Travis Wright

“Telling God’s story to children is not an end in itself. While it’s surely important for children (and adults, for that matter) to gain a solid understanding of God’s grand narrative, it’s what we do with this story that really matters. When children realize that they are part of this story, that God’s story is also their story, that God’s story connects with their own expanding self-narratives, they become responsible for ensuring that the episodes in which they make appearances are faithful to the overall script that God has laid out and that they help move the story forward to the concluding eschatological scene.”
― David M. Csinos, Children's Ministry in the Way of Jesus

“Letting children see that we don’t have it all figured out gives them permission to live with questions at the same time that they hold on to what they do know—that God loves them and that he is holding them in his hand. This allows their faith to grow so that it doesn’t buckle with the first questions.”9”
― David M. Csinos, Children's Ministry in the Way of Jesus

“Too often, churches hold stereotypical views of children. They can buy into stereotypes and generalizations that kids are happiest when they are running around (or even that they need to run around all the time), that children always make lots of noise, that they crave constant entertainment, or that they have the most fun when they’re on the verge of being out of control. But by viewing each unique child through stereotypes and labels we attach to them, children’s ministry can become co-opted by consumerist, market-driven agendas, and it forgets the church’s mission of offering radical hospitality to the least of these.”
― David M. Csinos, Children's Ministry in the Way of Jesus

“We believe that children matter to the life of the church. We believe that the church can only be the people of God when members—including the youngest—participate in its life, engage in core practices and exercise their gifts as vital members of the body of Christ.”
― David M. Csinos, Children's Ministry in the Way of Jesus