knew it. They
hungered for more. They already believed in God; we didn’t need to teach them that. As
adults we think we need to make everything fun. We spend money on props and crafts
that are promptly thrown away as soon as the children are home. But it is not what the
children want.
I am convinced that children want substance. If you introduce the Stations of the Cross
they will beg you to say them with them. If you teach them the traditional prayers of the
Church, they will fall in love with the Church. “But your children are just special,” is a
comment I often hear. These people think it is because I inundate them with theology.
But I have seen it again and again. I have learned through experience that in teaching any
children’s program in which theology that challenges and engages children is offered,
they can and do fall in love with it and more importantly fall in love with the Christ it
calls them to. We are doing a disservice to our children by offering them programs that
don’t show respect for the deep faith that they already have.
