Extrinsic Motivation in Children's Ministry — and What We Lose to Technology
From rally driving to memory verse prizes — this week's podcast conversations resist easy answers on formation and motivation
What We’ve Lost - The Shock Absorber
This week, Joel McMaster and I continue to wrestle through the intersection of technology and a theology of creation. Inspired by a resurgence in rally driving, Joel wonders what may be missed in an era of self-driving electric vehicles. Why does the promise of technological wonder and ease feel so empty and inhuman?
Bouncing off recent articles by Mike Dicker and Alan Noble, we discuss the tension inherent in technological advancement. Spotify makes music more accessible, but loses the tactile experience of unwrapping a CD and browsing through the liner notes. Microwaves make reheating meals quicker, thereby reducing the need for the family to be home at the same time to sit down together for a hot meal.
How do we navigate such changes? How do we judge the difference, if any, between referencing software that automatically creates your bibliography and generative AI that automatically creates your essay? How might a “shock absorber” approach to technological change help all generations thrive as human disciples of Jesus?
Catch the full conversation in the links below or on your favourite podcast app.
Incentives: Helpful or Harmful - Cross Formed Kidmin
I recently saw a memo from a local school requesting that visiting teachers and volunteers don’t give out any kind of rewards to students for behaviour. Apparently, the school shuns extrinsic motivation of any kind, instead, seeking to foster intrinsic motivation for both academic and behavioural achievement.
Over in the Children’s Ministry world, the conversation has an extra layer of concern. Should we be offering incentives for spiritual achievement? Prizes for reciting memory verses, star charts for bringing your Bible, V.I.P. seating for those who bring a friend. Should we be offering extrinsic rewards for the types of spiritual habits that we long to form in our children?
The majority consensus in our Reformed, Evangelical circles seems to be a firm, NO. There are countless articles explaining why spiritual disciplines are explicitly internal and must only be fostered through intrinsic motivation. Anything less is selling short the transformation of little ones through the Gospel; by Christ alone, grace alone, and faith alone. Incentives = Heresy
With so much at stake, I was nervous about offering a cautious critique of this majority view. I shouldn’t have been. Both Hunter and Ryan are more enthusiastically for incentives than I was! Why? Well… that would be cheating. You’re reward for listening to this episode is a nuanced approach that affirms the place of incentives when done well.
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.