FEATURE
Harmonious C The Power of Three
The development of our children and youth does not occur in a vacuum. Neither is it a haphazard affair. Instead, the development of our children and youth should be an intentional process guided with a prayerful reflection by the caring adults present in the life of the child.
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he task of developing our children and youth involves "the whole person, and with the whole period of existence possible to human beings." Where the "whole person" and "whole period of existence" is defined as someone whose mental, physical, and spiritual faculties have been harmoniously and optimally developed throughout the lifespan of the person's existence (White, 2000). The Adventist Ecology Adventism has historically emphasized the importance of home, school, and church in the development of our youth. Each venue plays a unique and important role. However, no one venue is sufficient to carry the entire responsibility for the development of our youth. It takes an intentional creation of environments or ecologies that provide the warmth and nurture that our children and youth need. That is why we have to
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Alberta Adventist News
MARCH 2020
understand that the continued sustainability of Adventism is predicated on the important role that each venue plays in sustaining the growth of the other venues; thus the need for an “Adventist ecology.” This “Adventist ecology” can best be defined as the set of relationships that exist between the people belonging to the home, school, and church and their mutual interdependence to each other in promoting the harmonious development of the children and youth of our church. The Adventist home needs the support of the school and church; the Adventist school needs the support of home and church; the Adventist church needs the support of home and school. We are a system that is mutually interdependent and sustaining, and at the center of it all is the child. However, in order to accomplish the task of creating a child-centered Adventist ecology, there must be harmonious collaboration, but before considering the ways in which home, school,
