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Q: Are the gifts of the Holy Spirit available to children?
Absolutely! When Paul was talking about the gifts of the Holy Spirit to people in Corinth, he said, ‘There are different kinds of gifts, but they are all from the same Spirit. There are different ways to serve but the same Lord to serve. And there are different ways that God works through people but the same God. God works in all of us in everything we do. Something from the Spirit can be seen in each person, for the common good. One Spirit, the same Spirit, does all these things, and the Spirit decides what to give each person’ (1 Corinthians 12:4-7 NCV). I don’t see Paul say, ‘but there is an age limit on who counts as a “person” for the Spirit to give his gifts to.’
When we think of spiritual gifts, we often focus on what they are and how they are used. Often the conversation centres around specific gifts, such as prophesy or healing. We can forget that faith, administration, hospitality, wisdom and many others also feature on Paul’s list. Some of us may be concerned about what these gifts look like in children and how to manage them well, discipling children as they operate in the spiritual gifts.
I find it helpful to be reminded of what spiritual gifts are for. They aren’t to be used to bolster our identity or impress others. One gift is not more important than the other, nor do I believe one is more ‘supernatural’ than another. Spiritual gifts are given for the common good and are to be used to bless, encourage and minister to others. They are for everyone’s benefit. The Spirit decides what to give to each person for the service of others and the purposes of God, and I believe that children are a part of that. Whatever God has given them, I believe it has been given for the good of our families, churches and nation.
Wherever you land on this question, I would encourage you to look at each child and think ‘You are created by God, and loved by him. He has designed you to bless others, and I’m going to create opportunities for you to do that.’
Rachel Turner is the author of Parenting Children for a Life of Faith: Helping Children to Meet and Know God (BRF, 2010) rachelturner.org.uk
Q: We only have three children in our Sunday school. What can we do in order to grow it?
Don’t take the size of your group as a judgement on your skills as a children’s worker. Many factors outside the realm of your influence affect Sunday attendance. Children normally come with parents, so if you’re part of an aging congregation or a congregation in an area full of young, single people, then you may need to accept that your ministry is to love, nurture and value the few children that God has given you and that you may never be leading a huge group.
More generally, there are a few principles that should help you to start to grow your group. However, I should stress that there are no quick fixes.
1. Work on the fringes. Most churches have people on the edges; you need to think about how to run events that include them. Messy Church is amazing for this. Start with that group you only see occasionally at Easter and Christmas and look to find ways of engaging them. Are there other times of year you could run an event or holiday club that could boost the frequency that you see these people and draw them into your community?
2. Invest in your under 5s. We know from recent research conducted in London that our fastest growing churches have lots of children in them. Most of those children of started coming to the church before they were five years old. This means that anything you do to engage parents with small children is good, especially if you have an intentional mission focus. So running a parent and toddler group is a great idea, but make sure you are thinking about it being explicitly Christian and forming a community.
3. Release children to be evangelists. Children are very natural evangelists, I sometimes wonder if it’s because no one has taught them to find it hard yet! So encourage them to invite their friends along. Work with children on what kind of event their friends would enjoy, and then run it while retaining your Christ-centred focus, welcoming new children in.
Sam Donoghue is co-editor of Childrenswork magazine and children’s ministry advisor for the Diocese of London
Q: What should I say if a child asks, ‘What is sin?’
Begin by asking yourself a question: ‘What is this child actually asking me?’ In other words, what do they need to know? Adults often offer theologically technical interpretations to issues raised by children. It would be easy to launch into discussions about ‘separation from God’ or ‘rebellion’ here. But maybe a child is actually asking about the effects of sin? Or what the existence of bad things says about God? Perhaps they need to check if they have made a bad choice, and what will happen to them as a consequence? Here are three approaches:
• Explain that to sin is simply to make a ‘wrong choice’. It is thinking wrong thoughts, speaking in wrong ways or doing wrong actions – things that God is not happy with or that hurt other people. This sets the context of sin as being something that is not of God, and describes in concrete terms the effects of sin outside the child. You could say, ‘Sin hurts other people and hurts God’.
• Put sin against its opposite: ‘Sin is the opposite of love’. As ‘God is love’, this allows a discussion about things that fall outside of God. Another variable on this would be to talk about the fruit of the Holy Spirit, noting the context of Pauline teaching (Galatians 5), about living in the Spirit and belonging to Jesus. This helps children to see that sin has a positive opposite. But it does rely on children being able to conceptualise differences.
• Recognise that the question might be about the child themselves. Children might have heard the word, recognised be worried that they had ‘sinned’. So a pastoral response would be to ask, ‘Why do you need to know? Are you worried about it?’ Here, an explanation of sin needs to be put in the context of forgiveness. This helps children to see that God is stronger than sin.
When I asked parents whether their children had asked them about sin, most said ‘No’, and said that it was not a word used in the home. One parent went further, saying that she had emphasised God’s love and grace to her children, as she felt that this would give them a strong place to go to when a greater understanding of sin came upon them.
Ian White lectures on children’s and youth work at Cliff College. He also heads up Micah 6:8, a ministry across the Middle East micah6-8.org.uk
