Formational Children’s Ministry: Shaping Children Using Story, Ritual, and Relationship by Ivy Beckwith. Baker Books, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 2010. Paperback, 157 pages. $10.70 to $30.95.
Ivy Beckwith (PhD, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School) is the author of Postmodern Children’s Ministry and has served churches of all sizes. She has worked as an editor and education consultant for Group Publishing and Gospel Light Publications. She currently serves the Congregational Church of New Canaan, Connecticut, as the Minister for Children and Families.
Much ministry to children looks more like mere entertainment than authentic spiritual formation. What if children’s ministry was less about downloading information into kids’ heads and more about leading them into these powerful, compelling stories? Beckwith helps ministers and parents create a ministry that captures children’s imaginations not just to keep them occupied, but to live as citizens of the kingdom of God. In addition to providing theological reasons for formational children’s ministry, the book offers examples of how Ivy and other practitioners are implementing a formational model.
Although I am not a children’s minister, I found many of her ideas compelling. Some teachers and house parents at our agencies might find this a wonderful book to glean ideas with the children they teach.
From the Back Cover
This is a genius book, written by an enormously gifted child educator who will help you reconceptualize your ministry to children. Both the child and the adult will be transformed by this book.”–Dan B. Allender, PhD, professor of counseling psychology, founding president, Mars Hill Graduate School; author of To Be Told and Leading with a Limp
“Formational Children’s Ministry reaches beyond guided conversation, creative storytelling, and the mere calls to build relationships to challenge us to engage in story-based, meaningfully-patterned, real-life interactions to find fresh faith in children’s ministry.”–Gregory C. Carlson, , chair and professor of Christian ministries, Trinity International University