Customer Reviews

Formational Children's Ministry: Shaping Children Using Story, Ritual, and Relationship (mersion: Emergent Village resources for communities of faith)

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This book is well written, short and to the point(157 pages), and provides a new perspective on "Sunday school" in children's ministry. Good read for all children's ministry workers.

There are some great practical ideas in this book - particularly towards the end. Beckwith is spot on about the problems of age-based divisions in Church communities and the family as the most important place for spiritual formation.

But she starts out framing the book as a response to the problem of 'moralistic therapeutic deism' and in that respect it fails to deliver big time.

If you already share the views held by the 'Emergent Village' you'll probably love it. But I found the emergent premise on which the book is based to be flimsy. Flimsy in it's quick and poorly defended dismissal of so much Christian orthodoxy. Flimsy in it's promotion of spiritual disciplines whilst ignoring the spiritual disciple of repentance.

And there's one glaring omission from the whole book -- the gospel!!! Any book the proposes an answer to the problem of 'moralistic therapeutic deism' that doesn't pickup on the centrality of the gospel is going to fail. And this one does. 'Story, ritual and relationship' without the gospel or where the gospel is just assumed simply leads to more religious works-righteousness.

Read it for the practical ideas, be very, very wary of the underlying philosophy.