The Quadrilateral and Kids, Part 3 of 4
“Now I’m returning to you. I’m saying these things in the world’s hearing so my people can experience my joy completed in them.” Romans15. 13-14a [The Message]
Scripture is primary as we teach children about God. Tradition speaks to the legacy of our foreparents in the Christian Faith. What about Experience?
Experience
Children learn through experience.
They are not born as “empty vessels”, but as children grow and develop, they collect experiences that shape who they are as people and as members of the community. As their teachers, it is our responsibility to guide them in living out their lives through scripture – holy living. Listen to and respect their stories, while helping them to see how their choices and actions reflect upon who they are as children of God.
Resources:
At Home With God Family Devotions for the School Year
United Methodist Doctrine: The Extreme Center
by Scott J. Jones [Abingdon Press]
The Spiritual Life of Children by Robert Coles [Houghton Mifflin, 1990]
Speaking of Faith, hosted by Melissa Tippett, Conversation with Dr. Robert Coles “The Inner Lives of Children”, re-released on NPR January 1, 2009.
