Why Analogies of the Trinity Fail
The Bible tells us that when it comes to God, 1 + 1 + 1 = 1. Does that make your brain hurt? Me too.
It is a great joy to teach children the deep truths of the Christian faith. I can still recall moments when eyes have lit up with understanding or when brows, furrowed with concentration, have released as God’s truth has sunk deep into the minds and hearts of the children in the room.
However, the joy of teaching deep truths does not take away from the complexity of the task. Children’s ministry leaders know all too well the difficulty of having to work hard with language in order to communicate to our youngest sisters and brothers in the faith. Children’s lower vocabulary and gradually developing sense of abstract concepts provide particular challenges to ministry teams.
For this reason, I encourage children’s leaders to develop appropriate metaphors, analogies and other ‘shorthand’ for concepts that they will be using frequently with children. For example, using ‘important leaders’ instead of ‘Pharisee’ is helpful. Likewise, accompanying the word ‘sin’ wit…
