By Mike North

1. Module Two:
Understanding Children & Young People
& Ministry Practice

2. Theology
“Theology is faith seeking
understanding”
Practical Theology in Action by Ballard &
Pritchard, 2000, p1
Theology = The Study of God
Recipe for theology:
• Scripture
• Tradition of the church
• Human reason
• Personal experience
The Wesleyan Quadrilateral
Theology of the child / young person

3. • Children and young people in the Bible - what is their
role in God’s work?
• Are all children ‘in the Kingdom’? What about children
outside Christian families?
• Baptism - for babies or believers?
• Jesus and children - What did Jesus say and do?
• Spirituality of young people
Do you believe that children and young people are a
gift from God?
Do you believe that children and young people can
teach adults something?
Have reasons for your beliefs
What do you believe about…
Theology of the child / young person

4. Then some children were brought to Him so that He
might lay His hands on them and pray; and the disciples
rebuked them. Jesus said, "Let the little children come to
me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven
belongs to such as these." Matt 19: 13-14
"Truly I tell you," He said, "unless you change and
become like little children, you will never enter the
kingdom of heaven. Matt 18: 3
At that time Jesus said, "I praise You, Father, Lord of
heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things
from the wise and intelligent and have revealed them to
infants. Matt 11: 25
“Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved” Acts 16:
31
For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is
eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Rom 6: 23
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and
this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by
works, so that no one can boast.
Eph 2: 8-9
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only
Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have
eternal life. John 3: 16
Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No
one comes to the Father except through me. John 14: 6
Theology… some verses
Theology of the child / young person

5. Are children in the Kingdom until the opt out?
(Mark 10: 14, Matthew 19: 13-14)
Or out of the Kingdom until they opt in?
(Romans 3: 23, John 3: 1-21, Romans 5: 12-13, Deuteronomy 6: 7)
Can a child loose their salvation? Once saved, always saved?
(Revelation 3: 5, Ephesians 1: 13–24, Hebrews 6: 4-8)
What happens to the child raised in a non-Christian home?
(Do you have to know things to be saved? What if you’re never told?)
Is there a difference if you are raised in a Christian home?
(Acts 16: 31, Genesis 17, Deuteronomy 29, 1 Peter 2: 9-10, Acts 2: 39, 1 Corinthians 7: 14)
Theology… some questions
Theology of the child / young person

6. Baptism
In him you were also circumcised with a circumcision not
performed by human hands. Your whole self ruled by the flesh
was put off when you were circumcised by Christ, having been
buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with
him through your faith in the working of God, who raised him
from the dead. Col 2:11-12
Born with a fallen human nature and tainted by original sin,
children also have need of the new birth in Baptism to be freed
from the power of darkness and brought into the realm of the
freedom of the children of God, to which all men are called . . .
The Church and the parents would be denying a child the
priceless grace of becoming a child of God were they not to
confer Baptism shortly after birth.
Catholic Church
(https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/catechism/index.c
fm?recnum=4088)
Arguments for / against infant baptism
Circumcision was a sign and seal of physical birth into the Jewish
nation, and baptism is a sign and seal of new birth (born again).
Baptism is for the remission of sins, and infants are not capable of
repenting.
(Luke 3:3, Mark 1:4, Acts 13:24, Acts 19:4)
Infants can not outwardly express faith.
The Lord's Supper and Baptism are both sacraments or ordinances
and are the same sign and seal, since the Lord's Supper may not be
given to unbelievers, neither should baptism.
Baptism represents more than just physical washing, but being clean
and in good standing before God. (Romans 6)
Theology
Theology of the child / young person

7. Verses about Children
CHILDREN - A GIFT:
Children are a heritage from the LORD, offspring a reward from him.
Like arrows in the hands of a warrior are children born in one’s youth.
Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them. They will not be put to shame
when they contend with their opponents in court.
Psalm 127: 3-5
CHILDREN - TO BE TAUGHT / TRAINED
Impress [these commandments] on your children. Talk about them when you sit
at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you
get up. Deuteronomy 6: 7
CHILDREN - COVENANT PROMISE
‘Repent and be baptised, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the
forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The
promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off – for all whom the
Lord our God will call.’ Acts 2: 38-39
Theology of the child / young person

8. Create your own creed concerning
children or young people.
I believe…
Theology
Theology of the child / young person

9. A Christian Theology of Children (Marcia J. Bunge)
Children are vulnerable. This means we have the responsibility to look after,
genuinely care for and provide for the needs of children.
Children are gifts from God. This means we should respect them, rejoice over
them and celebrate their intrinsic value as human beings made in the image of
God.
Children are still developing and sinful. This means that in all spiritual,
intellectual and moral matters, we need to teach, guide and appropriately
discipline them.
Children are models of faith to adults. This means that children can teach us
something about what it means to be God’s children and members of his
kingdom.
https://www.youthworks.net/articles/developing-a-theology-of-children
Theology
Theology of the child / young person

10. The mission of the church to children is not to try to get
them converted from a sense of sin, but to encourage
continual acceptance of the grace of God along the way.
(Jeschke 1983: 104-106; Bushnell 1967:4).
Theology
Theology of the child / young person

11. God is in relationship – three in one.
Therefore, relationship is
fundamental to all being, and
relationships are at the heart of
youth work.
(p55, Nash/Whitehead)
Theology of the child / young person
Theology

12. The search for a theology of childhood by
Jerome Berryman (2013)
Children in the Bible: A fresh approach by
Dr Anne Richards (2013)
The Child in the Bible by Marcia J. Bunge
et al. (2008)
Theology of the child / young person
Further reading

13. Module Two:
Understanding Children & Young People
& Ministry Practice