Baptist / C H I L D & F A M I L Y
BURSTING
into Flame
Helping children draw near to a holy God
TEACHING CHILDREN ABOUT A HOLY GOD CAN SEEM DAUNTING! WHERE DO YOU EVEN START? HERE, SCRIPTURE UNION NEW ZEALAND CONSIDERS HOW WE CAN ENCOUNTER GOD THROUGH THE BIBLE, AND WE CAUGHT UP WITH ONE KIWI FAMILY WHO HAVE BUILT DAILY RHYTHMS INTO THEIR FAMILY LIFE TO HELP THEM KNOW GOD. WHAT CAN WE LEARN HERE ABOUT THE LIFE-CHANGING HOLINESS OF GOD?
H
ow do we help children to encounter God’s holiness and live in light of that? I began by asking a group of children I know, “What is holiness?” One astute five year old noticed that the word has a ‘hole’ in it. Others described respect and praise, and associated it with God: “God is pure and good... God is awesome.” And one eight year old summed up holiness in this statement: “God is holy and holiness is someone important and special; someone worthy of praise.” God is holy. That’s a short statement packed with meaning. What my conversation with my young friends highlights is that children are forming their own ideas of what holiness means, and what it means to say that
12 tekau mā rua † v.133 no.2 baptistmag.org.nz