The weather was beautiful for the chapel service that was being held outside. My wife, Marla has taught 2nd and 3rd grade for many years at a Christian school and I was the occasional chapel speaker.
Before my “talk” a team of 4th and 5th graders was leading worship. Across the first two rows of kids were the youngest children in the school, ages four to six.
During the second worship time, you could sense God touching their hearts as they raised their hands to the LORD, eyes closed and singing their hearts out. It was a beautiful picture of little children connecting to God in the most profound and meaningful way.
My eyes teared up at the simple expression of heartfelt love for God from His littlest ones. That morning’s worship picture will forever be frozen into my memory. This is the essence of the experiential model where children are drawn to engage with God in experiential faith.
This model of ministry is very common in Africa, and I have observed it in Latin America, Asia, North America, and the Middle East as well.
The experiential model focuses on children’s experiences. The ministry goal is to draw children into worship, praise, prayer, and other expressions of faith in Christ.
They take part in singing, dancing, extended times of prayer, and other forms of enthusiastic, heartfelt worship. Christianity is not simply talked about; aspects of the Christian life are experienced.
Proponents of this model believe it is important for children to express themselves to God and not relegate the Christian life only to thoughts, doctrines, verses, and the cognitive realm.
As children engage in various activities of faith, their faith becomes personal; the children come to own their belief in Jesus. I have identified three key elements in this model.
The Experiential Model of Children's Ministry
Worship – Worship is a hallmark of this model. One of the most obvious ways to engage children in something other than just the cognitive is to engage them in active and meaningful worship. In this model, children sing and dance, praising the LORD not just verbally but in kinesthetic ways as well. This is often done across ages with large groups of children ranging in age from 2-14. This is not typically “hymn” singing but rather expressive music and dance that engages the children in the wonder and awe of God. I have observed this element of the model in East Africa with children’s worship lasting up to two hours.
Prayer – With engagement and spiritual experience being a focal point, prayer is another key element in this model. This can include prayers of praise and adoration as well concern for others. These prayer sessions can involve both large and small groups of children. In larger groups the sessions are often quite emotional as children pour out their hearts to God. Among older children, you can see prayers of confession and repentance. In smaller groups I have observed “popcorn” prayer were preschoolers give one-word prayers that can continue for some time. In East African churches and in Latin America, these times of prayer can be woven into the worship service as leaders give children the opportunity to respond to God. Egyptian churches host a weeklong prayer conference for children attended by hundreds of children!
Service – Exercising faith is at the heart of the Experiential Model and so it is no surprise that Christian service is an integral part of this model. This finds its expression in two typical ways. One is in outreach to friends in an evangelistic sense. In this model, children are encouraged to bring friends to church on Sunday morning and to other outreach events. The second aspect is in serving the church and community at large. In this model, children take up service projects and are given opportunities to serve others as they exercise their giftedness. I have seen children serve in feeding programs in Argentina and in the visitation of elderly people in Uganda.
The Strengths and Weaknesses Of The Experiential Model
Perhaps the main strength of this approach is its focus on bringing children into active engagement with God.
Leaders want children to experience prayer in life-giving ways and to see God answer their prayers. Boys and girls experience God working through them as they serve others. Children also have opportunities to express their love for God through song and dance.
Simply put, Christianity is actively experienced; God is not just an idea. He is our heavenly Father, our Creator, and the object of our worship, praise, and affection.
This model is also very effective in social settings where literacy is a challenge. So much of the church’s understanding of children’s ministry is rooted in educational assumptions, such as literacy.
This model can be effective across traditional educational paradigms. I have observed children’s ministry in this model where children spend very large blocks of time in singing, praying, dancing, and worshipping God. I have observed it as a beautifully pure expression of a child’s love for God.
This model finds its’ home in the Pentecostal tradition with its emphasis on experiencing God. It also finds a kind of cultural harmony when the culture values expression, music, and a more relationally engaging approach to life.
God is to be engaged and Christianity is to be experienced. However, as we have seen with other models, there are some unintended results.
- Unintentionally, this model can downplay the teaching of Bible Truth. In many cases, the only biblical material in the children’s ministry is found in the lyrics of the various praise songs. I have observed in many churches where the entire children’s ministry consists of praise, worship and prayer time, without any teaching from the Bible.
- A corollary to the above is the unintended priority put on experience over knowledge.
- Engaging children regarding the difficulties of living the Christian life can be skipped completely. Without truth teaching, there is unlikely to be a discussion of that Bible truth and real-life application.
- A lack of emphasis on Bible doctrine always leaves room for error and untruth to creep into the work of the ministry.
- Leaders can be unaware and ill equipped to talk about some of the real-life issues facing children and to offer biblical truth, wisdom, or counsel.
It seems evident that the Experiential Model does not directly flow from exposition of biblical material. I would suggest that instead, the Experiential Model is a response to, or outflow from cultural values.
Elements of the model are supported by “proof texts” from the Bible. It is an example of “the cart before the horse,” so to speak. In other words, Bible passages are pulled out (often out of context) to show that the elements of the Experiential Model are “biblical.”
The weakness of this approach is in the tendency to misinterpret a Bible passage to support one of the elements in your ministry philosophy all the while ignoring direct biblical imperatives regarding children’s ministry.
A New Experiential Model
In contrast, we have shown that God offers a completely biblical model for ministry in Deuteronomy 6:4-9 with several key elements that work together to lead to transformation in the life of children (and adults).
These elements are evident in the Apostle Paul’s work as well as in the ministry of Jesus Himself. We have also shown that God used these same qualities in His teaching of Moses (Exodus 3-4).
Transformational Children’s Ministry should flow directly from the Bible, not from educational models developed by people and then supported with biblical “proof texts.”
Therefore, it seems appropriate to analyze the Experiential Model through the lens of the five principles found in Deuteronomy 6:4-9, Relationship, Experience, Truth, Discussion and Response.
Element | Experiential Model | Comment |
|---|---|---|
Relationship | **** | Common spiritual experience and expression tends to build a more relational ministry. |
Experience | ** | God is “experienced” but there is little emphasis on experiential teaching. |
Truth | ** | Bible teaching can be diminished through the focus on praise, worship and prayer. |
Discussion | ** | With an absence of truth teaching, discussion of the Bible truth and real-life suffers. |
Response | **** | Although responding to a Bible Truth may not be the focus, response is clearly the strength of this model. |
The strength of this model is on responding to God and engaging in spiritual action. Engaging children in expressing their faith and love for God is essential and the strength of this model. The following three additions could enrich the Experiential Model:
- Experiential Bible Teaching – Adding an element of experiential teaching that is linked clearly to the Bible Truth.
- Truth – Making God’s Word more of a central element. Teaching the Bible in age-appropriate ways, all the while continuing to maintain the elements of worship, praise, prayer, and service.
- Discussion – With the Bible Truth included, children can be engaged in discussing the challenges associated with applying that specific Bible Truth in their real lives.
The Experiential Model has been used to impact the lives of millions of children across the world and has a cultural resonance that is unique. God has used this model to cement the faith of children and bring “lost” children into the family of God.
It has been a model that has helped children exercise their faith and experience God in fresh and beautiful ways. The addition of the above three elements to this life-giving ministry model would significantly add to this already fruitful ministry approach.