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
Styles
BY LIZ EICHLER
SPITIRUAL
While interviewing children about their spiritual lives, David Csinos1 discovered four distinct yet overlapping ways they connect with God. He called these four ways of knowing God, spiritual styles. These styles offer glimpses into the ways in which our children make meaning and encounter the living God. A child may have one dominant style or they might be a mixture of several. Understanding these spiritual styles will help us in our planning. They help us see beyond the ways we connect with God and to an understanding of how others connect. They allow us to be more holistic in our planning. The four spiritual styles are:
1 David Czinos, Children’s Ministry that Fits, Wipf & Stock, 2011
Word — These children express their spirituality best in words. It’s about connecting with God through the words we write, the words we read, the words we think and the words we say.
Emotion — These children connect with God through their feelings. It’s about connecting with God through the way we express our feelings: singing, music, drama and art.
Symbol – These children love the mystery involved with worship. It’s about connecting with God through the world around us; i.e. nature, art, candles, and spending time in silence or alone in prayer.
Action – These children want to do something for and with God. It’s about connecting with God through our actions; doing things that show compassion or standing up for what is right.
A balanced programme will have something of each of these in it. The next page will give you some practical ideas to help you build these ideas into your weekly programme.
Using Spiritual Styles to help engage with the Bible WORD
The path of the intellect
EMOTION
The way of the emotions
SYMBOL
The journey of mystery
ACTION The road to justice
þ Use Scrabble pieces to make þ Word search. key words from the story. þ Journaling – as if you had þ If you were to make a been there. crossword out of those words, what clues would you give? þ Emoticons – place an þ Discuss times when the emoticon at each place in children have felt the the story where an same way. emotion is shown. þ Act out a scene that conveys þ Use colours to show the a certain emotion. feelings of each character in the story. þ Use objects to represent parts of the story. þ Use beautiful imagery and photography.
þ Candles. þ Quiet spaces for prayer and silence.
þ Identify what acts of service þ Give space for the children the church is involved, how to take action on issues that the children are involved or interest them. could be in the future. þ Consider recycling and composting issues at church. þ Plan realistic ways of fundraising for a cause they’re passionate about.
We suggest starting with one for each style, use them for a couple of weeks, tweak as needed, and then try a new activity for each style. Once the children are used to a few activities for each style, you can rotate new and old, just keep freshening things up. This is a great tool which may take some effort to establish but will be worth it. If you want to know more about implementing these styles into your children’s ministry, our Children and Families Team are available to support you! Contact us at way2go@sunz.org.nz for more information.
More Resources
New year, new slate, but don’t know where to start? This resource from our friends at Strandz, the Anglican Children and Family Ministry, might be a good place to help you start. Downloadable and free, go to strandz.org.nz for a copy.
Looking for Lent and Easter ideas? Check out our website and blog! www.sunzbreakthrough.org.nz childrenandfamiliesnz.blogspot.com
www.sunzbreakthrough.org.nz
Story time inspiration ‘A really incredible feast’ and other amazing Jesus stories, by Johanna Baldwin. Six stories of Jesus all written in rhyme, with fabulous pictures for a great reading time. Calming a storm, feeding thousands for tea, making sick people well and blind people see.
Scripture Union wants to work with your church to create opportunities for children and young people to discover and follow Jesus, grow as leaders, and influence the world. Contact us and let us know how we can help you.
SCRIPTURE UNION IN NEW ZEALAND
PO Box 760, Wellington 6140 way2go@sunz.org.nz 0508 423 836 sunz.org.nz
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