Culturally constitutive Christianity

Fernando’sDesk is suggesting that he’ll be writing over time on issues of "culturally constitutive Christianity." I look forward to it! And for now, appreciate — and agree with — his assertion that "I believe if we want to ‘re-think’ children’s ministry, then the place to start is with viewing our kids as not just the future consumers of culture, but the future creators of culture."

I just wish it wasn’t so hard to convince people of this in my seminary setting! Sigh. We have a brand new Children’s Ministry degree, and I think a lot of what we’re doing is pretty interesting. But I’d LOVE for us to really take Fernando’s point seriously — or my own, for that matter, as I’ve tried to argue the same way — and meet kids where they are, at the center of creating the cultures they live within. It’s not just that they are the future creators of culture, they’re the current creators, too. And we can step in alongside of them, and join the pilgrimage, sharing our own stories and narrative resources (a large part of which are biblical), or we can continue to try and “dump” into them what we think they should believe.