Foundational Books: Children's Faith Formation

Children's Ministry in the Way of Jesus
David M. Csinos and Ivy Beckwitch (IVP Books, 2013)

Attract kids to church, the logic often goes, and you get parents in the pews. All that's left, then, is to get the kids out of the way. Here children's ministers David Csinos and Ivy Beckwith draw on research in human development and spiritual formation to show how children become disciples and churches become centers of lifelong discipleship. For too long, the local church has focused primarily on programs for children rather than ways of doing ministry with children. But in light of emerging missional movements, the church is changing and forming a new kind of ecclesial culture. And children's ministry must follow suit. Csinos and Beckwith propose a new way of thinking for these modern churches—they suggest that children can contribute to our theological understandings, as well as invest in and practice Biblical justice just like adult church members. Here is a unique resource that explores children's ministry in light of true spiritual formation and discipleship.

Children’s Ministry that Fits: Beyond One-Size-Fits-All Approaches to Nurturing Children's Spirituality
David Csinos (Eugene: Wipf & Stock, 2012)

Children know God. They encounter God in diverse ways as they walk along the spiritual journey. Amidst this diversity, four distinct avenues for connecting with God emerge in the lives of children: word, emotion, symbol, and action. These are the four spiritual styles, broad approaches to spirituality and faith through which children experience God and make sense of their lives in the world around them. Children's Ministry that Fits blends insightful research, relevant theory, and practical ministry into a guidebook for discovering and understanding children's spiritual styles. Drawing from theology, personal experience, and the spiritual lives of children, David M. Csinos offers practical wisdom that will help pastors, parents, and teachers to move beyond one-size-fits-all approaches to children's ministry and begin nurturing the spiritual lives of children in welcoming and inclusive environments.

Children's Spirituality: What It Is and Why It Matters
Rebecca Nye (Westminster/John Knox, 2009)

This concise guide is an ideal introduction to the increasingly popular topic of children's spirituality. Mixing theory with tips on 'good practice', leading expert Rebecca Nye shows how choices made in churches and homes can stimulate or stifle a child's spiritual development, exploring: childhood as a natural source of spirituality; ways to help children value and express their spirituality; and the role of Christian nurture and worship in early spiritual development.

Creating a Lead Small Culture: Make Your Church a Place Where Kids Belong
Reggie Joiner, Kristen Ivy, and Elle Campbell (Orange, 2014)

Every kid needs to be known by someone and to belong somewhere. If you want to leave a lasting impact on the faith of a child or teenager, maybe it should begin by giving them what they need most.  That’s one reason for a shift in the way many churches are discipling their kids and teenagers. Think of it this way: connecting kids and teens to a consistent leader who believes in God and believes in them is something the church can do that nothing else in culture does. In Creating a Lead Small Culture the authors explain shift that has been happening in the discipleship strategy of effective churches over the past decade. The three behaviors and the nine habits presented in the book have the potential to radically shift the direction of your church and the faith of the next generation.

Enduring Connections: Creating a Preschool and Children’s Ministry
Janice Haywood (Chalice Press, 2007)

Enduring Connections is a comprehensive, practical guide for establishing a quality childhood ministry with preschoolers and grade-schoolers that focuses on building a childhood ministry that intentionally connects children to God and the community of faith through paths that are driven by relationship rather than programs. The twelve chapters in Part 1 provide the foundations, practices, and tools for developing childhood ministry; the five chapters in Part 2 are focused on leadership. 

Exploring and Engaging Spirituality for Today's Children: A Holistic Approach 
La Verne Tolbert, editor. (Wipe & Stock, 2014)

Exploring and Engaging Spirituality for Today's Children: A Holistic Approach answers questions about the most effective ways to help children, pre-teens, and teens develop spiritually. This collection of research gleaned from presentations during the Fourth Triennial Children's Spirituality Conference at Concordia University in 2012 is divided into four major sections: (1) theological and historical foundations, (2) engaging parents and congregations, (3) engaging methodologies, and (4) exploring children at risk, child pornography, social justice, intercultural diversity, and abstinence education. Researchers acknowledge that the home is the foundation for Christian nurture. In Exploring and Engaging Spirituality for Today's Children, both scholars and ministry leaders come together with parents to promote a holistic environment where children are encouraged to love, respect, and obey God. From birth to high school, children's voices resonate throughout these studies as they are invited to share their reflections and experiences. Exploring and Engaging Spirituality for Today's Children is a lively, easy-to-read collection that reflects a broad range of faith traditions and is ideal for all those who are committed to the spiritual development of children.

Faith Forward: A Dialogue on Children, Youth, and a New Kind of Christianity
David M. Csinos and Melvin Bray, editors. (CopperHouse, 2013) 

Knowing how to nurture faith in young people is a challenge, particularly when we want to encourage a faith that is generous, innovative, and contextual. Faith Forward gathers 21 presentations from the 2012 “Children, Youth, and a New Kind of Christianity” conference held in Washington, D.C., and makes them available for those in ministry with children. The chapters express various contemporary takes on Christian faith and discipleship. This book is a gold mine of information and inspiration for those seeking to engage children and youth in respectful conversation, exploration, and learning in today's complex world. If you are seeking grassroots, forward-thinking, ecumenical, innovative, and collaborative ways to do children and youth ministry, then this book provides the material to move you in that direction.

Formational Children's Ministry
Ivy Beckwith (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2010)

Ivy Beckwith helps ministers and parents create ministries that capture children's imaginations, not just to keep them occupied, but to live as citizens of the kingdom of God. She asks big questions, such as What if we taught children how the stories of God, church history, the local community, and the child intersect and speak to one another? What if children's ministry was less about downloading information into kids' heads and more about leading them into these powerful, compelling stories? In addition to providing theological reasons for formational children's ministry, the book offers practical examples of how Beckwith and other practitioners are implementing a formational model. 

Fostering Children’s Faith
Jeanne Hall (Resource Publications, 2012)

Fostering faith in children is a shared privilege and responsibility of parents, godparents, and the church community. We promise our children at baptism that we will support them in their faith formation—in the formation of their relationship with God. This book succinctly explores many ways we can support children’s faith formation, including our day-to-day interactions with children, the images of God we share with them, how we pray together, the rituals we create, service opportunities we provide, music we share together, the stories we tell and listen to, our celebration of the sacraments, and more. While this book has a distinctly Roman Catholic orientation, much of the content will be relevant for a wider Christian audience. Lastly, but perhaps most importantly, this book is rooted in the conviction that the God we seek relationship with and that we hope to foster our children’s relationship with is one who is infinitely loving, welcoming, and always yearning for deeper connection with us. 

God’s Big Table: Nurturing Children in a Diverse World
Elizabeth Caldwell (Pilgrim Press, 2011)

God’s Big Table: Nurturing Children in a Diverse World uses the imagery of the table as a metaphor for the ways our churches engage differences and diversity through a biblical background of welcoming all God’s children. In the 21st century, faithful Christians are being challenged with the topic of why living with diversity of faith and culture is important, the ways that it is impacting church communities, and why education for church members is essential. This is an encouraging guide for clergy and church families who want to be open to a diverse faith community. 

The Handbook of Spiritual Development in Childhood and Adolescence 
Edited by Eugene Roehlkepartain, Pamela Ebstyne King, Linda Wagener, and Peter Benson (Sage Publications, 2006)

The Handbook, a collection of academic and research-oriented essays on spiritual development, is organized into six parts: 1) Foundations, 2) Descriptive Approaches, 3) Spirituality and Human Development, 4) Ecologies of Spiritual Development, 5) Development Outcomes, and 6: Toward the Future. For congregational leaders the essays on the “Ecologies of Spiritual Development” (ethnicity, family, mentors, and congregations) will be very helpful. 

Helping Our Children Grow in Faith 
Robert J. Keeley (Baker, 2008)

Educator and children’s ministry director Robert Keeley provides guidance for helping children develop a three-dimensional faith—a faith that involves their heads, their hearts, and their spirits. The book presents six practical principles for fostering faith in children. It shows how to integrate children into congregational worship, how to teach them the Bible while appreciating the mystery of God, and how to distinguish the difference between faith development and moral development. Chapters include: The Church as Community, Jesus Values Children, Dwelling in the Mysteries, The Power of Story, Obedience and Faith, Worship, and Creating a Child-Friendly Culture. 

In the Midst of Chaos: Caring for Children as Spiritual Practice
Bonnie J. Miller-McLemore (Jossey-Bass, 2007)

How can we find spiritual depth in the midst of the chaos of our lives with children? Bonnie J. Miller-McLemore shows us how to integrate and strengthen the practice of faith in the everyday experience of raising children. By rethinking parenting as an invitation to discover God in the middle of our busy and overstuffed lives, it relieves parents of the burden of being the all-knowing authority figures who impart spiritual knowledge to children. Finding spirituality in family activities such as reading bedtime stories, doing household chores, and playing games can empower parents to notice what they are already doing as potentially valuable and to practice it more consciously as part of their own faith journey.

Let the Children Come: Reimagining Childhood from a Christian Perspective
Bonnie J. Miller-McLemore (Jossey-Bass, 2003)

Bonnie Miller-McLemore writes about the struggle to raise children with integrity and faithfulness as Christians in a complex postmodern society. She shows that the care of children is in itself a religious discipline and a communal practice that places demands on both congregations and society as a whole. “This is a book about how adults think about children (a descriptive task) and about how adults should think about children (a prescriptive or normative task).” “Reimagining children, I am convinced, will lead to a renewed conception of the care of children as a religious practice.” 

Listening to Children on the Spiritual Journey
Catherine Stonehouse and Scottie May (Baker Academic, 2010)

Throughout more than a decade of field research, Catherine Stonehouse and Scottie May listened to children talk about their relationships with God, observed children and their parents in learning and worship settings, and interviewed adults about their childhood faith experiences. Listening to Children on the Spiritual Journey weaves together their findings to offer a glimpse of the spiritual responsiveness and potential of children. It provides insight into children’s perceptions of God and explores how they process their faith. It suggests how adults can more effectively relate to and work with children to nurture their faith. Chapters include: Why Listen to Children?, Knowing God in Childhood, Experiencing God in Everyday Life, Children Experiencing God at Church, The Formative Power of God’s Story, Let the Children Come: Loving, Knowing, and Following Jesus, Celebrating Compassion, and The Church Partnering with Parents.

Making a Home for Faith: Nurturing the Spiritual Life of Your Children
Elizabeth Caldwell (Pilgrim Press, 2007)

Churches often assume that parents know what to do with their children in regard to nurturing them in a life of faith after baptism or dedication. Elizabeth Caldwell addresses this need by offering parents and educators insights and ideas for nurturing the faith of children and creating a faithful ecology at home, at church, and in the world. Chapters include: Making a Home for Faith, Parenting for Faith Expression, Imprints of Faith, When Your Child Asks, and A Faithful Ecology.

Nurturing Children’s Spirituality
Holly Catterton Allen, Editor (Cascade Books, 2008)

Nurturing Children’s Spirituality is a collection of the best materials from the 2006 Children’s Spirituality Conference. The first half of the book addresses definitional, historical, and theological concerns related to spiritual development in children. The second half explores best practices for fostering spiritual growth of children—in families, churches, Christian schools, and among special populations of children—from a wide spectrum of Christian scholars and practitioners. The book closes with John Westerhoff’s keynote address and Catherine Stonehouse and Scottie May’s culminating address. Nurturing Children’s Spirituality provides a rich cross section of the current research and writing on children’s spirituality.

Nurturing Child and Adolescent Spirituality 
Edited by Karen Marie Yust, Aostre N. Johnson, Sandy Eisenberg Sasso, Eugene Roehlkepartain (Rowman and Littlefield, 2006) 

Nurturing Child and Adolescent Spirituality is a collection of essays from prominent religious scholars that examine the state of religious knowledge and theological reflection on spiritual development in childhood and adolescence. Essays are organized into six parts: 1) Children and Adolescents in Major Religious Traditions, 2) Spiritual Change and Rites of Passage, 3) Rituals and Practices to Nurture the Inner Life, 4) Connecting the Inner Life with Ethical Action, 5) Who Is Responsible for Nurturing Spirituality?, 6) Social and Cultural Forces That Shape Spirituality.

Playing for Keeps: 6 Things Every Kid Needs
Reggie Joiner, Elizabeth Hansen, and Kristen Ivy (Orange/Re-Think, 2013)

After 25 years of working in Family Ministry, we’ve learned there are some things adults just can't do for kids. You can't force a toddler to love broccoli. You can't make a teenager "not date him." And you can't make a kid love God. Can you? At some point it just starts to break down. Playing for Keeps is a book for parents and leaders (and anyone else who influences the lives of kids and teenagers) about six things every kid needs over time, and provides 18 practical ideas for anybody who wants to make what really matters matter more. These six things can help give a kid the kind of history that will show them why they matter to God. But Playing for Keeps is really two books in one. On the flipside is a short story called "Losing Your Marbles" that makes these six ideas come to life.

Real Kids, Real Faith: Practices for Nurturing Children’s Spiritual Lives
Karen Marie Yust (Jossey-Bass, 2004)

Karen Marie Yust provides insights and a variety of helpful tips for nurturing children’s spiritual and religious formation. She challenges the prevailing notion that children are unable to grasp religious concepts and encourages parents and educators to recognize children as capable of genuine faith. Chapters include: Creating a Spiritual World for Children to Inhabit, Telling Stories that Draw Children into a Life of Faith, Helping Children Name God’s Presence in their Lives, Praying with Children, Supporting Children as They Grow in Spiritual Awareness, and Acting Out Our Spirituality with Children. 

Shaped by God: Twelve Essentials for Nurturing Faith in Children, Youth, and Adults 
Robert J. Keeley, editor (Faith Alive, 2010)

Faith formation doesn’t just happen—it’s a Spirit-led lifelong process of shaping and reshaping. In this accessible anthology, twelve experts share their perspectives on faith formation at home, in worship, in education, in intergenerational contexts, in people with developmental disabilities, and more. Chapters include: Biblical Foundations of Faith Formation: Faith Formation through Faith Practices; The Importance of Story in Faith Formation; Faith Formation at Home; Faith Formation through Worship, Sacraments and Education; Fostering Intergenerational Christian Community; Faith Formation and People with Developmental Disabilities; Recent Research; and Faith Formation in the Postmodern Matrix.

The Spiritual Guidance of Children: Montessori, Godly Play, and the Future
Jerome W. Berryman (Morehouse 2013)

This new book is an important “history-of-traditions” work in which Godly Play founder Jerome Berryman re-visions religious education as spiritual guidance and traces the history of Montessori religious education through four generations. Berryman then highlights the development of the Godly Play approach to spiritual guidance within this context and concludes with thoughts about the fifth generation and the future of the tradition. It is also a challenge for rethinking priorities and an invitation to place the spiritual needs of children at the center of Christian life. 

Understanding Children's Spirituality: Theology, Research, and Practice
Kevin E. Lawson, editor. (Cascade Books, 2012)

How important is childhood in the spiritual formation of a person? How do children experience God in the context of their lives as they grow? What does God do in the lives of children to draw them to himself and help them grow into a vital relationship with him? How can adults who care about children better support their spiritual growth and direct it toward relationship with God through Jesus Christ? These are critical questions that church leaders face as they consider how best to nurture the faith of the children God brings into our lives. In this book, over two dozen Christian scholars and ministry leaders explore important issues about the spiritual life of children and ways parents, church leaders, and others who care about children can promote their spiritual formation. The essays in the book are organized into two major sections: 1) Theological, Historical, and Social Science Research Perspectives; 2) Contexts of Children's Spirituality: Family, Church, and Community. 

Welcoming Children: A Practical Theology of Childhood
Joyce Ann Mercer (Chalice Press, 2005)

Sometimes families choose not to participate in the church because the church fails to welcome their children.” With these words Joyce Ann Mercer begins her search for a child-affirming theology and for a church that genuinely welcomes children, cares about their well-being, and advocates for them in situations in which they are marginalized or harmed. She writes about how Christian identity has the power to oppose the destructive identities consumer culture offers today, and how church leaders and families can nurture children into the Christian faith. Chapters include: A Way of Doing Theology of Childhood, Religious Ambivalence toward Children, Educating Children in Congregations, and Practicing Liturgy as Practice of Justice with Children.