section 11
Spiritual development of children
community topics
72 meeting
Let’sreview:
Once the meeting starts, welcome everyone and ask the participants: • Who can help us remember what we talked about in our last meeting? • Who was able to do the activity at home that we asked you to do at the end of the meeting? How did it go? • Does anyone have questions or concerns after doing the activity?
What are we going to learn?
We are going to learn how to promote opportunities for the spiritual development of young children. LET’S TALK ABOUT IT! We are going to look at some pictures, so we can talk about what we all know about this topic.
What is spirituality and how do you nurture it in the lives of your children?
Why is children’s spiritual development important?
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Activity:
“Nurturing children’s spirituality” We are going to talk about the value of spirituality in a family and why it’s important for children’s development.
What we’ll need? • Bibles • A flipchart
WHAT WE’LL DO: • Markers Explain that children have spiritual needs just as adults do. Ask participants to mention some family activities that can help a child’s spiritual development. What other opportunities can we give our children so they can become aware of and experience and God’s love? • Make a list with the group: What can we do as parents and in the community to nurture children’s spiritual development? Other Suggestions: You can help to lead the following activities that support the spiritual development of children according to their age and cultural context: • Lay a child down on a big sheet of paper and trace around their bodies. Explain to them that God made us and loves us very much. Use colored dirt (or sawdust) and shade in the drawing of the child, explain to them that God loves us all. • Show children the stars and moon at night and tell them that God placed them in the sky for us. • Talk with God every day before eating and every night before going to bed. • Go outside and collect rocks, leaves and flowers of all different shapes and colors. Explain that God made all these things and we should thank God and take good care of everything that God has made. • Involve your children in acts of care and service to others who are less fortunate than you in the community. • Model loving relationships in the home. If appropriate to context: Divide the participants into groups and give each group the following bible verses to read. Ask them to write on the flipchart paper what they think the verse is saying about what God thinks of children. • Psalm 8:2 • Matthew 18:10 • Luke 18:15-17 • Proverbs 22:6 At the end of the meeting, ask a participant to pray, thanking God for our children and all the children of the community.
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Summing Up:
What did we learn today? Now, we’ll review what we discussed today. • How do you feel after this meeting? Why? • What are the two most important things you’ve learned today? • What will you do differently based on what you learned during the meeting? • What did you like the most? Are there things you didn’t like? • Do you have any remaining concerns or questions about what we talked about? To finish, what would you recommend to improve today’s meeting when we do it again with another group. (Explain that answering this question will help the meeting be even better in the future for parents with small children.)
To do at home:
• Have the parents pick a time in the coming week to read the Bible together and thank God for His blessings. • Encourage families to visit a church the next Sunday.
Basic information for the facilitator: Learning more about spiritual opportunities for children: 1- Children and Spirituality:
Many studies have shown that spirituality creates happier and healthier children. A recent study shows that high levels of emotional health are associated with lessened symptoms of depression and increased confidence and well-being. • Children are spiritually aware from a young age. They show this through their imagination, wonder, curiosity, openness to the supernatural and love of creation. • Children are intensely interested in what is correct and incorrect, good or bad. • Parental care, love and affirmation for their children, as well as modeling care and service to others in their community, is important in nurturing children’s journey to faith.
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2- Spirituality in action:
• Ask parents to be respectful towards each other as they share. • Parents may come from different faith or non-faith traditions. Enable them to share from their traditions and practices. • Where groups meet in a church or the session is facilitated by a faith based group, scripture or prayer or other more formal expressions of faith may be appropriate to use as part of the session. • All spiritual disciplines strengthen children’s development of life skills and make them more successful in facing the struggles that will await them later in life.
Facilitator’s Manual