The Child in God's Church: Faith-formative relationships that grow disciples who know, love and obey King Jesus

by Tim Beilharz

Most pastors and congregations would agree that developing a child’s faith and including them in the life of the church deserves real thought and effort. However, so often the opposite is true in Sunday schools are treated as child-minding services that allow the adults to have the actual gathering as God’s people; parenting and children’s ministries are siloed; older members of the church never speak to a single child there.

In The Child in God’s Church, Tim Beilharz provides the biblical reasons for including and nurturing children as precious members of the body of Christ. He sets the theological and theoretical foundations for understanding children and the church, then provides a framework for practising children’s ministry in the local church.

This book is a unique and invaluable resource that provides churches with the necessary foundations for revitalisation and growth.

175 pages, Kindle Edition

Published January 29, 2025

Reviews

[Jared · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tim Bielharz, a pastor at Soul Revival Church in Sydney, Australia, writes as a practitioner theologian from a Reformed Anglican perspective. He’s also thoroughly conversant with theories of child development and the social sciences. Within a few pages, you’ll find references to Calvin, Cranmer, Piaget, and Vygotsky. The book also speaks with a distinctive down-under accent. You’ll find a koala illustration (which I understood), and some cricket references (that I had to look up!).

‘The Child in God’s Church’ begins by outlining a biblical theology of children, the church, faith, and discipleship. The chapter on faith takes on Fowler’s stages of faith development directly, critiquing it in light of a biblical definition of faith that’s cognitive, affective, and active; Bielharz doesn’t quote Melanchton’s threefold definition from his Loci here—content, ascent, dependence—but arguing directly from Scripture, he certainly approaches it. Next, the book discusses the threefold structure of children’s ministry, which takes place in child-directed teaching environments, the home, and amid an intergenerational church community. Bielharz believes in the importance of all three environments, but given Western neglect of the third environment and in keeping with his definition of faith formation—“growing in community over time”—he gives pointed attention to intergenerational ministry.

Altogether, this is one of the more compelling books on child discipleship I’ve come across. I highly recommend it.

[Bec · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great read! Every church minister should have a copy and read through - no matter what their leadership position is in the church. It’s important to think through the place of children in the church, as genuine disciples of Jesus.

[Melissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely brilliant! This book is a gift to those who love children and the church. Keep writing, Tim!

[Daniel · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars. Beilharz gives us an excellent framework to think about the place of children in the church, and the spheres of discipleship that are important for their faith development. He has a particularly helpful knack of not being overly reactionary, but instead is quite generous to a variety of models as he documents some of the history of ministry to children. In my mind he shows convincingly how important age-specialist ministry, family discipleship, and intergenerational gathering are for children in the church and he gives some great ideas about how we might begin to strengthen these interdependent spheres of discipleship in our churches. Really helpful book!