21st century church

1. Critical Issues of
the 21st Century
Christian Education of Children

2. It takes a village to
raise a child.
But what if the village doesn’t have what it takes?

3. Need 1: Capable
and empowered
parents

4. Parents’ Involvement
children’s ministry has always
been attached to the
relationship between the child
and his or her parents
4

5. Consumer Christianity
perception of the ministry as a
babysitting club; a service that
Christians can consume; children’s
ministry is actually a ministry for the
adults and not the children
5

6. Less Frequent
ChurchAttendance
only 28% of millennials attend
church; 1/3 don’t have any
affiliation with any faith
persuasion
6

7. As Christian educators,
• How can we make the parents become involve in
the education of their children?
• How can we empower and capacitate the parents
to become Christian educators themselves to their
children?
7

8. Need 2: Basic
instruction of faith

9. Inapplicable content
“Borrowed” curriculum is not
always contextually applicable
to church and community
9

10. Biblical Illiteracy
Film, games and show
characters are sometimes
thought or confused as Bible
personalities
10

11. Routine
Ministry is done “this” way
because it’s how it’s always
done
11

12. Secular Practices
Children are easily influenced
with “unpleasant” ideas and
actions which are brought to
church
12

13. Entitlement
Children have rights—but are
sometimes abused and used
out of proportion
13

14. As Christian educators,
• As Christian educators living in a secular
world, how do we integrate the secular
pedagogy and discipline without
compromising the truth that we are
teaching?
14

15. Need 3: Committed
and Bible-learned
workforce

16. Lack ofTeachers
There is that announcement
for children’s ministry
volunteers—ALWAYS
16

17. Burnout
Cause and effect of the lack of
children’s ministry workers
17

18. “Anyone with a
Willing Heart”
“…to teach the curriculum of
Christian life, anything is good
enough for God[?]”
-Howard Hendricks
18

19. As Christian educators,
• How do we care/appreciate our church
volunteers in the children’s ministry to keep
them committed?
• How do we ensure that our teachers know
what they’re teaching?
19

20. Need 4: Inclusivity
and development

21. Social Media
Children want belongingness
and attention, and find this
virtually—just like everybody
else
21

22. Internet
“The search for answers is
part of our social narrative
and so it is unsurprising that
we have gone to the web to
ask the questions.”
-Aleks Krotoski
22

23. As Christian educators,
• How can we innovate our children’s ministry in
church to cater our children’s needs?
• How can we be inclusive to all kinds of children?
• How do we integrate the use of internet and social
media with positive influence?
23

24. Need 5: Experience
God’s love

25. Bullying and
Discrimination
children who have
experienced cyberbullying are
more likely to enact suicide or
inflict self-harm
Swansen University study
25

26. Child Abuse
1 out of 2 children experience
[online] abuse; 8 out of 10
children are abused
26

27. Child Exploitation
“whenever a profit is made from their
vulnerability and lack of power,
whenever children are abused to
somebody else’s benefit…”
Terre des Hommes
27

28. As Christian educators,
• How do we address these issues?
• How do we effectively let them experience
God’s love when the very people they trust
to love them betrayed and harmed them?
• How do we coincide God’s love and truth
with their reality?
• How do we make them understand?
28

29. The issues are
interrelated in some
ways. Some are effects
of other issues. Some
are causes.
But they’re all issues
the same. So, what do
we do?