Ecological Faith: Bronfenbrenner, Thick Relationships, and Milestone Discipleship
On thick relationships, thin screens, and the ministry of meaningful moments
The main insight from the developmental psychologist, Urie Bronfenbrenner, was his proposal of the ecological systems approach to child development. Each child is nested within a series of concentric relational structures, each supporting and challenging the child in unique but interdependent ways.
I have yet to do a deep dive into Bronfenbrenner’s theory and its application to a child’s faith formation. But from the little I know, it makes intuitive sense that a child would be shaped, and shape, their surrounding relational environment.
From the relational ecosystems of church youth ministries to partnering with parents in the celebration of milestones, Bronfenbrenner sits only slightly off-stage in this week's podcasts, as I consider how children’s and youth ministries engage in holistic formation. I pray that these conversations are a blessing to you in your ministry to young people.
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Thick Relationships, Thin Screens - The Shock Absorber
“If we remove phones without rebuilding the social architecture that once gave childhood meaning, agency, and joy, we risk leaving kids with less stimulation but not more formation.”
This quote from Seth Kaplan on a recent After Babel article is what kickstarts the conversation between Joel McMaster and me on this week’s episode of The Shock Absorber podcast.
As always, I am fascinated by the intersection of sociological study and Christian theology. What intrigued me about Kaplan’s piece was that it provides a grounded, secular argument for church-based Kids and Youth Ministry. Kaplan argues for the social, emotional, and psychological benefits of incarnate, local communities and the formative nature of different ages coming together with some adult oversight, but enough freedom for children and adolescents to be generative.
We trace a potted history of suburbia, the impact of several cultural changes on young people, and why Christian youth communities can provide the very stability that Kaplan argues young people need, with one important difference: Jesus.
As well as providing psycho-social benefits, Christian youth ministries that take both Jesus and community seriously can have spiritual and eternal benefits for those who hear the Gospel and respond to the invitation to repentance and life with Christ.
Catch the full conversation in the links below or on your favourite podcast app.
Rethinking Milestones - Cross Formed Kidmin
I’ve written previously about milestones in family ministry and the way that I have attempted to integrate meaningful moments in my own kids lives.
Milestones in Family Ministry
At the end of last year, my son went through two significant milestones. Firstly, he celebrated his 12th birthday, the end of childhood and the anticipation of the approaching teen years. His birthday also coincided with the end of the school term, and for him, the end of primary school and the anticipation of high school after the summer break.
In this episode, Hunter Williams and I give milestones the Cross Formed Kidmin treatment and dig deeper into the ‘why’ and the ‘what’ while also being cautious about the way that a milestone approach to a church’s Family Ministry can devolve into “checkbox discipleship”.
We discuss that milestones look like at each of our churches, and the way in which our theological convictions, as well as our denominational commitments, shape the way that Kids Pastors can partner with parents on helping children become and grow as disciples of Jesus.
Catch the full conversation in the links below or on your favourite podcast app.
If you’ve got a question or topic about Children’s Ministry that you’d like us to cover on the Cross Formed Kidmin podcasts, send me a DM or leave a comment below.