God welcomes children fully into the family of faith.
By Kara Powell, PhD, Executive Director of the Center
for Youth and Family Ministry
“Time for dinner.”
I love saying those three words because I love what
dinner means for our family. More than
just a chance to eat, it’s a time for my five year-old son, my three year-old
daughter, my husband, and me to enjoy being together.
Our neighbors do it a little
differently. They have three sons, all
younger than five years old. They’ve
decided that it’s too much work to eat together. Instead, they eat in separate shifts. The kids eat dinner first. Once the kids go to bed, the parents have dinner
on their own. Faced with the challenge
of getting everyone gathered at the same time, our neighbors have decided to
eat different food at different times in different places.
I look at the way our neighbors
have dinner and I can’t help but wonder:
what are they missing out on when they eat separately? What stories go untold, what memories go
unshared, and what hopes go unspoken because they don’t gather every night to
share life together? When the kids grow
up and move out of the house, will our neighbors regret that they didn’t make
the effort to connect with each other over dinner?
We could probably ask the same questions not just
about dinner, but about our churches, too.
If your community fails to include and appreciate children in the midst
of your life together, what will you be missing? What memories of the past remain untold
because adults and children aren’t spending enough time together? What dreams for the future remain unspoken
because you’re not together to share them?
This paper explores some of these questions in its effort to better
understand the meaning and power of intergenerational community.
A Biblical Perspective
While children were appreciated and
valued in Old Testament Judaism, by the first century A.D., children were not
viewed as equal to adults. Harsh discipline, abandonment, and
infanticide were allowable practices if they were the wishes of the child’s
father. Likely more common than this type of extreme
treatment of children as some sort of property was simply the view that
childhood was a training ground for adult life, not a significant stage of life
in itself.
Jesus’ life and teaching counter this sense of
inequality and value children in several significant ways:
- Jesus’
birth. Perhaps twenty
centuries later, the radical nature of Jesus’ entry as
a baby into the first century
Greco-Roman culture has been somewhat obscured.
Yet the provocative nature of this entry should not escape us. Jesus’ revolutionary teachings about
childhood parallel His revolutionary entry into the world as a child Himself.
- Jesus’
link between greatness and children.
In the midst of the disciples’ sense of self-importance, Jesus
says that the “least” are “great” (Lk. 9:46-48). The good news for the disciples is that
greatness can be pursued and possessed.
The bad news for the disciples is that greatness does not come in a
manner familiar to them. It does
not come from comparison with others, as they had assumed. It comes by welcoming a child, who in
being the least, somehow becomes the greatest. What makes this teaching all the more
remarkable is that in the first century, taking care of children was a
task generally fulfilled by members of the culture who were viewed as
different, and even inferior, to the male disciples: women and slaves. Thus Jesus was asking the disciples who
had just been arguing about their individual greatness to take on a role
requiring the utmost humility.
- Jesus’
link between receiving the kingdom and children. In response to the disciples’ rebuke
to adults who have brought children to touch Jesus, Jesus responds, “Let
the little children come to me…for the kingdom of God belongs to such as
these” (Lk. 18:15-17). Not only
are children eligible to receive the kingdom, but they are models of what
it means to do so. While
this passage does not explicitly state what it means to receive “the
kingdom
of God like a child,” some
have suggested that children’s openness, willingness to trust, and
dependence are exemplary.
- Jesus’
link between worship and children. In
Matthew 21:12-17, Jesus affirms the validity of children’s worship of Him
despite the condemnation of the chief priests and teachers. Those who had great religious training
failed to see what children ably recognized: Jesus was the Son of David and thus
deserved great praise.
Summary: In
radical opposition to the common view of children in the first century, Jesus
welcomed them. He elevated the service
of children from the ‘menial’ work of women and servants to a significant
eschatological task. He also showed that
they have much to contribute to our community worship.
How We Apply this Today
There are multiple Scriptural
accounts of God using children in radical ways (i.e., David and Goliath,
Esther, Jeremiah, and Josiah). While
there are few explicit biblical accounts of God using children in more “ordinary”
ways, we can still extrapolate several important action steps to help every
adult include and learn from children.
A major element of biblically-based praxis is the
“priesthood of all believers.” In Paul’s
descriptions of gifts and service within the community, he never distinguishes
based on age. We can only conclude that
children were, and are, able to share their gifts and talents with the rest of
the community.
The essential ministries that
children grant the community are evident in two forms, the first of which is
their words and actions. As already
mentioned, children are fully gifted and can and are using spiritual gifts such
as encouragement, mercy, giving, and faith.
In addition to their prayers and worship, children also help guide our
faith communities by their advice and input.
Whether it be through informal discussion with children, or the formal
inclusion of children on committees and leadership groups, children have a
unique perspective that often goes unsolicited and unheard.
The second form of ministry done by
children that is essential to the community stems from their very being. According to the Roman Catholic theologian
Karl Rahner, children also model to the entire community an “infinite openness”
to the infinite. In addition, Friedrich Schleiermacher writes
that children’s ability to “live in the moment” is an important gift to the
community.
Finally, children minister to the community because
of the many ways we can learn deep theological truths as we observe and engage
with them. Those who care for children
daily learn great lessons of self-denial and the love of the heavenly Father as
they try to raise children themselves.
Adults who disciple children are also gifted with a greater sense of
their need for divine wisdom.
Conclusion
It would be
developmentally inappropriate to claim that children and adults are “identical”
members in the Christian community. Yet
it is also theologically and biblically inaccurate to even hint that they are
“unequal” members in the community. I
believe that God is now extending an invitation to His entire family so that
all His sons and daughters can gather and minister to each other in the midst
of sharing life together. While at times
it will be necessary, and maybe even recommended, for children and adults to be
separate, many communities might want to consider greater cross-generational
communication and integration. Just like
when we eat dinner, at times it might be a bit more chaotic, but it’s likely
that we’ll all walk away feeling more full and satisfied.
Biography of Kara Powell
 Dr.
Kara E. Powell serves as an Assistant Professor in Youth and Family Ministry and
the Executive Director of the Center for Youth and Family Ministry at Fuller
Theological Seminary. In addition to her roles at Fuller, Kara currently
volunteers in Student Ministries at Lake Avenue Church in Pasadena. In 2000,
Kara received her Ph.D. in Practical Theology from Fuller Seminary for her work
in Pastoral Role Expectations. Prior to that, she completed her Bachelor’s of
Arts degree in the field of Human Biology and graduated with Honors from
Stanford University and her Master's of Divinity degree from Bethel Theological
Seminary. She is the author of Help! I’m a Woman in Youth Ministry (Zondervan/Youth
Speciaties, 2004), Mirror, Mirror (Zondervan/Youth Specialties, 2003) and
co-author of the Good Sex Curriculum Guide (Zondervan/Youth Specialties,
2001). Kara lives in Pasadena with her husband and two young children.
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