Children's Ministry in the Way of Jesus Quotes

“The relationships that children develop with people of other generations allow them to learn within the zone of proximal development and to pass on what they’ve learned to younger and less-experienced peers. All this goes to show the importance of fostering intergenerational community as a means for nurturing the spiritual lives of children (and people of other ages too!).”
― David M. Csinos, Children's Ministry in the Way of Jesus

“We believe that children matter to the life of the church. We believe that the church can only be the people of God when members—including the youngest—participate in its life, engage in core practices and exercise their gifts as vital members of the body of Christ.”
― David M. Csinos, Children's Ministry in the Way of Jesus

“Letting children see that we don’t have it all figured out gives them permission to live with questions at the same time that they hold on to what they do know—that God loves them and that he is holding them in his hand. This allows their faith to grow so that it doesn’t buckle with the first questions.”9”
― David M. Csinos, Children's Ministry in the Way of Jesus

“For both adults and children, true generosity needs to be modeled and true justice-seeking needs to be lived out together. Children learn far more from what they see and do than what they hear. If we’re ever to help people overcome their fear of not having enough for themselves, we need to help them start becoming generous and see what a life of generosity looks like when it’s lived out in the long term.”
― David M. Csinos, Children's Ministry in the Way of Jesus

“When we see diversity as a blessing and a gift—one that carries challenges with it—we see the world from God’s view. And when we minister with children in light of this blessing, we turn our churches and our ministries with children into places of radical hospitality.”
― David M. Csinos, Children's Ministry in the Way of Jesus

“As we reshape how we do ministry with children in order help children with special needs fully participate, we can do the same for children from other cultures. We can explore together ways that Christians of different cultures read the Bible, sing songs to God, share communion and work for justice. As our world continues to become more culturally diverse, the need for children’s ministry that addresses and embraces this diversity is going to become more apparent.”
― David M. Csinos, Children's Ministry in the Way of Jesus

“We need to ask ourselves what our ministry with children (every part of it, not just the content) teaches young people about what it means to be a person who follows Jesus. We need to explore how what we do helps nurture the souls of the children involved”
― David M. Csinos, Children's Ministry in the Way of Jesus

“we remain faithful to the way of Jesus, who took a child into his arms and saw her for the unique person she was, when we offer radical hospitality to children for who they are, regardless of their race, interests, socioeconomic background, gender and so on.”
― David M. Csinos, Children's Ministry in the Way of Jesus

“Too often, churches hold stereotypical views of children. They can buy into stereotypes and generalizations that kids are happiest when they are running around (or even that they need to run around all the time), that children always make lots of noise, that they crave constant entertainment, or that they have the most fun when they’re on the verge of being out of control. But by viewing each unique child through stereotypes and labels we attach to them, children’s ministry can become co-opted by consumerist, market-driven agendas, and it forgets the church’s mission of offering radical hospitality to the least of these.”
― David M. Csinos, Children's Ministry in the Way of Jesus

“What current practices are central to your congregation? How can you more fully engage children in these practices? How can children offer leadership to these practices?”
― David M. Csinos, Children's Ministry in the Way of Jesus

“What would happen if we began treating children as equals on our mutual quests to follow Jesus?”
― David M. Csinos, Children's Ministry in the Way of Jesus

“Telling God’s story to children is not an end in itself. While it’s surely important for children (and adults, for that matter) to gain a solid understanding of God’s grand narrative, it’s what we do with this story that really matters. When children realize that they are part of this story, that God’s story is also their story, that God’s story connects with their own expanding self-narratives, they become responsible for ensuring that the episodes in which they make appearances are faithful to the overall script that God has laid out and that they help move the story forward to the concluding eschatological scene.”
― David M. Csinos, Children's Ministry in the Way of Jesus

“How we understand God and God’s relationship with us doesn’t just come down to us from scholars and thinkers through the ages. What we do in our local faith communities informs broader theological understanding.”
― David M. Csinos, Children's Ministry in the Way of Jesus

“When children are welcomed into faith communities as members who legitimately contribute to the life of the church, we broaden our views of community to include those who are often marginalized because of their age.”
― David M. Csinos, Children's Ministry in the Way of Jesus

“ministry with children happens when adults of all ages form friendships with young people, when we work to ensure that all children—regardless of age, ability, culture, race, gender, class and family life—receive radical hospitality, when we worship as a congregation with young people as active and meaningful participants, when we engage in theological (and even nontheological) conversations with children, when we take their questions seriously, and when we link arms with young disciples to work for justice and care in the world.”
― David M. Csinos, Children's Ministry in the Way of Jesus