Children's Spirituality Summit 2024

"Psalm 78:1-8 (where you find ""we will tell the next generation the praiseworthy deeds of the Lord"") is a foundational text for ministry with children. It is a call to families and congregations to continually pass on God's story from one generation to the next. Judges 2:10 is a warning that when this does not happen, God's people turn to idol worship.

In this paper/presentation, I will explore the history of interpretation of this text, from the early church to the reformers to modern times. Some of the common themes I have found so far are: family storytelling as a vocation, the covenantal duty to teach the children, and covenantal continuity (what Pavan calls the ""chain of tradition""). I will also explore what happens in Scripture when God's people fail to pass on the historical deeds of the Lord and subsequently turn into what Brueggemann calls ""a community of amnesia, despair, and autonomy."""