7 Short Takes About Children and Worship
Rushing Around to Get Everything Ready for The Catechesis of the Good Shepherd Training Good Shepherd is Hosting.
I do not have a lot of moments to blog today because I have so much stuff to do. Tonight begins the first Catechesis of Good Shepherd training Good Shepherd is hosting. Lots of people who hear the name of our Sunday School program think we made it up, because…Good Shepherd. Obviously. But no, Catechesis of the Good Shepherd is an actual program, and our church just happens also to be named Good Shepherd. If you want to know more about the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd (CGS), rather than the Anglican Church of the Good Shepherd (COGS), you can read this book. Since that’s what’s on my mind, here are seven things I like about CGS and doing it at COGS.
It’s the only program I’ve ever encountered that has a robust and realistic view of the spiritual life of the child. Children—very very young children—can know and worship Jesus. It shouldn’t be controversial to say this, but sometimes it is.
If you’re of a more liturgical inclination, CGS integrates liturgy and the Bible together beautifully. It actually “forms” worshippers, not just children who know a lot of stuff about the Bible.
The goal of CGS is different from most Sunday School programs. Most, that I’ve encountered anyway, want children to “meet Jesus,” learn a lot about him, and be given an opportunity to decide to follow him. Because, as everyone knows, if you “know” stuff, you “do” better.
Doing CGS for the last two decades, more than anything else, has taught me that it’s not true that if you know better you do better. You can’t do better. Your head knowledge is not very easily translated into right action because your head and heart are largely unintegrated, or disintegrated.
What children—and adults—need is a place to begin to worship God. Worship is the only thing that unfailingly reintegrates the heart and mind. If you come to church to worship Jesus all the things you thought you would get by just learning stuff is added unto you.
Children are not adults. Children need to receive the proclamation of the gospel in words and ways they can hear. Adults who come along for the ride generally find their own worship of Jesus immeasurably deepened as well—often by watching the faith of young children take root and grow.
CGS is a life’s work. Just like having children and bringing them up in the fear and admonition of the Lord isn’t a task you can just cross off your list and call it done, so building and maintaining your Catechesis program and space is something that always requires fussing over, thinking about, and working on. I am so thrilled that so many of the Anglican churches around me are going to begin to build this work. If I have only done this one thing with my life, I will have really done the only thing that matters.
Have a nice day! And pray for the Keller family.
This is the first time I have heard of that program, but I agree on starting very early, particularly in having children involved in worship.
My parish that practices communion to all baptized children has opened my eyes to this. Over 20 years, I cannot recall a single time when a child had acted up at the communion rail. 99% of the time, they are quiet and reverent. They clearly sense something special is happening.
(I will leave aside the issue of those times small children are disruptive. I don't want to start a war here.)
What you describe complements the books I've been reading lately, James K. A. Smith's Desiring the Kingdom, and Imagining the Kingdom, and Lacy Finn Borgo's Spiritual Conversations with Children. The first two establish the epistemological foundations for this shift to worship and practice as essential for formation of disciples of all ages. Lacy's book guides folk into genuine spiritual conversations with children and formative practices. As I have taught a seminary course on ministry to children and families, your recommendation prompts me to look closely at the Catechesis materials. Thanks, again, Anne.