Children’s ministers and church leaders often ask me to recommend the best children’s ministry books to help them learn more about children’s spiritual formation. There are many books that I really appreciate, but I will highlight three go-to books for leaders wishing to explore the theology and philosophy of children’s ministry so much so that I require these books in my children’s ministry courses.
Children’s Ministry in the Way of Jesus by David Csinos and Ivy Beckwith (2013)
The authors begin with a brief history of children’s ministry, its relationship to the model of education used in most schools, and the real task of children’s ministry, the spiritual formation of children. They call attention to the problems created by an overreliance on curriculum products and programs meant to be tools that support churches in their vision of the spiritual formation of children. They define children’s ministry as
…anything and everything we do to serve children as they walk on the spiritual journey. Children’s ministry is all that we do to care for the whole of children’s lives—mind, body, and soul. Children’s ministry is all of our efforts to nurture the spiritual formation of children, to help them live in the way of Jesus, to support them on the journey of being disciples of Christ. Csinos and Beckwith, Loc 521
In the following chapters, Csinos and Beckwith develop a theology and philosophy of children’s ministry accessible to readers. They say
Children’s ministry ought to foster preexisting connections with God rather than a means for coaxing children across an invisible line of faith. It’s about fanning the divine flame in each child rather than blowing it out and then encouraging kids to light it again. (Loc 817)
Discipleship occurs in the community, and children’s ministry is best done with children and adults coming alongside to mentor children and, at times, allow themselves to be led by children. Therefore, children’s ministry is holistic and honest and provides a safe place for children to wrestle with questions and understand their role within the kingdom of God.
Forming Resilient Children: The Role of Spiritual Formation for Healthy Development by Holly Allen (2021)
For several decades, Holly Allen has contributed scholarship on children’s spirituality and intergenerational faith formation. Using similar language to the Children’s Ministry in the Way of Jesus, she explores the intersection of spirituality and resilience. Allen defines children’s spirituality as
a quality present in every child from birth, out of which children seek to establish a relationship with self, others, and God (as they understand God). Holly Allen, p. 26
It’s not surprising that people with a deeper relationship with God are resilient in troubling times. But we do not often think of cultivating this kind of faith in children or teaching their parents how to support their child’s spiritual life. If children’s ministry needs to embrace children’s knowing God as much as it embraces children’s knowing about God, then most of our ministries have some work to do.
Resilience is essential for many reasons. In 2022, we often talk about the collective trauma of the pandemic. Add to that, children face many other crises in their young lives: grief and loss that come from losing a loved one, a parent’s divorce, or a family move to a new city. Others wrestle with severe trauma, such as abuse, violence in their communities, and natural disasters. Allen makes the case that cultivating children’s spirituality is essential in helping them develop resilience to face the difficulties they will encounter throughout their lives. Throughout the book, she gives many helpful practices and ideas for ministers and parents to cultivate robust spiritual lives that nurture resilience as she delves into research on resiliency.
Sustainable Children’s Ministry: From Last-Minute Scrambling to Long-Term Solutions by Mark DeVries and Annette Safstrom (2018)
Children’s ministry requires many resources: people, time, money, classrooms, toys, and craft supplies. While keeping everything organized and staffed, children’s ministers also step into the lives of children and their families. They send birthday cards and attend baby showers. They sit at bedsides in the hospital and attend funerals. They coach volunteers spiritually and teach them the skills of necessary for teaching children. The tasks children’s ministers face and the number of relationships they manage can become overwhelming.
DeVries and Saftstrom’s book aims to provide a structure for children’s ministers to manage their tasks. Safstrom shares her own story of spinning her wheels, working numerous hours a day to the point of burnout, and finding herself on probation with the church that employed her.
What might a children’s minister do to protect their time, stay organized, and minister effectively? She says that children’s ministers must be crystal clear on their vision and goals and develop sustainable systems to help them achieve them. Safstrom then describes how a children’s minister can build “simple machines” processes to organize the database, recruiting, communications, and more.
This book is a must-read for any children’s minister who wants to be more organized and manage their time wisely.
Conclusion: Give me all the books!
If you are like me, there are not enough books on my overstuffed bookshelves. Let me share one of my best memories of my college professors and mentors.
I was always amazed at my advisor in graduate school, Dr. David Wray. I would ask Dr. Wray about a topic, and he would often said, “Maybe you have heard of this author or that book.” Then, he would pull books off his shelf and load me up with recommended reading. I LOVED this! It was probably a good thing that I did not have Amazon while I was in college. I would have been homeless! (Confession: I order books from Amazon several times a week now that I am a college professor. And I cannot pass up Amazon Kindle sales since these books are often $1.99 and take up no real estate in my office.)
A few years ago, I joined two of my colleagues (Dr. Ron Bruner and Dr. Jennifer Schroeder) in creating a Readers Guide to Children’s Ministry (2019) published in the Discernment journal and available free online. It includes over 60 books that we consider important in our field, although even more books could be added in the last few years.
Three other reading guides were published in recent years:
A Readers Guide to Intergenerational Ministry and Faith Formation
A Readers Guide to Youth Ministry
A Readers Guide to Worship and Liturgical Studies
Now that you have visited my virtual office, I have two final things to say. One is a question: What book would you add to the essential children’s ministry reading list? Second, a statement: You’ve got some reading to do!
