Children's Ministry and Postmodernity

As promised here, I'd like to explore the intersection of Postmodernity and children's ministry.

If you wander around the landscape of Postmodern Christian thinking, you'll discover that many people just aren't sure how to engage children's ministry into the conversation. Consequently, you end up with churches that are decidedly Postmodern in their adult and youth ministries, but look exactly like their more Modern brothers and sisters when it comes to ministry to young children.

Oh, by the way, ...

This is a great point to remind you that Postmodernity can be (and in this post, is) used as a cultural term, not an intellectual one. In the near future I hope to have a glossary of (my) terms up on this blog. I hope it will help clear up some of this ambiguity.

Since we're talking about children, and the way they think and act in today's culture, it should be obvious that by "Postmodern" I certainly don't mean "deniers of absolute truth" (the standard far-right definition). I'm talking about culture - that set of values, beliefs and assumptions that make you like (or unlike) the people around and about you. Postmodern culture is largely the only thing today's children have ever known. Take a guy like me: at 34 years of age, I was raised in a Modern context, but have developed a leaning toward Postmodern culture. Today's children have little connection with the world of Modernity. It only seems natural that we therefore try to integrate our approach to children's ministries with an understanding of Postmodernity.

The problem, of course, is two-fold:

A) Most people doing the hard work of children's ministry have never given the Modern/Postmodern discussion any thought whatsoever - many don't even realize there is such a discussion, and ...

B) Most every tool (be it book, program, video, seminar or otherwise) designed for children's ministry was created in a decidedly Modern context.

Therefore, it should be obvious that I'm not going to have all the answers. We as a community of Christ-followers need to be working these answers out together. But I do have some thoughts, and I'd love to hear yours too.

1. We have focused too much on competition in the past. Most children's ministries (think AWANA, or Word of Life, or whatever...) are ingrained with a competitive element. Don't hear me wrong - I'm not against competition! Observe me watching a University of Michigan football game and you'll understand! But I am saying that all of this competition detracts from a focus on community. Postmodern kids want community. They likely can't articulate that, but they want it just the same. Pitting one kid against another doesn't do much for community.

I know what you're thinking - what about group competition? Much better than individual, but (in my opinion) still overdone in children's ministry. I'm not saying we cut it out, but I'm saying we need to rethink the ways we utilize competition, understanding that it carries both potential for good and for ill.

What's the major ill? Besides conflicting with their natural cultural inclinations, it can implicitly teach children that the Christian life is fundamentally about competition. What a horrible thing to teach them, really. Do you want your kids to think - in any way at all - that following Christ is a competition? We are not to be in competition with one another; we are to be in conformity to Christ.

2. We have focused too much on the entertainment model. It has become so well entrenched in today's thinking that to even suggest that children can learn without the latest, greatest technological thingee is looked upon with incredulity. "What do you mean, my kids don't have to have electronic flashing lights to learn their math skills?! You mean to tell me edu-tainment isn't necessary?!"

Let's think this through. A major trouble with teaching kids today is their ridiculously short attention spans. Doubt me? Just ask any elementary teacher! So because of this short attention span, we've decided to try to trick the kids - give them a "game" that is actually teaching them useful information. But what are we sacrificing long-term? Likely, we're doing nothing but encouraging and rewarding their short attention spans!

We're also setting ourselves up for failure. If children learn to believe from an early age that learning is all "fun and games" we are doing them a great disservice when they become adults. Is it any wonder why 2 out of 3 kids graduate from high school and then leave the life of the local church? We've entertained them for years; now we expect them to "grow up" and get to work?! It's unfair. We've set them up for failure, and failing is exactly what they're doing.

Perhaps a better model is the mentor or tutor. It requires a lot more energy and more people power, but pouring the lives of our adult into the lives of our kids has to be more effective than just entertaining them, doesn't it?

3. Compartmentalization. We still have a tendency to see children's ministry as something separate from the other ministries of the local church. This fosters a mentality that children's ministry is mostly about freeing adults to participate in adult's ministry! Instead, we should be thinking in terms of the the family - both the individual families that comprise the local church as well as the collective church "family". Again, don't hear hear me wrong - there's nothing wrong with children being with children and adults being with adults. But we need to recognize that such a condition is somewhat unnatural and should not be the norm.

Again, let's think this through. What responsibilities do we have as parents? Certainly we are to provide for their material needs and some of their material wants. We are to oversee their education, both of things earthly and heavenly. We are to be their guide, leading them to Christ and discipling them to Christlikeness. We are, in short, to care for them as God cares for us. There's a good reason that most children's conception of God the Father mirrors their view of Daddy.

So how in the world are we supposed to accomplish all of this without being around our kids? How can we live up to our responsibilities if separation is the norm, not togetherness?

We can't.

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As usual, no firm answers here. I won't pretend to have answers. I, like many, find myself asking hard questions and struggling to come up with answers.

So what should ministering to Postmodern kids look like? I don't know. But I do know that it looks a lot less competition-driven and more community/relationship driven, a lot less entertainment-focused and a lot more mentor-focused, a lot less compartmentalized and a lot more family oriented.

What do you know?

Hatushili