Children in the Theology of John Wesley

As many of you following this blog know I have recently completed my MTh. My thesis focused on John Wesley and children. I will publish that in full shortly but to give you a taste of what is to come I will drip feed much of my last chapter out here over the next few weeks. This chapter is titled Concluding Reflections and Potential Applications and presents 6 of the many lessons I believe we can learn from Wesley which may be useful for those called to children’s ministry in the twenty-first century.


Today - the introduction - Lessons for the Twenty-first Century (part 1)
The second major aim of this thesis was to identify lessons from Wesley which may be useful for those called to children’s ministry in the twenty-first century. It is to this which we now turn. As we do so we recognise that his recognition that God works with children as children and not as “little adults” provides the basis for the most important of the many lessons this practical theologian teaches us. We will discuss that lesson later but for now note that with Wesley as a “theological mentor” we have the advantage of being able to learn from both his theology and his practical implementation of that theology.

For instance and perhaps not unsurprisingly given my project management background, I see that Wesley provides us with a planning and implementation framework which, at least in most respects, could serve as a model for planning and implementing any facet of children’s ministry. Indeed it is a model which would be useful in many situations because Wesley, probably without knowing it, followed a reasonably standard project methodology covering planning, implementation and review.

However, not only can we learn from the process he employed, we can also learn from the actions that he took particularly in implementing his educational views. We could for instance discuss his lack of understanding of the value of play in childhood. There is also value in considering his willingness to wait for the right people rather than rushing to appoint someone for the sake of getting things happening. Lastly, his willingness to tie his expectations as regards education into the wider requirements he placed on members of the Methodist movement, and in particular those he placed on his preachers, provides further valuable lessons for us.

Food for thought I hope

Blessings
Pastor Pete

A rare opportunity - Input into Course content

If in two field ed courses you could introduce 12 topics (six per course) for children and family‘s pastors, what would those topics be?  Or at least what would you think absolutely must be included in those topics?

Imagine being asked this - how would you feel? I can tell you I was and am very excited. It's an amazing opportunity to possibly influence the development of a training opportunity for Children & Family Pastors / Leaders / Workers. As you can imagine I took hold of this chance with both hands. And here's what I've just sent in response with special thanks to Rosalea Cameron, Kathy Eddie, Amanda Mitchell, Viona Schulz and Kathryn Smith for their input and thoughts. The fantastic thing about all this input was how similar all our lists were.

But please don't ask me where this course is being developed because I'm not allowed to tell you yet. I will tell you as soon as I can

Blessings

Pastor Pete

Topic	Covering ...
Leadership / Mentoring others / partnership / team building	What does it mean to be a leader? Leadership styles and which are most effective in  different contexts. Team building - stages of team building, how to  deal with the stages, e.g. conflict. How to recruit, develop and work with a team of  volunteers.
Administration	Legal issues of child protection, disclosure etc., OSH; Writing & review of safety policies etc. Keeping rolls, recording leaders and children  details etc
Reflective Practice	Using professional frameworks that give insight  to the reciprocal nature of our interactions.
Strategic Planning	Developing and implementing vision
Pedagogy	Basic pedagogy Working with children, Teaching (preaching) techniques, Working with special needs, disabilities,  mental illness etc
Theological basis for ministry to children and the family.	Including a focus on the need for  transformational learning
Prayer and worship	Introducing children to prayer and teaching  children to pray Prayer during home visitation Personal prayer life as an essential  element of pastoral care The importance of praying for the children  and your team Teaching children to worship
Child Development	Developmental stages Child psychology Spiritual development of children What a child can comprehend at each  stage and the implications when planning  activities, programmes, teaching biblical  principles and spiritual truths.
Learning styles of children	Practical opportunities to design specific  lessons using each of the different learning  styles; Practical opportunity to evaluate learning  based upon the range of learning styles
Evangelism	How to evangelise children Nurturing the faith of children Discipleship
Ministry development including curriculum, resources	Mapping ministry rather than planning  programs (How to really consider and reflect  on how best to meet ministry goals and  how that might affect the volunteers required  to run it, including whether people in the  church's demographic can realistically be  asked to give that much (do we destroy  families to create "church"?) Developing the skills to evaluate/adapt/design  curriculum, resources etc designed specifically  for the unique needs of a local setting Practical experience through attachment to a  CEC Chaplain  or as part of a Bible In Schools  type programme
The family context	What to do in visitation etc Ministry to children in the context of the family. How to support families as they disciple their  children.

How to attract children to your Children's Ministry

Just got this and just have to share it - it's such a great idea. It's from Mary Kate Warner's Sunday
School Teaching Tips newsletter.

Sunday School Newsletter

Do you have a Sunday School Newsletter at your church? 

It just might be an idea that will help boost your Sunday School numbers:

Once a month, send your students home with a short newsletter explaining the upcoming events in Sunday school and the focus of the lessons.  By informing parents of activities and goals, they will be more
likely to believe in the power of Sunday school and commit to taking their child each week. 

This also helps you connect with parents and show that you are interested and involved in their children's lives.  With a connection comes trust, the best mechanism for increasing attendance.

More from her here
http://www.teachsundayschool.com/lessonplans-ar.html

Pastor Pete

The power of a caring parent

Have you ever been corrected by a 5 year old when you've been telling them a story from the Bible? I'm sure I'm not alone in having had this happen to me - and if you haven't it's bound to happen sometime if you stick with Children's Ministry!

A couple of weeks ago I was telling the kids at our 9:45 Live Kids service the story of Joseph. I was all prepared - I had the story written out so I could bring out the main points and the theme I was working on. All prepared to be able to take them through the story in a few minutes so they wouldn't get distracted (they are all pretty young and easily distracted).

Well  no sooner had I started when one 5 year old girl started telling us the story - in more detail than I had planned. And not only did she know the story she knew a lot of the nuances that older people often don't see. We heard all about Joseph's dreams, his trouble with his brothers, the trip to Egypt, Potiphar's wife (Ok she couldn't say Potiphar but we knew who she was talking about), Joseph in prison, his dreams and so on. She only stopped when she got to the point where Mum hadn't taught her yet! And that bit about being corrected - I got confused and she told me what I got wrong.

It soon came out that Mum had been taking her little girl through the story reading straight from the Bible. That's right Mum hadn't used a child's version of the story, or a story book - she had read straight from the Bible. Her little girl heard and understood and was able to tell others.

The power of scripture to reach into every heart and mind no matter how young - Fantastic!

Have you any similar stories that can inspire us - we'd love to hear them

Pastor Pete

Some good resources

Ok - I freely admit that this week has got away from me so I'm going to cheat with tonight's post. Well maybe not cheat but certainly take the easy way out.

A few weeks ago I subscribed to a "site" by Mary Kate Warner which offered tips and resources for Children's Ministry. Some great ideas have been coming through - even if they come through a bit too often sometimes! Here's one I got recently

"Here's an idea from my lesson plans that might come in handy...

When you are teaching the story of Moses leaving from Egypt, take your group on a "trip" as you tell the story.
  
Before the start of class, label the seven areas the Israelites traveled to.

Bring the students on a journey from Egypt to Israel!

The start is Egypt,
Ramese
Succoth
Etham
the desert road
the Red Sea
Home!

When the weather permits, I make some locations outside of the church so we can get some fresh air.

We then finish up with the Hieroglyphics art project which the kids LOVE.  (This craft activity is fully explained in the lesson plans, along with printable hieroglyphic "'codes" for your class to use)."



OK so she does want to sell her Sunday School plans but then so do most people / churches / organisations but if you want to get some great tips take up the offer to get a sample plan here http://www.teachsundayschool.com/sampleforyou.html


Then you too can get the tips she sends out - They come free - there's no direct pressure to buy her products and they've certainly given me some ideas.

Until next week - be encouraged that the work you do with children will pay enormous dividends both now and in the future


Pastor Pete

Joseph & Prevenient Grace

Well as promised I've started. We are working through the E100 Bible Reading Challenge and last Sunday we  were looking at the story of Joseph. So many lessons we can take from this but what struck me as I began to prepare for 9:45 Live (our family friendly kids service) was the presence of the prevenient grace of God. Ok it may be a bit of a stretch but doesn't this remind you of God's prevenient grace "God has sent me ahead of you to keep you and your families alive and to preserve many survivors." Genesis 45:7 (NLT)

God has sent me ahead of you - the grace that goes before (prevenient grace). So it's probably not a text that would stand theological scrutiny but I believe it was legitimate to use it to introduce the concept of prevenient grace to kids aged 7 and under.

My lesson plan is on Facebook - see http://www.facebook.com/note.php?created&&note_id=124472687605017&id=109123385805171

I fully admit it's not perfect but it's a start - let's all add what we do and feel free to review and amend so we do get a great curriculum

Pastor Pete

It's here - our own web page

Wesleyan Kids NZ now has its own web page on the Wesleyan Methodist Church of NZ website.

This is for everyone interested in Children's Ministry especially within the WMCNZ. It's here as a resource for everyone - so let us have information to put on it and also tell us what you would like to see on it.

And you can now contact the WMCNZ National Children's Ministry Coordinator (that's me - Peter Benzie at the moment) by email to children@wesleyan.org.nz

More on these exciting developments in my regular comment on Tuesday

Pastor Pete