TRADITIONAL CURRICULUM AND A CONTEMPLATIVE APPROACH
Different Than Traditional Curriculum
There are two basic approaches to Christian education for children -- informational and formational. With the informational approach we teach children about God in hopes that they will develop a relationship with God. In the formational approach we nurture the relationship that children have with God, preparing them to take in the information from the Bible and the traditions of the church. Both approaches are important in a child's life. This resource, being primarily formational, can serve as a balance to informational education, offering a holistic approach to Christian education for children.
Traditional curriculum often focuses on a progression of content that introduces new material in stages. The Way of the Child differs in that it may be used over and over again because the focus is on the experiences the children bring to the community and the encounters they have with God through spiritual practices. The spiritual practices remain constant, but the individual is ever changing. Therefore, the primary content of self-disclosure and God's transforming revelations is constantly changing.
A Contemplative Approach
Christians through the ages have found that several fundamental qualities nurture openness to God and help us become the beings God created us to be.
- Quiet, silence, and solitude. Quiet comes from being calm, tranquil, gentle, and relaxed. The releasing of the noise and movement of our physical selves helps us move into silence. Through silence we can move into solitude, which is the quality of emptying ourselves of preoccupations of mind and heart, thus opening ourselves to God.
- Imagination. This God-given ability helps take us beyond ourselves. Through imagination we can see, dream, and connect with what is greater than ourselves, which is necessary for a relationship with God.
- Peace, reverence, and respect. Peace incorporates non-violence, amiability, order, and calm, while reverence and respect mean holding others, objects, and space in high esteem, leading to devotion and loyalty.
- In our culture, there is a stark absence of what is needed to nurture and nourish these qualities in children. They are born into and grow up in a world of noise, activity, and competition. They are rushed from school to soccer to piano and dance lessons to drama rehearsals to gymnastics. All the while, TVs and radios blare, telephones ring, computers bong and hum, electronic games and toys squeal and talk.
Our children today have very little experience with silence. This bombardment of noise and activity leaves limited space for the imagination to flourish, for thinking and wondering, for knowing ourselves as unique creations connected to God.
The sessions in The Way of the Child offer children a "time apart" from the noise and bustle of life to learn and experience practices that will nurture their innate spirituality, help them develop a deeper relationship with God, and form vital community with others.
