The Children's Corner: American Baptist Children's and Intergenerational Ministries Publication
Welcome to the Children and Intergenerational Ministries Web page! The Children and Intergenerational Ministries Web page has as its mission to advocate for children, and to inform and equip American Baptist Churches with helpful resources, important links and insights as to discipleship matters of faith nurture of children and their families. We are interested in giving you inspiration, tools and connections to help form and transform lives in the overall discipleship process.
Take time to navigate the Web page and give us your feedback. We want to know what is helpful and what you would consider as important to your overall ministry needs. Feedback and suggestions may be sent to the Rev. Dorian Mendez-Vaz.
We invite you to take a few minutes to reflect on the following excerpt taken from the essay, "The Least and the Greatest," by Judith M. Gundry-Volf found in the book, The Child in Christian Thought edited by Marcia J. Bunge.
In light of the traditional reception of the New Testament teaching, the most significant challenge before us is to recapture in our own particular contexts the radicalness of Jesus' teaching on children.
Children are not only subordinate but sharers with adults in the life of faith; they are not only to be formed but to be imitated; they are not only ignorant but capable of receiving spiritual insight; they are not "just" children but representatives of Christ. What makes that challenge so difficult is that it would entail changing not only how adults relate to children but how we conceive of our social world. Jesus did not just teach how to make an adult world kinder and more just for children; he taught the arrival of a social world in part defined by and organized around children. He cast judgment on the adult world because it is not the child's world. He made being a disciple dependent on inhabiting this "small world." He invited the children to come to him not so that he might initiate them into the adult realm but so that they might receive what is properly theirs–the reign of God.
It is clear through a serious study of the Gospels that Jesus had children at the heart of his ministry. We should too! Take time to intentionally pray for the children you know. How can you make a difference in their life? How can the church make a difference in their life and in the life of families?
What would it mean for all of us if we took Jesus' teaching seriously and placed children and childhood as top priority?
