God is at work in the lives of children. Most ministers are looking for inspiration but feel overwhelmed. Children's Ministry and the Spiritual Child offers practical tools with evidence-based research in an easy-to-read format, perfect for engaging and equipping passionate yet busy children's ministry leaders. Learn from the wisdom and research of some of the leading thinkers in the field of children's spirituality about best practices of ministry in both personal and community settings. - Section 1: Reviews ways to engage a child's innate spiritual capacity - Section 2: Considers the equipping role a family plays in a child's spiritual life - Section 3: Outlines intergenerational involvement in a child's faith formation - Section 4: Offers advice for care and compassion for children when trauma happens - Section 5: Brings everything together with hands-on ideas for putting the research to use

When children have a listening companion who hears, acknowledges, and encourages their early experiences with God, it creates a spiritual footprint that shapes their lives. Lacy Finn Borgo draws on her experience of practicing spiritual direction with children as she introduces key skills for engaging kids in spiritual conversations, offering sample dialogues, prayers to use together, and ideas for play, art, and movement.

Children know God. They encounter God in diverse ways as they walk along the spiritual journey. Amidst this diversity, four distinct avenues for connecting with God emerge in the lives of children: word, emotion, symbol, and action. These are the four spiritual styles, broad approaches to spirituality and faith through which children experience God and make sense of their lives in the world around them. Children's Ministry that Fits blends insightful research, relevant theory, and practical ministry into a guidebook for discovering and understanding children's spiritual styles. Drawing from theology, personal experience, and the spiritual lives of children, David M. Csinos offers practical wisdom that will help pastors, parents, and teachers to move beyond one-size-fits-all approaches to children's ministry and begin nurturing the spiritual lives of children in welcoming and inclusive environments.

Bridging Theory and Practice in Children's Spirituality explores the different contexts, methods, and situations that influence and foster a child's spirituality and faith development. Through a blend of theoretical understanding held in tension with practical application, it equips those who are in, or being prepared for, the varied contexts where children are spiritually formed. It represents a broad range of Christian expression writing from a Christ-centered perspective that furthers the conversation about the next steps in children's spirituality and faith development. Moving beyond the basics of faith nurture and what makes for effective ministry, this resource deepens our understanding of the practices in children's lives by bringing together the best of theory and practice and includes contributions from: Dr. Scottie May (Wheaton College) Dr. Kevin Lawson (Biola University) Dr. Erik Carter (Vanderbilt University) John Roberto (Vibrant Faith) Dr. Dana Kennamer Pemberton (Abilene Christian University) Dr. Shirley Morganthaler (Concordia University - Chicago) Dr. Holly Catterton Allen (Lipscomb University) Dr. Robert Keeley (Calvin College and Calvin Seminary) Dr. Mimi Larson (Wheaton College) Lacy Finn Borgo ( Renovaré Institute) and others. Pastors, professors, seminary students and children's ministry leaders and practitioners all believe that nurturing a child's spiritual development is important. Yet often they are unsure about which current trends should be embraced. This book will help equip these people with the grounding needed to evaluate trends and with specific suggestions for moving forward. With short, accessibly written chapters it helps pastors and leaders stay up to date with current trends and is an excellent resource for teaching in college and seminary classrooms.

Analyzes the spiritual formation of young children and calls for renewed attention to scripture and the involvement of families in the process.

Leaders in Christian communities are all asking the same question: How can we bring the generations back together? InterGenerate addresses important questions of why we should bring the generations back together, but even more significantly, how we can bring generations back together. In this edited collection, ministers, church leaders, and Christian educators will find valuable, new generational theory perspectives, fresh biblical and theological insights, and practical outcomes backed by current research. InterGenerate offers important guidance on topics including •intergenerational spiritual disciplines, •transitioning from multigenerational to intergenerational, •new research that focuses directly on intergenerational ministry and offers practical outcomes to implement, and •benefits of intergenerational ministry for the most marginalized generations. An exciting and distinctive aspect of InterGenerate is the vast diversity of voice —men and women ranging in age from millennials to baby boomers, representing multiple countries and over a dozen denominations—all seeking ways to become more intentionally intergenerational in their outlook and practice.

Much ministry to children looks more like mere entertainment than authentic spiritual formation. But what if children's ministries were rooted in a mind set whereby we taught children, with our words and actions, how the story of God, the story of church history, the story of the local community, and the story of the child intersect and speak to one another? What if children's ministry was less about downloading information into kids' heads and more about leading them into these powerful, compelling stories? Beckwith aims to help ministers and parents create a ministry that captures children's imaginations not just to keep them occupied, but to live as citizens of the kingdom of God. In addition to providing theological reasons for formational children's ministry, the book offers examples of how Ivy and other practitioners are implementing a formational model.