“Even little children can know that there is a God who exists, who loves them, who cares about them, who is in the business of forming and transforming and bringing about justice and restoring and healing.”
“I began to realize that the spirituality literature and the resilience literature overlapped incredibly.”
“Resilience is typically defined in light of what is happening in the children, i.e., when you face adversity and you manage to come out on the other side.”
“Most children have at sometime been bullied. They’ve failed a test. They’ve been unfriended, whether online or just somebody kind of didn’t invite them to the party. They have felt hurt in situations. They may have a chronic illness like asthma…And then we know lots of kids whose parents are divorced.”
“I am amazed at how many children in Scripture faced adversity, grew up without their parents, hard things happened. And when you ask [your children], ‘Who are you in this story?’ they have something to say or to draw. They may not want to share it in the class, but if you give space for them to draw, important things happen.”
“We’ve had the cognitive approach and the entertainment approach, and we put those together…I would add a third piece and I would call this the contemplative place.”
“Godly play is something that I would recommend for any church anywhere as a second approach.”
“We’ve tended to ask for church answers, Bible answers that just say, what happened in this story? And it shuts down what God did then and what he’s doing now.”
“I don’t think cognitive development is equal to spiritual development.”
“Something different happens when you’re with people of different ages together….I’m most committed in my life to bringing the generations together.”
“Children belong with us. They are the body of Christ.”
“Use children in a way that acknowledges their gifts. And what they have to bring is as important as what the adults have to bring.”
“A child who knows a God who loves them, who is in the business of restoring justice, who is in the business of healing—if they know a God like that, that is the most powerful resilience armor that there is.”
Mentioned in the Show
“CDC Researcher Susan Hillis on How People of Faith Can Support COVID Orphans” by Emily McFarlan Miller
Esther
Jamie Aten
Jean Piaget
Naaman
