Children's Spirituality Summit 2024

Make sure to check out our Vendor Hall and visit our amazing providers. We are so grateful they are present with us this week!

Center for Faith and Children
David C Cook
Godly Play Foundation
International Network of Children's Ministry (INCM)
Joel Schoon-Tanis Art
Spirit and Truth Publishing
Storyline Kids
Thrive: Equipping and Encouraging Congregations
Trinity Evangelical Divinity School
Word and Wonder Creative
Worship Woodworks
Youthworks

Also check out the CSS recommended books list here.

Come and enjoy an ice cream sundae bar and connect with other attendees and our incredible vendors!
We are so grateful they are present with us this week!

Center for Faith and Children
David C Cook
Godly Play Foundation
International Network of Children's Ministry (INCM)
Joel Schoon-Tanis Art
Spirit and Truth Publishing
Storyline Kids
Thrive: Equipping and Encouraging Congregations
Trinity Evangelical Divinity School
Word and Wonder Creative
Worship Woodworks
Youthworks

Also check out the CSS recommended books list here.

Whilst it would be an over-reach to claim that intergenerational ministry is dependent on a robust theology of child, the thesis of this session is that an intergenerational approach to ministry is more likely to be embraced when a healthy theology of child is present. This workshop will engagingly revisit the area of Theology of Child, remind of the core of intergenerational ministry and explore the idea that the healthier the underlying theology of child in a faith community the more likely it is that intergenerationality will be embraced and embedded.

Desiring to encourage true worship of God, this session will explore the opportunities
for engaging children through arts-based activities that include nine spiritual practices for engagement at church and at home.

After establishing a philosophical/theological basis, practical examples of activities will be offered which focus on worship in families, children worship with children, and children involved in the larger worship life of worshiping communities.

For the first half of this workshop, artist Joel Schoon-Tanis will make a case for "reading art" - that art can be a helpful way to communicate the Biblical story in fresh, and helpful ways. He will do this largely through Show and Tell of his own work. Then, for the second half of the workshop, he will lead the group in a series of hands-on art exercises to help demonstrate that you don't need to be a full-time artist to use art in teaching.
 

"Pentecostal scholar and theologian, Amos Yong, has termed inspiration and actions informed by the logic of the Day of Pentecost narrative in the Book of Acts “the pneumatological imagination.” Essential to the pneumatological imagination is the reality of the Holy Spirit poured out universally across gender, age, socio-economic and ethnic boundaries. The Pentecost narrative affirms the Spirit’s presence fully and completely at work in and through the lives of children. Further, the pneumatological imagination invites us to consider how the Holy Spirit is communicating the current and future reign of God in and through the lives of children.

Consistent with Yong’s proposal that there is a discernible logic to the Day of Pentecost narrative that should guide the thinking and practices of followers of Jesus, James K. A. Smith has proposed five key elements of a Pentecostal worldview (a way of seeing the world informed by the logic of Pentecost). For Smith, these elements “highlight the way in which the Spirit invites us to see the world otherwise.” In an effort to elucidate some of the ways that children reveal and clarify the life and work of the Spirit, this paper will describe how each of Smith’s five elements are communicated in and through the lives of children. In addition, environments and practices that may embrace, cultivate, or quench the pneumatological imagination in children will be explored.
"

This paper looks at an innovative spiritual practice (Embodied Prayer) that promotes children's agency and embodied engagement in multi-layered meaning-making. Using data collected from diverse sites that implemented a six-week experiment, it traces both the ways in which children respond to higher levels of trust in their ability to reflect on spiritual ideas and experiences, as well as challenges and changes in understanding and practice that adult facilitators experience as they learn new ways to support children's spiritual development.

"The mystery of God and the cultivation of awe and wonder are significant elements of spiritual formation (Stonehouse, 1998; Cavaletti, 1992) and this awareness has prompted increasing conversations in the world of ministry and curriculum. However, in many faith traditions the focus has long been centered primarily on acquiring knowledge about Scripture and tradition (Cavaletti, 1992), and it remains decidedly so. As a result, when children in these faith communities reach their emerging adult years and following, faith is often viewed through the lens of having the “right answer” (Nye, 2009) which can create a disconnect where adults are uncomfortable with the mysterious aspects of faith and thus struggle when questions and complexities cannot be answered by the pre-determined and often over-simplified Bible point (Csinos and Beckwith, 2013; Stonehouse, 1998). This work is intended to examine the connection between children’s spiritual formation and crises of faith in adulthood when praxis places a high value on the reduction of God's narrative to the “right answer” within a children’s ministry. What are practices within children’s ministry that cultivate curiosity and embrace mystery so the inevitable questions individuals encounter hopefully do not diminish their faith but deepen and enhance it? Furthermore, how are those practices emerging within faith communities? This research seeks to better illuminate the connection between the mystery of God, children’s spiritual formation, and the practice of ministry.

"Jerome Berryman’s Godly Play process has refocused children’s ministry efforts on the child’s encounter with God (Berryman 1991; 2009). This establishes a consideration of the person of the child as both a receiver of and a responder to revelation. How should such a view be understood and practised within the theological constraints of Reformed evangelicalism?

Two of Michael Anthony’s categories of Contemplative Reflective and Instructional-Analytic approaches to children’s ministry (Anthony 2006) will be employed; the first representing a constructivist account of knowledge and the second a transmissionist account. This paper will analyse contemporary publications for Sunday children’s ministry within these categories with reference to the agency of the child. First, the nature of agency within the theology, pedagogy and process of Godly Play will be examined and critiqued. Second, a range of UK evangelical publications (Anon n.d.; Clark et al. 2005; Kessell 2018; Bell, Bell, and Amatt n.d.) will be similarly tested. These will then be compared and analysed from a Reformed evangelical perspective and suggestions made to establish a more consistent and coherent practice within that field that allows a child’s way of encountering God in the community of faith.

Several conclusions will be drawn: first, that the nature of agency in Godly Play is less than is claimed and represents an individualistic and untested claim of authenticity. Second, the suggestion will be made that there is space for the agency of the child within the theological resources of evangelicalism, but these exist within community and in response to revelation in an encounter initiated by God. The discussion asserts the need for evangelicalism to allocate more space for the child's active participation. As the nature of encounter differs in each approach, so do the dynamics of agency and response.

Over the last couple of decades, scholars, researchers, and a growing number of people who work with children (including those of us working with them in church contexts) have been discussing the contributions of children that come from empowering their agency. Child participation is the watchword, and we are all reminding each other about the contributions children and youth have the ability to make if they are offered the opportunity to do so. While this change has been taking place slowly in many North American churches, consulting with children on decisions that affect them is seen as an essential human right among those working with chlidren-at-risk globally thanks to the near-universal ratification of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (the US is the only UN-participating country that has not ratified the UNCRC, but that's a discussion for another day).
While this is all very important, in this presentation I'd like to draw our attention to another dimension of children's contributions that can get overlooked when we are focused so heavily on facilitating child participation, as important as it is. Instead, I'd like to propose that this other dimension refers to the non-agentic or minimally-agentic contributions children - at any age - are able to make not just to their families and churches, but also to their societies, simply by being children. I call this dimension "contributionality." Children - all children, regardless of age, disability, or developmental capacity - offer gifts of their presence, choices, and actions to the people around them that can be revelatory in many different ways, and will help us to see them more comprehensively as partners in our shared journeys of faith.
My growing awareness of this role that all children play is important because it more directly informs our practical understanding of human dignity, as well as to our theology of the same.This budding idea of contributionality paves the way for a truly public theology that makes this case and helps all communities see that working for the protection and care of children in their midst should not be primarily grounded in altruism. It should be seen as a necessary and appropriate response to the generosity that has been first given to them, just like the gift that Jesus was to all of humanity.

When one of my fifth grade students lost his home to a fire, his closest friends came to me asking what we could do to help. Using a Project-based Learning approach, I presented their question to the class as the catalyst for a cross-curricular project: “How can we support Kyle during his time of need?” This question prompted conversations that sparked students’ creativity and eventually inspired them to act on their ideas. In the span of two weeks, 60 ten and eleven-year-olds worked together to organize and carry out three fundraisers with minimal adult support. In the end, they presented Kyle and his family with a gift basket of items they had personally selected, a bundle of hand-made cards, and a check for over $4,000.

As a Christian educator teaching in a public elementary school, my goal for the project was two-fold: 1) Provide opportunities for the class to gain critical thinking skills while making progress toward several learning standards found in the state mandated curriculum for their grade level. 2) Take seriously Jesus’ command to love neighbor as self by creating space for my students to respond authentically to a classmate’s need. Having successfully utilized the Project-based Learning model in the past, I knew that the driving question would surface real-world problems that would push my students to grow as thinkers. I hoped that by working together for the good of a friend in need, my students would interact in ways that would help them grow as people. After witnessing my students’ capability and compassion in action, I have wondered whether the Project-based Learning approach can be used to intentionally nurture the spiritual lives of children in both secular and faith-based settings. This session will be a collaborative, hands-on experience whereby participants will explore the basic framework of Project-based Learning and its potential for promoting children’s spiritual formation in a variety of contexts.

Make sure to check out our Vendor Hall and visit our amazing providers. We are so grateful they are present with us this week!

Center for Faith and Children
David C Cook
Godly Play Foundation
International Network of Children's Ministry (INCM)
Joel Schoon-Tanis Art
Spirit and Truth Publishing
Storyline Kids
Thrive: Equipping and Encouraging Congregations
Trinity Evangelical Divinity School
Word and Wonder Creative
Worship Woodworks
Youthworks

Also check out the CSS recommended books list here.

This session will explore youth sports and spiritual development from 360 degrees. An honest assessment of the woes of youth sports will be shared, however a redemptive vision of what youth sports can be will be presented, as well. Many questions and concerns will be on the table including but not limited to the following:
1)Overcoming the competitive lens through which ministries sometimes view sports and considering healthy ways for churches to "stay in the game" with sports-involved children.
2) Evaluating the strengths and weaknesses of church sponsored youth sports programs.
3) Considering the role sports can play in healthy human development.
4) Addressing parental mindsets toward sports and seeking a theology of sports which the local church can present to parents.

I would like to spend time role playing a multigenerational community service learning project session with attendees as we explore together the processes and possibilities of centering children's voices in community service learning projects. When adults make space for children at the center of such projects, children's concerns for their community are heard and their strengths are allowed to be engaged as they work together with caring adults towards positive community betterment that provides an opportunity for gospel proclamation. Part of the session would be role playing and part of the session would be a debriefing process geared towards participants thinking through how they could apply such practices to their own contexts.

"My story: In 2021, I lost both of my parents suddenly to Covid within 10 days. As a worship leader and pastor in the midst of my own grief, I was struck with how little room our faith communities provided for grief, let alone a framework and language for offering Christian lament. Even further, I watched, as my four children, grieving the loss of both of their grandparents, often felt ignored by older generations; they had little resources, let alone language for developing their own spiritual practice of lament. Interestingly, I found my children were often the ones leading me in the rhythms and practices of daily lament. Learning about and practicing lament together became and continues to be a powerful, healing practice for my whole family and our entire faith community.

Proposed Workshop Content:
Children, like adults, experience loss, trauma, transition. Like us, they encounter deep disappointments and grief, sometimes even the loss of a family member, or friend, or a special pet. Like us, children often inhabit the liminal spaces of waiting, disappointment, illness, moving, divorce, and so much more. Children live in a world full of bullying, violence, racial injustice, poverty, and discrimination. But are children permitted and empowered to offer their own lament to God? Do children know that they can approach God honestly with their pain and confusion? Do our children realize that God invites us to practice daily rhythms and rituals that allow us to lament? Even further, do children know that they can lament with their faith community—that lament is not only for adults? How do we make space for children to engage in the spiritual practice of lament in our worship and in daily life?

This workshop aims to answer these questions by providing the following:
• a brief theology of lament as a spiritual practice for worship and daily life that enables us to approach God and community with honesty, vulnerability, and authenticity
• an exploration of how we might make room for lament in our faith communities and at home
• new language to aid us in practicing lament with children utilizing the Psalms of lament and biblical examples (Job, David, Hannah, Jesus)
• practical resources drawing from culturally diverse faith communities and experts in this field to facilitate and create practices of lament through rhythms and rituals, including invaluable input through recent interviews from the following specialists:

o Amy F. Davis Abdallah – author of Meaning in the Moment: How Rituals Help Us Move Through Joy, Pain, and Everything in Between
o Ann Ahrens – author of Suffering, Soul Care, and Community: The Place of Lament in Corporate Worship
o Holly Catterton Allen – author of Forming Resilient Children: The Role of Spiritual Formation for Healthy Development and researcher on children’s spirituality.
o Terra McDaniel – author of Hopeful Lament: Tending Our Grief Through Spiritual Practices and spiritual director for children
o Rachel Wilhelm – composer of Songs of Lament and a major voice on the topic of lament in worship
"My story: In 2021, I lost both of my parents suddenly to Covid within 10 days. As a worship leader and pastor in the midst of my own grief, I was struck with how little room our faith communities provided for grief, let alone a framework and language for offering Christian lament. Even further, I watched, as my four children, grieving the loss of both of their grandparents, often felt ignored by older generations; they had little resources, let alone language for developing their own spiritual practice of lament. Interestingly, I found my children were often the ones leading me in the rhythms and practices of daily lament. Learning about and practicing lament together became and continues to be a powerful, healing practice for my whole family and our entire faith community.

Proposed Workshop Content:
Children, like adults, experience loss, trauma, transition. Like us, they encounter deep disappointments and grief, sometimes even the loss of a family member, or friend, or a special pet. Like us, children often inhabit the liminal spaces of waiting, disappointment, illness, moving, divorce, and so much more. Children live in a world full of bullying, violence, racial injustice, poverty, and discrimination. But are children permitted and empowered to offer their own lament to God? Do children know that they can approach God honestly with their pain and confusion? Do our children realize that God invites us to practice daily rhythms and rituals that allow us to lament? Even further, do children know that they can lament with their faith community—that lament is not only for adults? How do we make space for children to engage in the spiritual practice of lament in our worship and in daily life?

This workshop aims to answer these questions by providing the following:
• a brief theology of lament as a spiritual practice for worship and daily life that enables us to approach God and community with honesty, vulnerability, and authenticity
• an exploration of how we might make room for lament in our faith communities and at home
• new language to aid us in practicing lament with children utilizing the Psalms of lament and biblical examples (Job, David, Hannah, Jesus)
• practical resources drawing from culturally diverse faith communities and experts in this field to facilitate and create practices of lament through rhythms and rituals, including invaluable input through recent interviews from the following specialists:

o Amy F. Davis Abdallah – author of Meaning in the Moment: How Rituals Help Us Move Through Joy, Pain, and Everything in Between
o Ann Ahrens – author of Suffering, Soul Care, and Community: The Place of Lament in Corporate Worship
o Holly Catterton Allen – author of Forming Resilient Children: The Role of Spiritual Formation for Healthy Development and researcher on children’s spirituality.
o Terra McDaniel – author of Hopeful Lament: Tending Our Grief Through Spiritual Practices and spiritual director for children
o Rachel Wilhelm – composer of Songs of Lament and a major voice on the topic of lament in worship
"

Crafts or product art are a staple for many who minister with children, yet crafts are often limiting and not developmentally appropriate. Open-ended activities and process art projects are a much more meaningful way for children to process what the Holy Spirit is speaking to them. I would like to touch on the differences between product art and process art, give benefits and potential of process art, and lots of simple, practical process art ideas to use.

In Luke 1:66 all who hear about John's birth wonder about him: "What then will this child become?" (cf. also Luke 1:14). This wondering is reminiscent to the perennial question adults wonder about children today: "What will this child become?" Or, phrased differently, "What do you want to be when you grow up?" In this paper, however, I argue that "becoming" for the gospel author is neither completed in adulthood--when one "grows up" (cf. Luke 22:26, "The greatest among you must become like the youngest"), defined by one's occupation/success, nor, more basically, about completion at all. Rather, as many have noted and Michelle Obama popularly points out in her autobiography by the same title, becoming is a life-long process of formation. Most significantly, for the Lukan evangelist, becoming is about a spiritual formation (Luke 1:14) that centers youth and service before experience and leadership (Luke 22:26). I therefore seek to explore the concept of becoming that Luke attaches to the child John as a model for uplifting and celebrating childhood especially as a time of becoming without imposing more adult-centric task oriented outcomes and goals, and rather, giving space to wonder and explore with children the work of the Holy Spirit in their lives in the present moment.

The Montessori approach to education has been embraced by a wide variety of educators around the world. Ironically, though, as secular educators have accepted Maria Montessori’s pedagogical methods, they have overlooked perhaps the driving force of her approach: the intrinsic spirituality of children. The aim of this paper is to summarize this often-neglected component of children’s spirituality in Montessori’s own words. In so doing, the spiritual nature of the Montessori method is articulated and compared to an orthodox, confessional Christian view of children’s spirituality. The hope is to provide Montessori-curious evangelical Christians some insights into the spiritual nature of this educational phenomenon. 

"The book of Luke offers valuable insights about Jesus' spirituality in his early life (Luke 2:39-52). In his early years the relationship he had with God caused him to be confident enough to be able to say to his earthly parents, ""Didn't you know I would be in my Father's house?"" Jesus was surrounded by God's presence and was loved and known by God all of his life including when he was a child. This paper explores what it meant for Jesus to be with God in his early childhood by examining the formation of Jesus' spirituality through his sayings and teachings. Theological and biblical reflections will focus on how God and Jesus' earthly parents and community shaped and formed his spirituality. By looking at Jesus' life, I will offer some practical principles, patterns, and lifestyles for encouraging children's spirituality today.

"

This paper addresses the issue of children's spirituality in an innovative way by highlighting the implications that the adoption of a specific definition of spirituality has on the inclusion or exclusion of several children's voices from the research design and therefore from the reserch results. In order to critically address the inclusive and exclusionary potential, the paper starts by presenting the broadest definition of the term and progressively adds specific nuances in order to reach a more complex and inclusive one. The aim of the article is certainly not the utopian one of providing an all-inclusive framework, but rather to show how, in any research, it is crucial to reflect on the children who, due to factors such as personal characteristics or cultural affiliation, will potentially be included in the research design and those who, on the other hand, run the risk of being overlooked. Hence, this session aims to be a useful self-analysis tool for both academics and professionals engaged in research on spirituality.

In this session I will present a research paper that traces the presence of children throughout the Gospel of Matthew showing their development from helpless victim to honored member in the kingdom of heaven. Examining six passages and the Greek words used to describe children, we will discuss in this session how the child is not simply used as an object lesson in the Gospel, but has intrinsic value and importance in Jesus's ministry and in the kingdom of God. The dynamic view of the child as it is developed in Matthew has implications for how we view the child in our ministry settings, valuing them as whole persons and holding a posture as adults that seeks to walk alongside, bless, and learn from them. I hope to present my findings in my research and also engage in a discussion in how we can further implement the findings in our various settings.

One of the distinguishing marks of the Protestant Reformation is a shift in the Church's understanding concerning the nature of faith. The Roman Catholic emphasis on faith as a theological virtue shifts to a more existential and relational focus, particularly through the works of Martin Luther. Thus, the Protestant notion of "sola fide" offered Christians of Luther's time a new possibility of being with God. In this session, I will explain how faith as relationship shapes an educator's understanding concerning children's way of being with God, and evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of this view in comparison to the Roman Catholic view of faith as a theological virtue.

This workshop, led by Children’s Spirituality Hub staff from Union Presbyterian Seminary, will invite participants to drink from our wellspring of innovative practices that have been refined through experimental implementation. We’ll teach three practices (Holy Listening, Embodied Prayer, and Storybook Reflections) designed and tested in multiple settings through the Hub. Holy Listening is a one-on-one practice with young children that uses a finger labyrinth, symbol stones, and a hand blessing to explore centering, emotions, and spiritual connections. We’ve tried it out in church school classes and weekday preschools. Embodied Prayer involves movement-based prayers designed to help children experience spiritual connection with self, others, the natural world, and God. We tested a set of six themed prayers (Connection, Empowerment, Wonder, Awareness, Empathy, Justice) with groups ranging in size from 6-100+ kids. Storybook Reflections uses children’s picture books to invite spiritual connections and build socioemotional skills. We've created six different themed sets of books for stand-alone use or curricular supplementation. You’ll learn how the practices work, as well as the child development and education theories that shaped their design. And we’ll also show you how to integrate these ideas into existing ministries, as well as create new components (your own embodied prayer scripts) and approaches (using holy listening with groups) to fit your needs.

Play is not a word that is often associated with a worship service. Yet, play is one of the primary ways a child learns. It is a place of exploration and discovery for a child and a significant tool for their ability to make meaning. Play can also be a transformational activity. While play integrates reality and imagination, sacred play engages reality and divine. In this workshop, four Children's Ministry leaders from different ministry contexts share what they learned as they spent one year focusing together on play as a way of engaging children in prayer & worship.

Join this reflective workshop as we wonder: "Where have all our families gone?" Explore recent research and identify strategies to strengthen ministry with children through intentional relationships with parents and caregivers. Discover active listening techniques that deepen understanding and increase impact as we shepherd families with young children (0-3 years) in the sacred work of loving God and Neighbor.

We will present this unique way of being with God in worship. In a structured environment through storytelling, wondering about God, and the stories of God; children are given the opportunity to deepen their relationship with God.

My session topic is “how Christian Second-Generation Korean Americans (CSGKA)
assess their parents’ influence on their faith formation.” This study takes the theoretical
framework of Albert Bandura’s social learning theory, James W. Fowler’s faith development
theory, John H. Westerhoff’s four styles of faith theory, and religious socialization theories. A total of 24 interviews were conducted with CSGKA who were raised up in a Christian home and are currently married and with teenage children at the time of the interview.

Regarding faith formation, this study demonstrates that CSGKA make meaning from their parents’ influence. It appears that from childhood to youth, CSGKA use faith life of their parents as a guide for their own religious life. They follow their parents’ examples as they attend church, pray, and read the Bible. Once CSGKA obtain Owned Faith style (Westerhoff), what they have observed in their parents’ lives becomes a way of continuing relationship building process with God.

In addition, the findings of this study bring attention to CSGKA who testifies that their
parents’ influence on their faith formation was minimal. Lack of emotional connection
appears to be a crucial reason for this phenomenon. However, this does not indicate that parental influence was missing on their faith formation. What this study reveals is that parental influence affects the social, emotional, and value areas of CSGKA. In concluding, this study suggests individuals to continually reflect on experiences with parents even after they become adults. Those experiences are lasting rich resources for individual’s faith formation."

This is a presentation about the practices that led to spiritual growth in childhood among young adults who are now committed Christians in various evangelical churches in the city of Nairobi-Kenya. I will present the results of a study carried out among these young adults and their parents concerning their perception of the important experiences the parents provided for spiritual growth in childhood, why these experiences were considered as important, and what their impact was. The study was carried out between July and November 2022.

"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."""

Faith is learned when it's woven seamlessly into the fabric of everyday life. Most faith formation leaders and Christian educators know that faith formation starts at home. But how, exactly, can we equip parents with the tools and practices that can help families develop meaningful practices outside of Sunday morning? In this interactive session, Traci Smith and Dave Csinos will lead participants through a variety of creative faith-at-home practices that families can practice with children of all ages. Special attention will be given to practices included in their research study. By experiencing faith-at-home practices for oneself, participants will gain practical insight into their formational power. And by reflecting on the experience of these practices, faith formation leaders will learn tools for supporting support the families in their care.

Make sure to check out our Vendor Hall and visit our amazing providers. We are so grateful they are present with us this week!

Center for Faith and Children
David C Cook
Godly Play Foundation
International Network of Children's Ministry (INCM)
Joel Schoon-Tanis Art
Spirit and Truth Publishing
Storyline Kids
Thrive: Equipping and Encouraging Congregations
Trinity Evangelical Divinity School
Word and Wonder Creative
Worship Woodworks
Youthworks

Also check out the CSS recommended books list here.

Hands-on, experiential learning through play...the most serious means of learning for children!
Check out our forum post about Play and a Child's Faith.

Each session will be 40 minutes long, with a 10 minute break in-between sessions. You will be able to choose up to 2 sessions during this time.

• Cheryl Minor—Sampling a Story from a Parable Box (ATO Chapel)
  • Description: A Godly Play experience of worship and wonder.
• Joy Wendling—Created to Play (Rodine Room 129)
  • Description: A hands-on exploration of the many unique ways God designed us to play.
• Lindsay Goetz & Mimi Larson—Playful Prayers (Lantern Room in Waybright Center)
  • Description: Explore prayer through a variety of play experiences curated by the Center for Faith and Children team.
• Kirsten Hitchcock—Adaptive Spiritual Practices with Children (Rodine Room 128)
  • Description: How can we teach contemplative practices that are right for our kids and incorporate play? Experience how to make spiritual practices approachable.
• Dana Kennamer—Playful Rituals (Rodine Room 127)
  • Description: Explore how rituals of welcome, birthdays, sharing time, and even celebrating lost teeth can connect all ages in community with God and with each other.
• Artist Joel Schoon-Tanis—Scribbles and Doodles and More (Melton Hall in Waybright Center)
  • Description: I’ll help your BRAIN do some STORMING with some simple drawing games. No art skills required!

LAST CALL FOR GIVEAWAYS!

Make sure to check out our Vendor Hall and enter for your last chance for giveaways.

Center for Faith and Children
David C Cook
Godly Play Foundation
International Network of Children's Ministry (INCM)
Joel Schoon-Tanis Art
Spirit and Truth Publishing
Storyline Kids
Thrive: Equipping and Encouraging Congregations
Trinity Evangelical Divinity School
Word and Wonder Creative
Worship Woodworks
Youthworks

Also check out the CSS recommended books list here.

We will cover best practices, case studies, historical perspectives, and more to understand how to create curriculum, build relationships, and connect neurodivergent children to God and church. The methods and practices covered will be things that are adaptable for each context and budget.

One of the best tools we can give to children who want to know about God is a way to engage the Bible that goes beyond merely thinking about a verse or a passage out of context or in isolation. Rather, we want to give them a perspective on how the Bible was written and how to use that knowledge to learn about who God is.

Children’s spirituality can be described as “relational consciousness” - the urge to relate with God, the self, others, and the world. We know that this comes naturally to young children, but as children move into middle and late childhood, they often repress it or discard it altogether as the values of the world press in on them. Children need our help to withstand those pressures so that their spirituality and flourish and grow with them. In true Godly Play style, we will explore the 6 principles outlined by Rebecca Nye in her book, “Children’s Spirituality: What it is and why it matters,” as best practices for supporting children’s spirituality. The hope is that all will gain a new set of “lenses” by which to examine the practices used in your context. - Sunday School, Vacation Bible School, all-age worship, prayer, and at home.

The benefits of intergenerational relationships on both young and old have been enumerated by researchers and ministers alike but in many circles, there is resistance especially from adults. Many adults express that they feel uncomfortable engaging with younger generations. Offering the reticent a few tools for positive interactions can lead to opportunities that lead to meaningful relationships and lifelong discipleship.

Recent decades have seen a growth in research highlighting the importance of families in the spiritual and religious lives of young people. As a result, family-based approaches to faith formation are becoming more popular. One instance of this is “faith-at-home practices,” simple rituals and activities designed to help families engage their faith and be formed spiritually by practicing them with one another—in daily life, throughout church calendar, and in key moments in family life. Despite the fact that faith-at-home practices are growing in popularity, studies have yet to examine their efficacy. Thus, we set out to learn about the effects of faith-at-home practices on the faith lives of families—both individual family members and families as a whole—who are involved in local churches and engage in these practices. This presentation will offer preliminary results of this study and examine its implications for how practitioners can empower families to nurture their spiritual lives through faith-at-home practices.

"Each fall, university students in the course, “Nurturing Spiritual Development with Children” spend one-on-one time with children ages 8-10 in an afterschool program. The student/child pairs participate in spiritually formative activities, including walking a labyrinth, practicing imaginative prayer, reading children’s books, and posing wondering questions. The CSS presentation will share how the experiences have addressed challenges these children have encountered such as loneliness, parental substance abuse, bullying, and divorce, along the way connecting the activities to the children’s relationships with self, others, and God.
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Present emerging research on the intersection between socio-cultural theories of collaborative memory and remembering and the transmission of faith to successive generations.

Churches have implored parents to “train up a child in the way they should go”. (Proverbs 22:6). They have begged parents to implement the Shema in their homes by surrounding their children with the truth and ways of God daily (Deuteronomy 6:5-6). Although ministries are encouraging parents to raise children in the lord, are they aware of the daily life of these children making them able to serve and minister to them? This paper will reveal findings from a case study unpacking the childhood spiritual experiences and perceptions of God of children who are spiritually nurtured by parents attending a seminary. Implications will benefit other christian parents who attend seminaries, as well as local churches who seek to spiritually nurture children who are discipled at home.

The Bible invites us to frame our lives in a story of adventure, with life in God’s presence as the treasure at its center. In this session, participants will follow a child-like path in charting the recurring scenes and landmarks in each covenant story, culminating with our covenant in Jesus. We’ll also explore the importance of helping children recognize these scenes in their own lives and how God meets us in each place. In the process, we’ll engage in biblical theology as a poetic language of truth.

Final chance to meet with our vendors:

Center for Faith and Children
David C Cook
Godly Play Foundation
International Network of Children's Ministry (INCM)
Joel Schoon-Tanis Art
Spirit and Truth Publishing
Storyline Kids
Thrive: Equipping and Encouraging Congregations
Trinity Evangelical Divinity School
Word and Wonder Creative
Worship Woodworks
Youthworks

Also check out the CSS recommended books list here.