Let the children come. Part 2
The voices of children were sadly lacking at the Fourth Lausanne Congress. Even in churches and organisations that prioritise ministry to children, there are few examples of ministry with children. Viva’s CEO, Phil Green, reflects on his involvement with this year’s Lausanne Congress in a series of three articles.
“Where are the voices of children?” That was the question Menchit Wong posed when she was interviewed during one plenary session celebrating 50 years of the Lausanne Movement. Menchit is a former coordinator of the Lausanne Movement's Children at Risk Issue Network, current member of the Lausanne Board, and lifelong champion of children.
It’s the same question that Lucy Kajidori, Viva’s Theology and Practice Researcher and co-editor of the book ‘God’s Heart for Children’, is always making sure we are asking at Viva – our strapline is ‘together for children’, but how can we ensure we’re also ‘together with children’? We’re not doing as well as we should be, but with Lucy’s help – and some great examples of child participation from our partner networks – we’re committed to doing better. It’s also the subject of her PhD studies, and she practices what she preaches; she recently got married, and many of her guests have commented that it was the most child-inclusive wedding they had ever been to!
What do we mean by child participation? We like World Vision’s definition: child participation is “when children under 18 years of age contribute to decisions and take action on issues that affect their lives.”[1]
Viva’s most significant involvement with the Lausanne Movement is as part of the Children at Risk Issue Network. The Network’s priorities include ensuring that children's voices are heard and increasing their opportunities to participate.
In the run-up to the Congress, Lucy was part of a team that conducted a joint World Vision/Viva research project that explored what children understood of the kingdom of God. Here are some samples of some beautiful drawings expressing their ideas about God’s kingdom to be found halfway down this page.
“In 2024, World Vision and the Viva network conducted a listening exercise with 193 children in six countries to understand how boys and girls interpret the “Kingdom of God”, their role in it, and what they need to achieve and contribute to a vision of the world that is just, compassionate, and where the needs of the most marginalised are met in abundance”.[2]
One really interesting result of the research was that “The children did not see themselves as having extraordinary powers to be Kingdom builders. They were living out their childhood. Some children saw themselves as small and helpless (like the mustard seed), while others opined that being small means having growth potential. The data highlighted five essentials for children to become Kingdom builders -- a) a safe and stable space for living; b) food, clean water, and health care; c) literacy and knowledge; d) coping skills to manoeuvre life challenges, and e) know God’s Word and have godly values. This finding could imply that spiritual ministry to children living in difficult circumstances must begin with physiological provisions.”[3]
Children saw the presence of God and God’s Kingdom through practical human acts, when:
Creation is cared for.
People have harmonious relationships with one another.
Peace and justice are present.
Home lives are stable.
Children have opportunities to play.
Poverty and hunger can be eradicated through sharing and caring.
Their deep insights demonstrated why we, as the global Church, are less if we’re not listening to the voices of children. At the Congress, Lucy was able to urge those passionate about children to represent children and take their voices into all the conversations they were part of during the week. We know that’s not as good as hearing from children directly, but it’s a start.
Lucy is now working with a team of authors from around the world to produce a paper on why child participation is essential. It will present a biblical and theological mandate for the church to take children and their contributions seriously – as Christ did. This should be published as a Lausanne Occasional Paper early in 2025, which will give it the potential to be integrated into theological education programmes worldwide, thereby shaping the thinking of tomorrow’s church leaders, missionaries and thought leaders. We will also seek to establish a Lausanne children and youth council to ensure that children genuinely have the opportunity to be heard and contribute.
In supporting networks of churches and organisations, we at Viva will continue to emphasise child participation. One example is the Child Ambassadors programme, which is currently being run in Uganda in a newly devised format. This teaches children’s rights in Safe Clubs run in schools or organisations, and children are encouraged to be peer leaders. At the end of each module, children are invited to collectively come up with an outreach or activity to share their learning, with the children planning and delivering it with the assistance of a mentor. We want to learn from our networks, inspire them, and enable them to actively create opportunities to listen to children and include them as decision-makers.
References:
[1] Defining Child Participation’, World Vision International, accessed 15 October 2024. https://www.wvi.org/sites/default/files/Defining%20Child%20Participation.pdf.
[2] https://www.wvi.org/listening-childrens-perspectives-kingdom-god.
[3] https://www.wvi.org/publications/faith-and-development/children-and-kingdom-god-excutive-summary.
Part 3 will focus on the work Viva has done as part of the Children at Risk Issue Network to ensure that children are on every agenda.