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The Gifts They Bring: How Children in the Gospels Can Shape Inclusive Ministry

Jennie Sankey

Jennie Sankey is associate pastor of Pleasant Hill Presbyterian Church in Duluth, Georgia.

The Gifts They Bring: How Children in the Gospels Can Shape Inclusive Ministry 
Amy Linderman Allen
(Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2023)

Reviewed by Jennie Sankey

Applying a “childist” lens to the Gospels reorients the reader to learn from children’s often overlooked presence and experience. New Testament professor and ELCA minister Amy Linderman Allen opens the reader’s eyes to new understandings of commonly child-associated Gospel stories and studiously reveals the perspective of the child within stories where they have been previously unnoticed. Reflecting on her own experience leading from the altar and sitting in the pews as minister and mother, Allen presses the church to consider what Jesus intended for the inclusion of children in all arenas of discipleship. In engaging The Gifts They Bring: How Children in the Gospels Can Shape Inclusive Ministry, congregations and leaders struggling to connect with younger generations will benefit from taking a careful look at the wisdom, gifts, and point of view of children in Scripture as well as in their own sanctuaries. 

As a pastor and mother who takes pride in the work I have done to include children in the worshiping life of my congregation, I have discovered new gaps in my understanding of true inclusion. A broadened understanding of first-century family cultural norms and careful exegesis points to the presence of children throughout Jesus’ life. Familiar Sunday school characters are deconstructed when you consider the possibility that Mary the sister of Martha, individuals among the Bethlehem shepherds, and even Jesus’ beloved disciple John may have been children of what we would recognize as elementary age. In ways as old as the first century CE and as new as the twenty-first-century, we adults in the church routinely privilege the perspective of other adults in the name of appropriateness. Allen gently points out that just as the youth of Jesus’ time were often left unnamed or pushed aside, the contemporary church often fails to include children in its everyday life or notice the vital contribution children bring to our communities of faith. 

Each chapter explores a particular gift children share equally with adults through the lens of one Gospel story. Participation, proclamation, advocacy, listening, sharing, and partnership are all gifts affirmed in children by Christ. Allen claims these must be fully included in the life of the church. The personal stories from her own family life are poignant and helpful as readers considers their own experience of the joys and interruptions (and joyful interruptions) that children bring to the worshiping life of a congregation. Their particularity to the author’s context may make it difficult to imagine what these gifts might look like in other settings; however, the scriptural grounding is a good enough foundation to at least bring further attention to the experience of children in any community. By the end, Allen’s message becomes predictable, embedded in every chapter: children are “precious and irreplaceable members with us in a mission we share” (p. 177).

I plan to share chapter four, “The Gift of Listening: Mary at the Feet of Jesus” with my children’s ministry leaders. Simultaneously lifting up the ministry of Martha’s hospitality and the earnest, youthful interest of Mary in Jesus’ teachings, Allen weaves together illustrations of children’s hour at the library, educational pedagogy, and liberation theology to argue the strength of a child’s tendency to interrupt the ordinary. Interruptions of traditional roles, behaviors, and expectations can be viewed as welcome gifts when they allow us all to reimagine our world in light of Jesus’ good news. Even during Sunday school! This book may be more academically oriented than the average group of church members would like, but the discussion questions at the end of each chapter are valuable in themselves. It is a helpful resource for leaders involved with children, faith formation volunteers, intergenerational groups, and communities who are seeking to expand their inclusion of children. A ministry leader could use the grounding and teachings of this book to communicate highlights, areas of growth, and to celebrate what their community may already be doing well in recognizing children as contributing participants. 

“Childism” was a word I felt uncomfortable with at first glance, but one that I am now adding to my toolbox when it comes to teaching, preaching, parenting, and simply living in an intergenerational world. This book affirmed much that I already believed, while enriching my understanding and vocabulary of inclusion. It also challenged me to consider the ways I may be undervaluing the competence, leadership, and readiness children already have for the communal work of following Jesus. This book should be on the shelf of any faith formation leader who wants to deepen their understanding of why inclusive ministry is biblical and vital in the church today. 

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