At prayer in the Philippines(Photo: © Pete Chapman)what we can learn about mission spirituality from children
by Dr Keith J White
While in India researching the life of Pandita Ramabai (1858–1922) one of the great Christian activists of all time, I was surprised to learn about her daughter, Mano.
Mano is invisible in all accounts of Pandita’s story to date, but it turns out she tirelessly shared her faith with other girls her age, so much so that they gave her the nickname, “Missionary Mano”.
I wonder if one day it will dawn on us that babies, toddlers and children have been some of the most effective mission partners. I think of the enigmatic words of Psalm 8:2:
From the lips of unweaned infants and suckling babes you have ordained praise (strength) to silence the foe and the avenger.
The world has been undergoing a quiet yet seismic revolution when it comes to the way we view children and young people. A useful date to bear in mind is 1989, when the United Nations adopted the Convention on the Rights of the Child. While our consciousness regarding women, the poor and ethnic minorities had shifted, it took time for children to be seen as fully human, rather than as “human becomings” or “adults-in-waiting”.
Yet, throughout history, children have been agents of hope and change in movements such as the abolition of slavery; the fight for civil rights and spiritual revivals. The recognition of this has led to further study into the area that’s become known as “child theology”.
The Child Theology Movement is an international group that links creatively with other groups engaged in fields such as godly play, children’s spirituality and children’s ministry. Our eyes are continually being opened to formerly hidden insights in the Bible regarding children and mission.
These new insights are impacting mission practice for children and by children in all five continents.
In Brazil, churches are being planted through children’s work. In the Philippines, CMS mission partners Kate and Tim Lee, who started Jigsaw Kids Ministries, are involved in rethinking children’s ministry and evangelism.
The Viva Network are actively encouraging children to engage in prayer for mission, no matter how young.
In Kuala Lumpur, a church has started a new school for stateless and Muslim children; now the school’s emphasis on child theology, godly play and cultural sensitivity is helping reform the church’s theology and mission.
This year is also the 30th anniversary of the International Year of the Child and it seems a fitting time to re-discover the place and participation of children in mission. After all, when his disciples were having a heated discussion about mission spirituality, Jesus placed a child in their midst with the injunction: “Unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matt 18:3). How we will view the children among us?
Dr Keith J White is Director of Mill Grove where, with his wife Ruth, he is responsible for the residential community caring for children who have experienced separation and loss. He is former president of the UK Social Care Association and Chair of the National Council of Voluntary Child Care Organisations, and of the Child Theology Movement and founder of the Christian Child Care Forum. Further resources
From the author: ‘Rediscovering Children at the Heart of Mission’ in G Miles and J Wright, eds, Celebrating Children (Paternoster, Carlisle 2003); The Bible, Narrative and Illustrated (WTL, 2008); Caring for Deprived Children, ed, (Palgrave Macmillan, 1979); A Place for Us, editions 1 and 2 (Mill Grove, 1981); In His Image (Tell, 1977); The Art of Faith (John Hunt, 1997); Children and Social Exclusion, ed, (NCVCCO, 1999); The Growth of Love (BRF Barnabas, 2008).
Marcia Bunge, The Child in Christian Thought (Eerdmans, 2001); The Child in the Bible (Eerdmans, 2008)
Margaret Saunderson, Lights in the Darkness: planting churches through children’s work in Lima’s shantytowns (Zoe, 2003)
The Child Theology Movement: www.childtheology.org
Fresh understandings of church planting and formation beginning with babies, children and toddlers (for example, PEPE projects in Brazil): www.bmsworldmission.org
Love to Pieces: CMS Lent resource produced in conjunction with CMS mission partners Kate and Tim Lee with the Jigsaw Project in Metro Manila: www.cms-uk.org/lent
CMS World to Rights schools theatre project, encouraging children to lend their voices for justice: www.worldtorights.info
Children’s engagement in prayer for local, national and world mission: pray@viva.org