As previously posted, infants to 2 year olds experience Undifferentiated Faith. When they see parents and teachers love on them and offer security and attention, they experience biblical teachings through relationships with persons who live the Bible message.

3 year old preschoolers then experience Intuitive-Projective Faith when the Bible becomes a very special book that tells about God and Jesus.

4 and 5 year olds through 11-12 go through the Mythic-Literal Faith stage which the Bible becomes very important. It’s like God wired these little disciples to be naturally drawn to hear Bible stories about persons who tried to live as God wanted. And they realize that the most important stories in the Bible are about Jesus. They like to handle bibles, say and sing bible verses, and thoroughly enjoy watching older persons using the Bible.

Robert J. Keely in Helping Our Children Grow In Faith (2008) stated, “We need to take advantage of this developmental readiness to share these stores with them in a way that allows children to live inside of the stories.” Children entering this stage are greatly influenced by the stories of faith, the stories of the faith of people around him/her, his/her own stories of faith, and biblical accounts of faith. Kids begin to connect these stories together , but don’t yet see them as one large story that starts, “In the beginning God” and ends with “Amen” which truly begins in the middle school years.

Story is important to all of us in our faith formation, but is is especially important at this stage, because it grabs their attention when they are not equipped to be taught through abstract reasoning. The bible stories help provide a standard of what is right and what is wrong.

These bible stories give children a sense of who they are and what it means to be the people of God. These are family stories and they are important at this stage in faith development. Like sitting at the table of a family reunion and hearing the stories of the family. We need to tell them often and we need to tell them well.

The language of preschoolers is activity, so we take the time to act out Bible stories and imagine what it might have been like to actually be there. In the story.  These stores are rich and deep and should not use them as a way to teach a moral lesson.  If we do this we will be merely giving children a checklist of dos and don’t s instead of introducing them to the stories of God and His people.  God introduces Himself to us in these stories and they help us know Him and know ourselves.

It is also at this stage of early and middle elementary years when miracles are entirely credible to these young minds.  No problem is too big for God and they can pray in complete confidence.  There is much for adults to learn when they are a part of the prayer life of such a young disciple.

These students of faith also enjoy hearing the same stories, singing the same songs, enjoying the same activities over and over again.  This dependability builds trust.  And since you, the teacher, are trustworthy and you speak of God as trustworthy, the child says, “I can trust God because I trust my teacher, and my teacher tells me God loves me.”

Our goal is to teach our kids that the Bible is exciting and relevant for them.  That’s why, when we finish a story, we want to ask the question, “What is the lesson learned here?” which is how an older preschooler through older elementary can make the biblical application to their lives.

What are you doing to more effectively share these family stories?

“When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child.” 1 Corinthians 13:11

I talked like a child…SONGS help us express our faith in God. Pairing words with actions helps them learn the songs more quickly. Sing songs about Jesus, God, church, and children. Songs like Jesus Loves Me, God is So Good, Deep & Wide, I’ve Got Peace Like A River/Joy Like a Fountain/Love like the Ocean teach our students how to praise the LORD!

Psalm 150:6 says, “Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord!” In fact the whole psalm is a fun one for kids to act out in order to demonstrate praise. It talks of using stringed instruments, cymbals, a tambourine, and dance. Music helps children learn as music is located near the same area associated with long term memory in the brain. It doesn’t matter if you sing well or not. Songs of praise imbedded in a child’s long term memory…glorious!

I thought like a child…Children learn their first prayers very early.  are they learning the attitude of prayer and the places of prayer?  With frequency, Junior will soon learn that prayer is simply talking to God.  Tell them:  “You are a child of God.  God made you.  Jesus loves you.  You are important to God.”  4- and 5-year-olds can make up their own prayers and it is a joy for any listener.

I reasoned like a child…Preschoolers are at a great age to start memorizing Bible verses.  Don’t underestimate what a preschooler can accomplish mentally.  Psalm 119:11 says, “I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.”   Set a goal of memorizing one verse a month – not only is it good spiritual training, but memorization is good for brain development and for strengthening intelligence.  To help a child memorize a Bible verse, take it apart into phrases and help your child learn the  pieces before putting it altogether as a whole.  Remember that those who take longer to memorize a verse usually retain it longer, as well.

Some great bible verses for little/all disciples to memorize include … Genesis 1:1, 1 Corinthians 10:31, Romans 3:23, Ephesians 4:32, Psalm 34:14, Proverbs 20:11, Isaiah 41:10, 1 John 4:8, Exodus 20:12, John 11:35, Psalm 34:13, John 13:34-35, Psalm 66:1, Hebrews 13:5, Psalm 119:18, 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18.  Post it notes are great, dry-erase markers on a mirror or window, chalk on a chalkboard-spray-painted sign are decorative and practical to get these in our own hearts and minds.

Luke 12:35 “Be dressed and ready for service.”

There is some great research to help those of us who take the point in the spiritual journey of little people. In James Fowler’s book, “Stages of Faith,” Fowler considers the faith of little people up to about age 2 a pre-stage referred to as “Undifferentiated Faith.” This is when infants to 2s form their first pre-images of God.

That said, ministry and space provided to these little people should be about the very things that we would expect: Care and Safety.

Key biblical concepts for toddler and twos include “God cares for you” and “God made everything,” so be ready to get on your hands and knees to explore the world with this child! This is what I call “Faith on the Floor.”

The best things we can do at this stage is give them a place where they can be well cared or when their parents are absent and build in regular times for individual attention and hugs. Lots of hugs. Lots of love. Loads of adult attention, praise and encouragement in a safe, secure world of familiar people and routines.

Toddlers will experience God’s love and forgiveness through loving, caring persons, develop a sense of trust, experience prayer, begin to associate the name Jesus with certain pictures and with the Bible. And they can learn that the Bible is a special book.

Fowler refers to the next stage of faith as Intuitive-Projective faith which is found primarily in preschoolers 3 through age 5 is a direct reflection of parental faith.  These preschool disciples will imitate the faith of important adults in his/her life.  They may talk about God in human terms and have a mental image of God based on human characteristics.  They’ll learn from the simple Bible stories of people who choose to do right, to help, and to obey.  They are especially impacted by stories and themes that relate to what he/she experiences and knows in his/her daily life through repetition and ritual like at mealtimes, holidays, songs, and Bible reading from a child’s Bible.

As preschoolers get older, they enter into Mythic-Literal Faith, which lasts until around 11 or 12 years old.  Through sharing life with other people of faith, children learn that the faith they received from their parents is shared by other important people as well; they get a firsthand look at how older Christians live their lives and they see that all of church life – not just the kid’s part- is for them.  They are interested in God’s greatness, power, and supernatural abilities.

As we recognize the way children learn to walk, we can say the general order in which things happen, but we really can’t tell WHEN they are going to happen. The same is true about faith development. Faith is a gift from God and is a result of the Holy Spirit’s work in our lives an an amazing outpouring of grace. But these stages are important to acknowledge to be sure we are on point to how little people learn.

I serve alongside an amazing group of ladies who make up our Children’s Council. We typically meet each month. This year the agenda is made up of a chapter in “The Prayer Coach,” evaluation of what we have just finished, evaluation of what we are in the midst of, and the planning of what is coming up on the calendar. We open in prayer and we close in prayer. We go home and I send out minutes the following week.

This month will be different.

On Christmas Eve our pastor announced the theme for our church for 2012 based on 1 Corinthians 3:16, “Let the Spirit of God grow in you.” Understanding that all things of value are measurable, it’s time to evaluate. Personal spiritual evaluation can’t take place in a meeting. So, I have shared below how our October meeting will go.

Good Morning Faithful Servants of Wesley Chapel,

We had a regularly scheduled meeting for this Wednesday. However, unless there is something that we can’t discuss through email, I’d like to take this Wednesday’s meeting time and not meet together in person, but ask that we all take time that day/evening to reflect on the ministry God has called us to at Wesley Chapel.

As our theme this year has been to “Let the Spirit of God grow in you,” please take a few moments on Wednesday and see if that is the case. This time last year, you were “here” regarding your bible reading time, your closeness with Christ, your faithful prayer life, your service experiences, your spiritual relationships. Where are you now, one year later?

As a fellow Mom, I can attest to the adage, “The days may seem to last forever, but the years fly by.” It is as true of the lives of our children, as it is our own spiritual journey.

So, as we will not meet this Wednesday, please take 30 minutes and write it down, journal, meditate on where you are today, where we are today as a council/small group, where your kids are today in comparison to last fall.

Then for the next 30 minutes, prayerfully consider where you’d like to be next fall and set some measurable, intentional spiritual goals. The accountability of writing them down will help to provide some momentum. Sharing this journey with you is a joy and if we can share some accountability among each other, I am all in.

Baby Girl, although she just turned 25 years old on this earth, she will be 19 years old in the Lord on October 18th. We go through this process each year. We talk of how she has grown in her faith. We talk about how she plans to grow in her faith by setting spiritual goals for the next year. And I’ll be looking for a gift that is “round” to mail with her Spiritual Birthday package mid October, because God is all around His people  (Psalm 125:2). #1 Son’s Spiritual Birthday is in April. I  have to take him out to dinner to get his undivided attention. The food is good, but the tradition is even better.

I love you all and can’t wait to hear what God reveals to you,

DeDe

How are you measuring your Spiritual Walk?

“Fire bullets, then fire cannonballs. First, you fire bullets to figure out what’ll work. Then once you have empirical confidence based on the bullets, you concentrate your resources and fire a cannonball. After the cannonball hits, you keep 20 Mile Marching to make the most of your big success.” Jim Collins, Great By Choice.

I’ve been a fan of Jim Collins ever since he wrote “Good to Great” and I heard him speak at Catalyst in 2008. Although his material is considered “business”, I have found his research to be incredibly relative to church work. So much so, it’s one of the books I require when I mentor someone hired from the pew into professional ministry.

Collins’ book, “Great By Choice,” came out at last year’s Catalyst and I was intrigued by his comment, “Fire bullets before cannonballs.” So I put it to the test when the church I serve decided to offer mid-week ministry fall of 2011.

I am responsible for the children’s part, so we began to “fire bullets.” Bullet qualifications: low cost, low risk, low distraction. 

Low cost: By talking to folks who are faithful to being at church every time the door opened (or better, yet…had keys) we discovered there are many hobbies and skills they were involved with. A fellow KidMin Director was doing this on a much grander scale at her larger church and offered multiple skills at the same time.  I thank her for her creative genius.  We made a list of hobbies/skills that could be taught to little people who would use it for someone else (ministry/mission).  We then recruited folks to take on one month from November through April to teach their skill. I would arrange the opportunity to use it in ministry/mission. We taught Sign Language, Cake Decorating, Liturgical Dance, Beginning Spanish, Kids & Money, and Watercolor Painting. The instructors we recruited were already in our church, most already had supplies, and we offered a beginning and ending date by serving for a month of Wednesdays.

Low risk:  We offered the classes at different times from month to month (5-6pm, 5:15-6:15pm, 6:30-7:30pm, 7-8pm) at the discretion of the instructor.  This gave us insight to when the greatest number of kids would regularly come.  It would also give us a chance to build up a group of “regulars.”  By offering a different class each month at a different time, we were able to keep the kid’s interest for the skill being taught.  Faithful attendance would be an indicator that the kids really liked what was being taught and the timing either worked for families or it didn’t.  It also allowed us to affirm our intention that skills and hobbies can be used to honor the Lord.  We consistently offered good teaching and good “product.”

Low Distraction:  By working around the schedule of the new Wednesday night dinners and youth group, which was already in place, all the focus wasn’t on the programming offered to the children.  The Wednesday night dinners gave us an inter-generational meeting place to come and go, before and after the meals, which made for great relationship building.

Taking a whole season to fire bullets worked.  By the time we began planning to “fire the cannonball”  fall of 2012, we had fired enough bullets since last fall to give us an idea of what would be successful, when it would be successful, and the expectation that all we learn and do should be used for the glory of God.  So we came up with a name, decorated the space, and began talking it up.   Then we fired the cannonball in September 2012.

We are now focused on tweeking the programming to include more of what the kids enjoy, but we have fired enough bullets to know the best time, the best space, the most faithful, and new DNA of learning skills for ministry/mission has been woven into what we do.  We also recruited the music director to take on a 15 minute block of time and our kids are preparing to serve the Lord in various creative capacities in the contemporary worship service.

Are you firing bullets?  I’d love to hear about it.

I have a pair of running shoes, but you won’t find me running in them.

We have a family membership at the local BodyPlex, but it seems every time that I decide to AGAIN get in a regular work out, I notice there have been upgrades and renovations that I missed.  Now we have to scan our membership key ring card to unlock the door as they no longer have a front desk attendant.  Which means that I have to be sure I have the right set of keys when I go.  One more thing I have to remember.

The voice in my head tells me that I need to make this choice if I intend on living a long, long time.  Now that Mr. Yummy has arrived I’m thinking of hanging around a really, really long time.

Self-control is the voice of personal discipline.  How is it that there are some areas in our lives when self-control is intense and actually increases.  And then there are others that a mere change in the wind, would have me toss my hands up in the air and ignore what needs to be done.

Gaining self-control has much more to do with going with what I know rather than with what I feel.  I never feel like getting dressed to work out, then having to take another shower, and again fixing my hair.  If I could ready myself within 30 minutes, I’d be more motivated to cut out a chunk of the day to go through the “getting ready” process again.  Or, if I just had someone to do this with, it’d be so much easier.

Self-control means we draw healthy boundaries for our behavior and choices.

It’s not like I eat bonbons in front of the TV, but carving out some time to take a walk…or stretch…or move to some of the 1980s exercise videos I still have in my basement, is something.  But mediocrity in any part of a life is, well, mediocre.  And what kind of testimony is that?

I’m grateful the Holy Spirit is our personal trainer, offering counsel and enabling us in the areas of our weakness.  Some days I need it more than others.

I’m headed to the health club this morning.  Not because I want to, but because it’s part of “walking properly.”  I will be the one lip-sincing to some Mandisa and Jamie Grace.

Romans 13:13-14 Let us walk properly, as in the day, not in revelry and drunkenness, not in lewdness and lust, not in strife and envy. But put on the LORD Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts.

There is no better way to add the snuggle factor to a blustery, cold, fall, windy day, than to go for the slippers.

Just seeing them in the closet, I begin to relax.

Slippers aren’t restrictive and their expectations are minimal.

Slippers are generally devoid of shoestrings, buckles, heavy heels, and metal.

They have a gentle design.

I have friends like that.  They have a gentle design. And by their mere presence, I feel warm, comfortable, free of expectation, and nurtured.

My friend Sheila is like that…….she is generous and gentle.  She offers a hand, an encouraging word, clicks a photo, celebrates the good fortune of others, and prays for needs. She decorated for Baby Girl’s wedding and she’s taken our first Team Reilly Family photos.  She was the gentle one who was the first to pull me out of my house in fellowship after my Daddy passed away.  In her presence, I am in the company of a nurturing soul with a delightful voice.

These gentle friends enter our lives like a welcome breeze and leave without slamming the door.

I pray you have a gentle friend.  I pray there are times when YOU are the gentle friend.

Ephesians 4:1-3I, therefore, the prisoner of the LORD, beseech you to have a walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

I have had the worst time with my back lately.  I don’t know if I picked up something I shouldn’t have or if I slept on it wrong…for a month.   This has been a huge distraction as I’m in the midst of workshop and training season which means long car rides and standing for extended periods of time.

It has really affected my choice of shoes.

Hoping folks look at my face and not my shoes as I speak, I’ve long discarded the thought of wearing high-heeled shoes that make my legs look longer and would make Stacey and Clinton proud. Regardless, I know that the LORD is aware and He will bring me comfort from my aches and my pains.

He who is high and lifted up is faithful….to each of His own.  He has sent me friends who have offered suggestions, helped me carry all my stuff to and from my car, and even lent me a TENS unit.  I’ve already replaced the 9volt battery in the TENS unit and gone through 2 packs of IcyHot Medicated patches.

In the midst of our struggles, we feel as if the pain will be eternal, but in truth most situations are fleeting.

When I Googled “lower back pain” it tells me to keep moving and it should pass within a couple of months.  And take Advil along with all the other things I have already been doing.  Now that the season is slowing down, I should be able to address the pain and distraction more diligently, more faithfully. 

He is faithful to lift me out of my misery.

Again and again the LORD lifts my sagging spirit with lanterns of truth and sets me on solid ground.

Psalm 40:2 He also brought me up out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my steps.

Shoes in bible times were never worn indoors.  So putting on sandals, a piece of leather tied onto the foot, was a sign of readiness for activity.  Acts of kindness…planned and random.

There have some beautiful sandals of kindness seen this summer…

1.  When homegrown tomatoes were dropped off at the church for anyone who wants them

2.  When a fellow KidMin servant brings the gift of drama and her own students to our church to share with our kids how bible stories were meant to come to life

3.  When a Mom who could be sitting by her neighborhood pool chooses instead to spend 3 weeks (yep, 3 weeks!) to share summer camp fun with our kids and the kids of other churches even AT the other churches

4.  When two Dads rush from work every day for 4 days just so they could carpool a small group of energetic and eager tweeners to a Marketplace VBS

5.  When a friend who likes to take pictures comes to our VBS after working all day to take closeups of active kids so we can cover our walls with professional photos of faith in action

6.  When a college student has a faith so great she rearranges her schedule so she can spend a week helping at a  VBS where she only knows me.  Now she knows all our kids and most of our youth!

7.  When a pastor takes a moment out of a busy day to be the voice of God and say, “Noah, Noah, build an ark” in a Bible Drama

8.  When a small group of women cut 300 kites with tails, for VBS decorations to be shared

9.  When a another pastor comes to remind us that we serve a creative God who has placed the gift of creativity within us all with glue, paint, crayons, and stuff

10.  When a ministry mentor comes to teach little people that even face painting can open the door to sharing the gospel and brings an entourage to play

11.  When a precious friend meets me at the car to carry my junk and offers to cover me when I am running late

The sandals of servants, just being kind.

Seen your share of sandals of kindness this summer?

Colossians 3:12 Put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, long-suffering.

Patsy Clairmont wrote, “A flip-flop is a slipper with the top down, and what’s more fun than a convertible on a summer’s day.”  Yep, after a season of wearing closed-in shoes, my feet scream “I’m free!” when I bring up the laundry basket of flip flops from their basement winter home.

Floral clothing, loose house dresses, and flip flops reflect a kick-back pace when we can count our blessings and agree with God when He made the world by saying, “It is good.”

Flip flops  encourage the cry from the bottom of our very soul that, “God is good, all the time.” “All the time, God is good.”

Adam Hamilton in “Why?” tells us that God bends bad to fit His will.  I know this to be true for all the blue ink in my bible.  The black words are God’s words to His people.  If it’s red, Jesus said it.  But the blue is His personal history with me.

When He resurrected dead places in my heart by His words of, “He told her, ‘Your sins are forgiven.'”  When He turned a foggy-head into a Claritin morning by His story with the woman at the well.  He made me laugh out loud when I turned from page 1903 to 1904 in my NIV Life Application Bible and read in red, “‘Leave her alone,” Jesus replied (John 12:7).

Good doesn’t emerge out of bad unless God’s redeeming hand is involved.  I have a magnet on my fridge that reads, “Life is hard, but God is good.”  Because He is.  This I know, because we have history.  And it is this personal history that makes me smile at His goodness.

A precious friend gave me a new pair of flip flops to wear when I became a Mimi.  They are black with shimmer straps and big, purple flowers.  That’s what the goodness of God looks like for me today.  A visual reflection of the bigness, shininess, and love of God in a season of goodness.

Psalm 116:12  “How can I repay the LORD for all His goodness to me?”