Off to the BAP I go...

As my head is full of all sorts and everything with my BAP next week I thought I'd share my presentation with you:

I’ve chosen to talk about children’s spirituality in relation to the ministry of Wholeness and Healing and how my feelings about this have changed over the years.

Over the last 10 years we’ve developed a very strong Wholeness and Healing ministry in my parish. I joined the team as a new parent, mostly involved in children’s worship so it was lovely to do something ‘for the grown ups’. The services were quiet, prayerful and poorly attended. I would never have taken one of my children the service- they may disturb someone, and they were too little to understand. We decided to take the ministry to the heart of the congregation- Sunday Morning Holy Communion. It was slow to start but over the years the number of people who come forward to receive prayer, with laying on of hands, and anointing with oil has grown and grown, as has the understanding and acceptance of the ministry.

So where did the children fit into this? When I joined the team I had a baby daughter, my son followed 2 years later. When my daughter joined Sunday school she would go up for her blessing and then if it was a healing service she would come and stand with me where I was praying and laying on hands. After a while she wanted the prayer and anointing herself. Next time she brought a friend. Over time, we were getting more and more Sunday school children coming up. It felt very natural, and an indication of how well integrated the ministry is.
This seemed fine for a service where we’d usually expect children, but I didn’t take my children to other healing events or services.

I rethought my ideas after attending a healing Eucharist at Manchester Cathedral last year. I think that week we may have used up all our babysitting points with my parents, so after speaking with my friend, who’s a priest and was taking her own daughters with her, I decided, rather nervously, to take the children with me. There is after all the children’s corner at the cathedral. There was quite a number of children there, which made me more relaxed...but there was no children’s corner- everything was tidied away- the cathedral seemed to share my earlier view that this was just for the grown ups!

I started thinking- why had I, and clearly others, felt this ministry wasn’t for children? Jesus told the disciples: "Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons." He never said “just the adults”, but he
did say “Let the little children come to me, and do not stop them” (Matthew 19:14, Luke 18:16). Jesus chose to perform one of his most amazing miracles- the raising from the dead of Jairus’ daughter- on a child.
Do we think it’s too complex? Or do we worry what their expectations may be- miraculous physical healings are, as we all know, rare.

My work as an oncology nurse reveals not only that children themselves are in need of physical healing but also how strongly they wish to intercede for sick loved ones. As a parent I have observed my children’s need to feel “whole”- I’ve often been through heart breaking sadness of holding a tearful child who just “feels sad for no reason”.
Dr Rebecca Nye (“Children’s Spirituality”) has written how our unintentional ‘dumbing down’ of practices may "unintentionally betray a lack of trust in God, in the Christian faith or in the children themselves. This damages the children’s trust, harming the future of our mission.

Is it simply my old worry that noisy children may upset or disturb adults? Giving and receiving the ministry is a very intimate experience and can raise powerful emotions.Those of us who’ve attended services with our children know the tutts and looks given when they are being less than angelic- and the embarrassment. God forbid they might disturb anyone suffering real emotional or physical pain.

If I go back to Jesus’ words from Luke “Let the little children come to me, and do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs.” Jesus himself tells us we have much to learn from our children. Also we read in Mark 9.47 “Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me.”

Re-reading the “A Time to Heal” handbook children are briefly mentioned, but where they are it is in a
spirit of inclusivity. It’s taken as read that children are part of this ministry. Yes- quiet, contemplative services may not always be the best place to expose them to it, but we all need the Wholeness and Healing of an intimate and personal relationship with Jesus. When this ministry is part of the ‘norm’ of parish worship children will come, be a part of it and this will in turn, I hope, be part of their worship as they grow and have children of their own.

At the end of this month I’m going to talk to our new youth group and the ministry. I want them to know it’s
a ministry for them. It’s about praying for themselves, intercessing for others, and hoping that we can all achieve that wholeness of being that only comes from knowing God as a father, Jesus as a friend, and The Spirit as a constant companion.

How do you think children relate to this ministry and do you think there are other areas we, however unconsciously, feel are ‘adult only'?

All feedback, criticism and words of encouragement are welcome!