Young Children and Worship by
Jerome W. Berryman
Paradigm Shift In Religious Education Of Children
The authors have devised an exciting way to introduce three- to - seven
year olds to the wonder of worship. Activities are developed around the
order of worship commonly used in Reformed churches: assemble in Gods
name; proclaim, give thanks to and go in Gods name.
Personal Review: Young Children and Worship by Jerome W.
Berryman
If you are reading this review, you may be a newcomer to this children's
Christian curriculum.
A brief history: Sonja M. Stewart and Jerome W. Berryman's YOUNG
CHILDREN AND WORSHIP is not just another set of Sunday School or
Church School materials. It's a paradigm shift in the religious education of
children. Religiously,it shifts away from the view that children are "born

sinful" towards the view that children are spiritual beings, born with a
longing to connect with the heart of Being, longings that they do not have
the language to express. Educationally, it shifts away from the view of
teacher as adult know-it-all who pours learning in to an empty vessel
towards the Montessorian view of children and adults as explorers
together.
The educational roots here are with Maria Montessori. Her disciple, Sofia
Cavaletti, created the curriculum known as "Catechesis of the Good
Shepherd," used in many churches, but especially in Catholic and Anglican
or Episcopal congregations. Sofia Cavaletti's disciple, Jerome W.
Berryman, an ordained Episcopal priest, has created the curriculum
known as "Godly Play," and Berryman, together with Sonja M. Stewart, an
ordained Presbyterian minister, have produced the curriculum in this book,
YOUNG CHILDREN AND WORSHIP, sometimes called the "Children
Worship and Wonder" curriculum. All are rooted in the religious and
educational assumptions mentioned above.
If you are a newcomer to all this, I suggest you start by reading YOUNG
CHILDREN AND WORSHIP. Read the Bible "presentations," which make
up 2/3rds of the book. Read the presentations as you would read a
personal, devotional book, one or two or three daily. Notice how, in the
course of a year, the lessons present the history of Christian faith and the
story of the church. Notice how traditional Biblical language is used, but
sparely and with child-appropriate simplicity. Notice how the curriculum
spirals back on itself; notice the repeated introduction of Jesus: once there
was a man "who said such amazing things and did such wonderful things
that people began to follow him." Notice the repeated language introducing
the parables: "sometimes parables seem to have lids on them. But when
you lift the lid of a parable there is something very precious inside..."
If you think as I do that this curriculum is light years better than anything
else out there, then study the teacher's helps also in the text. You may
want to seek training or read some of the other works referenced above or
go to their websites.
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