ISSUE
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DEFINING SPIRITUALITY Have you ever caught yourself using a word in conversation and wondered what it really means? We rely on jargon and acronyms, without really thinking about them. For me one of these words is ‘spirituality’. We struggle with defining spirituality, so we find it hard to understand what it means for our children and young people. We have not understood the spirituality of children and young people as we probably should have. Traditionally, the younger people are the less spiritual we expect them to be. That’s a shame because children and young people have the capacity to be deeply spiritual. One of my favourite definitions when thinking about children and spirituality is a slightly adapted version of one from UK psychologist Rebecca Nye: spirituality is God’s way of being with us, and our way of being with God. It’s a helpful definition, nice and simple, but actually very profound. Children and young people’s spirituality is a natural capacity to be aware of God in the middle of their life experiences. It’s holistic. It involves their feelings and thoughts and also their actions. The challenge for us is how to create space for our children to be with God, and He with them. In this edition of the WAY2GO magazine we look at understanding different spiritual styles as a tool for helping children engage with God in ways that are meaningful to them.
___ Liz Eichler Children and Families Consultant, SUNZ
